Beauty Of Joseon’s Dayscreen Helped Me Shed My SPF Skepticism

I turned 25 this year, which is fortunate for my frontal lobe development — not so much for my skin. I’ve never really been much of a sunscreen wearer (I know, I know), but I just figured I could get away with it. I’m young, right? A little extra tan never hurt anyone. That is, until I got too much sun at the beach recently and watched my skin peel for the next week. For the first time, I started wondering whether my skin was going to bounce back as quickly as it used to.

Needless to say, I went sunscreen shopping immediately. Finding one that I’d actually want to wear every day, though, proved to be more difficult than expected. The idea of slathering sunscreen on my face in the middle of a hot, soupy summer day gives me the same full-body chills as putting on lotion while I’m still from dripping wet from the shower. I want a formula that’s so lightweight I forget it’s there — one that doesn’t leave a white cast and actually makes my skin look better, not greasier.

It's a lot to ask for, sure, but Korean sunscreens have built a reputation for delivering exactly that — and one of the brands leading the charge is Beauty of Joseon. So when they announced a Tinted Mineral Dayscreen that promised to function like makeup and SPF, it sounded like the perfect option for a self-proclaimed sunscreen skeptic. Something that could pull double duty as a complexion product instead of adding yet another step to my morning routine? A win for me. After wearing it everywhere from the office to the beach, I have some thoughts. Ahead, my full review.

Fast Facts

• Price: $20
• Best for: An everyday sunscreen with a matte finish and medium coverage.
• Rating: 4/5
• What I like: It evens out redness on my forehead, controls shine, and doesn’t break out my acne-prone skin.
• What I don’t like: It’s not the easiest formula to reapply midday.

Beauty Of Joseon Tinted Mineral Dayscreen

Beauty of Joseon's first offering in their Dayscreen line — a featherweight moisturizer-SPF hybrid — felt more like skincare than sunscreen. But the new Tinted Mineral Dayscreen takes a completely different approach, trading that glass-skin glow for a soft matte, complexion-perfecting finish available in 15 shades spanning fair to deep skin tones, with cool, warm, neutral, and olive undertones.

The SPF 30 formula protects against UVA and UVB rays, along with blue light — ideal for anyone who’s stuck staring at a computer screen all day. But it's just as much a makeup product as it is an SPF, promising up to 12 hours of pore-blurring, light-to-medium buildable coverage.

As is the case with most mineral sunscreens, the Tinted Mineral Dayscreen gets its UV protection from zinc oxide, which sits on the surface of your skin to help block harmful rays — but thanks to the added pigment, you won't get the chalky white cast that's often associated with the category. To keep the matte finish from feeling too drying, the formula also includes Beauty of Joseon’s signature fermented brown rice for extra antioxidant protection and hydration, plus ceramides to help support the skin barrier and lock in moisture throughout the day.

My Review

First impressions can be tough, and I probably didn't give the Tinted Mineral Dayscreen the introduction it deserved. I made the mistake of treating it like a regular sunscreen, squeezing out a generous amount before heading to the beach and rubbing it in with just my fingers and an iPhone camera. Within seconds, it became obvious I'd misunderstood the assignment.

Texture-wise, the formula is a little thicker than my usual skin tint, the Glossier one — it’s not so liquid that it runs down your hand when you swatch it. It also had more pigment, evening out any redness and completely covering my active acne even before I’d reached for concealer. Clearly, I realized, this wasn't the kind of sunscreen that will disappear into my skin. It’s the kind that should be treated like a part of my makeup routine, too.

The next morning, I changed my strategy. After moisturizer, I blended it out with a damp beauty sponge, dusted on a little powder, and finished the rest of my face like usual. That's when everything clicked. It layered beautifully under the rest of my cream products, there wasn't the usual sunscreen smell, and I didn’t get any more breakouts on my sensitive skin after a week of wear. (Considering how many sunscreens have been sabotaging my acne-prone complexion lately, that alone felt like enough reason to keep reaching for it.)

Better yet, the pigment is actually buildable. It never quite reaches full-coverage territory, but one layer corrected any discoloration without looking like I was wearing much makeup at all, while a second layer smoothed over the more stubborn areas without ever feeling heavy.

The only catch is that this formula expects the same thing any foundation does: well-prepped skin. Courtesy of my recent sunburn, my forehead has been flakier than usual, so I had to compensate with a couple layers of moisturizer before applying it. Without that extra hydration underneath, the formula doesn’t do much moisturizing on its own — in fact, it still clung to some extra dry patches. On the flip side, though, the matte finish kept my otherwise oily T-zone looking smooth and blurred through an especially humid workday instead of making it look even shinier, which is more than I can say for most sunscreens I’ve tried.

The Verdict

If you’re skeptical of mineral sunscreens because you think they’re heavy or chalky, the Tinted Mineral Dayscreen might surprise you. It leaves a soft-matte finish while still feeling lightweight, and for the oily girls, it’s refreshing to have an option that doesn’t automatically have you looking like a glazed donut.

No, it isn't the type of sunscreen I'd throw into my beach bag. It requires some skin prep and, by nature, isn't the kind of formula you'll want to reapply every couple of hours. Then again, you probably wouldn't reapply your foundation that way either.

When treated as an everyday complexion product with the added benefit of UV protection is how it really shines. Basically, if you’ve ever skipped SPF because you didn’t want to add another step to your routine, this sunscreen actually earns its place in your makeup bag, not just your skincare shelf.