Search for “sunscreen” on TikTok, and one name is bound to come up: Beauty of Joseon.
A seven-year-old skincare brand based in Seoul, the label is featured in 16 of the top 20 videos about sunscreen on the platform; the hashtag for the brand name has 1.7 billion views. Beauty of Joseon has been on an upward climb: It grew revenue from just $83,000 in 2020 to $116.7 million in 2023 and estimates it will reach $250 million this year, exceeding the forecasts of top M&A targets like Summer Fridays, Merit, and Kosas. That’s despite the fact that the UV filters in its hero product, the Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics sunscreen, are not approved by the US FDA and it is not available at any major US beauty retailer.
“We thought, ‘Okay, this might be the top sales of our history, and in the future as well,’” said Beauty of Joseon co-founder Sumin Lee, reflecting on the brand’s biggest viral moments via a Zoom call from Seoul. “But it grows every single year more than the last year.”
This week, Beauty of Joseon is cementing its US presence with its first pop-up in the country in Los Angeles, which will run Nov. 8 to 16. In 2025, it plans to enter a major US retailer. Up until now, it’s only been available through online channels, small boutiques and discount retailers, prompting a wave of counterfeits to flood Amazon and TikTok Shop.
To formally enter the US market, Beauty of Joseon faces continued red tape when it comes to its most popular product. Trump’s US election victory on Tuesday means an uncertain future for both FDA regulations and prices on imports. The brand, however, understands how to bring K-beauty products to a new market: its parent company is Goodai Global, which Beauty of Joseon co-founder Juhyuck Cheun started in 2017 as an export distributor of K-beauty brands like Cosrx. It now focuses exclusively on its own brands, which include TirTir, Laka, iUnik and House of Hur.
Global From the Start
The current iteration of Beauty of Joseon, which was first founded in 2017, arrived after Goodai bought the brand in 2019. Lee and Cheun revamped every facet of it except the name and logo, launching a new set of products.
Thanks to support from top US beauty influencers like Hyram Yarbro and James Welsh, Beauty of Joseon’s serums saw early stateside traction. But it was the 2022 launch of its Relief Sun sunscreen that served as a turning point for the brand. Today, Relief Sun sunscreen comprises 35 percent of sales; its other sunscreens take up another 20 percent. It has the sixth-highest monthly Google search volume in the United States for sunscreen, according to consumer trends research firm Spate.
“Sunscreen in the US does not feel nice to apply. It burns your eyes, gives you a white cast and can make your makeup slide off your face,” said beauty influencer Charlotte Palermino, adding that a facial sunscreen without these issues at Beauty of Joseon’s price point is hard to come by. Its unapproved UV filters are also enticing. “It’s skincare street cred to say that you use international sunscreens,” she added. “When you say that, it’s like a wink to someone that you really know your skincare.”
Influencers say the price point (a 50mL bottle of its Relief Sun costs $18), dewy texture, the fact that it doesn’t leave a white cast and transparency on clinical trials are all a draw. Skincare-focused creators, including Palermino, Sarah Palmrya and Ava Lee were among the countless influencers that gave the product a rave review on social media. Lee said that the brand was able to double down on that interest.
“We tried to reach out to every single person who mentioned our products,” said Lee, adding that the brand found ways to deepen those relationships with infatuated influencers, such as creating a product together. It teamed up with Ava Lee, for instance, to create a moisturiser and gua sha tool under the banner “Jelloskin,” and with UK-based influencer Ramón Pagán, known as Glow by Ramón, for the Matte Sun Stick sunscreen, which contains Korean UV filters approved in the UK.
But even the influencers themselves are somewhat perplexed at just how big it’s gotten and how quickly, particularly given the fact that active UV filters, which include ethylhexyl triazone and diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate, are not yet approved by the US FDA. To access Korean filters not approved by the FDA, customers generally have to buy from international retailers and hope the box doesn’t get inspected by customs. TikTok has inspired shoppers to take the risk.
“It’s wild,” said Palermino. “And also, just literally circumventing regulations. It’s crazy. But it’s the American dream. It’s kind of poetic in a way.”
US Ambitions
For Beauty of Joseon, however, the sunscreen being hard to get has only helped boost its allure. To buy the rest of its skincare products, the list of authorised retailers in the US includes small K-beauty boutiques like Senti Senti in Brooklyn as well as discount retailers Costco, TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
But as it prepares to move into the US in a bigger way, a different strategy is needed.
The brand would benefit if Korean filters are approved in the US, as they already are in other markets like the UK. Lee said she hasn’t undertaken any policy-related initiatives regarding sunscreen regulations or spoken to lawmakers. But at least one has taken an interest in the issue. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called Beauty of Joseon her “ride-or-die” sunscreen in an Instagram story, made a 2023 video with Palermino calling on people to contact their representatives to speed up new UV filter approval.
Until that happens, Beauty of Joseon offers a US-formulated version of its sunscreen exclusively on Amazon, and plans to enter a major US retailer in 2025. It remains to be seen if consumers are as fervent about the US-formulated version. Ava Lee said that while the US-approved sunscreen is “really good,” noting that it’s more lightweight than the original, she still likes the original one more.
Even without FDA approval of its original UV filters, the brand sees an opportunity to further scale in its largest market. Its pink-walled LA pop-up is a big part of that effort. Called “Rice Wonderland,” the pop-up highlights rice as one of its key ingredients and promotes its second US-formulated sunscreen product, its new Daily Tinted Fluid Sunscreen made with zinc oxide.
“We’ve been a digital brand for five years. We want to be a brand in the real world that everyone can get from the beauty stores in their neighbourhood,” she said.
Landing in a US retailer, albeit with a new formulation, could also help it combat the flood of counterfeit products and unauthorised sellers on Amazon and TikTok Shop, which Lee said they’re reporting “every single day, every single hour.” With the product more easily accessible, there will be less demand for dupes. Beauty of Joseon has also set up official shops on both TikTok and Amazon, and recently joined the Amazon Transparency Program. Still, it is an uphill battle.
The goal going forward is to take the brand from favourite for in-the-know skincare enthusiasts to mainstream phenomenon, as well as grow Goodai’s portfolio. Beauty of Joseon was its first acquisition, while TikTok-viral makeup brand TirTir was acquired in June 2024. Its next acquisition will be Skin1004.
“In the long term, I want to be a brand like CeraVe or The Ordinary,” said Lee. “We want to be a brand that lasts a long time, not a TikTok-viral brand.”
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