Beauty minimalism with some extra coffee: a conversation with BEIGIC’s founder Kate Namgung

Green coffee benefits, a K-beauty brand, a beautiful & exquisite packaging, a sensational skincare routine: meet BEIGIC, the newest and the coolest line on beauty market. And, along with discovering the products (I tell you, the face scrub and the face oil will make you fall in love!), meet Kate Namgung, the founder of the brand. On other words, let’s try some beauty minimalism with some extra coffee to go: a conversation with BEIGIC’s founder Kate Namgung.

#BeautyTrial #English

It had me at coffee. Of course, coffee beans, green ones, transformed in the effective ingredients for cool products with an Asian vibe. “Coffee has its own culture around it that involves cozy café, the time for yourself in your day and the idea of recharging your energy and boosting your mind. This is what we wanted to deliver with our brand and with our products”, says Kate Namgung. 

BEIGIC products (100% vegan & cruelty free) can be found on https://beigic-global.com/ – @beigic_official
BEIGIC products are available in Romania, within Niran Beauty distribution, (@niranbeauty_romania) in Farmacia Tei, www.douglas.ro and Kendra shops.

Why did you feel that the beauty market needed a new line of products and what makes BEIGIC so special that we cannot miss? 

When I was working on the concept for my own label – with the strong belief in the therapeutic power of vegan skincare after experiencing with my own skin getting recovered from severe skin trouble – , I strongly felt that vegan skincare category was underrated as there were very limited offers in the market. Especially there were nearly none who delivered what good skincare should deliver. To me, skincare is not medicine. Therefore, simply delivering the results is not sufficient. There should be aesthetic packaging, sensorial formula and scent on top of its potent formula. 

That’s how I decided to create this brand that works not only touch your skin with the potent vegan formula for youthful skin but also touch your emotion and become a part of your lifestyle. I think this holistic approach is unique in skincare and this was the main reason why we got so much love from Korea and Japan. And I’m hoping this concept will also resonate with skincare lovers in Romania. 

Why did you choose green coffee beans as BEIGIC principal ingredient? What is the story behind this choice? 

There are two reasons why we chose green coffee beans as our key ingredient. The first reason is its powerful skincare benefits. When I was working in Paris in product development, a big part of my job was doing research about ingredients. From many studies to organic skincare forum, green coffee bean was always highly reputed for its antioxidant and skin regenerating benefits. After we narrowed our mind to green coffee beans as our key ingredient, we still had to do a lot of study and test to choose the best green coffee bean to bring the best benefits to skin. We picked the Peruvian specialty green coffee beans for its exceptional antioxidant and anti-aging properties. Then to maximise their benefits, we process the beans in Korea to get the highest quality green coffee bean oil and coffee bean powers.   

As the hero ingredient for a skincare brand is a part of its identity, we wanted the ingredient to carry the brand value along with the proven efficacies. Coffee has its own culture around it that involves cozy café, the time for yourself in your day and the idea of recharging your energy and boosting your mind. This is what we wanted to deliver with our brand and with our products. With the hope to provide cozy, comforting and recharging time when you do skincare with BEIGIC, we chose green coffee beans as our hero ingredient. 

Tell me about the choice of the name and its significance and something about the packaging (very elegant and clean) 

BEIGIC comes from the color “beige”. I believe color is one of the things that has very little cultural barriers and it is intuitive.  When you face an object with a certain color, it evokes a certain feeling quite instantly. For me in the universe of colors, beige is the perfect color that represents our brand value and the experience that we are working so hard to deliver: the comforting and therapeutic quality time with yourself that you can enjoy everyday when you do your skincare ritual. BEIGIC is an adjective form of the color “beige”. 

Why did you choose Romania, among those 10 countries to promote the BEIGIC line?

Romania is a still very mysterious country to many eyes of Korean. I had a chance to visit Bucharest and discovered how beauty was perceived and valued by Romanian women and saw actively growing skincare market. I also felt that there was huge interest towards Korean culture in general that goes also for Korean skincare. But there were mostly mass Korean skincare options available. With BEIGIC, I hope we will be able to introduce more sophisticated and premium Korean skincare to the skincare lovers in Romania. 

A beauty tip that everyone should try, at least once, is… 

I am a huge fan of facial oil. And I cannot emphasise enough how much skin improvement I’ve observed with my own skin ever since I started using Lucent Oil in my everyday skincare routine. I use this oil after Treatment Essence which is a watery essence, followed by a serum and a facial cream. Please try to add, at least, a few drops of facial oil into your existing skincare product such as cream and essence if you are not yet familiar with using facial oil every day. This can really help you to customize your ready-made products to meet your changing-skin -condition depending on the season and hormones. It is one of our highest repeat products from BEIGIC that became a cult product for its not-oil like finish, scent and fast absorption! 

A beauty routine is never complete without… 

A sunscreen! Wearing sun screen every single day! It is crucial to protect your skin from everyday aggressors and prevent any kind of premature ageing. This easy and simple habit can really help our skin to stay away from many troubles. When applying sunscreen, make sure to find the one with SPF 50 and PA++++ and with active antioxidant ingredients to get the most from it. I think this is one habit that puts Korean woman apart from the rest of the world and thanks to this habit we are known for our flawless glass skin. 

What is the beauty product you wish you have invented it? 🙂

An eye cream that has no irritation, lastingly hydrates, reduces the fine lines and dark circles and gives healthy radiance. That’s a product that I wish to use right now as the season is getting drier and colder. I’ve been testing so many creams, but I couldn’t find the one that makes me repeat. 

Your favourite product from BEIGIC line is… (why)?

I love Treatment Essence. The moment I apply this product after washing my face, I immediately feel the subtle therapeutic botanical scent, which is the blend of 100% natural essential oils, that reminds me of a SPA. With this sensation, I can completely switch my mood and mind and focus on enjoying the quality time with myself while doing skincare. And with the vegan peptides and green coffee bean oil, niacinamide in it, it helps you to intensely hydrate your skin, improve skin texture and give radiance.  

What is next for BEIGIC? 

From next year, BEIGIC will be available as amenities in hotels. The first hotel we will be working with is Ma Terra hotel in Croatia and it is ready for its grand opening in January 2024. And there are also new products coming and entering new counties. Looks like 2024 will be a very busy yet fruitful year for BEIGIC ! 

About you, Kate, we should know… 

I always had my heart and passion for skincare. But since I studied engineering and history of art, I chose to work in product strategy in the mobile phone industry. After giving some thoughts over nights, I decided to change my career completely, redirecting myself to my real passion, skincare. 

Since most of brands I loved were from France, I decided to take MBA at INSEAD in France to pursue my career in cosmetic industry in France. I found my dream job in product development for face care lines at L’Occitane in Paris. Then I had a opportunities to work for La Roche-Posay within L’Oréal. After nearly 7 years in France, I moved to Singapore with Shiseido where I was responsible for marketing of their premium skincare brands such as Shiseido, Clé de Peau, Anessa and Ipsa. When I moved to Singapore, I had severe skin trouble which lasted for months although I got help from the best dermatologists and estheticians there.  I met a friend who went through a similar experience to what I had with her own skin and she passed me a cream. It didn’t appeal to me at all due to its unpleasant scent and texture. Since I was desperate, I tried, and it really saved my skin. Later I asked her what it was, and she told me that was a vegan cream.

With this experience, I felt the strong need to build a vegan skincare brand that can deliver the efficacy that I felt with my own skin + the sensorial texture & scent and aesthetics to sincerely offer tempering vegan skincare moments.