From Anua and Numbuzin to Medicube and Rejuall, I give you my honest reviews and unfiltered ranking of 2025’s most talked-about K-beauty products.

If 2025 proved anything, it’s that K-beauty is not going anywhere. New launches every other week, ingredient trends rotating faster than TikTok audios, and marketing machines working overtime to convince us that their specific product will finally give us glass skin, dolphin skin, mirror skin, or whatever’s trending this month.

We saw new (and largely unproven) ingredients like PDRN and NAD+ make their way over from in-clinic procedures to topical skincare products. At the same time, azelaic acid—a long-time dermatology staple—finally started showing up in K-beauty formulas too.

But did all these miraculous new products actually live up to the hype? I have to admit, I didn’t outright hate anything this year (a refreshing change from last year, honestly). But there were definitely products that felt underwhelming, over-engineered, or carried hard by marketing rather than performance.

So here’s my very honest, least-to-most-favorite ranking of the K-beauty products I tried in 2025.

10 Viral Korean Skincare Products: Ranked From My Personal Least to Most Favorite

Before we go into the ratings, I want to add a little information about my skin type. I have skin that the Koreans would call “soobooji” skin (something else I learnt about courtesy of social media), that means it’s oily/combination on the surface, dehydrated within and prone to breakouts and getting clogged.

I also live in a hot, humid, tropical climate which means I stay away from richer products with heavy formulas. Not every product is going to work for everyone, so please don’t get upset if I hate any of your faves. Now, with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive into my rankings—from least to most favorite.

10. Medicube One Day Exosome Shot

Exosomes were a trendy new ingredient that started popping up in a few launches this year, usually in extremely expensive formulas. Medicube’s One Day Exosome Shot was one of the most talked-about launches—for a while at least—while also being fairly affordable. Unfortunately, that didn’t count for a whole lot when it came to this product’s performance.

Did it ruin my skin? No. Did it justify the hype? Also no. While I did notice some mild textural smoothing, that effect is far more likely coming from the exfoliating blend in the formula rather than the exosomes themselves (which are still very much unproven in topical skincare). The exfoliants combined with the spicule technology also opened my skin up to potential irritation, which meant I only used this product a couple of times a week.

Long story short, it’s a half decent exfoliant, but there are far simpler and more fuss free ways to get this exfoliating benefit. This felt like a classic case of a buzzy ingredient doing the marketing heavy lifting while the supporting actives quietly did the actual work. Shame, because the VT Reedle Shot was my most loved viral product of 2024, and I was hoping for something similar here, but alas, back to the reedle shot I go.

My Rating: 4/10

9. Dr. Reju-All Advanced PDRN Rejuvenating Cream

The Dr. Reju-All Advanced PDRN Rejuvenating Cream deserves the credit (or maybe the blame, depending on which side you fall on) for helping kickstart the PDRN craze. It was all over my social feeds for the first half of the year, and truly turned PDRN into the skincare ingredient of the year, 2025.

However, as a standalone skincare product? It’s…just fine. It delivers some surface-level hydration and has a nice lightweight texture, but beyond that, there’s not much happening. I tried using it in place of my moisturizer, but even for my oily skin, it didn’t quite feel hydrating enough. And if you’re expecting dramatic repair or regeneration, this one will leave you disappointed on that count too. This was actually the product that convinced me that PDRN in topical form doesn’t do half as much as being advertised.

In my opinion, there are much better PDRN creams on the market (the Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing Cream and Heveblue Salmon Caring Centella Cream, to name a couple), that combine PDRN with other (better) ingredients to give you more bang for your buck. I’d give this one a miss.

Note, the image above is the old packaging, and the product has since been rebranded and repackaged (although the product itself remains the same).

My Rating: 5/10

8. Arencia Fresh Green Rice Mochi Cleanser

The Arencia Fresh Green Rice Mochi Cleanser was really the epitome of social media gimmicks this year. Is it a mask? Is it a cleanser? Is it play dough for your face? I’m still trying to figure it out. Look, I have nothing against skincare being fun, and I do think the mochi texture of this cleanser is innovative, but I really could not get behind the way it was being marketed.

