Helen Shin’s mother was born with a rare form of eczema causing severe dry, flaky skin from the neck down, and Shin often woke up to the sound of her exfoliating her body, sometimes for hours a day. Her family moved a ton—she went from South Korea to the United States and eventually to India—and everywhere they went, her mother sought products to alleviate her condition.
“My mom would buy all kinds of skincare,” says Shin. “She’d pass the good ones on to me. I grew up experiencing a lot of body care.”
In 2022, Shin, now a New York resident, received heart-stopping health news about her mother, who’d been diagnosed with lung cancer years earlier. Doctors discovered a new tumor, and surgery offered the best chance of survival. Shin flew to South Korea to be with her mom for the surgery, who prepared for it by exfoliating her body in a hot shower with a mitt, a time-honored self-care practice in Korean culture.
While her mom was in surgery, Shin pondered the lengths she went to tending her skin. She determined she would develop body care to make her mom, who she praises as “the most fashionable, luxurious woman in my life,” happy with her skin. The surgery was successful, and in May Shin launched self-funded brand Lilis with two products: $92 Korean Body Resurfacing Instant Peel and $110 Firming Serum.
Shin envisions Lilis as a modern and convenient alternative to the protracted and occasionally harsh traditional Korean methods of exfoliating with a textured cloth. Formulated and manufactured in South Korea, the brand’s products contain anti-aging and brightening ingredients like bakuchiol and arbutin. Shin compares Lilis’s gel-like peel to a “traditional Korean exfoliating mitt in a bottle.”
She explains that, in South Korea, the practice of exfoliating the body or “ddaemiri” has long been regarded as a way to cleanse deeply and improve blood circulation. Using an exfoliating mitt to scrub off dead skin cells, it’s common at both homes and bathhouses. In the U.S., Korean spas introduced body exfoliation services that can be painful in which a professional vigorously scrubs the customer on a table to leave skin soft and smooth.
“We’ve moved away from coarse scrubs on the face, but the body is still coarse, aggressive scrubs.”
Prior to launching Lilis, Shin tested interest in the idea of exfoliation and body care by talking to people in New York, including on college campuses, and she fashioned a fake brand on Shopify and TikTok, where she spoke about the topics. Based on the response, she concluded there was demand for luxurious, yet effective body care. Demand for body care products has been evident beauty industry-wide of late, and market research firm Circana detected that demand was strong from January to June this year.
Within skincare, Shin points out face exfoliators are plentiful, but she thinks there remains room for exfoliators, particularly high-quality and gentle versions, directed at the body. She says, “We’ve moved away from coarse scrubs on the face, but the body is still coarse, aggressive scrubs.”
Shin characterizes Instant Peel as a gommage for the French word meaning “to erase” and emphasizes it’s for gentle exfoliation. Rubbing the product on the skin leads to balling up of the product with dead skin cells, causing pilling and removal of skin buildup. Korean beauty gommage products exist, as evidenced by a quick search on Amazon, but Shin hopes to bring the concept to a global audience in the luxury skincare space.
Lilis’s products are designed to target hyperpigmentation, dry skin and keratosis pilaris, common skin concerns that came up in conversations during the brand’s pre-launch research phase. Shin has trademarked the term “Korean Body Resurfacing” to encapsulate the brand’s products and what they do, including promoting cell turnover and boosting collagen synthesis.
“I’d love Lilis to be the brand that brought Korean body care into the global market.”
With a background in art and a decade of experience in advertising, Shin, formerly a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, chose minimalistic white packaging for Lilis that draws inspiration from the porcelain glaze of Korean moon jars. The brand is sold in direct-to-consumer distribution and has entered over 10 stores, spas and wellness destinations. Among them are Happier Grocer, White’s Apothecary, Skincare by Amy Peterson and Sage + Sound.
“I wanted to place Lilis in places where the store believes in it,” says Shin. “If anyone asks about it, they can talk about it from their hearts.”
Lilis is also building a network of aestheticians across the country. The brand partnered with them to develop the Lilis Treatment to put on skincare service menus. The aestheticians are akin to influencers for Lilis as they share information about treatments incorporating its products on social media.
Already, Shin has recouped more than half of what she invested to start Lilis from its early sales. In the four months since its debut, its sales have risen 40% monthly. The brand’s current focus is expanding sales, marketing and aesthetician and retail partnerships. In the future, the goal is placement in department store retailers such as Nordstrom.
“I’d love Lilis to be the brand that brought Korean body care into the global market,” says Shin.
Before that happens, she’s relishing her mom’s enjoyment of the brand’s products. They’ve cut the time she dedicates to exfoliation down to an hour, and they’ve brought her greater confidence.
Shin gushes, “She said she’s been very happy to wear T-shirts and show elbows, which is amazing.”
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