On picture is Magnolia sieboldii, or Siebold’s Magnolia, the main ingredient in the herbal plant-based premium cosmetics line Zain, flagship brand of Coreana, a leading cosmetics company in Korea.

Seoul, Korea ¶ June 16, 2012 -- Green is coming strong in Korea’s cosmetics industry as more companies embrace green marketing to promote their safe plant ingredients, expecting it to help shape nature-friendly corporate images.

Recently a Korean cosmetics company Coreana sponsored its fourth expedition to search Magnolia sieboldii, or Siebold’s Magnolia, the main ingredient in its herbal plant-based premium cosmetics line Zain. The habitat of the rare plant is known to be located in very clean and secluded areas in Korea.

Started back in 2009, the event was designed to draw public’s interest to its rare plant ingredients used in cosmetic products while spurring the development of domestic indigenous plants into natural resource material.

This year the participants of the event will be visiting the habitats of the rare plants and plant the saplings of Siebold’s Magnolia. The entire participation fee was donated to the local community to restore the rare plants.

A marketing manager at Coreana said the green marketing strategy is expected to promote the safety and superiority of domestic cosmetics ingredients both in and out of the country amid growing public distrust in foreign ingredients due to Japanese nuclear meltdown.

Commemorating the Environment Day on June 5 and the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on June 17, another Korean cosmetics company Nature Republic gives away “eco-plants” to purchasing customers.

If you are not impressed by these small outings or freebies, you might as well want to pay a visit to the newly opened botanical garden created by AmorePacific. With a large green tea farm in Jeju, AmorePacific has a stellar track record of farming Korean tea plants as Asian botanicals are the core of its skincare products.

The new botanical garden has a collection of about 200 plants, most of which are used as cosmetics ingredients. The company said it wanted to give a piece of nature to the customers that they can feel the nature and the company can promote more of its products.

Jeansun Kim (press@whowired.com)