Special products gain popularity amid fear over fine dust

With fine dust alert put in place in Seoul and the surrounding areas in Gyeonggi Province for the first time this year on Friday, a cosmetics set that is designed to prevent penetration of fine dust into skin has been introduced.

CNP Cosmetics put to sale limited 200 sets of "beauty kits exclusively for fine dust" that it says is designed to protect skin from fine dust. The kit is consisted of blemish balm (BB) cream that one applies on the skin before outing, a gel type cleansing product that she cleanses the skin with upon returning home after outing, and a form type cleansing product for removing dead skin cells.

A source at CNP Cosmetics said, “We have developed the products because we received a flurry of consumer inquires about how they can protect skin from fine dust flowing in from China.”

Large discounters see sales of foods that are known to be effective in alleviating cough and protecting bronchial tube rise from the previous year. A survey of tea sales from December 1 to Tuesday conducted by E-mart showed sales of Asian herbal teas, including quince, cactus, and ssanghwa known to be effective in protecting the bronchial tube, increased 9.5 percent from the same period of last year. Sales of bellflower root tea and ginger tea also jumped 117 percent and 54 percent, respectively, from the same period of last year.

Sales of protective face masks designed to filter out yellow dust have also increased. According to the Homeplus discount store, sales of face masks increased more than 220 percent during December 1 to Thursday from the same period of last year.