This snail serum helped Amazon reach record early holiday sales

• Amazon had a record-breaking holiday week.
• A serum made with snail mucus was one of the best-selling products on Amazon.

One of the top-selling products on Amazon is made from snail slime.

That's right. The mollusk's sludge trails are a hot commodity in skincare. And a serum made with snail mucus helped the retail giant make record sales this month.

According to Amazon, the period from November 17 to 27, when Black Friday sales are in full swing, was its "biggest" compared to previous years. Customers purchased more than a billion items globally during those 12 days, the company said in a blog post.

The COSRX Snail Mucin 96% Power Repairing Essence is a top-selling product so far this season, the company wrote in a blog post. The best-selling serum is sold by Korean skincare manufacturers.

Though the product has been a part of Korean skincare for years, it gained international appeal earlier this year when creators on TikTok made viral videos testing it out and claimed it made their skin glow.

Today, the snail skincare business is worth an estimated $4 billion, Business Insider previously reported.

And don't worry, no snails are harmed in the making. To create the serum, COSRX places snails in a dark, quiet room for 30 minutes to let them wriggle around. Then they return the snails to their homes and collect the mucus left behind to create a product called mucin.

Snail mucin contains hyaluronic acid, which is used to moisturize skin. Brands market the product to rejuvenate skin, repair dryness and aging, and reduce dullness. Some scientific studies have shown that snail mucin can reduce wrinkles, hydrate, and speed up healing.