Ginseng has been the crown jewel of Korean herbal medicine for centuries. In the Joseon dynasty, it was worth its weight in gold — literally traded as currency and reserved for royalty. Beauty of Joseon named itself after this era, and if any single product embodies the brand's devotion to this root, it's the Ginseng Cleansing Oil.
Five forms of panax ginseng appear in the formula: seed oil, berry extract, root extract, whole plant extract, and leaf/stem extract. This is not the typical K-beauty approach of listing ginseng once for label appeal. Each form provides a different extraction of ginsenosides — the saponin compounds responsible for ginseng's documented anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and circulation-promoting effects. The seed oil delivers fatty acids, the root extract concentrates the traditional ginsenosides, the berry extract provides a unique compound profile (ginseng berries contain compounds not found in the root), and the leaf/stem extract rounds out the phytochemical spectrum.
The skeptic's question is obvious: does any of this matter in a product you wash off after ninety seconds? The honest answer is that the ginseng provides marginal benefits during the brief contact time, but the cleansing oil isn't really about transformative skincare — it's about the experience of cleansing. And on that front, the multi-ginseng formulation contributes to a luxurious, aromatic, distinctly Korean beauty experience that makes nightly double-cleansing feel purposeful rather than perfunctory.
The base is approximately 50% soybean oil, which is an excellent choice for a cleansing oil. Soybean oil's linoleic acid-rich profile closely matches the composition of human sebum, which means it dissolves sebum plugs and oil-based impurities efficiently without disrupting the skin's lipid barrier. Olive fruit oil and camellia japonica seed oil add richness and conditioning — the camellia oil in particular is a traditional East Asian beauty staple valued for its high oleic acid content and clean absorption. Further down, hazelnut seed oil and black cumin (nigella sativa) seed oil quietly join the blend, while tocopherol guards the whole oil phase against going rancid — an unglamorous but essential job in a bottle that is mostly polyunsaturated plant lipid.
The emulsification system uses sorbeth-30 tetraoleate, which transforms the oil into a milky emulsion when water is added, allowing it to rinse clean. This is a well-chosen emulsifier — effective enough to remove the oil without the harsh surfactant feel that some PEG-based emulsifiers create. When used correctly (massage on dry skin first, add water to emulsify, then rinse), the oil leaves minimal residue that a follow-up water-based cleanser easily handles.
That emulsifier is also the answer to the most persistent worry about this category — the fear that putting oil on your face will cause breakouts. It won't, or at least not by the mechanism people imagine. The oil that goes on is designed to leave: it binds to sebum and makeup during the massage, turns milky on contact with water, and rinses away carrying that debris with it. What remains on the skin afterward is a whisper of conditioning, not a coating. The genuine caveats here are different ones — the olive and coconut derivatives, which are a fair concern for the clog-prone and a disqualifier for fungal-acne-prone skin.
Now, the elephant in the room: this product contains three essential oils — sage, mugwort (artemisia vulgaris), and basil. For Beauty of Joseon, these connect to the hanbang tradition of using aromatic herbs in skincare preparation. For sensitive or reactive skin, they represent three potential irritants in a single product. The herbal scent is noticeable and persistent during use — earthy, green, vaguely medicinal, distinctly different from the floral or citrus scents typical of Western cleansing oils. If you enjoy herbal aromas, it adds to the spa-like quality of the experience. If you're fragrance-averse or skin-sensitive, this is a dealbreaker.
The texture is a free-flowing golden oil — lighter than the brand's Cleansing Balm but richer than the very watery cleansing oils that dominate the Japanese drugstore aisle. Two to three pumps covers the entire face. The massage experience is genuinely pleasant: there's enough slip to avoid tugging the skin, and you can feel the oil working as it dissolves makeup. Waterproof mascara, cushion foundation, heavy sunscreen — all dissolve within the first minute of gentle massage. The pump is the one piece of hardware that draws consistent complaints; it dispenses unevenly often enough that regular users learn to expect it.
Used as intended, it opens the evening: massaged into a dry face for sixty to ninety seconds, emulsified with water, rinsed, then followed by a gentle water-based cleanser and a hydrating toner. It is pregnancy-safe, and it earns its keep especially for dry skin that finds cleansing balms insufficient — skin comes out soft and conditioned rather than squeaky.
The 210ml bottle is remarkably generous. Most K-beauty cleansing oils come in 150ml bottles at similar or higher prices. At $20 for 210ml, this lasts three to four months with nightly use, making the per-use cost roughly 17 cents. That's outstanding value for a cleansing oil with this ingredient complexity, and it goes a long way toward explaining the roughly 5,000 reviews averaging 4.6 that the product has accumulated across retailers. The praise is consistently about the makeup-dissolving power and the non-stripped finish; the criticism is, almost without exception, about the herbal scent and the essential oils behind it.
The 2024 reformulation refined the formula without fundamentally changing its character. The multi-ginseng approach remains intact, and the essential oil trio is unchanged. Users of the original will notice subtle texture improvements but the same overall experience.
The product's limitations are inherent to its design philosophy. It prioritizes sensory experience and hanbang tradition over clinical minimalism. The essential oils mean it's not suitable for everyone. The olive oil and coconut oil derivatives make it unsuitable for fungal acne. And as a rinse-off product, the ginseng extracts get less skin contact time than they'd get in a leave-on serum or cream. But for the person who views their evening cleanse as the first act of a skincare ritual rather than a chore to rush through, this product delivers an experience that basic cleansing oils simply can't match.
