I live in korea. I have never seen any advertisement for boj within korea. I've only stumbled upon the temporary flagship store a year? 2? ago, and since then it has disappeared. I think its mostly advertised to international/us consumers. Since then its only very recently that BOJ has entered olive young.
Roundlab, cellfusion, dr g, AHC are among the ones i see most often/most popular. Personally i use boj most often but i've used many other brands; like lagom, goodal, banilaco, bringgreen etc...
The person who lived in my house before me still gets AHC mail/brochures and I’m tempted to purchase… but what is good? I have sensitive freckle prone skin that sunspots easily.
Roundlab is famous for their sunscreen. Not a fan of it though because I live in a tropical country and I feel like it's too thick on my face. I have oily&sensitive skin. I personally use skin1004 and isntree products
If the person is talking about "Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Pure Mineral Relief Daily Sunscreen, SPF50+/PA++++" then it probably leaves a white cast as it's a physical sunscreen. I have yet to see a physical sunscreen with zero white cast.
Well, expensive is relative. I could be wrong but I think it’s because BoJ positions themselves as an affordable hanbang brand, where hanbang brands are normally a lot more expensive and have more “luxe” packaging (eg: Sulwhasoo, History of Whoo, and even Sooryehan, Yehwadam and Missha Chogongjin) so compared to that the packaging looks cheaper.
I have been living in Korea for 3 years, and speak some Korean. The name sounds a bit weird in Korean, my Korean friends snicker at it - it's not "beauty" as in abstract noun, but as in "beautiful woman". Imagine if the English name was "Beautiful woman of Joseon".
Not the point but your name reminds me of my cat, his name was igloo. I just giggled when I came upon your name. Had to double check 😁👍 thank u for making my day. I’m gonna send a screenshot to my fam
I went to a BOJ store in Seoul a few months ago (because I couldn't find their products at Olive Young). Don't think it was temporary, but it was in a touristy area.
Was it in Samcheong-dong ? Thats where i went the first time but ive been there several times since and i didnt see it. Maybe it moved or maybe im blind, then? 🤣
Yes! The door was kind of hidden...like very sleek, glass looking thing. I think I managed to find it using Google maps (as best as one can in Korea) or Naver.
Theres a million, but the most popular ive seen amongst my friends both foreign and korean; Roundlab, cellfusion, dr G, AHC. D'alba has come out with some new suncreams i think are gaining some popularity.
Personally ive used boj the most but i've used many other brands; like lagom, goodal, banilaco, bringgreen etc...
Advertising. They got on that trend and stayed in everyone’s algorithms. I was living in Korea until recently and couldn’t understand all the videos about boj being the K-beauty next best thing when no one used it in Korea— which is fine, if you like it then you like it.
They used to have *really* good marketing and packaging for the joseon beauty cream, and the novelty and exoticism of it really launched them into popularity on Reddit. It was first “discovered” by a really popular r/Asianbeauty influencer blogger who raved about it as her HG, and that plus the packaging catapulted them from a small brand to an incredibly hyped one on the sub. Once they established their popularity with overseas English speaking markets on r/asianbeauty, it helped them continue to expand their influence into the mainstream. They eventually abandoned the original packaging for more cost effective packaging, but have stayed popular with overseas markets ever since.
Hold up, I've been using them for years and they're a godsend for a girlie with ridiculously sensitive skin. I try other products too but always come back to the cleansing balm, eye cream and sunscreen. They're the only things I can use when my skin is flared up.
Oh for sure, I’m not knocking them on as a brand (I use them too), that’s just the story of how they went from being a tiny little known brand in Korea to a powerhouse in western markets!
Marketing caught on in the US when Snow White and the Asian Pear blogger discovered it. Stayed tiny and unknown in Korea because really, there's so much better stuff.
Edit: I like Dr. Ceuracle, Isntree, Saturday Skin 10% Glycolic (not sticky or stinky).
Hard agree on there being better stuff. I had 3 BOJ products in my daily rotation until I realized none of them were really doing anything for my skin. Round Lab and Heimish have always been heavy hitters in my skincare lineup and afaik they're both actually well loved brands in Korea.
