
“Nuanced, wide-ranging, and fluidly written, this peels back the layers of a powerful cultural trend.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
Available now
About the Book
FLAWLESS braids international reporting, cultural commentary and memoir to explore the global rise of K-beauty culture, the power of appearance standards worldwide, and the simultaneous pleasure and pain of having to upgrade ourselves and keep up with beauty norms. I used Korea’s comparatively intense appearance expectations and practices as a jumping off point to explore the way technological advancement is likely to only increase the pressure on all of us to look “better,” if we have the money to do it.
Reviews for FLAWLESS
“A bright light into the shadowy world of manufactured beauty and endless ‘self-improvement’…Hu’s study of Korea’s beauty cult is fascinating and disturbing, woven with threads of dark humor and personal experience.”
KIRKUS (starred review)
“Surprisingly profound questions.”
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
“We might expect Hu to conclude by rejecting ‘appearance work’ completely. But she does no such thing. Instead, she takes a fresher and more interesting tack, reminding us that self-stylization has often served as a form of revolt.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“Nuanced, wide-ranging, and fluidly written, this peels back the layers of a powerful cultural trend.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Elise Hu has written the definitive exploration of K-beauty in her sweeping new book.”
NYLON
“Astonishingly researched and unputdownable.”
ELECTRIC LITERATURE
Press for FLAWLESS
Conde Nast Traveler
Writer Elise Hu on Life in Seoul and the Rise of K-Beauty
The Washington Post
Review: ‘Flawless’ dives deep into the booming Korean beauty industry
Burnt Toast
When Beauty Work is a Rational Survival Strategy
Insider
Jezebel
In South Korea, ‘Lookism’ Is ‘Enforced With Open Discrimination’
W Magazine
14 New Books To Dive Into This Summer
WIRED Magazine
Digital Culture is Literally Reshaping Women’s Faces
Mochi Magazine
Culture Study
Beauty Culture is Hustle Culture
NPR
Beauty culture in South Korea reveals a grim future in ‘Flawless’
Pop Sugar
What Our Obsession With K-Beauty Reveals About All of Us
CBS This Morning
“Flawless” examines how Korean beauty trends, technology are changing global beauty standards
Katie Couric Media
13 Books by AAPI Authors To Read This May and Beyond
Book Riot
New and Upcoming Nonfiction & Poetry by AAPI Authors to Read and Preorder
PureWow
14 New (and New-Ish) Books to Read for AAPI Heritage Month
Nylon
13 May 2023 Books To Add To Your Reading List
The Unpublishable
7 Brand New Beauty Recs! (They’re Books)
Next Big Idea Club
The Next Big Idea Club’s May 2023 Must-Read Books
Electric Literature
What Authors Are Saying
“Superbly researched and deeply insightful, FLAWLESS is a timely, provocative, and fascinating must-read. Elise Hu masterfully blends an engrossing memoir about her experience as a foreigner, woman, and mother of girls in Seoul with a journalistic exploration of the disturbing forces behind K-beauty’s global rise and the increasingly algorithm-driven perceptions and unforgiving standards of “beauty.” I loved it.”
Angie Kim, author of international bestseller MIRACLE CREEK
“Like a trip to the beauty counter with your most discerning friend, Flawless deftly redirects us from the individual choices we are bombarded with (so many serums, so little time!) and focuses us instead on the transnational systems that sell consumption as the key to wholeness. Well-researched and funny, it is Hu’s own vulnerability and keen observations on the endless project of female self-improvement that make each page sparkle.”
Alicia Menendez, MSNBC Anchor & Author, THE LIKEABILITY TRAP
“If you think that only women are trapped by a society that demands physical perfection, think again. Korean men now consume roughly 13% of the world’s skincare products–even camouflage lip-balm for men doing their mandatory military service. A fascinating look at the ugliness of Korea’s cosmetic underworld, sometimes shocking and often darkly funny as Elise riffs on the more ridiculous aspects of the pursuit of “ideal” beauty. Let me tell you dudes, the book gets under your skin–in all the right ways.”
Jake Adelstein, author of TOKYO VICE and executive producer of Tokyo Vice on HBOMax
“In FLAWLESS, Elise Hu explores not just why South Koreans are so obsessed with skincare, but also how the beauty standards of Korean culture have created a seemingly endless feedback loop of beauty “problems” to be solved by an ever-increasing number of products. A fascinating, meticulously reported deep dive into Korean beauty culture.”
Doree Shafrir, co-host of FOREVER35 PODCAST and author of THANKS FOR WAITING: THE JOY & WEIRDNESS OF BEING A LATE BLOOMER and STARTUP: A NOVEL
