With 16 years of Korean skincare expertise behind it, multi-award-winning British house BeautyPro is taking its specialist heritage further into global travel retail.
As it targets new markets and partners, the brand is gearing up for a landmark appearance at TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes (27 September-1 October), where it will exhibit with Travel Retail Global (Yellow Village, Stand F57).
A new travel retail exclusive (TREX) is also in the pipeline, with The Moodie Davitt Report set to reveal details soon.
Co-Founder and Product Development Director David Herdman speaks to The Moodie Davitt Report Associate Editor Camille Bersola about the brand’s journey, evolving portfolio and plans to capture further opportunities across travel retail.
“We were never chasing a trend.”
That’s the philosophy underpinning BeautyPro, says Co-Founder and Product Development Director David Herdman.
Long before K-beauty became a global buzzword, the brand was already looking to South Korea to develop its sheet masks.
Herdman says: “Working closely with our factories, we often come across an ingredient a year or two before it becomes widely known. We knew about ingredients like PDRN in sheet masks three or four years before they started appearing more broadly in the market and in travel retail.”
Over a decade-and-a-half on, that commitment remains at the heart of the UK brand, which is now looking to turn its specialist heritage into a bigger presence across the domestic market and travel retail.
BeautyPro began in the professional beauty sector, when Herdman spotted an opportunity to develop a more practical consumable for a salon device.
After discovering South Korean sheet masks as an alternative to messy, time-consuming collagen patches, the company launched its first two masks around 16 years ago, becoming one of the UK’s first sheet mask brands and an early importer of Korean sheet masks.
Herdman says: “Being made in South Korea is a bit different. Korean skincare has exploded in popularity recently, but we’ve been formulating and manufacturing there for 16 years, long before it became the trend it is today.
“That means we’re not jumping on a bandwagon. We’ve always been ahead of the curve and that authenticity matters, particularly to international buyers and travellers who are increasingly savvy about where their skincare actually comes from.”
As sheet masks have moved from a niche offering to a highly competitive category, consumers are now faced with an ever-growing array of brands and product claims. But BeautyPro has continued to grow by staying true to what makes it distinctive.
Herdman says, “The skincare market is undeniably noisy, with countless brands and bold claims competing for attention, so standing out really comes down to what we do and what we stand for.
“Our products are made in South Korea, plant-based, vegan and, where possible, water-free; our sheet masks themselves are made from biodegradable bamboo, and 60% of our sheet mask packaging is now biodegradable too. Those credentials genuinely set us apart in a crowded category.”
Rather than trying to compete with larger players on marketing spend, BeautyPro has focused on creativity and differentiation to build awareness in the skincare market.
Herdman continues: “One of the ways we do that is through breadth. A buyer or retailer can come to us for so much across categories: sheet masks for face, eyes, hands and feet, warming eye masks and skincare devices like our LED wand, T-bar and Hydra Test.
“On top of that, Wonderbalm offers something different again as an all-purpose, vegan, Korean balm and it’s performed brilliantly in travel retail, especially our Wonderbalm duo, which comes paired with a lip balm.
“That range and versatility, being able to offer so much from one supplier, is a big part of what’s helped us stand out and grow.”
The brand has also made training a key pillar of its travel retail strategy, delivering dedicated sessions for airline and cruise teams to build product knowledge and brand familiarity.
The Wonderbalm story
Beyond sheet masks, Herdman’s own skincare struggles helped inspire a second brand.
Years of working as a chef left his hands cracked, dry and irritated, while his mother experienced similar problems from working outdoors. Their shared experience ultimately led to the development of Wonderbalm, launched in 2024.
Herdman says, “From the outset, the ethos was clear: I wanted it rooted in Korean beauty, vegan and as natural as possible.
“Getting there wasn’t instant, the formula went through three or four different iterations of texture and scent before we landed on the right one, working closely with our factories throughout.”
The product underwent extensive testing among family and friends with similar skin concerns, whose first-hand feedback helped shape the final formula.
He comments: “That influence hasn’t stopped since launch. We’re still listening to feedback from real consumers in real everyday environments, and it continues to shape how we refine and think about the brand.
