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For the past three months I’ve been learning about the most popular K-beauty products in Seoul, South Korea, including the best Korean face masks. As someone who's been covering it for years, I can tell you first-hand that the market has become intensely competitive, with over thousands of skin care brands available. So, to help you find the best Korean sheet masks, I tapped dermatologists and trusted industry experts (like veteran product developers who clued me in on their most-used masks). I found some that were so good, I bought a second suitcase to haul them all home. Below, we tried different types for every skin type and concern, including a tingly pore treatment to smooth texture, a vitamin C-soaked mask that helps treat wrinkles, a brightening one for targeting hyperpigmentation, and an overnight option that’ll help give you that coveted glass skin glow. Pro tip: For the full Korean skin care routine, I’d recommend pairing them with one of my favorite Korean toners, a depuffing Korean eye cream, and a great Korean moisturizer.
The best Korean face masks, at a glance
Your Korean face mask questions, answered
Which brand’s face mask is famous in Korea?
TikTok is a good place to start, but some of Korea’s most popular skin care doesn’t go viral globally. If you want a better idea of what’s currently trending in South Korea, we recommend checking the Olive Young Awards and Hwahae. “The Olive Young Awards and Hwahae are key platforms that represent the landscape of skin care products in South Korea, explains Dr. Hwang. Olive Young issues its coveted awards every year, relying on “sales data and customer reviews” to confirm what’s most popular, says Dr. Hwang. Hwahae also announces its awards twice a year, every year, but the app tracks leading products in real time. “It’s a user-driven app that aggregates reviews and ratings, providing insights into current trends and ingredient transparency,” he says. “Together, these platforms reflect evolving trends in K-beauty.” To compile this list of best Korean face masks, we searched the Olive Young and Hwahae awards, as well as TikTok-viral hits, Glamour editor favorites, and dermatologist recommendations.
Do dermatologists recommend face masks?
The short answer: yes, they do. “Face masks can be beneficial for a wide variety of people and skin concerns,” says Dr. Chang. These at-home treatments can do everything from providing “a boost of hydration” to “improving acne-prone skin, inflamed skin, dull skin, or photoaged skin.” While they may not deliver the results of a dermatologist visit, they’re meant to do more than your daily skin care routine. “I recommend face masks if your skin is feeling particularly dry, if you need a boost of active ingredients, or if you just feel like being pampered for the evening,” says Dr. Chang.
Best Korean Face Mask for Acne-Prone Skin: Mediheal Tea Tree Essential Mask
Mediheal’s toner pads are all the rage in South Korea; just walk into any Olive Young (South Korea’s most popular beauty retailer) and you’ll see them flying off shelves. Turns out the Mediheal Tea Tree Essential Mask is just as effective, previously winning a coveted Olive Young Award in 2022. Y. Claire Chang, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at UnionDerm in New York City, highly recommends this K-beauty sheet mask if you want to make blemishes go away faster. “It’s formulated with hydrating factors and tea tree oil to reduce inflammation in the skin,” she says. Tea tree oil is a common acne fighter because of its “known antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties that may help prevent and improve acne,” says Dr. Chang, who personally uses the mask when she’s breaking out. “It feels cool on the skin and helps soothe, especially when I have active breakouts,” she says. “It doesn’t clog pores, and you can use your normal acne medications afterward.”
- Key ingredients: Tea tree leaf water, lactobacillus ferment, tea tree extract and leaf oil
- Fragrance-free: Yes
- Fast facts: Calming sheet mask, instantly soothes and reduces inflammation, recommended for acne-prone skin
Best Korean Face Mask for Dry Skin: Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask
“Sheet masks and overnight masks dominate the [K-beauty] market right now,” says Hwang Wonuk, MD, a cosmetic physician at Cheongdam LeBelle Dermatologic Clinic in Seoul. According to Dr. Hwang, sheet masks are “favored for their convenience,” while overnight masks have become “increasingly popular for their intensive hydration properties.” This Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask, which falls under both categories, has been trending on both TikTok and Hwahae. (It took over TikTok as the sheet mask you wear while you sleep, although dermatologists and the brand both say you can remove it after 3-4 hours when the hydrogel turns from white to clear.)
Dr. Chang says the ingredients (hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and galactomyces ferment filtrate) are great for “deep hydration” and to “help repair the skin, brighten, and calm.” Collagen also helps moisturize, says Dr. Hwang, “but the effectiveness may be limited to superficial hydration.” If you’re looking for a mask that treats fine lines, he recommends looking for ingredients like “retinoids or peptides,” but this is the one to pick for intense hydration. Grab this when your skin’s dehydrated or getting rough. “It leaves my face feeling plumper and softer for days,” says Dr. Chang.
Glamour contributor Sarah Y. Wu also loves its impressive radiance-boosting effects. “I remember seeing people use this all over my FYP,” she says. “They’d take it off and have immediate glass skin. I can now confirm that’s not a filter; you leave it on for so long that it really traps the moisture in your skin. I rarely have the patience to do a three-hour long face mask, but the nice thing about the hydrogel is that it comes in two pieces that cling to my face. That means I can wear it while working and still chug coffee without the mask falling off. The most impressive thing about this is that by the time it turns clear and I take it off, my skin doesn’t even feel damp anymore but somehow still has that glassy glow.”
- Key ingredients: ultra-low molecular weight collagen, galactomyces, oligo hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, glycerin
- Fragrance-free: Yes
- Fast facts: TikTok-viral overnight hydrogel mask, turns from white to clear as it dries, great for dry skin, leaves visible glow
Original video by Glamour tester Sarah Y. Wu
Original image by Glamour tester Sarah Y. Wu
Best Korean Face Mask for Wrinkles: Vitabrid C12 Dual Face Mask
Glamour editors and dermatologists agree that vitamin C is one of the most effective ingredients if you’re looking for anti-aging, brightening benefits. Vitabrid’s C12 Dual Face Mask packs the ingredient into a single-use sheet mask, along with niacinamide. “Niacinamide and vitamin C are staples in my beauty routine, and this one is great because it gives my skin a concentrated boost," says Christina Chung, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology in Pennsylvania. “The hyaluronic acid leaves my skin so dewy, bright, and hydrated.”
“Be careful when you open this because each mask comes swimming in a full bottle of essence, and you’ll have a lot left over,” says Wu. “I highly recommend using the leftover essence on your neck and body; you don’t want any of this going to waste. Some masks feel very watery, but I’d describe this as more of a milky serum. It coats my skin and makes it feel so plumped and hydrated. I like doing this one before events because it’s speedy but has an instant brightening effect.”
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