COSRX says 96%. Anua says 77%. Beauty of Joseon says 30%. These numbers are printed right on the front of the packaging, and most people assume they all mean the same thing: the concentration of the star ingredient.
They do not. The numbers are real, but what they measure varies from product to product — and in some cases, the same product shows a completely different ingredient list depending on which country you buy it in.
We looked at how percentage claims work on K-Beauty labels, using products we already analyzed in our ingredient list breakdown.
Three types of percentage claims
Not every percentage on a K-Beauty label measures the same thing. There are at least three different ways brands use numbers.
Type 1: Percentage of the total formula.
COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence claims 96% (technically 96.3%). The ingredient list confirms this: Snail Secretion Filtrate is the first ingredient, and the remaining 11 ingredients — Betaine, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate, etc. — make up just 3.7% of the product by weight.
This is the most straightforward claim. 96% of what is in the bottle is snail mucin filtrate. The other 3.7% is preservatives, texture agents, and supporting ingredients.
Type 2: Percentage of an extract solution.
Anua Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner claims 77% Houttuynia Cordata Extract. But "extract" does not mean pure heartleaf compound. An extract is typically a solution — plant material processed with a solvent (usually water). So "77% Houttuynia Cordata Extract" means 77% of the formula is a water-based heartleaf solution, not 77% pure heartleaf.
How much actual heartleaf compound is in that 77%? The brand does not disclose this, and they are not required to. It could be a highly concentrated extraction or a very diluted one. The percentage tells you the ratio of the solution in the formula. It does not tell you the potency of the solution itself.
The same applies to Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun's "Rice Extract 30%." Thirty percent of the formula is a rice water extract solution. The concentration of active rice compounds within that solution is unknown.
Type 3: Percentage of a specific active compound.
This is less common in K-Beauty but standard in Western skincare. When a product says "10% Niacinamide" or "20% Vitamin C," it typically means 10% or 20% of the actual pure compound by weight. This is the most precise type of claim.
Most K-Beauty percentage claims fall into Type 1 or Type 2 — not Type 3.
Why the same product can have two different ingredient lists
Korean labeling rules and EU/US labeling rules handle extracts differently.
In Korea, a brand can list an extract solution — for example, "Houttuynia Cordata Extract" — as a single ingredient. The water used to make the extract is counted as part of the extract, not listed separately.
In the EU and US, the same product must break the extract into its components. The water is listed separately as "Water," and the plant material is listed under its own name. This means the extract drops down the ingredient list, and water moves to the top.
A real example: Krave Beauty's Oat So Simple Cream lists "Oat Flour Extract" as the first ingredient on the Korean label (at 79%). On the US label for the same product, Water appears first, and Oat Flour Extract drops to a lower position. The formula did not change. The labeling rules did.
This is not unique to one brand. It is a structural difference in how Korea and Western markets require ingredient lists to be written. Any K-Beauty product with a high-percentage extract claim may look different on its Korean label versus its international label.
What the percentage does not tell you
A large percentage does not automatically mean the product is more effective.
Extract concentration is not compound concentration.
If a toner is "77% heartleaf extract," you know the formula is mostly heartleaf solution. You do not know how much of the active compounds that make heartleaf useful are actually in that solution. A 77% dilute extraction and a 20% concentrated extraction could deliver the same amount of active compounds.
Some ingredients work at very low concentrations.
Hyaluronic acid is effective well below 1%. Retinol works at fractions of a percent. Niacinamide shows results in single-digit percentages. These ingredients do not need to be at 77% or 96% to work. The percentage game favors ingredients that can safely make up a large portion of the formula — water-based extracts, mucins, and fermented solutions — rather than potent actives that work in small doses.
In the COSRX Snail 96, the Sodium Hyaluronate sits below the 1% line (after Phenoxyethanol, ingredient #6). That does not make it ineffective. It just means hyaluronic acid does not need 96% to do its job.
How to use this information
The percentages are real. COSRX is genuinely 96% snail mucin filtrate by weight. Anua genuinely contains 77% heartleaf extract solution. The question is what those numbers measure.
Three things to keep in mind:
High percentage of an extract = the product is mostly that extract solution. It tells you what the product base is, not how potent it is.
Low position on the ingredient list ≠ ineffective. Some of the most well-studied actives (hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, retinol, allantoin) work at concentrations below 1%.
Korean label vs. international label may differ for the same product. If you compare ingredient lists across markets and the order looks different, it may be a labeling convention difference, not a formula change.
What the regulatory data says
From a regulatory perspective, none of this matters. Regulators do not care about marketing percentages. They care about whether restricted ingredients stay below their legal concentration limits.
When Korea's MFDS sets a UV filter limit at 10%, that 10% refers to the pure compound by weight in the final product — not an extract solution, not a marketing number. The same applies to the EU, the US, and every other market in our database.
In our UV filter comparison across 10 countries, every concentration limit listed (Oxybenzone at 5% in Korea, Tinosorb S at 3% in Japan, Homosalate at 7.34% in the EU) refers to the actual pure compound in the finished product. There is no ambiguity. Regulatory percentages and marketing percentages operate on different standards.
Methodology and Sources
Product examples are based on official brand ingredient lists, INCIDecoder.com, and Olive Young Global product listings. The Korean vs. international labeling difference is documented by INCIDecoder and cross-referenced with product-specific examples.
Regulatory data was cross-referenced against a database of 21,796 cosmetic ingredients with regulatory records spanning 10 countries.
The database is available as an API at K-Beauty Cosmetic Ingredients on RapidAPI.
Important Notice: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not legal, regulatory, or medical advice. Cosmetic regulations change frequently — always verify current status against official sources before making business or personal decisions. For full terms, see our Disclaimer.
Decoded Korea publishes data-driven analysis of Korean cosmetic ingredients, chemical regulations, and safety data.
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