KATSEYE's Yoonchae on Acne, "American Makeup," and the Aegyo-sal She Can't Wear on Stage

A Skincare Routine Shaped by Acne

Yoonchae starts by washing her face with an Anua cleansing foam, which she calls probably her favorite. She then moves through toner, the Torriden serum, and a face cream. She explains that because she had acne growing up, she now follows a specific and fairly thorough skincare routine.

She describes her skin as oily but also somewhat dry, a skin type she says has its own name in Korea. That combination is why she avoids oily skincare products.

She returns several times to the idea that cleansing matters most. After a show or a day in heavy makeup, she says, she has to remove all of it very carefully, even when she is extremely tired. In her view, one of the reasons people get acne is not the products themselves but how well they cleanse. She also admits she used to hate sunscreen because it made her face oily and uncomfortable, but she now considers it really important.

When asked about the other KATSEYE members, she says she may have inspired some of them. She adds that Korean skincare is already popular, so they knew about it before she told them, and in some cases knew more than she did.

She also tries to give her skin a break. On days without a schedule she avoids makeup, aiming to let her skin rest at least once a week. She notes that this particular week her skin couldn't rest, which is why skincare is so important to her.

2:16

Base Makeup and Her Sister's Advice

For the first makeup step, Yoonchae uses a product that the group's makeup artist, Andrew, taught her to apply. She says it helps makeup go on better and stay on longer. She has recommended it to her friends and her sister, and they liked it too.

Her sister comes up as her early beauty guide. Yoonchae says she is glad she has a sister, because otherwise she would have worn "crazy makeup" to school. Her sister kept telling her that less makeup is better and not to overdo it, since Yoonchae didn't know much about makeup back then and a bold lip or eyeshadow would have looked extreme.

For foundation, she mixes two products together, which she describes as "very Korean" and an easier approach. Next comes a salmon-colored concealer, which she uses to brighten the middle of her face so she looks "a little snatched." She adds lip balm because her lips are getting dry, then sets everything with powder using a very large brush.

3:24

From Seoul Trainee to Los Angeles

While doing her base, Yoonchae talks about her background. She grew up in Seoul until about two years ago, when she came to LA to join KATSEYE. She became a K-pop trainee at 12, and later found out that HYBE was also holding auditions. She says she didn't fully realize at first that joining would mean moving to LA. She was simply excited to do something new.

At the time she understood only a little English. She credits the other members with teaching her, adding that they are very talkative, which she thinks helped her learn quickly. Her picture of LA came almost entirely from movies, especially La La Land, which she loves. When she arrived, she remembers thinking she was actually in La La Land, and that was nearly all she knew about the city.

She also describes how the training felt. While training in Seoul for the program, she had weekly meetings with the team, and they kept praising her as a hard worker. That surprised her, because she was just working the way she normally did. She assumed training in America might be easier. When she got there, she found it was very hard, but she thinks her years as a trainee helped her adjust quickly.

Her family still lives in Seoul. She visits them whenever the group has promotions in Korea or a short break, and they also come to LA often.

5:26

How Her Makeup Changed After the Move

The longest thread in the video is how her makeup has changed in the US. When she has no important or official schedule, she does her own makeup. She used to wear pink eyeshadow a lot, but has recently switched to brown. She explains that pink eyeshadow combined with blonde hair looked "a little bit too clean" in LA.

Her brows changed as well. She used to bleach them when she went blonde, but has since gotten "a little bit lazy" about it and keeps them as they are. She also says that with bleached brows, she looked "crazy" without makeup.

The biggest change is eyeliner. In Korea, she says, she didn't wear eyeliner at all and just used eyeshadow with some contour and blush. After moving, she found that eyeshadow without eyeliner made her look like a baby. So she started blending the Korean style with what she saw around her, adding eyeliner, curled lashes, mascara, and more eyeshadow. She says she learned a lot from this.

The change was obvious to people back home. When she returned to Korea and met her friends, they immediately said she was doing "American makeup." She protested that it was the same makeup, and says she was surprised they noticed right away.

She is open about still figuring out the new look. Because she only recently started wearing brown eyeshadow, she says she doesn't really know how to do it correctly yet. Sometimes she starts with brown and then switches back to pink or another color when it doesn't look right. During this step she also puts a darker shadow under her eye, and when she checks the result, she remarks that it actually looks good.