Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun SPF50+: Ingredients, Price and How to Use It

Beauty of Joseon's Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics is a lightweight SPF50+ PA++++ sunscreen built around 30% rice extract and a complex of fermented grain ingredients, and it is one of the most searched sunscreens in K-beauty right now. A 50ml tube currently lists for about $18 in the US through StyleKorean and £15.50 in the UK through Cult Beauty. It is a chemical sunscreen, not a mineral one, meant to go on as the final step of a morning routine, and its whole reputation rests on a thin, fast absorbing finish that is supposed to skip the pale cast older SPF formulas are known for.

What's actually in Beauty of Joseon's Relief Sun?

The name gives away the two headline ingredients. Rice extract makes up roughly 30% of the formula, which the brand credits with naturally occurring vitamins B, C and E along with amino acids. Sitting alongside it is a blend of fermented grain extracts, including lactobacillus and pumpkin ferment and bacillus and soybean ferment, which is where the probiotics half of the name comes from. Niacinamide is also listed as a core ingredient, included here for its usual skin tone benefits rather than as a sunscreen filter.

Full ingredient listings from retailers also show rice bran water, panax ginseng root water, three forms of hyaluronic acid (hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate and hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid), squalane, ceramide NP, adenosine, honey extract and phellinus linteus extract further down the list. None of that changes the SPF50+ PA++++ rating on the front of the tube, but it explains why the formula is so often described as hydrating for a sunscreen rather than drying.

How much does it cost and where can you buy it?

A single 50ml tube is listed at $18 on StyleKorean's own product page, which also runs periodic discounts that bring it closer to $16. In the UK, Cult Beauty sells the same 50ml size for £15.50. Multi-packs show up often across K-beauty retailers too, StyleKorean lists a four tube set at $48.90 marked down from $72, which works out cheaper per tube if you burn through sunscreen fast or want to split a pack with a friend. Prices shift with ongoing sales at any of the major K-beauty retailers, so treat these as a snapshot rather than a fixed number.

Is this a chemical or mineral sunscreen?

Relief Sun uses chemical UV filters rather than the mineral zinc oxide or titanium dioxide some sunscreens rely on, which is typical across most K-beauty sun care. Korean and EU cosmetic regulations approve a wider range of UV filter chemicals than the US currently does, which is a big part of why K-beauty sunscreens tend to arrive through import focused retailers like StyleKorean, Stylevana, YesStyle and Olive Young Global rather than sitting on a regular US drugstore shelf next to the usual domestic brands.

How do you actually use it?

Apply it as the last step of a morning skincare routine, after moisturizer and before makeup if you wear any. The usual instruction is a generous amount, enough to cover the face, neck, ears and any other skin that will see sun, patted in rather than rubbed. For continued protection it needs reapplying every two to three hours, which is the standard rule for any sunscreen regardless of brand or formula.

Who is the Relief Sun formula aimed at?

Retailer listings describe it as suited to sensitive, normal, dry, combination and oily skin, which in practice covers almost everyone and is part of why it keeps coming up as a default recommendation. The texture is described consistently across retailers as lightweight, fast absorbing and non greasy, closer to a thin lotion than the heavier sunscreens it is usually compared against.

Layering under makeup is one of the most common questions shoppers have about it. Because the finish settles into a thin, almost invisible film rather than a thick white layer, it tends to sit fine under a cushion foundation or tinted moisturizer once it has had a minute or two to set. For reapplication over makeup later in the day, a lot of people reach for a setting spray version of sunscreen or press a fresh layer in around the edges of the face rather than rubbing it straight over finished makeup, though neither method is specific to this particular product.

Does it really not leave a white cast?

StyleKorean markets the formula specifically on this point. Its product description for the sunscreen reads as follows.

Without white cast or sticky residue, even with multiple reapplications.

That is a retailer and brand claim rather than an independent lab result, so how true it feels will depend on your skin tone and exactly how much product you use, but it is the exact promise that keeps this tube near the top of so many K-beauty sunscreen roundups.

Whether it is worth adding to your routine comes down to what you are currently using and how your skin tends to handle chemical UV filters generally. What is not up for debate is the specifics behind the reputation: a rice and fermented ingredient base, a sub $20 US price, and application rules that are the same as every other sunscreen on the shelf, just applied generously and often enough to actually matter.