Why Did Fenty, Huda and Glow Recipe Launch the Same Eye-Patch Jar?

In one week of September, Fenty Skin, Glow Recipe, Huda Beauty and Vitamasques all teased the same thing: a round jar that slices a fresh hydrogel eye patch with a twist of the cap. Fenty's PR pitch called it "first of its kind." It was not. A Korean brand had been selling it since July, and the jar itself was a catalog item from a Korean packaging maker that anyone could order in lots of 5,000. By the time Burger King posted a honey mustard version with the caption "you guys too? omg," the joke was on the whole industry. For Korean brands, the more useful story is what happened before the memes.

What happened with the eye-patch jars?

On September 17, Fenty's PR agency pitched a new eye patch as "first of its kind," according to BeautyMatter. On September 18, Glow Recipe announced its version. By September 20, creators were unboxing Glow Recipe's jar, and on September 21 a creator leaked Huda Beauty's. The same evening Fenty Skin posted the "Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man" meme. Glow Recipe answered with "This is fine," and Vitamasques teased its own jar on September 22.

Huda Kattan then wrote in an Instagram comment that "we all got screwed over by the same packaging supplier" and that they were "lied to on exclusivity." On September 23, Huda Beauty posted an animated video of the jars sitting on a couch, "getting called in for a documentary about a certain manufacturer." It drew 6.9 million views, according to The Business of Fashion.

Fenty Skin turned the pileup into a Spider-Man meme on September 21. View on Instagram

Where did the jar come from?

From Samhwa, a packaging maker in Uiwang, just south of Seoul. Marie Claire describes it as one of Korea's big-three packagers. KKR bought 100% of the company from TPG Capital Asia in September 2025 for about ₩733 billion, according to Maeil Business News.

The jar is listed on Impacked, an open U.S. packaging marketplace, as the "Samhwa 100ml PP Fresh-Slice Hydrogel Eye Patch Dispenser." The listing gives a minimum order of 5,000 units, a six-week lead time and Uiwang as the place of manufacture. One turn shears one patch. Impacked's founder, Lisa-Marie Assenza, told The Business of Fashion it is a "stock public mould," and "in those cases, brands take on the risk that other brands will also launch in them."

The jar behind "eyepatchgate" is a public listing on a U.S. packaging marketplace. Full specs, including the 5,000-unit minimum, open after a free sign-up.

Image: Impacked

Samhwa's U.S. sales director, Vincent McCarthy, called it "one of those one-in-10-year type innovations." He said Samhwa began pitching it in Korea in October 2025, then took it to Los Angeles and New York through late 2025 and early 2026. The reaction, in his words: "I want it. I want it now. How soon? Here's my PO."

Was anyone promised exclusivity?

Here the accounts split. Kattan says her brand was lied to. McCarthy told The Business of Fashion that no brand had exclusivity, and that Huda Beauty, Fenty Beauty and Glow Recipe were "all interested in and touched on exclusivity," but Samhwa "couldn't grant" it. Glow Recipe co-CEO Christine Chang told BeautyMatter: "I don't think it's a screwed-over situation. It's more like we saw an innovation we were very excited about, and it looks like other brands got excited about it as well."

Product development consultant Tamar Kamen offered the arithmetic. Exclusivity "probably wasn't offered," she said, and if it had been, "it would have likely been for millions of units instead of hundreds of thousands of units." Babba Rivera, founder of Ceremonia, added that her brand once paid "hefty molding and exclusivity fees" for a two-year hold on a design, and another brand launched in the same packaging that month.

We cannot tell who is right about what was said in which meeting. What the record does show is simpler: the component was on a public catalog, the order minimum was 5,000, and the brands that wanted it most were ordering in the hundreds of thousands, not the millions.

Why did a Korean brand get there first?

The first brand to sell it was Wonder Bath, owned by KOSDAQ-listed CSA Cosmic. Its site announced "NEW! SLICE SERUM" on July 16, 2026, two months before the U.S. teasers. McCarthy gave two reasons. Wonder Bath worked with Samhwa on a custom version of the jar, which sped up development, and as a Korean company it had shorter shipping times.

That is the Korean supply chain working exactly as it should. A Korean brand sat close to a Korean packager, co-developed a custom version and shipped first. But Wonder Bath's patches are sold only in Korea, so most U.S. shoppers met the format through Fenty, Glow Recipe and Huda. Wonder Bath's reply to Fenty's meme was gracious: "There is room for everyone in the market." Being first in Korea did not make it the name American shoppers attached to the format.

