This fits josei genre, rather than romance. The work itself is mostly just okay(6.5-7 stars), BUT the villain character is TOP TIER (raises rating for me to 8.5). What a character. I love stories that revolve around beauty, but somehow I never met the angle presented here for the antagonist, even though it seems pretty standard at first and maybe even lacking depth. In comparison to MC, that's the character I'd want to read about. The dynamic between mc and villain are what the story should have been about, because this is much stronger angle than romance and college. Ending of the story makes you wantto have a sequel because it has a bit of open end aobut that relationship.

The problem with story is not that it is boring, but that it has similar to Cheese In The Trap dramatism, where things just always go wrong & the MC is always in the epicenter of it for no reason. Just a lot of nasty people and our little Cinderella. What's good, everyone in some way gets character growth, including MC. I watched dorama as well, but I genuinely find it at times too cringe and awkward and just stressful, or perhaps it's just too relatable to real life so there's no much relief or romance or fun.

It is still a solid read on the beauty topic, but it becomes way better when you learn about the villain's true motives. Worth the reread to see it all from their point of view, very good mystery here, imo.

Two works I can somewhat think as compatible in terms of the villain depth, is "Trash Belongs in a Trash Can" & "Mask Girl".