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The most popular Korean skincare products right now include Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner, Anua Heartleaf 77 Toner, Torriden Dive-In Serum, Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream, Biodance Bio-Collagen Mask, medicube Zero Pore Pad, Manyo Pure Cleansing Oil, Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun and COSRX Snail 96 Essence. Most were named in the Olive Young Awards 2025.
"Popular" needs a source, so here is ours. Olive Young is Korea's largest beauty retailer, and its yearly awards are based on what Korean shoppers actually bought. We took the skincare winners from the Olive Young Awards 2025, kept the ones available in the Daebak shop, and added two products that are famous outside Korea. This is a list, not a ranking, and product descriptions come from the brands. The makeup winners have their own page: Most Popular Korean Makeup Products Right Now.
At Daebak, a Seoul-based Korean culture and product company, these are also the products people ask us about most. If you want the brand picture first, read Best K-Beauty Brands to Know.
Those awards are a purchase ranking rather than an editors' pick. CJ Olive Young says the 2025 list was drawn from 180 million customer purchases between July 2024 and June 2025, across 40 categories and 166 products, and the Korea JoongAng Daily has described the winners as the products that ranked first, second and third by sales in each category, reporting in 2022 that 82 percent of the winners came from small businesses. That is also why the list is a fair guide to what works for ordinary shoppers: it is what Korea bought, not what a panel liked.
The list at a glance
| Product | Category | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|
| Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner | Toner | Olive Young Awards 2025, toner, 1st |
| Anua Heartleaf 77 Soothing Toner | Toner | Olive Young Awards 2025, toner, 2nd |
| Torriden Dive-In Serum | Serum | Olive Young Awards 2025, serum, 1st |
| goodal Green Tangerine Vita-C Serum | Serum | Olive Young Awards 2025, serum, 2nd |
| Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream | Cream | Olive Young Awards 2025, cream, 1st |
| Dr.G Red Blemish Clear Soothing Cream | Cream | Olive Young Awards 2025, cream, 2nd |
| Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask | Mask | Olive Young Awards 2025, mask, 2nd |
| Mediheal Madecassoside Essential Mask | Mask | Olive Young Awards 2025, mask, 3rd |
| medicube Zero Pore Pad 2.0 | Toner pad | Olive Young Awards 2025, pads, Olive Young's pick |
| Manyo Pure Cleansing Oil | Cleanser | Olive Young Awards 2025, cleansing, 1st |
| beplain Mung Bean Cleansing Foam | Cleanser | Olive Young Awards 2025, cleansing, 2nd |
| Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun | Sunscreen | Global favorite |
| COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence | Essence | Global favorite |
Toners
Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner is a watery, fragrance-free toner that Round Lab builds around deep-sea water from the East Sea; the rest of the brand is mapped in our Round Lab guide. It is the kind of toner you can use morning and night without thinking about it, which is a big part of why it keeps winning.
Anua Heartleaf 77 Hyaluron Soothing Toner is named for its 77 percent heartleaf (houttuynia cordata) extract. Anua positions it as a calming toner, and it is often the first product people try from the brand; we explain the ingredient in Heartleaf in Korean Skincare.
Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner. See details.
Serums
Torriden Dive-In Serum is a hydration serum built on low-molecular hyaluronic acid. It has a light gel texture and layers easily under cream or sunscreen. The rest of the brand's line is in our Torriden guide.
goodal Green Tangerine Vita-C Dark Spot Care Serum is goodal's vitamin C serum made with green tangerine from Jeju. The brand markets it for dark spot care, and it is usually used in the morning under sunscreen; see Vitamin C in Korean Skincare.
If you are unsure how a serum differs from an essence or an ampoule, we explain it in Serum vs Essence vs Ampoule.
Torriden Dive-In Serum. See details.
Creams
Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream is a ceramide cream from a Korean dermocosmetic brand, marketed for dry and sensitive skin. It is the cream Korean shoppers bought most in 2025, and the one to look at first if your skin feels tight. The rest of the line is in our Aestura guide.
