Numbuzin is a Korean brand that numbers its lines instead of naming them. It doesn't ask what your skin type is; it asks what your skin is dealing with right now, and gives each concern its own number: No.1 for hydration and soothing, No.3 for pores and texture, No.5 for dark spots and brightening, No.9 for firmness and lifting. One number equals one clear solution, and a ten-step routine "just because you think you should" is, in the brand's view, unnecessary. There are other numbers too: No.0 for acne-prone skin, No.2 for radiance and renewal, plus No.4 and No.6. The number is part of the product name, so you can choose without decoding anything: find your concern and you've found your number.
The brand's usual order of application runs from the lightest texture to the richest: cleanser → toner or toner pads (pre-soaked pads) → serum or essence (the brand counts these as one step) → cream → eye cream last. Its slogan is "Skin Solutions, Simply Numbered". Numbuzin belongs to Benow, a Seoul-based company, and its products are made in Korea.
No.1 — redness and lack of moisture: soothe and hydrate
No.1 is the brand's hydration line: for sensitive skin that reddens and reacts, and for oily skin whose breakouts come from excess sebum or a lack of moisture. Its key soothing ingredient is pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), alongside hyaluronic acid and centella (cica). The line has its own toner, pads, serum, cream, mask, sunscreen and powder.
No.3 — pores and uneven texture: smooth
The brand's daily No.3 routine is a pair: toner and serum. The toner goes on with your hands, morning and evening; for dry or rough areas the brand suggests soaking cotton pads with it and laying them on the face as a mini sheet mask. The serum follows the toner, morning and evening, spread evenly over the whole face. The No.3 pads and the No.3 sheet mask are what the brand calls "special care", an addition to the daily pair. The line is built on fermented ingredients. The toner contains 50 of them (ferments of lactobacilli, yeasts, bifidobacteria and other cultures) plus 2% niacinamide, with no alcohol. The serum is based on fermented bifidobacteria and galactomyces (a yeast), which, in the brand's words, minimise pores and smooth texture; niacinamide and adenosine add radiance and even out the surface. Find the toner under toners and essences and the serum under serums; our article explains what niacinamide does. Everything in the line is in the Numbuzin No.3 collection.
No.5 — dark spots and post-blemish marks: even out skin tone
No.5 is for marks left by breakouts, pigmentation spots and a dull complexion: in the brand's words, the line "erases spots and marks and brightens the skin". Its core ingredients are glutathione, vitamin C and tranexamic acid. The No.5 pads are double-sided: the smooth jelly side, with glutathione, hydrates and evens out skin tone, while the gauze side gently exfoliates; the formula contains 5% niacinamide and the exfoliating acids PHA and LHA. How to use them: every day, right after cleansing, in place of toner — swipe your face with the jelly side, then flip the pad and go over it with the gauze side. For extra hydration, leave the pads on your cheeks for 3–5 minutes as a mini mask before flipping. A separate trick for a dull under-eye area: cut a pad in half and lay it jelly side down for 5–10 minutes. The line also has a cleansing oil, a toner, a serum, a sheet mask and a cream. Everything in the line is in the Numbuzin No.5 collection.
No.9 — wrinkles and loss of firmness: lift
No.9 is the brand's anti-aging line, "firming and lifting" in its own words. The brand sums up its formula in three words: NAD+, 50 peptides, PDRN. NAD+, as the brand explains it, is a substance present in living cells that takes part in their energy metabolism. The routine the brand gives with its No.9 sets: in the morning, toner → essence → sunscreen; in the evening, toner → essence → eye cream; the mask and eye patches are "special care", morning or evening. The No.9+ toner goes on morning and evening — how much depends on how dry your skin is; the brand then suggests the No.9 essence, with an extra layer on areas with wrinkles. The toner itself has the texture of an essence and contains salmon PDRN, NAD+ and peptides; its soft violet hue comes from vitamin B12 and its pearly sheen from ceramides, with no artificial colourants.
The No.9 eye cream is the last step of the evening routine; to boost the effect, the brand suggests placing the No.9 eye patches over it. The cream is rich and pearlescent; besides NAD+ and peptides it contains retinol, 4% niacinamide and ceramide.
The No.9 Lifting-sil lifting mask comes in two parts: a top part with NAD+ in capsules and a bottom part of fabric with dissolvable PLA threads. Place the top part with its eye holes over your eyes. The slit in the bottom part goes over the chin, not the mouth; pull the ends up and hook them over your ears — there are two ear slits, so pick whichever gives the tightness you want. The box of four masks also includes a lifting band: it goes under the chin and fastens at the crown of the head for a stronger pull. Leave the mask on for at least 20 minutes; the brand warns that, depending on skin type, you may feel some tingling.
Can the numbers be combined?
Yes — the brand does it itself: its own sets combine No.1, No.2 and No.3, and it suggests switching between its No.1 to No.5 sheet masks depending on what your skin needs that day. The pairs the brand itself names: No.3 toner and serum, No.9 toner and essence, No.9 eye cream and eye patches. Before trying a new product, the brand advises a patch test — a little of it on a small area of skin to see how it reacts — and following the instructions on the packaging.
