Amazon's #1 for years, Beauty of Joseon, came back with a "don't buy."
Where the Same Sunscreen Got Two Opposite Verdicts
Korea has one sunscreen grading that was made by someone who has actually built a sunscreen. The owner of a YouTube channel called SIMTOHL co-developed a sun serum with the brand delphyr two years ago. She has handled ingredient lists and textures from the making side, not the shopping side.
What she did this time was wear eighteen sunscreens from Olive Young's top rankings on her own face for a month. No sponsorship. So the verdicts aren't all praise — three of the eighteen get a "don't buy," a "throw it out," or an "I can't use this," and one product that another well-known Korean reviewer had named her pick of the year gets pulled down because it stung her eyes so badly they watered all day.
One spot in particular doesn't add up. Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics has held Amazon's #1 sunscreen spot for years — and the verdict attached to it is don't buy. The thing the world buys as proof it's well made turned out to be something the developer in its home country wouldn't recommend.
We'll settle why they split first. And further down, there's a table where you put in your skin and your day, and one tube is left.
Where the Case for the Overseas #1 Falls Apart
Beauty of Joseon has a long track record. It has held Amazon's #1 for years, overseas reviews have called it worth the hype, and it gets named as a winter staple. A bad product doesn't stay in that spot that long.
But here is what the developer said after actually wearing it. The texture goes on thick, so even after scraping half of it off, it still won't spread. It feels heavy and closed-off on the face, and above all, for something that sits that thick, there's no sense of it holding anything in — her skin ended up drier after using it. A product built to be hydrating produced the opposite result.
The reason she gave is the core of this verdict. "If they'd tried goodal or delphyr in the States, they wouldn't have called this one good." In other words, it's #1 overseas not because it's the best, but because there was nothing next to it to compare against. On a Korean shelf, lighter and less suffocating options stand in a row.
There's a scene that backs this up. She went to the Olive Young in Myeongdong and found shoppers from China clearing out a whole shelf — and it wasn't Beauty of Joseon. The people who come to Korea and pick in person were already reaching for something else.
What that something was comes a little later. Knowing the name first hides why it's #1 — you have to see how she sorts sunscreens before that.
The Four Categories She Sorts Sunscreens Into
You don't need to read an ingredient list. There are only four categories, and once you know those four, eighteen products collapse into four rows.
Her grading doesn't line eighteen products up in one row. It splits them into four categories first and only compares within each. Chemical filters, mineral filters, sun serums, and cica.
The first two differ in how they block UV. A chemical filter absorbs UV and converts it to heat, then releases it. That's why it only starts working 20 to 30 minutes after you apply it, and why it may not suit a face that runs warm or flushes easily. A mineral filter blocks at the surface with a white mineral powder — zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. It works the moment you apply it, holds up far better against water and sweat, and controls oil, but because the powder is white, it leaves a cast.
The other two are split by use, not by filter. A sun serum spreads thin like a serum and doubles as a skincare step. Cica is what you wear instead of a cream when your barrier is compromised — like right after a dermatology treatment.
So this grading doesn't answer which sunscreen is the best. You pick the category you need right now first, then take the #1 inside it. The product you need on a morning you're rushing out the door and the one you need the day after a treatment sit in different categories to begin with.
Her Pick in Each Category
First, the debt from earlier. What the tourists in Myeongdong were clearing out was SKIN1004's Madagascar Centella Hyalu-Cica Water-Fit Sun Serum. The developer said she tried it for the first time in this test, and she put it at #1 among chemical filters because it spreads thin, doesn't sting the eyes, and has no scent. Word that there's something better than Beauty of Joseon was already going around the shelf.
Here are the names she placed in each category. Chemical filter: two stand side by side — ABOUT_TONE's Sun Serum Base, because she's on her third tube and makeup never lifts over it, and SKIN1004, because it's more hydrating and she reaches for it on dry days. Sun serum: also two. Dr.G's Skin Boost PDRN Sun Serum — the brand filmed its UV blocking under a UV camera and published it — and Cell Fusion C's Dark Spot Toning Sunscreen, which goes to anyone targeting brightening, with 10% niacinamide. Mineral filter: just one, AESTURA's Derma UV365 Barrier Hydro Mineral Sunscreen — no white cast, no eye sting, and Olive Young's #1 mineral sunscreen. Cica: LA ROCHE-POSAY's Cicaplast Repair Sunscreen.
Set the five Korean brands among these six against the recommendation lists circulating overseas, and only one overlaps: SKIN1004.
How to Pick One for Your Skin and Your Day
Choosing a category is really choosing what you're willing to give up. A mineral filter blocks on contact and holds through water and sweat, but leaves a cast. A chemical filter leaves no cast, but you have to wait 20 to 30 minutes, and it may not suit a face that runs warm. It's less about which is better than about what you can afford to give up today.
Here is the table promised earlier. Give it a condition, and the field narrows.
- Dehydrated but oily — SKIN1004. Thin, and no scent
- Dry — Abib's Sedum Hyaluron Sunscreen Watery Tube or Torriden's Dive In Moisture Sun Cream. Both sit thicker than SKIN1004
- Can't stand makeup lifting — ABOUT_TONE. That's the reason she's on her third tube
- Dark spots and brightening — Cell Fusion C. 10% niacinamide
- Rushing out the door, or a day in the water — AESTURA. Blocks on contact and holds in water
- The day after a treatment — LA ROCHE-POSAY. For when even a cream stings
- Face and body both — goodal's Heartleaf Calming Moisture Sun Cream. It's often 1+1, so you can use it generously. She didn't recommend it for dry skin, though
Even so, there are cases where you pick from the list and it still doesn't work. You bought the one everyone praised and still burned; you put it all on and your face went red. Often the product isn't the problem.
The developer raised two things before she talked about products at all.
One is amount. A face needs a full fingertip's worth, and since you can't spread that in one pass, apply it in two.
The other is shelf life. Once opened, a sunscreen is best used within two to three months. One that spent a summer in your bag under the sun is better thrown out, and if it smells off or has separated, it's already gone.
So there's no need to agonize too long over which one to choose. Wearing the right amount and finishing it on time matters more than switching products.
Why to Look at the Shelf, Not the Hype
Back to the first question. The sunscreen that's been #1 overseas for years is not a bad product. It's just that that #1 was a value produced on a shelf with little to compare against. On a Korean shelf, lighter and less suffocating options stand in the next row, and the developer's list was picked from that row. The same product changes rank when the shelf changes.
So the next time you pick a Korean cosmetic, it's worth swapping one question. Not is this a good product, but on which shelf was this rank set? An overseas best-seller list is a ranking among the things you can buy overseas — and not being on it doesn't mean something is bad.
Keep Reading
- Korean Sunscreen vs Western Sunscreen: What Actually Differs: why Korean sunscreens feel different and why Koreans reapply
- How to Order from Olive Young Global from the US: shipping, duties and what to buy when ordering from Korea
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