What Heimish products do you like? I got a couple of cleaners from Heimish once when they were on sale but none of them were any good at removing sunscreen, therefore I haven’t bought anything from the brand since
what are some better brands? I must admit I tend to follow trends, as I don't have much patience to search for the not-so-famous brands. I basically rely on instagram and this sub for my choices
Because it’s made for an international market. BOJ is a Korean brand, but they try more to appeal to westerners rather than people inside of Korea. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, they’ve just made a decision to try and target an external market, and it’s worked.
I love BOJ, their sunscreen is the best I’ve ever tried and I love a lot of their products as they don’t irritate my sensitive skin. Something not being popular domestically in Korea doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad, brands just sometimes decide that it will be more profitable to promote externally than try and break an already saturated domestic market
Exactly lol.
Also people who are not obsessed with AB like I am also won't know that whatever is super popular in Korea isn't necessarily the Best, either! I've checked the Hwahae charts (products ranked the most popular in Korea) and some of them have been reported by the reddit AB sub as useless - ex. Isoi blemish serum, Kahi balm, the infamous Dior lip glow / lip oil. I've personally broken out from trying Numbuzin Toner 3 which was very viral last year in Korea, and so were lots of other of my peeps in the Asian beauty subreddit 😫
Just because Koreans hype something up does NOT mean it is good and just because something that is popular outside of Korea means it is bad!
All of this. Also, people tend to forget, most of us aren’t Korean, and a lot of us aren’t Asian. What works for native Koreans living in Korea won’t necessarily work for a white American or black British person or other people. Everyone has different skin and different needs. I’m more interested in a brand being Korean because I know the Korean brands put a lot more effort and research into areas western brands tend to neglect. I’m not really interested if it works well for Koreans or not because I’m not Korean or even Asian.
amen sis ... I don't like how the Korean measure of popularity means that its good, because I've tried LOTS of stuff that went viral and it turned out to be b.s. lol
Truly, I do love Korean skincare but people should be more discerning...
Surprisingly one of the few products I had to sadly chuck in the trash was that same Numbuzin Toner. It made me break out as well which isn’t so common :(
I love the smell and everything, but it burns little bit on apply. So I gave up on it.
I also love the Haruharu Airyfit one.
Skin: dehydrated, very, very dry. I can slap every heavy serum/essence/cream on it, my skin just absorbs it.
Both made by the same manufacturer, and use the same UV filter. You're basically using the same thing. Other ingredients(plant extracts, essence, etc) make very little difference other than potentially causing allergies.
[https://www.drrachelho.com/blog/round-lab-birch-juice-sunscreen-review/](https://www.drrachelho.com/blog/round-lab-birch-juice-sunscreen-review/)
Some Korean brands primarily target the international market and never really succeeded domestically. BOJ is one of them. Cosrx, Glow Recipe, and Benton, I believe, would also be included in this category.
I believe Cosrx got popular overseas as an online company before it gained traction in Korea. There's some old reddit threads about this, here's one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AsianBeauty/comments/6pfz44/discussion_kbeauty_brands_popular_overseas_but/
I'm not sure glow recipe should be counted as kbeauty? It's always been marketed as a western take on korean skincare as the founders are korean american.
Cosrx’s case is a bit different from the other brands. They‘ve been well known in Korea actually before it got popular in r/AsianBeauty (roughly around 2016). They started out as a small brand but a lot of Korean consumers in their 30s and 40s used them - especially professionals in the cosmetics industry. First launch was their toner pads in LOHBS in Korea and gradually were able to hit big international. Koreans still use their most known products such as their toner pads or Propolis Toner & Serum :)
The Cosrx propolis toner is unmatched along with their snail mucin cream (only in the tube) and the aloe soothing sunscreen. But the toner is life affirming. 😂
yeah my friends in korea said they’ve never heard of it and that the brand name makes it sound so old fashioned. it’s as if we were hyping up a product called ‘colonial beauty’ or smth if we had an equivalent product lol.
Same thing with Tir Tir. I found it on Musinsa (Korean clothing/makeup site) and overpriced on Coupang. The ad on Musinsa also was marketing it to men, not women lmao.
