Glowing Skin
Lighting? Makeup? Why does Jang Wonyoung’s skin glow despite a demanding schedule?
The current idol skin trend is ‘glow’. Beyond simple dewy skin, it has a refined radiance like an AI-generated character. Up close, it seems as though it might reflect another person’s face like a mirror. This is not excess oil, but clear, hydrated luminosity over an even texture. This so-called ‘textural glow’ is central to today’s K-idol skin. Under stage lighting, light reflects from the face, and the skin stays smooth and seemingly poreless even in high-definition fan videos or candid fan-signing photos. Lighting and makeup alone cannot produce this result. It requires skin texture and a barrier that are fundamentally healthy and well maintained.
Yet an idol’s schedule is nothing short of punishing. Jang Won-young, for example, a leading fourth-generation idol, has repeatedly made headlines for her busy schedule since she was a minor. Her average daily sleep is one to two hours. She makes two round trips to Europe within a week, and in between covers 45 university festivals, advertising shoots, rehearsals, fan signings, music shows, concerts and music awards. All of this recurs within less than a month. And it is not a one-off: it is an everyday pattern repeated ‘every week’.
Despite this, Jang Won-young’s skin has never deteriorated. On the contrary, its radiance, lustre and texture improve with time. Her skin is not becoming damaged; it is being upgraded. How is such skin possible? What is the secret to dewy skin that sparkles like AI imagery?
Protect that moisture! Active idols’ secret to ‘dewy skin’ is a hydration routine
Amid their busy schedules, idols never give up one particular routine: hydration. On planes, at airports, in accommodation, waiting rooms and filming locations, they are extremely vigilant about dry skin. Even if they can sleep only a few hours a day, they stick rigorously to their hydration routines.
1) In flight / While travelling. Idols spend half their day on the move. In particular, an aircraft cabin at 10,000 metres has relative humidity of 20% or less, making it drier than a desert. For idols who spend much time travelling, this environment is their greatest enemy in skincare. Jang Won-young was indeed spotted wearing a sheet mask while riding a transport cart at an airport, drawing attention. It is a strategic routine intended to replenish moisture immediately in flight.
Aespa’s Karina also revealed that she always carries a facial mist and sprays it whenever she can, especially layering it four or five times before bed to prevent moisture evaporation during sleep. Hydration while travelling is thus more than simple moisturising: it is a pre-emptive defence against skin breaking down at the next engagement.
2) At accommodation / In everyday life. Their basic routine at their accommodation is no small undertaking either. Idols are particularly unwavering about hydration. RIIZE’s Anton said, ‘Five masks a day is the minimum,’ while ENHYPEN’s Jungwon and Sunghoon emphasised their thorough moisturising routines by saying, ‘We slather on moisturiser before makeup.’ Rather than applying just one or two products, they build steps: toner to refine texture → ampoule absorption → layers of cream. NCT’s Jaehyun said, ‘I soak a cotton pad generously with toner, wipe my face, then apply two layers of moisturiser to finish getting ready to go out.’ This double moisturising brings skin into the best possible condition before makeup. Jang Won-young said, ‘I drink more than two litres of water every day,’ maintaining a routine that also considers the body’s fluid balance.
3) Before filming or important engagements. On days with important schedules, the routine becomes even more intensive. The more an event exposes them to high-definition cameras—concerts, editorial shoots or fan signings—the more idols focus on refining texture and enhancing radiance before makeup begins. A typical method is a ‘wrapping mask’. After applying plenty of moisturising ampoule, they cover it with a wrap-style mask to improve absorption of active ingredients; sometimes makeup is applied straight afterwards. This is possible only when skin is stable and sufficiently hydrated. Another frequently used method is gentle warmth from a lukewarm sheet mask to encourage active ingredients to penetrate. These methods temporarily boost skin absorption and improve makeup adherence.
As busy as a celebrity, with no time for skincare? A ‘treatment routine’ can take its place
However well we understand the importance of hydration routines, reality is different. Using five sheet masks a day, spraying mist on the move and applying multiple layers of moisturiser every day is far from easy. Office workers rush to get ready for work, students are pressed by studies, and working mothers raising children barely have time to look at their own faces. Dermatological procedures are an alternative for people who struggle to follow a daily hydration routine. If a routine cannot be built consistently, a treatment routine that condenses its effects into a short period is the most practical strategy.
Idols actually use these procedures too. They receive rapidly recovering treatments the day before a shoot, just before a fan signing and even on the morning of a concert. Typical examples are so-called ‘textural-glow-focused’ treatments with short recovery times and immediate effects.
1) Rejuran Healer: a key procedure for boosting the skin’s self-renewal. Rejuran Healer directly injects PN (polynucleotides) extracted from salmon DNA into the dermis to induce skin regeneration and strengthen the barrier. When frequent makeup, insufficient sleep or outdoor activities leave skin thin or sensitive, it enhances the skin’s innate recovery capacity. In particular, as treatments are repeated over the long term, texture becomes more even, skin gains thickness and moisture retention improves. It is called a ‘skin fitness treatment’ that reliably restores skin which used to break down whenever one was tired.
2) Onda: microwave therapy that opens moisture pathways inside the skin. Onda uses microwave heat to lift the skin while stimulating its fibroblasts, activating internal moisture pathways and refining sagging nasolabial folds and jowls. Treatment is short and causes almost no irritation, so even sensitive or troubled skin can receive it immediately. Makeup can be applied straight away without recovery time, allowing use just before an engagement. It is particularly effective at removing shadows from sagging skin and improving internal dryness when prolonged makeup or lighting burdens the skin. This is why it is often used just before fan signings, on the morning of stage rehearsals or on an interview day.
3) Moisture Miracle hydration injections and Silky injections: ‘injecting’ moisture directly into the skin. Moisture Miracle hydration injections contain hyaluronic acid, amino acids and various minerals and create an even layer of moisture throughout the skin. Rather than moisture sitting on the surface, they supply it gradually from within the dermis, addressing both makeup adherence and lasting radiance. Silky injections add peptides, vitamins and micro amounts of botulinum toxin to enhance texture refinement. In particular, treatment of areas prone to hollowing, such as the forehead, front cheeks and cheekbones, creates firm contours that look filled out. Radiance without greasiness and three-dimensional definition can be achieved together.
4) Aqua peeling: removing impurities + increasing active-ingredient absorption. This combined treatment gently removes dead skin and sebum while infusing a hydrating serum. If skin is rough or cosmetics do not absorb well, this is the first step to address. Aqua peeling serves as a ‘foundation’, improving not only makeup adherence but also the effects of subsequent procedures.
In an age when high-resolution cameras capture every pore, radiance and textural glow are key details that shape the overall impression of a face. Dehydrated skin causes makeup to lift and emphasises wrinkles and flakes. By contrast, well-hydrated skin softly reflects light and has even texture, creating a clean impression from every angle. There is good reason why idols treat ‘hydration management’ as a survival strategy.
If you cannot devote your whole day to an elaborate routine like an idol, the answer is to regularly plan a treatment routine suited to your skin. What matters is adjusting the order and choosing combinations according to skin condition. The key is not blindly following someone else, but receiving treatments suited to your own skin ‘at appropriate intervals’. If you lack time for care but want to keep your face from losing its condition, procedures become the strongest strategy for replacing a routine.