Kim Yeseul has always heard that everyone glows up in college . . . so why does she feel like the least pretty college student ever?! All of her peers look effortlessly put together 24/7, but Yeseul has no idea how to put on makeup or style her hair. With neither the looks nor the confidence to stand out, Yeseul resigns herself to hiding behind her camera as she completes her photography degree.

Enter Cheon Yuseong, the most sought-after makeup artist in Korea. He needs a model for an upcoming TV competition series, and he's certain that Yeseul's plain face is the perfect canvas to showcase his skills. Yeseul isn't interested in fame or glory—she just wants to look pretty enough to catch the attention of her longtime crush, Seungwoo. But as Yeseul plunges face-first into the cutthroat world of cosmetics, she begins to question whether appearance really is everything.

The Makeup Remover has a story and art by Lee Yeon. English translation is done by Somin Parker and lettering by James Forest. Published by Inklore (March 3, 2026). Rated T+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

At first, I was leery of this book. As someone who doesn't wear makeup or care much about day-to-day appearance, I was afraid it would trade in outdated stereotypes about female beauty standards. But instead, The Makeup Remover takes those, acknowledges them, and turns them, if not quite on their heads, then at least in a different direction. Yeseul has spent her entire life being told she's not pretty enough. When she was in elementary through high school, her mother told her not to think about it and to just focus on her studies, because “everyone has a glow-up in college.” Then when Yeseul got to college, her mother started bugging her to wear makeup and make herself pretty, completely ignoring the fact that no one ever taught Yeseul how to do that – or suggested that it was something worth doing. By the time she's in her junior year, she's completely internalized the idea that she's never going to be enough, not in looks and not academically. She's lost before she's even started.

Her meeting with professional makeup artist Yuseong could have taken a very basic, familiar path. He sees her plainness and wants to use her as his blank canvas for a prestigious makeup competition, and he wants her to feel better about herself. But what he doesn't count on is that his idea of what will make her feel better isn't hers. She doesn't just want to be pretty and sexy, she wants to be fierce. She wants warpaint, not makeup, because she is tired of being pushed around because of how she looks. My favorite moment in the book is when Yuseong decides that their first look for the competition will be to make her a lady warrior and he describes that as “sexy.” Yeseul demands to know why a woman warrior has to be. As a warrior, all she has to be is strong and fierce. She should strike fear into the enemy's heart, not turn him on. To Yuseong, this is mind-blowing – and it also gives him something to work with that he'd never considered before.

There are, of course, plenty of more pat moments, like the fact that Yeseul is actually quite talented in her field (photography) and a good person overall, and that her rival is the hottest girl in school. But even Heewon sees her beauty as something less powerful than men say it is, and there's good setup for The Makeup Remover to challenge ideas of beauty and who women look beautiful for. I'll be sad if it never does this, but even then, this first volume is one I'm glad I read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.