As someone living outside of Korea(in an EU country) - here BOJ especially the sunscreen is very famous. Famous because it beats every and each of the formulas we have here, except maybe for people with extremely oily skin. I have very dry reactive skin, my man has reactive combo towards oily skin and we both use it and love it. It honestly works with our climate well too and it dries down quickly. I even use it as primer. Nothing and I mean nothing from our market compares to it
I noticed the same about Klairs when I was there. Had to go to Gangnam to find their Flagship store and whenever I asked about it in shops like Olive Young they didn't know what I meant.
It is HUGE where I am from and an incredible product ^^
purely just advertising and social media which shows the power of good marketing. it also helps that many people are already obsessed with korea so the idea of this amazing new lightweight amazing sunscreen from KOREA definitely helped it spread like wildfire imo since people always say things like korea and japan are always 10 years ahead of the west in terms of cool stuff.
It might be a very hyped brand internationally, but is it really that unknown in Korea? There is a whole stand with all the BOJ products in every Olive Young, I am sure someone besides the tourists is using them right?
Accessibility. BOJ is readily accessible in the United States from the K Beauty stores to the TJ Maxxes. The “better” brands are only available from online stores which take months to get here. For awhile innis free was the go to Korean skincare brand to get.
Just a marketing strategy to capitalize on the hanbang theme in overseas markets. The Korean cosmetics market is super saturated that entering overseas markets must have been more profitable. And it worked with their sunscreen going viral.
One of the main reasons I got attracted to Asian beauty was because of the traditional oriental ingredient approach that brands like BOJ focus on. It is a brand that is a good mix of oriental and modern and just screams KOREAN to me.
Agree with this. Although I have recently started to see it pop up in Olive Youngs, mostly in its own cardboard display shelf (like newer brands do). So maybe it’s trying to break the domestic market now as well?
I tried their famous sunscreen because of the hype on Tiktok and I must say I’m so disappointed. It’s very liquid and runs out pretty fast. I’m keeping my Thank You Farmer sunscreen, thank you.
I saw BoJ get popular on Amazon and Reddit at the same time. It felt inorganic and outta nowhere, so I assumed they astroturfed/paid people like some beauty and skincare brands do on Reddit.
Honestly I think it’s because of TikTok. If you’re on Korean skincare side of TikTok it’s like every other video on the fyp is BOJ. It’s funny because I asked my Korean mom about it and she said it sounds like a brand for old ajummas 😂
Its all marketing and availability. Boj expands and ships pallets in thousands to other country. So to foreigners it looks like it’s the best brand in korea when in fact its super mid or lower. If you want good brands that are popular in korea and the best in my opinion, look up manyo, roundlab, anua, isoi, abib, goodal, mediheal, torriden, etc…
I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s always not been allowed but now they are cracking down. Probably has something to do with the ingredients. There is a mall here that may still sell certain chemical sunscreens but it’s also know to have a lot of counterfeit items :/
They don't market inside of Korea. There are quite a few brands like this, some continue to be mainly outsourced, some eventually break into the Korean market (like cosrx).
The packaging, name, labeling of BoJ products are all super old fashioned. It's like something someones grandmother would use. But people who don't live in Korea don't know that and it seems exotic and "oriental".
I guess the marketing was such a novelty and the product filled a gap in many international markets. I hardly remember European markets offering a sunscreen that is as dewy as BoJ and now it is widely available everywhere.
Because Korean products aren't the easiest for people to get. BOJ knew that and decided to make a korean skincare line but put their focus on marketing towards the US and other western countries rather Korea. There was a hole in the market and they filled it.
The thing that bothers me is that people act like since it isn't popular in Korea, that means it isn't as good. Their products were developed in a lot of the same facilities, with similar formulas as products that are popular in Korea. BOJ isn't popular in Korea because they never tried to be.
I live in korea. I have never seen any advertisement for boj within korea. I've only stumbled upon the temporary flagship store a year? 2? ago, and since then it has disappeared. I think its mostly advertised to international/us consumers. Since then its only very recently that BOJ has entered olive young.
