WAKEMAKE Olive Young: the Korean makeup brand of blurred palettes

Walk into any Olive Young store in Seoul and you’ll inevitably come across a big pink and white display full of palettes: that’s WAKEMAKE. If you’re searching for “WAKEMAKE Olive Young”, that makes sense: the two are linked, since WAKEMAKE is Olive Young’s in-house makeup brand. It’s known for its eyeshadow palettes in soft colors, its long-lasting eyeliners and its light tints, all at gentle prices.

In this guide, we explain where the brand comes from, what makes its textures so easy to wear, how to find your way through its lines, and above all what to choose for your base, eyes, brows and lips.

WAKEMAKE Olive Young: the brand’s story

To understand WAKEMAKE, you first need to know Olive Young: it’s the health and beauty store chain of the Korean group CJ, where Korean women buy their everyday cosmetics. On top of the brands it distributes, the chain has created its own brands, called “PB” in Korea (private brands).

WAKEMAKE is the makeup brand of this family. Olive Young launched it in 2015, with a simple idea: offer professional-quality makeup that’s easy to use.

In February 2023, WAKEMAKE signed an agreement with Cosmax, one of the big Korean cosmetics manufacturers, and together they created the WAKEMAKE Color Lab, a unit that works on colors and textures suited to Korean skin tones and each season’s trends. First result: the Soft Blurring Eye Palette went from 12 to 16 eyeshadows. The same year, the “Color is WAKEMAKE” campaign was fronted by Huh Yunjin, member of the K-pop group LE SSERAFIM.

WAKEMAKE has also gone beyond Korea. It arrived in the United Arab Emirates online on Amazon and Noon in August 2022, then in stores at Sephora and Faces in January 2023. In Japan, you’ll find it in the big beauty chains like @cosme, PLAZA and LOFT. And as of mid-October 2026, the store also offers several Hello Kitty editions of its products.

The WAKEMAKE philosophy: colors that reflect you

Olive Young describes WAKEMAKE as a “young professional” makeup brand: carefully chosen colors, from everyday basics to trendy shades, so that everyone can express themselves with their own colors. In practice, that means three things:

• “All-in-one” palettes: the eyeshadows are coordinated with each other, so you can hardly go wrong.
• Shades designed by skin tone: the brand works with a personal color system (warm tones, cool tones), very popular in Korea.
• Blurred finishes: the word “blurring” is everywhere, for a soft result, never too heavy.

WAKEMAKE’s key textures

WAKEMAKE is a makeup brand: its “key ingredients” are mainly its textures and finishes. Here are the ones to know.

The “blurring” finish: blurred colors

This is the brand’s signature. “Blurring” eyeshadows and blushes deposit a very fine powder that melts into the skin, with no harsh edges. You’ll find it in the brand’s signature Soft Blurring Eye Palette, the Mix Blurring Volume blush and the Over Blurring Pot, a balm in a pot for cheeks and lips.

“Water” and “glow” textures: the fresh effect

For the lips, WAKEMAKE goes for watery, light textures that aren’t sticky. The Waterful Glow Tint gives a glossy, water-soaked finish, and the Water Blurring Layer Tint a more blurred veil of color that layers easily.

The “Stay Fixer” line: makeup that lasts

The Stay Fixer powders set makeup with a fine powder. Their multicolored powders also help even out small irregularities in skin tone, like in the Stay Fixer Tone Correcting Pact, handy for touch-ups.

Fine tips: precise brows and eyeliners

WAKEMAKE gives a big place to its pencils. The Natural Hard Brow Pencil, our best-selling WAKEMAKE product over the last three months, has a firm tip to draw hairs one by one. For eyeliners, the Any-Proof line (felt tip or brush) draws a clean line that lasts all day.

The WAKEMAKE lines to know

Which WAKEMAKE for your look?

For makeup, we’ve sorted by step of the look: we give you our favorite product, plus two others to round it out.

A complete WAKEMAKE routine, morning and night

In the morning: the everyday look

1. Even outThe Seamless Wear Cushion, patted on from the center of the face outward.
2. CorrectA touch of Defining Cover Concealer on dark circles or a red spot.
3. SetThe Stay Fixer powder on the T-zone.
4. DefineYour brows with the Powder Jet Dual Brow, then a thin line of Any-Proof eyeliner.
5. Add colorA veil of liquid blush and the Waterful Glow Tint on your lips.

In the evening: the night-out look, then makeup removal

1. IntensifyThe darker shades of the Soft Blurring Eye Palette along the lash line and in the crease.
2. HighlightA touch of Sheer Breeze highlighter on the tops of your cheekbones.
3. ShineThe Glaze Fixing Gloss over your tint for extra shine.
4. Remove makeupBefore bed, take everything off with a cleansing oil, then a gentle cleanser.

Our tips for using WAKEMAKE well

• Choose your palette by skin tone: peach and coral tones if you have a warm complexion, pink and mauve tones if your complexion is cooler.
• Apply eyeshadows from lightest to darkest: the light one over the whole lid, the medium one in the crease, the dark one along the lash line.
• Pat the cushion, don’t spread it: you get a thinner, more even layer.
• Layer blurred textures in thin coats: it’s easier to build up than to take off.
• Think about your nails: the Nail Gun line lets you match your nails to your look, with the Nail Base Coat underneath.

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Jihyun, team Ma Petite Corée