A TikTok sunscreen, rebuilt for US retail.
A Korean brand whose biggest market is the US. Its sunscreen spread on TikTok and Amazon, then a US-only formula took it into 600 Sephora stores.
BLOOM10X did not work with Beauty of Joseon. This breakdown uses public sources only, linked below.
From ₩0.1B to ₩323.7B in five years.
Creators first, compliance, then retail.
The US-entry path
Reformulating for the FDA
Five moves behind the US run.
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Let educators sell the texture
Early US traction came from skincare explainers like Hyram Yarbro and James Welsh (BoF). Lee credits the sunscreen’s run to its very light texture and to TikTok itself (Glossy). No white cast is easy to show on camera (JoongAng Daily).
Copy this: Seed your hero with creators who explain ingredients. Show the product on skin in the first three seconds.
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One $18 hero carries the range
Relief Sun sold for $18 (Glossy) and passed 25 million units by mid-2025 (WWD). Over 2 million a month ship to about 100 countries (Maeil Business).
Copy this: Lead every ad, email and landing page with the product that wins customers. Cross-sell the range after the first order.
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Own the store before resellers do
Lee said they opened their TikTok Shop to protect buyers from unauthorized resellers, not for sales. Amazon grew into a main channel, and in Dec 2024 she planned to slow it from the second quarter of 2025 (Glossy).
Copy this: Claim your official Amazon and TikTok Shop listings early. The listing you own sets price and keeps fakes out.
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Rebuild the hero for US rules
In the US a sunscreen is an over-the-counter drug and may only use the active ingredients the FDA’s sunscreen monograph permits (FDA). BoF reported Relief Sun’s UV filters were not FDA-approved (Nov 2024). In Feb 2025 the brand pulled four sunscreens, including Relief Sun, and released two US-only versions (JoongAng Daily); Day Dew SPF 50, made with FDA-approved filters, followed at Sephora (WWD).
Copy this: Entering the US from Asia? Check every active ingredient and claim against US rules before you scale ads behind a product.
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Take the online proof to retail
Lee called it an internet brand built on social, DTC and Amazon. Sephora set an online launch for Jul 17, 2025, then a rollout to 600 stores, with cleansers, toners, serums and masks as well as sunscreen (WWD). Target had added it by Jul 2025 (Glossy).
Copy this: Bring a retail buyer your sell-through by product and region. Launch with the range, not the hero alone.
The creator review, in five beats.
- 1Hook, first 3 secondsA contrarian line: a Korean sunscreen more famous in the US than at home. Another opens on “What if I said you do need eye cream”.
- 2Skeptic setupThe creator went looking: read US reviews, or tested the product for 30 days.
- 3Texture demoProduct goes on skin on camera. The claim is feel: thin, moist, no white cast.
- 4ProofA ranking (#1 on Amazon and Olive Young Global, per the video’s caption) or measured 30-day results.
- 5CloseHow to use it and where it is sold.
Our wireframe, built from two official Beauty of Joseon Shorts (Aug 2023, Feb 2024) and press on Relief Sun’s creator-led rise (BoF, Glossy, JoongAng Daily).
Watch the format.
The ad’s landing page sells on Amazon.
Their own site and their live ads, captured on Nov 10, 2026. Tap the numbers on the landing page.
Tap a number to see what it does.
- 1No menu, no cart.Only the logo at the top, and the page is set to noindex: it exists for ad traffic.
- 2The claim comes first.“Global No.1 K-Beauty sun care brand in online sales.”
- 3The claim is footnoted.Small print cites Euromonitor, E-commerce 2026 edition, 2025 retail value sales.
- 4An Amazon listing on their own site.An [AMAZON] label, the Tinted Mineral Dayscreen SPF 30 and $22.00.
- 5One button, to Amazon.“Check Best Price on amazon” is the only way to buy.
Their ads now
The Meta Ad Library showed about 220 active US ads for Beauty of Joseon on Nov 10, 2026. Of the first 58 it listed (started Oct 15 to Nov 5), 40 ran as creator partnership ads and 33 linked to landing pages under /pages/bnb-, like the one above.
Comment, get the Amazon link.
JaDe Rain: “Comment SPF and I will send you a link to my tinted sunscreen must have”, then “Say SPF and I will send you my @amazon link”. 40 seconds.
A result in the first line.
nicoule: “Fix dark spots in 7 days ✨”. A 17-second partnership ad.
The brand ad sells the list.
The Essential Kit, with “Sign up for emails to receive a 20% off coupon.” Headline “Get a 20% Off Email Coupon”.
Shade twins.
Mai Khan: obsessed with the tinted day screen “in the shade 35N #shadetwin”. 45 seconds.
Our math: 40 ÷ 58 = 69% of those ads came from creators’ handles.
Copy this: if Amazon is where you rank, build a stripped ad page that sends shoppers there, and let creators’ handles carry most of the ads.
Sumin Lee, co-founder.
“We started our TikTok shop just to protect our brand from unauthorized resellers.”
“Virality was a huge gift and our ticket into the market. But our brand is not a one-hit wonder…”
What we’d do differently.
- Start compliant. Two years of virality (WWD) built US demand on a sunscreen that had to come off the US market. Build the hero on a US-legal formula from day one.
- Earned fame can’t be scheduled. A congresswoman called it her “ride-or-die” sunscreen (BoF). We’d back organic buzz with paid creator ads so demand repeats.
- Their parent has scale. Goodai Global reported 330.9 billion won (about $225M) in 2024 revenue and owns 10+ brands (Korea Herald). A $5M brand should prove one retailer before a national rollout.
Seven moves for a $1M–$10M brand.
- Lead ads, emails and your homepage with one hero product. Conversion
- Seed creators who explain ingredients, not just unbox. Creator seeding
- Brief the five-beat review above and run the winners from creators’ handles. Partnership ads
- Judge each opening line by how many viewers stay past 3 seconds. Hook rate
- Claim your official Amazon and TikTok Shop listings before resellers do.
- Check every active ingredient and claim against US rules before you scale spend.
- Cross-sell the range after the first order. Retention
Where every number comes from.
- “TikTok’s Hit Korean Sunscreen Brand Makes Big US Push”, Liz Flora, The Business of Fashion, Nov 7, 2024. businessoffashion.com
- “Sumin Lee on why Beauty of Joseon is blowing up in the US before its native Korea”, Sara Spruch-Feiner, Glossy, Dec 5, 2024. glossy.co
- “Explainer: Americans are hoarding Korean sunscreen. Should they?”, Kim Ju-yeon, Korea JoongAng Daily, Apr 10, 2025. koreajoongangdaily.com
- “Exclusive: Beauty of Joseon Lands at Sephora”, James Manso, WWD, Jul 7, 2025. wwd.com
- “Exclusive: Ulta doubles down on K-beauty with 13 new brands”, Sara Spruch-Feiner, Glossy, Jul 11, 2025. glossy.co
- “Unfamiliar at home, a hit abroad: why K-beauty is reverse-exported” (in Korean), Kim Hye-jin, Maeil Business News Korea, Sep 4, 2025. Revenue by year, export pace, 90% overseas share. mk.co.kr
- “K-beauty firms rush to IPO as Kospi rally fuels valuation”, No Kyung-min, The Korea Herald, Jan 16, 2026. koreaherald.com
- “FDA Expands Sunscreen Options for the First Time in 20 Years”, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jun 9, 2026. fda.gov
- Beauty of Joseon official YouTube channel (@beautyofjoseon_official): videos of Feb 16, 2022, Aug 3, 2023 and Feb 6, 2024; view counts read Nov 10, 2026. youtube.com