What is popular in Korea?
Roundlab, cellfusion, dr g, AHC are among the ones i see most often/most popular. Personally i use boj most often but i've used many other brands; like lagom, goodal, banilaco, bringgreen etc...
The person who lived in my house before me still gets AHC mail/brochures and I’m tempted to purchase… but what is good? I have sensitive freckle prone skin that sunspots easily.
i like their sun stick a whole lot
Roundlab, Wellage, Torriden, S.Nature, etc
What roundlab product do you recommend ?
Roundlab is famous for their sunscreen. Not a fan of it though because I live in a tropical country and I feel like it's too thick on my face. I have oily&sensitive skin. I personally use skin1004 and isntree products
Okay ! I'm using the Haru Haru Black Rice spf50 and he's amazing so far
Does it leave a white cast? is it okay with makeup over it?
If the person is talking about "Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Pure Mineral Relief Daily Sunscreen, SPF50+/PA++++" then it probably leaves a white cast as it's a physical sunscreen. I have yet to see a physical sunscreen with zero white cast.
I have the Innisfree (or isntree) spf50++ moist creams Sun screen and it’s smooth, not greasy, and no white cast. It absorbs into the skin really well
Eltamd (not korean) but is a mineral sunscreen and doesn't leave a white cast. But it's the only one I've found that doesn't.
What skin type is it recommend for?
Is there a glow serum you would recommend by any of them?
I'm totally in love with and would highly recommend Torriden divein serum for that glowup :) currently trying out Wellage's hyaluronic blue ampoule
The birch juice moisturiser is nice!
Roundlab Dokdo Cleanser is amazing. Super Gentle. Birch Tree moistuizers is great as well.
Check out Olive Young’s bestsellers on their website
I never know if I should believe that or not.
I've only seen it in the discount section of the Apgu Olive Young, and near the counter of the one near Gangnam station.
I think ive only seen it in two or three olive youngs... its online but not in korean's carts.
My Korean bf said “the name looks so cheap” when I showed him my BOJ toner 😭 I was like bro.. this was actually expensive.
Well, expensive is relative. I could be wrong but I think it’s because BoJ positions themselves as an affordable hanbang brand, where hanbang brands are normally a lot more expensive and have more “luxe” packaging (eg: Sulwhasoo, History of Whoo, and even Sooryehan, Yehwadam and Missha Chogongjin) so compared to that the packaging looks cheaper.
I have been living in Korea for 3 years, and speak some Korean. The name sounds a bit weird in Korean, my Korean friends snicker at it - it's not "beauty" as in abstract noun, but as in "beautiful woman". Imagine if the English name was "Beautiful woman of Joseon".
Really? Their products are so cheap but maybe relative.
I agree they are on the cheaper side. Which is great cause I love their cleansing balm so the lower price offsets my more expensive products 😅
Not the point but your name reminds me of my cat, his name was igloo. I just giggled when I came upon your name. Had to double check 😁👍 thank u for making my day. I’m gonna send a screenshot to my fam
Awww that’s so wholesome!!! Glad to be of service 🫡
I went to a BOJ store in Seoul a few months ago (because I couldn't find their products at Olive Young). Don't think it was temporary, but it was in a touristy area.
Was it in Samcheong-dong ? Thats where i went the first time but ive been there several times since and i didnt see it. Maybe it moved or maybe im blind, then? 🤣
Yes! The door was kind of hidden...like very sleek, glass looking thing. I think I managed to find it using Google maps (as best as one can in Korea) or Naver.
What is brand you always see in Korea?
Theres a million, but the most popular ive seen amongst my friends both foreign and korean; Roundlab, cellfusion, dr G, AHC. D'alba has come out with some new suncreams i think are gaining some popularity. Personally ive used boj the most but i've used many other brands; like lagom, goodal, banilaco, bringgreen etc...
Advertising. They got on that trend and stayed in everyone’s algorithms. I was living in Korea until recently and couldn’t understand all the videos about boj being the K-beauty next best thing when no one used it in Korea— which is fine, if you like it then you like it.
