Flawless

Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

By: Elise Hu

Narrated by: Elise Hu

One of Porchlight's Business Books of the Year | One of Vox's Best Books of 2023 | An NPR Book of the Day | Required Reading from New York Post | One of Nylon's 13 May Books to Add to Your Reading List | One of PureWow's 14 Books to Read for AAPI Heritage Month | One of W Magazine's 14 Books to Dive Into This Summer | One of Betches' Best Summer Reads of 2023

An audacious journalistic exploration of the present and future of beauty through the lens of South Korea's booming "K-beauty" industry and the culture it promotes, by Elise Hu, NPR host-at-large and the host of TED Talks Daily

K-beauty has captured imaginations worldwide by promising a kind of mesmerizing perfection. Its skincare and makeup products—creams packaged to look like milkshakes or pandas, and snail mucus face masks, to name a few—work together to fascinate us, champion consumerism, and invite us to indulge. In the four years Elise spent in Seoul as NPR’s bureau chief, the global K-beauty industry quadrupled. Today it's worth $10 billion and is only getting bigger as it rides the Hallyu wave around the globe.

And fun as self-care consumerism may be, Elise turns her veteran eye to the darker questions lurking beneath the surface of this story. When technology makes it easy to quantify and optimize ourselves—from banishing blemishes, to whittling our waistlines, even to shaving down our jaws—where do we draw the line? What are the dangers for a society where a flawless face and body are promoted and possible? What are the real financial, physical, and emotional costs of beauty work in a culture that valorizes endless self-improvement and codes it as empowerment?

With rich historical context and deep reporting, including hours of interviews with South Korean women, this is a complex, provocative look at the ways hustle culture has reached into the sinews of our bodies. It raises complicated questions about gender disparity, consumerism, the beauty imperative of an appearance obsessed society, and the undeniable political, economic, and social capital of good looks worldwide. And it points the way toward an alternative vision, one that's more affirming and inclusive than a beauty culture led by industry.

©2023 Elise Hu (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of Vox's Best Books of 2023

One of NPR's Books of the Day

Required Reading from New York Post

One of Nylon's 13 May Books to Add to Your Reading List

One of PureWow's 14 Books to Read for AAPI Heritage Month

One of W Magazine's 14 Books to Dive Into This Summer

One of Betches' Best Summer Reads of 2023

"A must [listen], Flawless is much more than a book about culture’s obsession with youth and beauty. It provides an urgent metaphorical societal mirror and context for why we spend so much of our time in the quixotic pursuit of perfection. Flawless helps us ask hard questions and reclaim our agency in a world that wants to deny us our power. Hu’s journalism shines a light on what is broken and provides optimism for what can be instead.”—Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play

“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 and Author of The Likeability Trap

“The host of NPR’s “TED Talks Daily” shines 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)

Very interesting info with unique perspective

I had no idea any of this was a thing. Really interesting. A lot of information.

Important thoughts for our time

An antidote to the beauty obsessed narrative of modern journalism. Well written, thoughtful cultural exploration. Highly recommended!

Eye opening

As someone who has generally not thought much about these issues it was great to see the nuance and sophistication of this exploration of a culture that has dived deep into the world or beautification. The author does a great job of digging into the history and empowerment of the makeup and plastic surgery industry and it's potential external negativities. She manages to explore the culture through the lens of her own life while not overly centering her own story over that of the culture she's profiling.

My eyes were really opened to the idea of a world where our appearances could be as fluid as our careers or lifestyles. But at the same time it's frightening to imagine a culture or world where we are mandated to look a certain way to satisfy others or a vague culture norm.

I think the most fascinating part by far was the discussion of how Korean high school graduates are pressured to get plastic surgery before entering the job market, or are expected to compete not just on talent but on looks. It was also cool to see how the new generation is embracing and reshaping those cultural norms and rebelling against them,

I also really liked the exploration of how Westerner's have tried to claim the beauty standards of other countries as trying to look more like them and how that's probably just a weird projection instead of a reality. The author does some brilliant cultural exploration there to dismantle that.

Also her chapter on how 70 year old's present a clever path forward for beauty norms was absolutely brilliant and a delight.

The book convinced me to maybe look into doing more than just a some lotion in the morning because plastic surgery and beautification is so broad and complex and safe relative to what I've heard. But to only focus on getting things done that make me happy and help push towards the vision of myself I want instead of some broad cultural standard.

I don't always like when author's read their own book. But in this case the author did an amazing job. Their pace was perfect, clarity was strong: I listened at 2x and it was still completely understandable, and they put a lot of emotion that a reader would not have. It made the story more rich.

Great book!! You will not be disappointed by this book

This is a fascinating story told About the beauty culture in South Korea which extends throughout the world. Couldn’t put this book down until I finished it!!

Nuanced

She didn’t shy away from her own participation in the Korean Beauty Culture and ended with a possible way forward.

A great dive into the culver of beauty

This book explores the culture of beauty, using South Korea as a focal point to explore global trends and issues in beauty. Taking a nuanced look at what defines beauty and how external beauty norms have been used (and subverted) to both uplift and repress women, Hu explores how beauty intertwines with notions of womenhood, gender equity, power and economics. Hu questions the institutions and systems that create a sort of beauty industrial complex and offers a strong critique of its impact on women and society at large.

Great read

Really enjoyed diving into this conversation. I have recommended this to my friends to listen.

Clear vision of where we don't want to go

Revealing look at a culture as seen from a four year journey to the future.

Illuminating

As a skin care junkie who has adhered to the Korean 12-step regimen for years, I assumed I’d finish this book with a deep appreciation of the R&D put in by K-Beauty manufacturers to keep my skin glowing and pores tight. What I did not expect was the self-reflection that came with understanding South Korea as a bellwether for beauty standards around the world and what impact it’s already had on my own self-esteem (beyond the existing US cultural/general patriarchal expectations), not to mention where we might be headed if the nonpareil standards of K-Pop stars becomes our new norm. Would also never have thought there was a connection between Confucius and my sheet masks, but it speaks to the depth of research Hu did to put together a thoughtful, multi-faceted book about a seemingly superficial topic such as beauty. And as Hu is a broadcast journalist/podcast host, the performance was great. Highly recommend.

Great conversation started on Beauty Culture

Love Elise’s look at beauty culture in Korea and coming back to the US and the effect on society as a whole. If you enjoy her reporting you will love this book.