Glow Recipe and Buldak launch a $38 Glass Balm Duo inspired by Buldak's Original and Carbonara spicy noodle sauces

Key Takeaways

• Glow Recipe has partnered with Korean spicy noodle brand Buldak, owned by Samyang Foods, on a limited-edition Glass Balm Duo.

• The duo includes two tinted versions of Glow Recipe's Glass Balm, inspired by Buldak's two most popular sauces, Original and Carbonara.

• It costs $38 and launches first on TikTok Shop on 15 October 2026.

• The duo then arrives on sephora.com on 23 October and in Sephora stores on 2 November.

Buldak is best known for the fiery instant noodles that made it a social media favourite, so its latest collaboration takes the brand somewhere far gentler, as skin care brand Glow Recipe has turned two of its best-known sauces into tinted lip balms. The limited-edition Glow Recipe x Buldak Glass Balm Duo takes its inspiration from Buldak's Original and Carbonara flavours, and it is launching first on TikTok Shop, which is where both brands have built much of their following.

The partnership also carries a personal story for Glow Recipe, whose cofounders and co-chief executives Christine Chang and Sarah Lee are both Korean American, and who have described the project as a tribute to the food they grew up with as well as a meeting point for two Korean brands that have built big followings in the US.

The Glow Recipe x Buldak Glass Balm Duo costs $38 and reaches Sephora stores on 2 November

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The duo is made up of two limited-edition, tinted iterations of Glow Recipe's Glass Balm, each one inspired by one of Buldak's most popular sauces, and it is priced at $38 for the pair. It went on sale through TikTok Shop on Thursday 15 October, before rolling out to sephora.com on 23 October and into Sephora stores on 2 November, so the most social part of the launch happens before the balms appear on a shop shelf.

Choosing TikTok as the starting point reflects where both brands already sell, since Buldak has 2.3 million followers on the platform and has sold more than 92,000 products through TikTok Shop, while Glow Recipe, which has been a social-first brand since it launched in 2014, has 1.9 million followers and has sold roughly 123,000 products through the app.

Chang framed the launch around heritage, saying "For us, this collaboration is a love letter to the foods we grew up with and the culture and global community that shaped us." Lee drew a line between the two companies' journeys, explaining that Buldak "has been one of the most impactful examples of Korean culture traveling the world through shared experience and social conversation," and adding, "We feel that there are parallels to how Glow Recipe grew, from bringing Korean beauty to the U.S. to building a community that turned our skin care products into cult favorites."

For Buldak, the lip balms are a way to stretch the brand beyond the noodle aisle, and Abbas Arslan, vice president of marketing for Buldak, said "Buldak has grown into far more than a food brand. Our fans have turned it into a culture of its own. Partnering with Glow Recipe lets us meet that community in a completely new space." He went on to say "For us, this is about growing Buldak as a lifestyle brand and reaching new audiences where they already are."