Beauty of Joseon

Beauty of Joseon launched in 2010 with a simple bet: that Korea's centuries-old "hanbang" (한방) tradition — the medicinal botanicals used in royal-court skincare — would resonate with a generation rediscovering plant-based formulation. Founder Jisun Kim built the brand around three ingredients with long Korean track records: ginseng (lifting, microcirculation), rice (brightening), and propolis (barrier repair).

What separated BoJ from a hundred other "K-beauty heritage" brands was rigor. Concentrations are disclosed on the box. The Glow Serum has been reformulated twice in five years as research on propolis bio-availability evolved. The Relief Sun (an SPF50+ chemical sunscreen with rice extract) won the 2022 Allure Best of Beauty award and is now the #1 K-beauty sunscreen on r/AsianBeauty's wiki — outranking far pricier Japanese options.

BoJ is privately held, lab-based in Seoul, and sells direct in Korea while licensing distribution abroad. They publish lab assay results on a per-batch basis (rare for Korean indie brands at this price point) and respond to ingredient questions in English on Reddit.

If you have only ever bought one BoJ product, it is almost certainly the Relief Sun. If you want to understand what the brand is really doing, try the Ginseng Essence Water — a low-cost (£14) toner that's essentially a 20% ginseng extract in a hyaluronic-acid base. The texture tells you everything about their formulation discipline.