Consequently, overseas customers don’t always recognize where the products originate. “When international clients discover we are Spanish, they are often surprised by the quality of our formulas and our technology,” says Germaine de Capuccini’s Menkhorst. For ISDIN, however, Spanish origin is already an asset. Vallejos says it gives the brand “personality and differentiation”. In the US, he says, some consumers discover the brand while traveling in Spain and seek it out again once they return home. But individual success doesn’t necessarily create a collective identity. With 84% of Spanish cosmetics companies being SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), according to Stanpa, building one presents a challenge. “Many Spanish companies have succeeded on their own, but we haven’t told that story together,” says Menkhorst. Could Spanish beauty be next? Maybe. But exports alone won’t create a beauty phenomenon. “K-beauty became a category because consumers bought into a philosophy before they bought into any single brand,” says Laura Koeppler, founder of On the Shelf Agency, who has worked in K-beauty for more than 12 years. “The proposition was …