“My own taste and standards still guide what we make, but just as important is that Wonderbalm is a multi-purpose, all-in-one balm that any member of the family can use, for anything, which I think is very much where skincare as an industry is heading right now.”
Building a beauty presence on the move
The business has since grown into a broader retail brand across the UK and Ireland, with its domestic success paving the way into travel retail.
Since the pandemic, BeautyPro has accelerated its presence across cruise ships, airlines, duty-free and cross-border stores, where its convenient, skin-refreshing format is particularly suited to travellers.
Cannes has proved another important platform for building BeautyPro’s travel retail profile.
Since exhibiting at the TFWA World Exhibition for the first time two years ago, the company has collected more than 60 awards across its travel retail and domestic business.
Its LED Wand was a Frontier Awards finalist in 2024 and 2025, Wonderbalm has also received Frontier Awards recognition, and BeautyPro On The Glow took the Best Beauty Buy title in 2024.
The brands now have a presence across more than 30 airlines, alongside cruise partners such as MSC and Harding Plus.
This travel retail growth has been complemented by strong domestic visibility, with coverage across major media and television, and products appearing on TV and film sets and in celebrity use.
The brand’s growing global reach also puts greater emphasis on what differentiates BeautyPro as it competes for attention in an increasingly crowded skincare market.
“In travel retail specifically, that combination of genuine K-beauty credentials and vegan formulation gives retailers and airlines real confidence that they’re offering something credible and in demand, not just following a trend,” Herdman says.
“This supports our positioning strongly as we continue to expand into new international markets.”
Built around the travelling consumer
BeautyPro continues to build momentum across the channel, with listings spanning airlines, cruise ships and airports.
Its airline partners include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Asiana Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, alongside cruise operators MSC, Marella and P&O, and retail partners including Heinemann, WHSmith, ARI, Avolta and KrisShop.
Against this backdrop of growing traveller demand, BeautyPro sees opportunities both to deepen existing partnerships and extend its reach into new markets.
Herdman says, “First, deepening our existing partnerships, getting listed in more formats and touchpoints with the airlines and retailers we already work with.
“Second, continuing to add new airline, cruise and duty-free partners in regions where we’re not yet present.
“Consumers are also increasingly ingredient literate now, they understand what something like bakuchiol actually does for the skin and travellers specifically are looking for products that genuinely match their values, whether that’s vegan, plant-based, or Korean formulation.”
He also highlights the company’s focus on developing travel retail-exclusive (TREX) products, created specifically around the needs of travelling consumers rather than simply adapting its domestic portfolio.
Portfolio expansion is another key focus, with new face and eye patches helping BeautyPro offer retailers a broader proposition and create a stronger presence across the skincare shelf.
Adding to its innovation pipeline, BeautyPro is set to debut a TREX at the upcoming TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, entering a new category driven by a fast-growing global TikTok trend.
Herdman says: “It’s exactly the kind of innovation that fits our wider strategy, giving travellers something novel and effective that plays perfectly into that captive, undivided attention travel retail gives us. Keep an eye out in the September issue of The Moodie Davitt Report and do come and see us at Cannes.”
For the years ahead, the company sees its multi-brand model as a key growth driver, with BeautyPro and Wonderbalm both set to deepen their presence across the travel retail landscape.
Herdman comments, “We’re widening our airline and duty-free footprint in areas where we’re still underrepresented, particularly Asia Pacific and the Middle East, where demand for K-beauty and dependable, trusted products is growing quickly.
“We also want to keep a strong focus on European travellers, because there’s a real halo effect at play. People already know BeautyPro so well domestically in the UK that it becomes an easy, trusted pickup when they see us in duty free, at the airport, or onboard.”
Innovation will remain a key pillar of BeautyPro’s growth strategy, with the company looking to stay ahead of emerging trends while continuing to build trust with its travel retail partners.
Herdman concludes, “Ultimately though, the goal remains the same as when we started: keep the products genuinely effective, keep the story genuinely real and grow with more travellers and more partners over time.” ✈
