Beauty of Joseon Review 2026: Which Products Are Worth It?

Beauty of Joseon went from a niche Korean skincare label to the brand behind the sunscreen half of TikTok seemed to be using. This Beauty of Joseon review pulls together what reviewers who tested the full line, long-term users and ingredient analysts actually found, so you can decide which of its rice, ginseng and propolis formulas belong in your routine and which you can skip.

Verdict: good for budget hanbang skincare, with a few caveats

Beauty of Joseon is a strong pick if you have dry, sensitive or combination skin, want fragrance-free formulas built around gentle traditional ingredients, and do not want to spend more than a drugstore moisturizer costs. It is a weaker fit if you want high-strength actives, a rich sunscreen that doubles as a moisturizer, or protection for a full day in intense sun. The sunscreens and the Dynasty Cream earn the most consistent praise; the exfoliating toner and the grain-free scrub divide reviewers.

What is Beauty of Joseon?

Beauty of Joseon is a Korean skincare brand that borrows from hanbang, the traditional Korean herbal medicine tradition, and dresses it in modern, minimal formulas. Rice, ginseng, propolis, green plum, mugwort and honey appear across the range, usually paired with familiar actives such as niacinamide, retinal or ceramides. The brand sells on its own Shopify store and through K-beauty retailers, and has been expanding into mainstream retail in Europe and India in recent months, which explains the surge of "is it good" searches.

One point several reviewers make: the brand calls itself clean, but it is not an all-natural line. Organic Beauty Lover points out that the formulas include synthetic ingredients alongside the plant extracts, and Coree Beauty's long-term reviewer values the range precisely because it is fragrance-free, alcohol-free and low on irritants rather than because it is "natural". If you shop by ingredient philosophy, read the INCI lists rather than the marketing.

The products reviewers keep coming back to

Prices are what the cited reviewers saw at the time of writing and vary by retailer and region. The European reviewers bought through YesStyle and Stylevana. For US readers, Marie Claire's editor notes that none of her seven picks costs more than $25, and the brand store sells direct.

Relief Sun review: the sunscreen that started it all

Relief Sun is the product most people mean when they say "the Beauty of Joseon sunscreen". Organic Beauty Lover describes a watery, almost moisturizer-like texture that leaves a dewy finish with no white cast. It can be reapplied without feeling greasy, and it costs $18. The same reviewer, who prefers heavier sunscreens, notes it is too thin to replace a moisturizer for very dry skin. Coree Beauty's long-term reviewer, by contrast, calls it the one step that never left her morning routine over a full year. Chokomag rates it excellent for daily city use but deliberately reserves it for low-UV days, a caution worth taking seriously if you are heading to the beach rather than the office.

Day Dew: the reformulated US version

Because the original filters are not approved in the United States, the brand launched Day Dew with FDA-approved UV filters. Marie Claire's beauty editor reports that it offers water resistance for up to 80 minutes and tested at SPF 52 with the highest UVA grade. She also found that it layered without tackiness or a white cast, which is rare for avobenzone-based formulas. The brand store lists it at $18.00, the same price point as Relief Sun. There is also a tinted mineral option, the Dayscreen, rated SPF 30, which Marie Claire picks as the best tinted sunscreen of the line.

Dynasty Cream review: the rising search

Searches for the Dynasty Cream review have jumped this year, and the product deserves the attention. It is a firm gel-cream built on nearly 30% rice bran water and 5% ginseng root water with niacinamide and squalane. Organic Beauty Lover and Marie Claire land on the same verdict: deep hydration with a weightless feel that sits well under makeup, so it works as a daytime moisturizer first. Marie Claire's editor, who has dry, mature skin, calls it the rare lightweight cream that hydrates without shine. Coree Beauty keeps it as the cream step of a year-long sensitive-skin routine. Chokomag is more measured. The texture can feel slightly tacky, and at roughly €20 the reviewer did not find it better than cheaper gel creams for oily, dehydrated skin, while liking the luxurious jar and the low niacinamide dose that suits reactive skin.

Serums review: Glow, Revive and the eye serum

The brand's serums are its value play. Chokomag notes that the discovery set of three 10 ml minis makes them very cheap to trial. The full 30 ml bottles are regularly discounted by Asian retailers, though at full price they cost a little more than The Ordinary or Geek & Gorgeous equivalents. The Glow Serum (propolis and niacinamide) is the product long-term reviewer Coree Beauty credits most for calmer, less congested skin, with fewer breakouts and finer pores after 3 months. Ingredient-analysis blogger Les Avis d'Emilie gives the serum she tested a Yuka score of 100/100.

