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I went to Olive Young Festa. Here's what happened!

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✨ KpopAngel Original🗓️ 8/30/2026, 2:07:18 PM⏱️ 3 min read👀 11 views💬 0

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1This year, Olive Young made their debut in the West by not only opening its first physical store but also becoming one of the main events at KCON 2026.
2Here is a summary of what went down and advice for future events on their rise!

I went to Olive Young Festa. Here's what happened! — Photo by CJ Newsroom. Link source: https://newsroom.cj.net/olive-young-festa-la-2026/

Besides the iconic U.S. debuts for many groups, KCON LA 2026 also served as a stepping stone for Olive Young, a name that many people within the cosmetics space have likely heard before. For many years, the beauty retailer was only established in South Korea, catering to consumers there. Now, thanks to the worldwide surge in popularity of K-Beauty and makeup trends from social media, the company took its first step in the West by opening its very first store in L.A., and later became the main event at this year's KCON.

After waiting in line alongside many other excited participants, I was let into the Los Angeles Convention Center. There, Sung Hanbin's voice greeted everyone on the loudspeakers, mimicking a phone ringing. Known as one of the most popular contestants in the survival show Boys Planet, he also made history as KCON's first-ever "global ambassador", making appearances throughout videos and performances that happened at the end of each night.

After getting onto the second floor, I was mind-blown by all of the level of production and effort that went into the event. About 55 well-known brands each had their own booths, catering to skincare, makeup, haircare, and beauty tools, all with bright color schemes that matched their individual themes.

There was a group of staff within each booth, making sure the lines went smoothly and were recognizable, as each brand had different types of uniforms for the people working. Gathering from the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up over the course of the three-day event, there will definitely be a future festa happening. Here are some tips for anyone who wants to go in the future:

Arrive as early as possible. Even before you enter the actual convention, the lines were extremely long. The days differed, but in my experience, the wait ended up being a few hours, and I showed up at around 10 am. As the day went by, the traffic at the convention center also became a lot more crowded, and the difficulty of visiting the booths went from waiting to impossible to even get a glimpse of.
Have a rough plan of where you want to go. As I was gaining entry, I was given a map of all the booths that were there and their locations. Being able to have an idea of which brands I wanted to check out in conjunction with each other made things smoother in the experience.
Be prepared for anything. That's a given, but a lot of the queue systems that MNET tried to implement didn't work 100%, if at all. Flexibility is important to get to where you want to go!
If one booth is overcrowded, immediately start moving to any booth with fewer people. Even if it's your favorite brand, the lines eventually get cut once the maximum number of people are there to avoid traffic. It's all about timing!
Explore the other events happening on the floor. Even though there were a few brands I wanted to check out, I knew the lines and wait times were not worth it at that moment. Instead, I went to the K-Story Zone, where you could meet different actors and get a decent view of Lee Sang Heon's panel!

It was so cool listening to them talk about the different products and ingredients from the different brands, some even telling me about the new launches they were planning for the future. Overall, a great experience and an indicator of Olive Young's continued success in the States.