Panacea is a gender neutral skincare line for the anti-vlogger
Panacea is a Korean skincare line designed to democratize beauty and make it accessible for both women and men.
It’s designed for the routine of the cool kids on Instagram who never use a filter, rather than the precise and diligent one of the typical beauty vlogger.
The brand sticks to the number one rule of K-beauty: skin first, makeup second. The goal is to fix the skin underneath — not use makeup as a Band-Aid to cover it up.
Panacea is not meant to be a carbon copy of most Korean skincare lines, founder Terry Lee told Galore. Most Korean skincare lines carry 10-step regimens, this one only has three steps, because the target customer is a millennial who’s always on the go.
The brand is also using its platform to push forward the “boy beauty boom,” the new generation of guys who paint their nails, dye their hair pink, and who might even use concealer to cover up a bad hickey or a pimple. Panacea is one of the first k-beauty brands to target the male audience.
“Our culture is challenging these traditional definitions of what it means to be a ‘man’ or a ‘woman,’ so we wanted to create a brand aesthetic and identity that speaks to the blurring of gender lines,” he said.
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To develop the perfect gender-neutral skincare line, the brand asked both genders to open up about their frustrations with current skincare products. One of the many things men and womxn had in common was the desire for a moisturizer that is lightweight, non-oily, non-greasy, and absorbs easily.
“While the reasons behind their insights are different (i.e. most men want a lightweight moisturizer because they don’t like anything that feels sticky or greasy, while most women want a moisturizer that absorbs easily so it provides a nice base/primer for makeup),” Terry said, “we took into account these perspectives to inform our product development process.”
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It’s gender neutral through and through — right down to the packaging.
“We used an airless pump for our moisturizer and SPF products because most men were reluctant about using a jar,” Terry said.
Most importantly, the brand wants to align itself with the idea of a gender revolution.
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“It’s our belief that we need to tap into culture and really understand what’s important to our consumer. We believe the blurring of gender lines is not a trend, but rather a reimagining of the concept of self-identity that will have permanence,” said Terry.
