This Korean Beauty Trend Is Crazy In Two Ways

We've seen some pretty bizarre beauty phenomenons emerge from South Korea. This one takes the cake, by far.

When Into the Gloss reported on the Berrisom lip stain — which is a non-smudge, peel-off tint — the idea intrigued us. But, what really caught our attention were some of the comments. When one commenter, Katy, was doing research on the product, she found evidence that you can use it on your nipples. Although we're not sure where that lovely image came from, it left us with an "Um, what?" reaction. Followed by: "Why would you want them to be rosier? Is it supposed to make you look aroused or something? What's the point?"

So, we had to do a little digging. It appears that people have been coloring their nips long before 2014, and that it isn't confined to Korea. Benefit's Benetint was originally created in the '70s for an exotic dancer. And, we found that in some cultures, pinker nipples are viewed as youthful, which is why thousands of women in Japan color theirs.

Stateside and in the U.K., there are plenty of products catering to various nipple needs. There is, for example, Agent Provocateur's Titillation Lip & Nipple Balm (it enhances stimulation, which we can totally get behind). Dr. Lipp's Nipple Balm for Lips was originally created for nursing mothers and has more uses than you can shake a stick at: as a lip gloss, as an eye gloss, to help soothe nipples that are sore from breastfeeding, as a "last-minute shoe polish," and even "to ease chafing from sequins and spiky costumes."

We also had our Korean beauty correspondent, Joyce Kong, do a little research. While she said she couldn't find concrete evidence of this being a major fad among Korean women, there are cultural indications that it may be used this way. "I can see how this would be a thing in Korea, since there are skin bleachers for Korean girls to have soft, pink nipples and lady parts," she said via email. "I have a friend who used her dad's bleaching stuff (he's a dentist) to try and bleach her nether regions. That didn't go well. But, since Korea's Internet requires all users to self-identify — nothing can be posted anonymously — the reviews for these lip stains seem to be confined to lip use."

Is it a trend? Not exactly. But, the idea is still pretty interesting. It just goes to show that out of all the weird little things we obsess over, there are equally weird things — like not rosy enough nipples — that girls around the world also freak out about.