What really put me off was how the brand actively encouraged over-consumption on social media, sending ridiculously oversized packaging to influencers and encouraging creators to demonstrate the usage of this product by applying far too much on their face.

Cleansing should be a basic step focusing on efficiency rather than cheap tricks. So while this product does a decent job at cleansing, the marketing around it put me off so much that I couldn’t rate it higher than this.

My Rating: 5.5/10

7. House of Hur Weightless Sun Fluid

House of Hur made its way on to the viral Kbeauty list this year with not one, but 2 viral sunscreens. After a bit of research, I reckoned the variant pictured above, the Weightless Sun Fluid (or the yellow one, as it’s more commonly known) would work better for my oily, acne-prone skin. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

There are some positives with this. As someone who loves her fluid sunscreens, I found the texture to be genuinely lovely. Thin, fluid, and clearly designed with oily skin in mind. However, it ended up losing points because of how drying it felt on my skin over time, and the strong chemical fragrance didn’t help matters either. I’ll admit this could be a me problem (the curse of having oily, yet dehydrated skin), but there are definitely better sunscreens out there that are both hydrating and non-greasy.

If you’re oily but also prone to dehydration, this might not be the best fit. I am still curious about whether the Tropical Dew Sun Cream (the pink one) could be a better option, but that’s a conversation for 2026.

My Rating: 6/10

6. Bring Green Zinc Teca Blemish Serum

This was maybe one of my most disappointing purchases of the year, not because it was terrible, but because my expectations for it were sky-high and unfortunately, it did not deliver to that level.

My skin has looooved zinc in spot treatments I’ve tried in the past. It’s calming, oil-regulating, and criminally underused in skincare formulations, so I really wanted this to work. Unfortunately, the Bring Green Zinc Teca Blemish Serum really did nothing for my skin. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great either. It kind of felt like it was doing nothing. I did see a few people talk about a possible reformulation that may have impacted its efficacy, but I can’t confirm that with any concrete information from the brand. I did stop using it after just 2 weeks, so maybe it deserves a second chance? But then again, I saw better results from the products below in that same time frame, so maybe not.

Overall though, this one hurt, because on paper it should’ve been perfect, but in practice, it was just ok.

My Rating: 6.5/10

5. iUnik Beta Glucan Power Moisture Serum

In a year full of maximalist, overly complex formulas, the iUnik Beta Glucan Power Moisture Serum came in like a breath of skinimalist fresh air. This isn’t even a new product, it just got a packaging makeover and some serious social media attention this year.

But let’s cut through the social media hype, and get to the real deal. This serum is very basic. It has 6 ingredients total, of which the only one worth mentioning is beta glucan. It does a good job of hydrating and soothing the skin, but that’s really it.

I did feel like it was a little overhyped for what it was, but my theory about its popularity is that, with its short ingredients list, it’s one of those rare products that genuinely works for almost all skin types, especially sensitive skin. I found it very useful when my skin was reacting badly to other products or was damaged from over-use of actives. No gimmicks, no skincare overload—just a solid hydration workhorse. Does it earn a permanent place in my routine? Not exactly. But it has become my go-to when my skin is acting up.

My Rating: 7/10

4. Anua Azelaic Acid 10 Hyaluron Redness Soothing Serum

Azelaic acid’s rise in K-beauty has been one of my favorite developments of 2025. It’s one of those ingredients that’s been on the fringes of popularity for so long, but I love that it’s entered the mainstream consciousness with some pretty solid formulas this year.

One of my favorites was the Azelaic Acid 10 Hyaluron Redness Soothing Serum from Anua (who’ve also seriously stepped up their game in 2025). It could have been ranked higher on this list, if not for a last minute entry that dethroned this as my favorite Kbeauty azelaic acid of the year (skip to number 3 for spoilers).