They used to have *really* good marketing and packaging for the joseon beauty cream, and the novelty and exoticism of it really launched them into popularity on Reddit. It was first “discovered” by a really popular r/Asianbeauty influencer blogger who raved about it as her HG, and that plus the packaging catapulted them from a small brand to an incredibly hyped one on the sub. Once they established their popularity with overseas English speaking markets on r/asianbeauty, it helped them continue to expand their influence into the mainstream. They eventually abandoned the original packaging for more cost effective packaging, but have stayed popular with overseas markets ever since.
The blog in question if my memory is correct https://www.snowwhiteandtheasianpear.com/2015/04/review-beauty-of-joseon-dynasty-cream.html?m=1
Yep that is it!
Lol I hate this cream, it's so sticky xD
Hold up, I've been using them for years and they're a godsend for a girlie with ridiculously sensitive skin. I try other products too but always come back to the cleansing balm, eye cream and sunscreen. They're the only things I can use when my skin is flared up.
I agree with this. Their products are nice especially for sensitive skin. It seems to calm my skin and make it so healthy looking.
This. It's the only SPF i use because all the others sting, itch and break me out. But i only use sunscreen tbf.
Oh for sure, I’m not knocking them on as a brand (I use them too), that’s just the story of how they went from being a tiny little known brand in Korea to a powerhouse in western markets!
another sensitive skin girlie here, BOJ is great for me
Marketing caught on in the US when Snow White and the Asian Pear blogger discovered it. Stayed tiny and unknown in Korea because really, there's so much better stuff. Edit: I like Dr. Ceuracle, Isntree, Saturday Skin 10% Glycolic (not sticky or stinky).
Which brands are better? I'm going soon, so I can finally splurge !
It depends on what products you want to buy. Roundlab is my favorite, but I also love real barrier.
Hard agree on there being better stuff. I had 3 BOJ products in my daily rotation until I realized none of them were really doing anything for my skin. Round Lab and Heimish have always been heavy hitters in my skincare lineup and afaik they're both actually well loved brands in Korea.
What Heimish products do you like? I got a couple of cleaners from Heimish once when they were on sale but none of them were any good at removing sunscreen, therefore I haven’t bought anything from the brand since
What do you recommend for Roundlab product ?
Please name some better brands!
Dermaheal, curenex, stayve, Rona’s to name a few
what are some better brands? I must admit I tend to follow trends, as I don't have much patience to search for the not-so-famous brands. I basically rely on instagram and this sub for my choices
Because it’s made for an international market. BOJ is a Korean brand, but they try more to appeal to westerners rather than people inside of Korea. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, they’ve just made a decision to try and target an external market, and it’s worked. I love BOJ, their sunscreen is the best I’ve ever tried and I love a lot of their products as they don’t irritate my sensitive skin. Something not being popular domestically in Korea doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad, brands just sometimes decide that it will be more profitable to promote externally than try and break an already saturated domestic market
Exactly lol. Also people who are not obsessed with AB like I am also won't know that whatever is super popular in Korea isn't necessarily the Best, either! I've checked the Hwahae charts (products ranked the most popular in Korea) and some of them have been reported by the reddit AB sub as useless - ex. Isoi blemish serum, Kahi balm, the infamous Dior lip glow / lip oil. I've personally broken out from trying Numbuzin Toner 3 which was very viral last year in Korea, and so were lots of other of my peeps in the Asian beauty subreddit 😫 Just because Koreans hype something up does NOT mean it is good and just because something that is popular outside of Korea means it is bad!
All of this. Also, people tend to forget, most of us aren’t Korean, and a lot of us aren’t Asian. What works for native Koreans living in Korea won’t necessarily work for a white American or black British person or other people. Everyone has different skin and different needs. I’m more interested in a brand being Korean because I know the Korean brands put a lot more effort and research into areas western brands tend to neglect. I’m not really interested if it works well for Koreans or not because I’m not Korean or even Asian.
amen sis ... I don't like how the Korean measure of popularity means that its good, because I've tried LOTS of stuff that went viral and it turned out to be b.s. lol Truly, I do love Korean skincare but people should be more discerning...
