Mediheal is turning a historic winning streak in South Korea into fresh momentum in the U.S. skincare market, after being named the No. 1 brand in total sales at Olive Young for two consecutive years (2024–2025), ahead of more than 3,000 competing brands. Widely described as the Korean equivalent of Ulta or Sephora, Olive Young has become a proving ground for K beauty brands with real global potential and Mediheal’s performance there is now accelerating its international expansion.
Record breaking wins at Olive Young
At the latest Olive Young Awards, Mediheal took home four major honors, underscoring its dominance across key skincare formats. The brand was awarded No. 1 in the Toner Pad category, Global Trend Best Performer for the Madecassoside Blemish Pad, Global Trend Rising for the Madecassoside Blemish Serum, and Winner in the Mask category with the Madecassoside Essential Sheet Mask.
Within this lineup, the Madecassoside Blemish Pad ranked No. 1 in its category for the second year in a row, while the Madecassoside Blemish Repair Serum posted an 820% year on year sales jump, cementing madecassoside as a hero ingredient for the brand. These results help explain why Mediheal has secured the No. 1 mask ranking for 15 consecutive years at Olive Young, alongside more than 3.3 billion sheet masks sold worldwide and over 32 million toner pads sold globally.
From Korean bestseller to U.S. Amazon breakout
The same formulas driving Mediheal’s success in Korea are now showing traction with U.S. consumers. During the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, the brand’s Retinol Collagen Eye Patch surged to No. 1 in Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers in Beauty & Personal Care” category, which spotlights products with the fastest sales gains over a 24 hour window.
Since its founding in 2009, Mediheal has used toner pads, serums, and sheet masks as its core growth engines across markets. Today, the brand is available in 36 countries and is sold in the U.S. through major retail partners including Ulta Beauty, Target and Costco, along with select specialty beauty channels and additional global retail partnerships now in the pipeline.
Strategy behind the surge
Mediheal’s current run is the result of a multi year transformation under new leadership, focused on brand repositioning and organizational agility. Over the past three years, the company has overhauled its structure to respond faster to market shifts, integrating real time consumer feedback into product development and pairing data driven marketing with disciplined distribution strategies.
That approach is especially visible in the madecassoside line, which has become a blueprint for how Mediheal scales innovation from Korea into other regions. Johanna Kim, CEO and Creative Director of Mediheal, said, “Success at Olive Young is especially meaningful because it is where consumers discover K beauty trends first,” adding that the performance of the madecassoside range validates the brand’s product strategy as it looks toward 2026.
What Mediheal means for the next era of K beauty
As K beauty continues to shift in the U.S. from trend category to trusted standard, Mediheal’s dominance in Korea offers a preview of how derma cosmetic brands can build long term relevance. The company remains rooted in Korean dermatological science and positions its products as professional grade solutions designed for at home use, spanning toner pads, serums, sheet masks, eye patches, and moisturizers.
With consumers increasingly seeking science backed, results driven skincare and retailers expanding their K beauty assortments, Mediheal is well placed to translate its Olive Young leadership into wider international influence especially in markets where K beauty is now part of the everyday skincare vocabulary.
