About our Korea data
Each Korean source we use answers a specific question and leaves others open. Here is how to read them.
Olive Young Korea sales rankings
What they tell you: what Olive Young Korea's sales ranking showed on the date we captured the tab (for the monthly ranking, also the time).
What they don't: whether a product is good for your skin, or how many units sold. A rank is a sales and popularity signal, not a quality verdict, and Olive Young doesn't publish the formula or the period behind its ranking. Many listings are sets, refills, multi-packs or collab editions, or carry an influencer pick, Olive Young pick or sale tag; we mark those so you can see how a listing reached its place. A product outside a tab's Top 100 on that date is shown as outside the Top 100 or unranked, and one store's ranking doesn't cover other Korean stores.
Hwahae ratings and review topics
What they tell you: how Korean users rated a product, with the score, the number of reviews and the date we read it.
What they don't: a neutral sample. Hwahae's reviews include sampling-panel reviews, so we don't call it independent. Its review-topic counts are mentions, so we never present a mention count as a number or share of reviews.
Olive Young reviews, surveys and other Korean reviews
What they tell you: how buyers describe a product, through Olive Young's buyer surveys, review samples (for example, how many carry the "repurchase" badge), Glowpick tags, Naver Blog posts and brand-store reviews.
What they don't: a full picture. Reviewers choose to write, a sample is the reviews loaded on the date shown, and some stores run review events, which we note. Reviews hosted on a brand's own store are labeled as not independent. BRING GREEN and BIOHEAL BOH are Olive Young's own brands, so we don't call Olive Young reviews of them independent.
Prices
What they tell you: the price at a named store on the date we collected it. In our price comparison, the list price appears beside the price paid when a sale was on, and the Seoul price is the Olive Young Korea listing, or the brand's Korean store when Olive Young doesn't carry it.
What they don't: today's price. Prices change, US prices in our price comparison exclude sales tax and shipping, and Amazon prices are never shown. Check the store before you buy.
Ingredient lists
What they tell you: what the label or store listing declares, in the order printed.
What they don't: what is inside the bottle beyond the label, or how much of an ingredient a brand doesn't disclose. A comparison covers only the listing we compared, and "not compared" never means "same".
How dates appear
Each figure carries the date of its own record, written like "1 Oct 2026"; ranking captures can also carry the time in KST. An Internet Archive copy is named as an archive copy with its capture date. Full method: How We Test.