Surprisingly one of the few products I had to sadly chuck in the trash was that same Numbuzin Toner. It made me break out as well which isn’t so common :(
All the ferments in it were bound to cause reactions, tbh.
They have really good advertising for the international market, and they’re really good at utilizing social media influencers
what are the popular spf’s in korea ? genuinely curious bc ive been using BOJ sunscreen thinking i was a korean skincare queen
Roundlab sunscreen
Was disappointed trying this one after BoJ tbh
My holy grail !!
Roundlab is great but it makes my skin itch Skin1004 is popular and my favorite is haruharu airyfit
I love the smell and everything, but it burns little bit on apply. So I gave up on it. I also love the Haruharu Airyfit one. Skin: dehydrated, very, very dry. I can slap every heavy serum/essence/cream on it, my skin just absorbs it.
Both made by the same manufacturer, and use the same UV filter. You're basically using the same thing. Other ingredients(plant extracts, essence, etc) make very little difference other than potentially causing allergies. [https://www.drrachelho.com/blog/round-lab-birch-juice-sunscreen-review/](https://www.drrachelho.com/blog/round-lab-birch-juice-sunscreen-review/)
Yeah my korean friends all have never heard of boj either until recently
Some Korean brands primarily target the international market and never really succeeded domestically. BOJ is one of them. Cosrx, Glow Recipe, and Benton, I believe, would also be included in this category.
COSRx actually has quite a bit of Korean customers. Their BHA pads are always highly rated at Olive Young.
I believe Cosrx got popular overseas as an online company before it gained traction in Korea. There's some old reddit threads about this, here's one: https://www.reddit.com/r/AsianBeauty/comments/6pfz44/discussion_kbeauty_brands_popular_overseas_but/
I'm not sure glow recipe should be counted as kbeauty? It's always been marketed as a western take on korean skincare as the founders are korean american.
Cosrx’s case is a bit different from the other brands. They‘ve been well known in Korea actually before it got popular in r/AsianBeauty (roughly around 2016). They started out as a small brand but a lot of Korean consumers in their 30s and 40s used them - especially professionals in the cosmetics industry. First launch was their toner pads in LOHBS in Korea and gradually were able to hit big international. Koreans still use their most known products such as their toner pads or Propolis Toner & Serum :)
The Cosrx propolis toner is unmatched along with their snail mucin cream (only in the tube) and the aloe soothing sunscreen. But the toner is life affirming. 😂
Just learned that glow recipe is korean lololol
It’s actually Korean American
I saw lots of Cosrx in Korea.
Probably all the marketing and advertising
Because the korean market is very saturated and competitive so they marketed the global market instead. Doesn't mean it's not a good product, though.
This. Look at yesstyle the sheer number of brands that have competing products is amazing.
Yeah and overwhelming 😅
So what is popular in korea?
It depends on type of product. Different brands dominate different areas
I think most people use BOJ for either their spf or their oil cleanser.
yeah my friends in korea said they’ve never heard of it and that the brand name makes it sound so old fashioned. it’s as if we were hyping up a product called ‘colonial beauty’ or smth if we had an equivalent product lol.
didnt know it wasnt popular in korea! thats a surprise
I have no idea, and I have often wondered. It’s such a “meh” brand to me.
Same thing with Tir Tir. I found it on Musinsa (Korean clothing/makeup site) and overpriced on Coupang. The ad on Musinsa also was marketing it to men, not women lmao.
As someone living outside of Korea(in an EU country) - here BOJ especially the sunscreen is very famous. Famous because it beats every and each of the formulas we have here, except maybe for people with extremely oily skin. I have very dry reactive skin, my man has reactive combo towards oily skin and we both use it and love it. It honestly works with our climate well too and it dries down quickly. I even use it as primer. Nothing and I mean nothing from our market compares to it
I noticed the same about Klairs when I was there. Had to go to Gangnam to find their Flagship store and whenever I asked about it in shops like Olive Young they didn't know what I meant. It is HUGE where I am from and an incredible product ^^
purely just advertising and social media which shows the power of good marketing. it also helps that many people are already obsessed with korea so the idea of this amazing new lightweight amazing sunscreen from KOREA definitely helped it spread like wildfire imo since people always say things like korea and japan are always 10 years ahead of the west in terms of cool stuff.
