Han Ga-in went to Shanghai, sat down in a salon, and came out looking like a completely different kind of icon.
{img}The South Korean actress, known for her distinctive facial features and elegant screen presence, visited China and tried the wanghong makeup trend for a video on her YouTube channel "hangainisfree." The video, uploaded March 12 and titled "What happens when Han Ga-in tries Shanghai's wanghong makeup?", quickly went viral — and viewers had a lot of feelings about the result.
Wanghong is a Chinese term for social media influencers, and the makeup style associated with them is anything but subtle. Think dramatically enlarged eyes, carefully styled hair, elaborate accessories, and for the full look, whitening makeup applied even to the arms. It is bold, highly stylized, and very much built for photos.
When Han Ga-in walked into the salon, the staff were already impressed before a brush touched her face. "You're so pretty. Your side profile. Don't you like it too?" one stylist said. She responded with a shy "What are you talking about?" while the cameras kept rolling.
{img}The eye makeup was what surprised her most. As the stylists worked, she looked in the mirror and laughed. "My eyes are getting so big. My eyes are already globally big," she said. The hair accessories were another level entirely — elaborate, heavy, and stacked. When the full look was done she looked straight at the camera and said, "I can say with certainty this is the most extravagant hair decoration I've ever tried. Is this actually pretty?"
She followed the salon session with a photoshoot at a popular influencer location, completing the full wanghong experience. The final photos, shared with the video, set off a wave of comments. Fans called her "shockingly beautiful," "a doll that became an even bigger doll," and "the prettiest wanghong I've ever seen." She also warned viewers with neck problems to think twice before trying the look. "My head feels so heavy," she said.
{img}The video sits at an interesting intersection right now — Korean celebrity meets Chinese internet beauty culture, and the result goes viral on both sides. Wanghong influencer aesthetics have been picking up global attention for a while, and moments like this one, where a well-known Korean actress genuinely engages with the trend rather than just observing it, tend to travel far online.