Retail Wire

Korean Skin Care Boutique Arrives in U Village This Weekend

K Banana ran a popup at the University District shopping hub last year. Now it has a permanent home with serums, face masks, and foaming cleansers aplenty.

By Rosin Saez May 17, 2019

Peep the bright, colorful interior of U Village's latest beauty shop K-Banana.

A trend, the next hot thing, a full-on movement—whatever your knowledge of Korean skin care, its typically online-only presence is going brick and mortar in University Village. Seattle, meet K Banana. 

Founder Liz Kang Yates brings her once-temporary shop—it popped up in the shopping center last year to much beauty buzz—to a proper storefront next to fellow newcomer Amour Vert, and it officially opens May 17. Now K-Beauty fans and novices alike can see themselves to the bright, colorful boutique for any skin needs IRL. The tenets of K-Beauty seem to focus on a few things: sunscreen is not optional, sheet masks are nonnegotiable, and a skin care routine can have up to and more than 10 steps. Ultimately, though, the most thing to remember is that Korean skin care is fun. So, the mural-adorned, neon sign–bedecked, pink-hued shop will carry all sorts of beauty necessities from BB cream to natural cleansers and face oils to a wall of sheet masks—over 150, actually—for every skin type.

And to celebrate the grand opening, K Banana's doling out a special gift with any purchase, while supplies last. 

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