Best Korean hydrating essences: 7 Best Korean hydrating essences for glowy, plump skin

With lightweight and watery consistency like toners but nourishment like serums, Korean hydrating essences soothe and pamper the skin cells so that they look glowy and plump from the inside. Adding this product can pack a punch for every beauty aficionado’s skincare routine.

As one of the staples in Korean skincare routines, these precious liquids are loved for their highly concentrated formulas in a texture that the skin can easily absorb. Its main role is to hydrate and regenerate while priming the skin, so it’s ready to absorb other nourishing and moisturizing products better.

Some also use hydrating essences as a makeup primer to plump the skin with moisture and improve the performance of the makeup.

This article purely reflects the writer’s opinion. We may have missed out on a few of your favorite products. Please let us know more in the comments.

What is a Korean hydrating essence?

There are different types of facial essences—toning essences with antiseptic qualities from witch hazel for oily skin types or exfoliating essences with salicylic acid for acne-prone skin. Then, there are Korean hydrating essences. This type is packed with the skincare world’s best hydrators and moisturizers.

To find which formula is a hydrating essence, read the ingredient list. It should contain one or a blend of these star hydrators and moisturizing ingredients:

Hyaluronic acid
Ceramides
Niacinamide
Panthenol or pro-vitamin B5
Glycerin
Calendula or Marigold
Aloe vera
Cucumber extract
Chamomile

Plenty of floral and botanical extracts can also bring plumping moisture to the skin, like Centella Asiatica, Jeju green tea, kombucha, and algae extracts, which are featured in many Korean hydrating essences.

7 Best Korean hydrating essences

These Korean hydrating essences have the beauty world’s favorite hydrators and moisturizers that the skin will love.

APLB Mist Essence
Banila Co Hydration Essence
Isntree Water Essence
Dewytree Cica Essence
T’ELSE Hydro Glow Essence
Rovectin Hyaluronic Essence
Radiant Seoul Moisture Essence

1) APLB Hyaluronic Acid Ceramide HA B5 Mist Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, ceramide, Centella Asiatica

Price: $9.90 (YesStyle)

This hydrating mist essence delivers hydrating and soothing effects to parched skin cells with its unique Hyaluronic HA B5 Cen formula. This keeps dryness and irritation down with the blend of some of the best hydrators: hyaluronic acid, certain, and Centella Asiatica.

Meanwhile, additional panthenol as a humectant keeps skin moisture in place for long-lasting hydration.

2) Banila Co Dear Hydration Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, pink cactus water

Price: $32 (Banila Co)

Add this Korean hydrating essence for visibly supple skin with a beautiful glowy finish. It’s a lightweight essence with a luxe gel-like structure that easily penetrates the skin to immediately replenish moisture levels. Color-changing hyaluronic acid combined with pink cactus water and Pink Biome promotes a well-hydrated and visibly radiant complexion.

Pink Biome, a native to one of the planet’s driest climates, cocoons the skin with a protective barrier to lock in moisture.

3) Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Water Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid

Price: $28.90 (Isntree)

Dry and sensitive skin has finally met its match with this plunge of hydration for a parched complexion. The water essence takes the hydration power from eight types of hyaluronic acid to provide light, smoothing moisture to the completely non-greasy skin.

With a slightly milky-watery texture, it absorbs well and makes the skin firm and full. Meanwhile, additional Opuntia Ficus-Indica Seed oil, a balancing oil, forms a solid barrier film, giving the skin a long-lasting moisture-boosting effect.

4) Dewytree Cica 100 Essence

Key ingredients: Centella Asiatica

Price: $31 (Soko Glam)

This Korean hydrating essence delivers skin-smoothing moisture in a completely vegan formulation. Minimalist skincare aficionados can consider its one-ingredient formula, packed with the hydrating and soothing effects of a K-beauty star ingredient: Centella Asiatica. It boosts the skin’s elasticity so it feels and looks dewy and bouncy, thanks to its rich content of barrier-boosting vitamins and antioxidants.

With a simple formula and no filler ingredients, this Korean hydrating essence is great for hydrating and calming sensitive, reactive, and acne-prone skin.

5) T’ELSE Kombucha Hydro Glow Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, kombucha extract

Price: $26.75 (Amazon)

A must-have for hydrating, this hydro glow essence glides on the skin with ease and leaves a visibly plump complexion in its wake. The thick moisturizing texture packs hydrating triple hyaluronic acid and kombucha, which leaves the skin with a moist but non-greasy finish.

But besides hydration, the rich nutrition of fermented black tea leaves reverses damage and makes the skin healthy. Meanwhile, hyaluronic acid’s moisturizing coating layer ensures that hydration and nutrition stay on the skin for long-lasting plumpness and glow.

6) Rovectin Aqua Hydration Hyaluronic Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, calendula extract, panthenol, trehalose

Price: $31 (Rovectin)

This Korean hydrating essence takes its deeply hydrating power from seven layers of hyaluronic acid that penetrate deep into the skin while creating a moisturizing cocoon on the outermost layer. With an exclusive Barrier Repair Complex, trehalose, and panthenol that further hold moisture into the skin, dryness will be a thing of the past.

Lastly, niacinamide rounds up this hydrating essence, keeping the plump complexion even, smooth, and youthful-looking.

7) Radiant Seoul Everlasting Moisture Essence

Key ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, arginine, purslane

Price: $12.32 (Walmart)

This Korean hydrating essence features a lightweight formula that the skin quickly absorbs to replenish lost moisture. Fit for all skin types, it takes the deeply penetrating low molecular weight sodium hyaluronate to hydrate the complexion from within.

Additional arginine increases skin hydration and collagen production, while purslane promotes healthier, youthful-looking cells.

These Korean hydrating essences are the best pre-serum or pre-moisturizer skin care, which can be used in both AM and PM beauty routines for a hydrated, plump complexion.

Get these Korean hydrating essences at the official sites of the brands or online stores like Soko Glam, YesStyle, and Amazon at the mentioned price tags.

Edited by Tiasha