Tocobo is a Korean cosmetics brand from Seoul, first and foremost for skin and lip care. Its motto is short, Follow Your Intuition, and one of its stated values is Clarity: a good product should make sense at a glance. This page is built the same way: three Tocobo products, sorted by where they usually live (your bag, your pocket and the shelf by the sink). For each one: what it is, who it’s for and how to use it.
In your bag: Cotton Soft Sun Stick, an SPF stick for the face
A sun stick is a solid sunscreen in stick form, like an oversized lip balm: you apply it straight onto the skin, no hands needed. Cotton Soft Sun Stick is SPF50+ PA++++, the highest rating, as the brand itself points out; SPF is the protection from UVB, the rays that burn, and PA from UVA, the rays that age the skin. No shine, no stickiness: a dry, velvety finish. Inside is a fine porous powder: it absorbs sebum and oil and covers uneven texture, and the stick itself goes on thin and sheer, like a makeup primer. The cotton of the name is in the formula too, as cotton extract: Tocobo credits it with hydrating and protecting the skin, alongside a four-herb complex for calming and plant extracts to balance moisture and oil.
Who it’s for: Tocobo recommends the stick for anyone whose makeup breaks down from sebum, for those who want matte skin and a light, dry feel, and for sensitive, easily irritated skin. How to use: as the last step of your skincare routine, glide the stick gently over your face; if you wear makeup, it goes on before your makeup, as a primer. This is where it earns its place in your bag: protection needs topping up during the day, and Tocobo says the stick can be reapplied “anytime, anywhere, without using your hands”. How often: Tocobo doesn’t say. The full-size stick is 19 g; Tocobo also makes an 11 g mini.
Tocobo’s stick line has two more: Cica Cooling for sensitive skin, with a cooling effect, and Vita Waterproof, water-resistant and long-lasting, for outdoor use. Among the creams: the mild Bio Watery Sun Cream, “like putting on a hydrating serum”, and Vita Tone Up, with a tone-up effect. All the sunscreens we carry are in our sun protection collection.
In your pocket: Juicy Berry Plumping Lip Oil
Plumping means making lips look fuller. Tocobo itself describes Juicy Berry Plumping Lip Oil as “a lip oil with double plumping and berry-syrup shine” and explains the “double” like this: lips look fuller and they shine. The plumping comes in two strengths, and you tell them apart by feel. The tinted shades (deep cherry Black Cherry, brown Bitter Brown, rosy coral Rosy Girl, berry-pink Berry Candy and others) are Mild Cool: a light coolness, for everyday wear. Two shades are about shimmer rather than colour: 00 Frozen Berry, an “icy blue” with shimmer, and 11 Honey Lemon, a “sparkling lemon yellow”. They are Spicy Hot: “spicy warmth” and maximum volume. The warmth is intentional: a feeling of irritation after you apply it doesn’t happen to everyone and depends on your skin, and Tocobo calls it temporary, a natural reaction to the ingredients and the plumping itself. If your lips are sensitive, the brand suggests a patch test first. Two more of its tips apply to everyone: don’t apply the oil to damaged lips, and judge the amount by how strongly you feel the plumping.
Who it’s for: anyone who wants shine, a hint of colour and fuller lips. How to use: smooth it gently onto dry lips; it isn’t sticky to the touch. The shine comes from a film of plant oils (olive, argan and others) that also holds in moisture and helps with flaking; blueberry extract is there to nourish the lips, and the tinted shades contain wild cherry as well. Beyond the lip oil, Tocobo makes lip masks (the overnight Vita Glazed, the Lemon Sugar scrub and others) and lip balms, plain and tinted. Lipsticks, tints, balms and lip oils from different brands are in our lips collection.
By the sink: Calamine Pore Control Cleansing Oil, for makeup removal
A cleansing oil is the first step of an end-of-day cleanse: you apply it to a dry face, it dissolves what water alone won’t remove, and then, with water, it rinses away without residue. Tocobo describes this oil as a cleanse and a pore mask in one step: the milk-oil formula melts makeup while the calamine powder draws sebum and blackheads out of the pores; afterwards, the brand says, the skin is smooth with no bumps. It removes four things at once: makeup, sunscreen, dead skin cells and blackheads. So at the end of the day it also takes off the sun stick that rides in your bag.
Who it’s for: anyone bothered by oiliness, pores and blackheads, and anyone who wears sunscreen or makeup. Tocobo calls the oil low-irritation, “for skin sensitive to irritation”. How to use: give it a gentle shake before use, as the calamine powder can settle. Apply the oil to a dry face, with no water (how much, Tocobo doesn’t say), and spread it over the whole face, massaging as you go. Where the skin is oilier (forehead, nose and chin, and for some people the cheeks), massage a little longer. Then add a little water and keep massaging so the oil mixes with it; rinse with lukewarm water. After the oil, wash with a foam: Tocobo’s own is Coconut Clay Cleansing Foam, with pink clay. Oil, then foam: that’s what’s called a double cleanse. The oil doesn’t leave the skin feeling tight: that, Tocobo says, is thanks to a “white milk” of rice, oat and soy, plus soapwort extract, while olive oil is added for hydration. Cleansing oils and balms from different brands are in our makeup removal collection; foams and gels for the second step are in our cleansing collection.
The rest of Tocobo’s range is skincare that lives on the same shelf. There’s the Cica Calming line for soothing (toner, serum, gel cream and toner pads), the AHA BHA Lemon Toner with acids for dead skin cells, the hydrating Multi Ceramide Cream and the Collagen Brightening Eye Gel Cream for firmness. If you’re choosing by concern: for oily shine and makeup that slides off, the sun stick; for blackheads and makeup removal, the cleansing oil; for fuller, glossier lips, the lip oil. All three are certified vegan, with no animal-derived ingredients, and all three contain fragrance: if your skin reacts to fragrance, that’s worth knowing in advance.