This serum is soothing, very lightweight (almost watery), and incredibly effective for calming acne and redness. The best part is that it layers beautifully with other actives so doesn’t require you to overhaul your routine. I definitely recommend this to anyone with sensitive, and redness prone skin. Practical, elegant, and actually useful, exactly what more K-beauty products should aim for.

My Rating: 8/10

3. Purito Azelaic Acid 10 Kojic Acid Tea Tree Serum

Dethroning the Anua Azelaic Acid serum as my favorite Kbeauty azelaic serum of the year, and that too at the very last minute, is the Purito Azelaic Acid 10 Kojic Acid Tea Tree Serum.

The addition of kojic acid takes everything azelaic acid already does well and adds a noticeable boost in skin evening and brightening. It’s not quite as gentle as the Anua serum, and it does have a slightly more oily texture (likely due to the inclusion of tea tree oil). Usually these 2 factors alone would disqualify it in my books, BUT it delivered more visible results for me, especially for evening out my skin tone, AND it didn’t break me out despite not being as lightweight. For those reasons, it just slightly edges out the Anua serum.

I still think the Anua serum is a better option for more sensitive or very acne-prone skin, but if you’ve got more normal skin and you’re looking for something that calms acne and brightens the skin at the same time, Purito’s serum would be my pick.

My Rating: 8.5/10

2. S. Nature Aqua Squalane Moisturizing Cream

I discovered S.Nature while traveling in Seoul earlier this year. Their Aqua Squalane Moisturizing Cream was an Olive Young bestseller, and got me very intrigued, even though it’s a little bit richer than the usual gel moisturizers I’m used to. While it certainly isn’t emollient rich, I was expecting it to be far too heavy for my soobooji skin. But something about the texture—somewhere between a cream and a gel—just called out to me.

Turns out it was the perfect night-time moisturizer for my skin, especially on tretinoin nights. When tret dries my skin out, this is exactly the deeply hydrating, soothing, and barrier-supportive cream I need to revive my skin and prevent my moisture barrier from getting destroyed. If you like looking like a glazed donut by the end of your night time routine, this is the cream for you.

The best part? It didn’t break me out, which was a bit of a minor miracle considering that creams this hydrating always tend to break me out. This is now a near permanent fixture in my routine, and has been a lifesaver as my skin continues to get more dehydrated with age.

My Rating: 9/10

1. Numbuzin No. 9 NAD+ Retinol Volumetox Eye Cream

I will be the first to admit that I did not see this coming. A gimmicky as hell product, and that too an eye cream, at number 1? You don’t have to tell me how crazy I sound right now.

Look, I’ve been openly skeptical of the rest of the Numbuzin No.9 line. First of all, NAD has no proven topical skincare benefits. Second, the claim of 50+ peptides feels very overblown because with so many ingredients crammed into one product, the percentage of each is likely to be so low that it has no effect whatsoever. The needlessly long and complex ingredients list had me more skeptical than impressed.

And yet…having said all that…the Numbuzin No. 9 NAD+ Retinol Volumetox Eye Cream just works. I don’t know if it’s the retinol or the emollient rich formula, but it instantly plumps my under-eye area, which has been slowly losing volume with age. In fact, on a recent holiday, when I refused to carry this impractical packaging in my luggage, I actually felt like my eyes were looking a less awake within just a few days of not using this. It’s now a permanent fixture in my routine, despite my better judgment.

My Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts: Just Because It’s Viral, Doesn’t Mean It’s For You

So that’s it, my not so definitive ranking of the year’s most viral products. None of these products were horrendous, but many didn’t quite live up to hype—for me, at least. And that’s my biggest takeaway.

Everyone’s skin is different, and so is what our skin needs. Just because something works for someone else (or even a lot of someone elses), doesn’t mean it’ll work for your skin. Knowing your skin, and listening to it when it tells you what it needs, is the key to healthy, glowing skin

Ranking 2025’s Most Viral Korean Skincare

From Anua and Numbuzin to Medicube and Rejuall, I give you my honest reviews and unfiltered ranking of 2025’s most talked-about K-beauty products.