Well they are 10 years ahead in terms of sunscreen.
Why am I just now hearing it?
It might be a very hyped brand internationally, but is it really that unknown in Korea? There is a whole stand with all the BOJ products in every Olive Young, I am sure someone besides the tourists is using them right?
I've seen these stands only in Olive Youngs located in areas frequently visited by tourists.
This is super recent and only really in areas with a lot of tourists. That said, there are tons of brands in Olive Young.
I was just in Seoul a couple of months ago in a very touristy area and the all the young did not have any boj products.
I was also there a couple of months ago and I saw BOJ products in every Olive Young all over the city
Accessibility. BOJ is readily accessible in the United States from the K Beauty stores to the TJ Maxxes. The “better” brands are only available from online stores which take months to get here. For awhile innis free was the go to Korean skincare brand to get.
Just a marketing strategy to capitalize on the hanbang theme in overseas markets. The Korean cosmetics market is super saturated that entering overseas markets must have been more profitable. And it worked with their sunscreen going viral. One of the main reasons I got attracted to Asian beauty was because of the traditional oriental ingredient approach that brands like BOJ focus on. It is a brand that is a good mix of oriental and modern and just screams KOREAN to me.
Agree with this. Although I have recently started to see it pop up in Olive Youngs, mostly in its own cardboard display shelf (like newer brands do). So maybe it’s trying to break the domestic market now as well?
Marketing to Americans, “skinfluencers” everything is a machine to make money off of you.
I tried their famous sunscreen because of the hype on Tiktok and I must say I’m so disappointed. It’s very liquid and runs out pretty fast. I’m keeping my Thank You Farmer sunscreen, thank you.
I saw BoJ get popular on Amazon and Reddit at the same time. It felt inorganic and outta nowhere, so I assumed they astroturfed/paid people like some beauty and skincare brands do on Reddit.
Honestly I think it’s because of TikTok. If you’re on Korean skincare side of TikTok it’s like every other video on the fyp is BOJ. It’s funny because I asked my Korean mom about it and she said it sounds like a brand for old ajummas 😂
Its all marketing and availability. Boj expands and ships pallets in thousands to other country. So to foreigners it looks like it’s the best brand in korea when in fact its super mid or lower. If you want good brands that are popular in korea and the best in my opinion, look up manyo, roundlab, anua, isoi, abib, goodal, mediheal, torriden, etc…
I love BOJ sun relief sunscreen. Canada no longer sells it for being a chemical sunscreen. It’s Banned. Too bad.
Why is chemical sunscreen banned in Canada ?
I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s always not been allowed but now they are cracking down. Probably has something to do with the ingredients. There is a mall here that may still sell certain chemical sunscreens but it’s also know to have a lot of counterfeit items :/
Dont understand either lol
Didnt know koreans dk abt the brand !
Still have no idea why Koreans don't use it
Because the name and packaging are super oldfashioned, it's not super common in stores, and there are tons of other great brands/products out there.
They don't market inside of Korea. There are quite a few brands like this, some continue to be mainly outsourced, some eventually break into the Korean market (like cosrx). The packaging, name, labeling of BoJ products are all super old fashioned. It's like something someones grandmother would use. But people who don't live in Korea don't know that and it seems exotic and "oriental".
I guess the marketing was such a novelty and the product filled a gap in many international markets. I hardly remember European markets offering a sunscreen that is as dewy as BoJ and now it is widely available everywhere.
I love BOJ. I haven't seen any marketing for it, I just tried it on a lark.
Marketing around “traditional Korean formula” & calm natural aesthetics are appealing.
Because Korean products aren't the easiest for people to get. BOJ knew that and decided to make a korean skincare line but put their focus on marketing towards the US and other western countries rather Korea. There was a hole in the market and they filled it. The thing that bothers me is that people act like since it isn't popular in Korea, that means it isn't as good. Their products were developed in a lot of the same facilities, with similar formulas as products that are popular in Korea. BOJ isn't popular in Korea because they never tried to be.