Korean media barely noticed. We found no Korean news coverage of the pileup between September 20 and 27, and the peak fell just before the Chuseok holiday. CSA Cosmic's shares rose 7.5% on September 21, before Fenty's meme, then fell on both of the next two trading days.

Who won the meme?

Brands that were never in the jar. Tree Hut posted "introducing the Tree Hut eye patches that we absolutely did not make" on September 22 and drew 17,560 likes. LANEIGE Canada asked, "we can still launch our eye patches if you're okay with it" (15,853 likes). Bushbalm and Marc Anthony Haircare followed on September 23.

Tree Hut joined on September 22 with a product it "absolutely did not make." View on Instagram

The sharpest move came from a Korean brand. LANEIGE US opened with the joke, "freshly sliced from the same mold? Cute," then pivoted in the same caption: "Drenched in serum? Now we're talking," and went straight into its own hydrogel patches. It used someone else's supply-chain story to sell its formula.

LANEIGE US turned the joke into a product pitch for its own patches. View on Instagram

Beauty of Joseon, another Korean brand, made the same turn on September 23 without showing a jar at all. Its cartoon has a parade of colorful jars walking past while its own jar peeks around the corner, captioned "Everyone's talking jars. We're showing off what's inside." It drew 31,017 likes, more than any other brand post we tracked outside the jar.

Beauty of Joseon pointed at the formula instead of the jar. View on Instagram

Then the joke left beauty. On September 25, Burger King posted a honey mustard tub in the same slicing pose with the caption "you guys too? omg" and drew 25,771 likes. A few hours later Gillette posted a jar of "Fresh-Sliced Shave Patches" under the line "BLADE-THIN SLICES. OBVIOUSLY." and captioned it "Well this is awkward." When a burger chain and a razor brand can borrow the pose, the format no longer belongs to any beauty brand.

Burger King's honey mustard tub, September 25. View on Instagram

Gillette's shave patches, posted the same day. View on Instagram

What should Korean brands check before building on a new packaging format?

Korea's packagers are now a source of global product innovation, and the same catalog is open to every brand you compete with in the U.S. That cuts both ways. Packaging consultant Allison Kent-Gunn Garibay told BeautyMatter the questions she asks before a brand commits to a differentiated stock package. We have adapted them for Korean brands planning a U.S. launch.

Ask who else has access. If the component is on a public catalog, assume a larger brand can have it in six weeks.

Negotiate narrow protection, not global exclusivity. Garibay's own list: "geography, product category, channel, configuration, or time period." A U.S.-only or Amazon-only window is cheaper than a worldwide lock.

Customize the part. Wonder Bath's custom version was how it got to market first. A changed mouth, dose or finish is also what makes a jar yours in a side-by-side photo.

Treat the U.S. launch date as part of the deal. Launching first in Korea did not help Wonder Bath in the U.S. If the format is the hook, the U.S. market needs to see it from you before it sees it from a Sephora brand.

Make the formula the story. Glow Recipe's latest video put it plainly: "The packaging got your attention. But the formula will do all the talking." LANEIGE and Beauty of Joseon each did the same in a single post. Creators can carry a formula story. A jar story belongs to whoever posts it loudest.

BAZZAAL works from Los Angeles with Korean brands entering the U.S., so we see both halves of this story: how fast a Korean innovation moves through LA and New York, and how quickly the U.S. conversation settles on whoever shows it first.

Launching a new format in the U.S.? Talk to our team.

Sources: The Business of Fashion, "How Beauty Can Avoid Accidental Copycats" (Liz Flora, Sep 25, 2026); BeautyMatter (Sara Spruch-Feiner, Sep 23, 2026); Marie Claire (Tanya Akim, Sep 24, 2026); ELLE (Sep 23, 2026); BuzzFeed (Sep 2026); Impacked product listing SEP-F100M-01-A-IP (viewed Sep 27, 2026); Maeil Business News (Sep 4, 2025); Wonder Bath official site (Jul 16, 2026); Naver Finance, CSA Cosmic 083660 daily prices (viewed Sep 27, 2026); Instagram posts by @fentyskin, @treehut, @laneige_us, @laneigeca, @beautyofjoseon_official, @bushbalm, @marcanthonyhaircare, @burgerking and @gillette (likes as of Sep 27, 2026).

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