@meseoulkool landed in our web-shopping sights and our social feeds exactly one year ago on June 25, 2019. For many in Kuwait, this was their introduction to Korean Beauty or K-Beauty, and the brand has revolutionized how we look after our skin. bazaar took a tour with the brand’s Operations Manager, spoke with the staff instore, and later sat down for an in-depth interview with co-founders Ascia Al Faraj and Angie Hastings.
Approaching Seoul Kool as you come up the escalator to the first floor of Sama Mall, the shop looks like nothing you’ve ever seen before. With free-standing sections that guide you to which products fit into which beauty stage, there is also a counter with a wash basin so you can try recommended items. Old school Hollywood style exposed-bulb, lit mirrors flank the sheet mask side wall, which indicates where you get “sheet faced”, and another neon sign indicates “Seoul Sets” in a luminescent scrawl. There is a Jumo Coffee bar situated on one side of the showroom and you may just need to indulge in this sustenance to fuel you while you take the time to explore finding the regimen tailored to your skin.
For absolute K-Beauty newbies, as soon as you enter the store there is a collection that sits under a sign “Big Seoul Sister”. All the products in this ‘Big Seoul’ 10-step set are for sensitive skin and therefore suitable for everyone to use, which makes for a great gift! The best thing to do to curate your own specific program is to take the time and walk through the store with an assistant who can go over your skin type and your needs. And you need to be honest about how committed you are to undergoing each step every day; it will mean the difference between choosing something that requires a little more application and time, or a simple pad you can swipe-and-go. “You also can’t just come in and ask for the best seller.” Says Kris emphatically, “We have to know what type of skin do you have.” Instore, there are 10 clear step areas with each area showcasing a number of products from which to choose from with the help of the sales team. When a sales team member commences with Seoul Kool, they are given their own K-Beauty starter kit plus they are encouraged to try other products so they have a greater understanding of how each one will work and can advise you knowledgeably. The approachable sales team look so cool, wearing uniforms exuding ‘street style’ that wouldn’t look out of place on an influencer’s OOTD post. Annoyingly with every revelation, and there’s loads to discover, you can’t help but respond with, “that’s so cool!” finding your very self being on brand message without meaning to be!
The showroom is also the online warehouse, which is a strategic bit of planning when it comes to keeping an eye on the inventory. Considering that an actual brick-and-mortar store wasn’t always on the cards, the online-shopping coordination, and the cross data-collection to improve customer service, is impressive. The social media team also works closely with the showroom to coordinate which items should be highlighted, or what are customers responding to well, and the communication lines between the triptych; online, showroom and social, are strong in Seoul Kool. It is easy to see that each section of the business trusts what the other is doing and they all need each other to work well. That’s not entirely dissimilar to how it works between Ascia and Angie, as we discover.
The two of them met through their respective husbands; Ascia threw a 30th birthday party for Ahmed and the invited friends brought their wives along too of course and this is how it all started. “I was star-struck!” laughs Angie, who ironically is one of the biggest stars Thailand has ever seen on screen. It took only a second “date” for Angie to ask Ascia to join her on a K-Beauty venture and they jumped into business. “We did not think it was going to turn out like this at all!” insists Ascia, “We didn’t.” “At all!” Angie wholeheartedly agrees. Ascia continues, adding ‘vocal fry’ for emphasis, “We thought that she and I were going to put some shelves in her basement and we were just gonna, like, sell some stuff on Instagram…” “Turned out well,” smiles Angie.
We know Ascia as a “hybrid” half-Kuwaiti, half-American, and Angie also is a third-culture kid with a Thai mother and British father. Having this similarity in common, how do they balance each other out? “We bring the best of both worlds, and we bring the best of [ourselves] into the business,” Angie immediately answers. You can hear there is consideration in Angie’s tone of voice as she expands, “We have to have trust, respect and have the same goal”. Ascia nods in agreement, adding, “We actually communicate a lot more privately than our team even knows. There are lots of hard conversations that we have together, and we try to be really upfront with each other.” In a thoughtful moment, Ascia explains how she realized that the gift that Angie had given her was to allow Ascia the cushion of surrounding herself with family and friends in business. Angie had made herself completely vulnerable to being the outsider in order to empower Ascia and to protect her. Having been a huge media star herself, with hordes of fans still out there, Angie knows what it takes to be both business partner and friend.
While the trust is undoubtedly there, retail is still a tough business, and beauty and cosmetics is probably the toughest of all. Margins are low, products have a shelf life, you have to be careful with what you put out into the market with your name on it in case something goes wrong. When visiting the Seoul Kool Head Office, bazaar sees a cupboard full of products that have been tried by Ascia and the team. These are what will make it online and into store. Then they show us another cupboard, floor to ceiling doors with shelves packed deep and high of products still yet to be given the Seoul Kool stamp of approval before they are sold under the multi-brand’s label.
Angie talks about how she is embracing the idea of aging gracefully, but to look at her you can see there are some damn fine genes going on there; although good genes also require consistent, regular help to look as great as Angie and Ascia do. Charlotte Tilbury has also commented on how good Ascia’s skin is by the way; in the beauty world, that’s epic. Angie felt she wanted to invest in beauty products for herself but couldn’t find a place that was accessible, with good products at an affordable price, where customers are provided with lots of information and great one-to-one service. “You should be able to indulge in skin care.” You can tell ‘indulge’ is a mantra here, as the co-owners say the word at the same time. So, both feeling that if they were looking for this type of skin care that others might be too, they were emboldened to launch Seoul Kool which they did, online on June 25, 2018.
“The pursuit of the glow is real.”
– FROM THE SEOUL, www.seoulkool.me
It seems an odd choice, an online presence first when you want to put into place customer service as the core to your business but navigating seoulkool. me is super easy. It’s bi-lingual English and Arabic, bright and colorful with simple delineation and clearly explained uses for the items. This is a real plus because the instructions on the packaging are typically only in Korean. Plus, you can also get individual attention through direct messaging on Instagram or through email. “K-Beauty evolves quickly,” says Angie, “so they follow the trends, grabbing onto something that is fast moving.” In this regard then it makes perfect business sense to have Seoul Kool be web oriented. Angie, with no formal background in it, turns out to be a natural born negotiator, and has secured exclusive rights to not only the individual products that Seoul Kool sells but the ancillary range around those products too. This is understanding business writ large, shows forethought, long-term planning and gives Seoul Kool the room to maneuver within its assortment while still maintaining the same supplier deal.
Still, and despite having been on the world-wide web for the last year and essentially with the potential to be in everyone’s homes, or on their phones, already, when asked what does success for Seoul Kool look like, Angie jumps in with, “For me, hopefully that we will be everywhere in the Middle East and the GCC!” “My dream is not to have Seoul Kool all over the Middle East!” laughs Ascia. “My dream is that people in the Middle East find their groove in their skin care by consuming products that we provide them.” It sounds like these two have another conversation coming, and to see how the tale unfolds of not only the partnership of Ascia and Angie but of Seoul Kool will be so cool to observe. Here’s to many more anniversaries!
To shop Seoul Kool online visit www.seoulkool.me and follow their Instagram account @meseoulkool. The Seoul Kool boutique can be found by accessing Sama Mall through gate one (main gate) and going up to the first floor. Find Jumo Coffee on Instagram @jumocoffee. Subscribe and click the bell for The Hybrids. Main image courtesy of Seoul Kool.
