Editor’s Note
This article describes the opening of South Korea’s largest experiential beauty and health festival, the 2025 Olive Young Festa, on Nodeul Island in Seoul. Despite high temperatures, the event drew large crowds to explore the expansive outdoor venue.
The ‘2025 Olive Young Festa’, the largest experiential beauty & health festival in South Korea, kicked off on the 21st, attracting thousands of visitors.
Nodeul Island in Seoul’s Yongsan District transformed into a ‘Treasure Island’ for the event. Despite the day’s temperature reaching 28°C, the hottest day of the month so far, the footsteps of visitors did not stop under the early summer sun.
This year’s festival was set up across an outdoor space spanning 3,500 pyeong (approx. 11,570 sq m). Five themed zones—Makeup, Personal Care, Healthy Life, Skincare, and Lux Edit—welcomed visitors with names inspired by gemstones like Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire.
A total of 108 brands participated, ranging from well-known names like Mediheal, Dear Dahlia, and Dr. Forhair to emerging brands making their debut.
Upon entry, visitors received a ‘Beauty Adventure Kit’ containing a map, stamp card, parasol, and bottled water, allowing them to explore each zone as if adventuring through a theme park.
The festival was designed not merely as a place to ‘receive’ products, but as an event to ‘directly experience and choose’. Immersive experiential content, such as scalp diagnosis, AR skin analysis, personal color measurement, mini talk classes, and TikTok live broadcasts, was diversely prepared at each booth.
Long lines formed even before the prize booths opened on the hour, and nearly 30 people queued in front of popular brands. Despite the hot weather, visitors carrying ice water and parasols waited in long lines with excited expressions.
Completing all five zones allowed participants to reach a finale space featuring a ‘Beauty Treasure Chest’ and large installations. Those who collected all stamps shared the joy of achievement, checking each other’s bracelets and cards.
What Olive Young aimed to showcase through the festival format was ultimately the ‘experience’ itself—enduring the heat in lines, completing missions, and leaving with ‘memories’ of brand stories. Under the ‘Treasure Island’ theme, brands and consumers jointly unearthed value.
This year, the operational format changed from previous morning/afternoon timed entry to an ‘all-day viewing’ system, and the event scale expanded approximately twofold compared to last year. Olive Young expects about 30,000 visitors for this event.
An industrial ecosystem with global expansion in mind is also in motion. During the ‘Future Connect’ sessions held throughout the event, practical lectures were conducted on export customs clearance, local regulatory responses, and K-Beauty global trend analysis.
Notably, about 400 buyers invited from the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and other regions interacted with domestic small and medium-sized brands, broadening points of industrial cooperation.
