Beauty of Joseon Matte Sun Stick : Mugwort + Camelia

What is this product?

A Korean mugwort sun stick from Beauty of Joseon, sold as an 18 g wax stick on the brand's own store and filed as a UV protection functional cosmetic at SPF50+ and PA++++. Protection is organic only: four organic UV filter entries and no zinc oxide or titanium dioxide among 48 printed entries. The base is waxes, silicones, esters and four seed oils, with silica and boron nitride powders for a dry, soft focus finish. Mugwort extract is printed at 0.1 ppm and 1 percent camellia seed oil is printed. The brand prints SPF and PA test figures that name this product, plus irritation, acne suitability and water resistance footnotes that name no product tested and a waterproof headline with no printed result. There is no fragrance entry, no essential oil and no exfoliating acid; hyaluronic acid is the one acid entry. No lived use reports were collected.

What makes it different?

Among the brand's sunscreens whose records are read here, this is the stick, and its filter set shares three of its four filters with the Aqua Fresh cream, which lists five, while the base is wax and oil instead of a cream emulsion. The oil control story depends on a printed silica entry at position 9 beside four seed oils, so the finish is a powder and oil balance rather than an oil free one. The trade-off is test attribution: SPF and PA footnotes name the product, but the irritation, acne suitability and water resistance footnotes name none.

What is in it?

The full ingredient list as the brand publishes it, in the printed order. Each name links to what we know about that ingredient.

This brand publishes its ingredient list in Korean only. Names below are the matching INCI names from the Korean Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary, except 1 with no dictionary entry, left in Korean.

Key ingredientWorth a closer look

• Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer
• Synthetic Wax
• Dibutyl Adipate
• Coco-Caprylate/Caprate
• Isopropyl Palmitate
• Caprylyl Methicone
• Caprylyl Trimethicone
• Ethylhexyl Palmitate
• Silica
• Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer
• Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate
• Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine
• Boron Nitride
• Butyloctyl Salicylate
• Ethylhexyl Triazone
• Microcrystalline Wax
• Polysilicone-15
• Vinyl Dimethicone
• Camellia Japonica Seed Oil
• Polyglyceryl-4 Diisostearate/Polyhydroxystearate/Sebacate
• Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract
• Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract
• Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract
• Corallina Officinalis Extract
• Melia Azadirachta Bark Extract
• Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract
• Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil
• Coccinia Indica Fruit Extract
• Solanum Melongena (Eggplant) Fruit Extract
• Amber Powder
• Water
• Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract
• Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Artemisia Capillaris Extract
• Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Panthenol
• Butylene Glycol
• Propanediol
• Bambusa Vulgaris Extract
• Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
• Glycerin
• Methylpropanediol
• Centella Asiatica Extract
• 노니추출물
• Vigna Radiata Seed Extract
• Ethylhexylglycerin

Ingredients with no mark are ones we found nothing notable about, and when marks overlap on one ingredient we show the caution first.

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 29 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. Here is how they read: backed by evidence: 1 · likely, not proven: 6 · partly backed: 13 · overstated ad line: 5 · no source confirms it: 4.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.

Each line is quoted as the brand published it, and each one was read on its own against the ingredient list and the documents the brand publishes.

How we read these lines

What else is worth seeing?

Products we read alongside this one.

• Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun : Rice + NiacinamideAnother product in the same category
• Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Aqua-fresh: Rice + B5Another product in the same category