Two more serums get attention from the English-language reviewers. The Revive Serum pairs 63% ginseng water with 3% snail mucin; Organic Beauty Lover finds it thicker than expected but very hydrating, with an instant dewy look. The Ginseng Moist Sun Serum is a hybrid of serum and sunscreen with 30% ginseng extract and 2% niacinamide; the same reviewer describes it as a touch richer than Relief Sun, still weightless, and free of white cast thanks to newer chemical filters.

The Revive Eye Serum is the gentlest retinal product in the range: 10% ginseng extract and 2% retinal liposome with cholesterol, ceramides and peptides. Chokomag frames the low retinal dose as the whole point, since it lets retinoid beginners use it around the eyes without peeling, and Organic Beauty Lover notes the price is low enough to use it on the whole face.

Cleansers and the rest of the routine

Chokomag's favourite product of the entire line is the Radiance Cleansing Balm: it melts into an oil, emulsifies cleanly and rinses without residue, and the 100 ml tub with its spatula feels generous. The Ginseng Cleansing Oil, a 210 ml bottle, anchors Coree Beauty's routine. The Green Plum Refreshing Cleanser, a gel wash with 24% green plum water, is aimed at oily skin and earned a Que Choisir A grade in Les Avis d'Emilie's analysis. The weak spots sit in the exfoliation step: Chokomag is unconvinced by the foaming AHA Bubble Toner and the cellulose-based grain-free scrub, preferring liquid acid exfoliants from other brands.

Ingredients and formulation

The hanbang angle is more than branding. Rice bran water and ginseng water replace plain water as the base of several formulas, propolis and honey show up for soothing, and mugwort, green plum and centella handle redness. On top of that sit mainstream actives at cautious doses: niacinamide at a few percent rather than ten, a liposomal retinal in the eye serum, ceramides and squalane in the moisturizer. Cosibella's product-by-product guide lists these ingredient combinations for each item, which is handy if you want to avoid a specific extract.

That cautious dosing is the trade-off. Chokomag, who tolerates much stronger niacinamide, finds the Dynasty Cream's dose the minimum for a visible effect, but welcomes it as an option for people whose skin flares up on potent formulas. The formulas are fragrance-free and alcohol-free, which is why Coree Beauty, who started with redness-prone skin, reports fewer flare-ups and a more even tone across the year. In that account, softer skin and less diffuse redness showed up within 2 weeks, and the clearer, more even complexion followed over the next few months.

How it compares with other Korean skincare brands

Against The Ordinary and Geek & Gorgeous, the Beauty of Joseon serums cost slightly more at full price but offer more sensorial, hanbang-based bases, per Chokomag's price comparison. Against mainstream K-beauty names such as COSRX or Anua, the appeal is a tighter, more coherent line: a handful of products designed to layer together rather than a sprawling catalogue. Marie Claire frames the brand as the one that held a permanent spot in a beauty editor's routine after testing many Korean lines, with every product on the list under $25. That list reaches beyond the usual suspects: the editor's picks include the Glow Replenishing Rice Milk toner and the Revive under-eye patches, which she credits with visibly calmer under-eyes after a sleepless travel day. Where Beauty of Joseon loses is at the extremes: no high-percentage actives for stubborn hyperpigmentation, and no rich occlusive for very dry winter skin.

Where to buy and the "scam" question

Searches for "Beauty of Joseon scam" mostly trace back to counterfeit and grey-market listings, not to the brand itself. Chokomag warns that K-beauty marketplaces are full of fakes, expired stock and illegal imports, and recommends only buying from shops with direct supply. The safest routes are the official store, authorised K-beauty retailers such as YesStyle, Stylevana or Miin Cosmetics named by the reviewers, and, increasingly, mainstream pharmacies and department stores as the brand expands its retail footprint. Customer sentiment on the brand's own pages is strong: Les Avis d'Emilie counted an average rating across more than 1,400 customer reviews that ranks among the best in cosmetics, and the brand store shows 6,490 reviews on its best-selling duo.

