The Miracle Called Snail Mucin

You wouldn’t guess it at first glance, but snail mucin is currently one of the most sought-after and popular cosmetic ingredients. It’s widely used in Korean skincare and has beneficial effects on the health and appearance of the skin. So toss your prejudices aside and let yourself be pampered by this natural miracle!

They noticed it long ago

As far back as Ancient Greece, the famous Hippocrates treated irritated and inflamed skin with crushed snails. The practice is also preserved in sources from Ancient Rome and later from 18th-century France.

Snails were first used in cosmetics in Chile, where local farmers on snail farms—besides using them in the kitchen—also noticed their mucin’s healing and moisturizing effects.

Today, they’re used mainly in innovative Korean skincare, where they’ve made their way into creams, essences, and face masks.

Why it’s such a miracle

What makes snail mucin so beneficial, and why has it become so popular? It has a very rich composition full of helpful substances. It contains antioxidant enzymes, hyaluronic acid, glycolic acid, peptides, zinc, and much more. All of these ingredients are a great source of hydration, have anti-inflammatory and healing effects, and can help even out and rejuvenate the skin.

Mucin has an immediate moisturizing effect, and with longer use it can also improve the skin’s natural ability to retain water. It’s recommended for soothing inflammation and irritation such as acne, and it doesn’t slack off in mature-skin care either. According to recent studies, it suppresses an enzyme that negatively affects collagen. And collagen helps skin stay firm and youthful!

Snails on your face

Mucin is added to creams, masks, serums, and toners. But you don’t have to worry that cosmetic products would smell bad or have a sticky texture. Most of them have a neutral color, scent, and texture.

In Japan or South Korea, you can even pay for a beautifying procedure where they let several snails crawl on your face for twenty minutes! But these are specially bred creatures, not just any ordinary garden pests.

No snail was harmed

Methods used in the past are now considered unacceptable—snails were driven with electric shocks to induce stress and extract mucin from them.

Today you can be sure that the mucin on your face comes from a healthy, well-rested snail that’s properly cared for. For example, the brand COSRX lets snails crawl for an hour in a calm, pleasant environment on a special mesh that collects their mucin. It is then purified, processed, and ready to be used on your skin.

Want to try it?

In our selection you’ll find many products with this natural miracle.

Try, for example, the face cream Golden Snail Intensive Cream by Skin79, which richly nourishes and hydrates tired, dehydrated skin and effectively targets wrinkles, or the face cream Advanced Snail 92 All In One Cream by Cosrx with a high content of snail mucin (92%), which improves skin texture and strengthens its natural protective barrier. To reduce expression lines and refresh the under-eye area, use hydrogel under-eye patches such as Gold and Snail Hydrogel Eye Patch by Petitfée, which in addition to snail mucin also contain, among other things, real gold extract. For more mature skin, you can try the firming anti-aging serum IUnik Black Snail Restore Serum, which smooths wrinkles and scars on the skin and deeply and intensely hydrates. Mucin is also used in makeup—it works as prevention against imperfections and blemishes, keeps skin naturally hydrated and healthy, and gently cares for the skin with a natural coverage effect—you can try it for yourself with the Skin79 BB cream Golden Snail.