Dr.G Red Blemish Clear Soothing Cream is a gel-cream that Dr.G markets for blemish-prone, easily irritated skin. It is lighter than the Aestura cream, so it is the more common pick for combination and oily skin. See the Dr.G guide for the brand's other lines.
Masks and pads
Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask is an overnight hydrogel mask; the brand's full range is in our Biodance guide. You put it on before bed and it turns transparent as it dries, which is the part people film for social media; how to use it is in Korean Collagen Masks.
Mediheal Madecassoside Essential Mask is a classic sheet mask with madecassoside, a compound derived from centella. For how to use sheet masks, see How to Use a Korean Sheet Mask.
medicube Zero Pore Pad 2.0 is a pre-soaked exfoliating toner pad; the brand is covered in our medicube guide. Pads are their own category in Korea, and we cover them in Korean Toner Pads: How to Use Them.
Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask. See details.
Cleansers
Manyo Pure Cleansing Oil is the first-step cleanser in a double cleanse. beplain Mung Bean pH-Balanced Cleansing Foam is a low-pH foam for the second step. Together they are the pair you will see in many Korean routines; the method is explained in What Is Double Cleansing? and the oil-versus-balm choice in Cleansing Oil vs Cleansing Balm.
Two global favorites
Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics is probably the most recognized Korean sunscreen outside Korea. It is a lightweight SPF50+ cream with a rice-based formula. Our Korean sunscreen guide explains why Korean sunscreens feel different, and our Beauty of Joseon guide compares the brand's other sunscreens and serums.
COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence is the product that made snail mucin a household term. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported in November 2023, when Amorepacific took COSRX over as a subsidiary, that the brand, founded in 2013, made about 90 percent of its sales overseas across 140 countries and that the snail essence had reached Amazon's bestseller list. Korea's cosmetics exports as a whole hit a record $11.4 billion in 2025, with skincare about three-quarters of that, per the same paper's May 2026 report. It is a clear, slightly sticky essence used after toner. Read Snail Mucin in Korean Skincare if the idea is new to you, and the COSRX guide for the rest of the range.
Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun. See details.
How to choose from this list
- Oily or combination skin: Anua toner, Dr.G cream, medicube pads. See Korean Skincare for Oily Skin.
- Dry skin: Round Lab toner, Torriden serum, Aestura cream. See Korean Skincare for Dry Skin.
- Sensitive or acne-prone skin: see Korean Skincare for Sensitive Skin and Korean Skincare for Acne-Prone Skin.
- Starting from zero: one cleanser, one toner, one cream, one sunscreen. Our simplified Korean routine shows the order.
Brand products in the Daebak shop are shipped by the brands. If you would rather have products chosen for you each season, the Daebak K-Beauty Box is a separate, curated option; here is how to decide.
FAQ
What is the most popular Korean skincare product?
By Korean sales in 2025, Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner took first place for toners and Torriden Dive-In Serum for serums at the Olive Young Awards. Outside Korea, Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun and COSRX Snail 96 Essence are the names that come up most.
Is popular the same as right for me?
No. Popular products are a safe place to start because many people use them, but skin type still decides. Patch test anything new and add one product at a time.
How often does this list change?
Olive Young announces awards once a year, and viral products come and go faster than that. We update this page when the list changes.
Can I get these products in a Daebak box?
Boxes are curated separately and their contents change each season, so no specific product is guaranteed. The products above are sold individually in our shop.
Sources
- CJ Olive Young announces the 2025 Olive Young Awards: 166 products in 40 categories (CJ Group Newsroom, November 2025, Korean)
- Olive Young holds annual beauty convention, highlights small businesses (Korea JoongAng Daily, December 2022)
- Amorepacific ups global presence with Cosrx (Korea JoongAng Daily, November 2023)
- Korea surpasses U.S. in cosmetics exports with record $11.4 billion (Korea JoongAng Daily, May 2026)