Who should buy, and who should skip

Buy if you have sensitive, dry or combination skin and want a gentle daily routine on a budget: Relief Sun or Day Dew in the morning, the Glow Serum, Dynasty Cream and the Revive Eye Serum cover most needs for less than a single department-store cream. The discovery minis are a low-risk way to test the serums first.

Skip, or shop selectively, if you need a sunscreen for long outdoor exposure (take Chokomag's low-UV caveat seriously), if you want a rich, occlusive sunscreen or night cream, or if your routine relies on high-strength actives for acne scarring or melasma. Reviewers also steer people away from the Bubble Toner and the scrub.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Fragrance-free, alcohol-free formulas that long-term and sensitive-skin reviewers tolerate well
• Relief Sun and Day Dew: weightless sunscreens with no white cast, praised across every source
• Low prices, with mini serum sets that let you trial the line cheaply
• Coherent hanbang ingredient story with transparent ingredient lists
• Dynasty Cream works under makeup and suits oily, dehydrated and mature skin alike

Cons

• Relief Sun is thin and, per Chokomag, better for low-UV days than full sun
• Actives are dosed low, so results are gradual rather than dramatic
• Bubble Toner and the grain-free scrub disappoint the one reviewer who tested the whole line
• Counterfeits are common on marketplaces, so you must pick retailers carefully
• Serums are a bit pricier than The Ordinary at full price

Our ratings

Overall: 4/5. Overall, Beauty of Joseon earns a solid four because every source that tested several products praises the sunscreens and the moisturizer for texture and tolerability, as Organic Beauty Lover's full-line review shows, while the exfoliators and the thin sunscreen texture keep it from a higher score.

Relief Sun gets 4.5/5: reviewers agree on the weightless, no-white-cast finish described by Organic Beauty Lover, and the half point comes off for the low-UV caveat raised by Chokomag.

Dynasty Cream gets 4/5: both Marie Claire and Organic Beauty Lover call it an excellent lightweight daytime moisturizer, but Chokomag's note on tackiness and middling value for oily skin keeps it from a higher Dynasty Cream score.

Revive Eye Serum gets 4/5: a gentle, well-formulated retinal entry point that Chokomag and Organic Beauty Lover both like, with no long-term wrinkle results reported by any source to justify more.

Radiance Cleansing Balm gets 4.5/5: it is the single favourite of the reviewer who tested every product, per Chokomag, and the only reason the Radiance Cleansing Balm does not score higher is that fewer sources tested it.

FAQ

Is Beauty of Joseon good for oily skin?

Mostly yes, with the right picks. The Green Plum cleanser and the Glow Serum are designed for sebum control, and Relief Sun's watery texture suits oily skin well. Chokomag, reviewing from oily, dehydrated skin, liked the cleansing balm and serums but found the Dynasty Cream less compelling than lighter gel creams.

Is the Beauty of Joseon sunscreen worth it?

For daily wear, reviewers say yes: it is light, invisible and cheap. The caveat from Chokomag is to use a stronger, more water-resistant formula for days of intense sun, and US buyers should look for Day Dew, the version made with FDA-approved filters.

Is Beauty of Joseon a scam?

No. The brand is a legitimate Korean company sold through its own store and major retailers. The scam reports usually involve counterfeit or expired products from unauthorised marketplace sellers, which Chokomag warns are common in K-beauty, so buy from the official store or named authorised retailers.

Does Beauty of Joseon use fragrance or alcohol?

The formulas are described as fragrance-free and alcohol-free by Coree Beauty, and Organic Beauty Lover notes only a faint natural scent from the ingredients. That is a big reason sensitive and redness-prone reviewers tolerate the line well.

Which Beauty of Joseon product should I start with?

Start with a sunscreen, since that is the product every reviewer rates highly, then add the Dynasty Cream if you need hydration or the Glow Serum if you want brightening and oil control. The mini serum trio is the cheapest way to test several formulas at once.

How does Beauty of Joseon compare to The Ordinary?

The Ordinary is cheaper per serum at full price and offers higher active percentages. Beauty of Joseon offers gentler doses in more pleasant, hanbang-based textures, which several reviewers prefer for sensitive skin. If you want maximum strength, The Ordinary wins; if you want a comfortable, cohesive routine, Beauty of Joseon does.

Is Beauty of Joseon clean or natural?

The brand markets itself as clean, and ingredient apps score several products highly, but Organic Beauty Lover points out that the formulas still include synthetic ingredients. Treat it as a gentle, well-formulated line rather than an all-natural one.