This calming moisturizer is formulated around Panthenol and Beta-Glucan to calm redness and hydrate skin.

This anti-aging eye moisturizer is formulated around Niacinamide and Adenosine to soften the look of wrinkles and brighten dull-looking skin.

General Moisturizer
Eye Moisturizer
Korean South Korea
Korean South Korea

What's inside

What's inside

Key Ingredients

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Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Skin Conditioning, Solvent

1,2-Hexanediol is a synthetic liquid and another multi-functional powerhouse. 

It is a:

  • Humectant, drawing moisture into the skin
  • Emollient, helping to soften skin
  • Solvent, dispersing and stabilizing formulas
  • Preservative booster, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of other preservatives 
Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.

Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.

Learn more about Butylene Glycol
Skin Conditioning

Chlorella Vulgaris Extract comes from a single-celled green freshwater algae.

The version used in skincare is almost always a water or glycerin-based extract that is basically the algae's amino acids, peptides, sugars, and chlorophyll pigments.

It acts as a skin-conditioning agent and the research behind it at this time is mostly lab-dish rather than human trials.

Isolated Chlorella peptides inhibit collagenase and elastase (the enzymes that chew up collagen and elastin) and mop up free radicals in test-tube assays. Another study found a Chlorella gel sped up wound healing in mice. Many of the firming or dark-circle claims come from the ingredient supplier's own studies.

Suppliers suggest using 1-2% of the trade version (Water/Glycerin + Chlorella Vulgaris Extract) in a finished formula which means the actual algae solids are a fraction of a percent.

Allergy risk is low and topical reactions are rare; the 2020 anaphylaxis case came from eating Chlorella supplements and not from putting it on skin.

However, patch testing is sensible if you have reacted to algae before.

The "chlorella is high in iodine so it breaks you out" line borrows from marine seaweed. Freshwater Chlorella isn't a notable iodine source unless it's deliberately grown in iodine-enriched medium.

Just so you know, many lists give algae a comedogenic rating of 5 and that number doesn't come from anywhere; it's not in the original rabbit-ear studies that most comedogenic ratings trace back to.

The reasoning behind the reputation is that seaweed is high in iodine and iodine can trigger acne-like breakouts when eaten. This traces back to a 1976 letter in Archives of Dermatology describing two women whose breakouts cleared after they stopped taking high-dose kelp supplements orally.

And the reaction of these two women wasn't clogged pores at all: it was an iodine-triggered pustular rash. Later research found normal dietary iodine doesn't meaningfully affect acne either and nobody has shown topical algae delivers enough iodine to matter.

Learn more about Chlorella Vulgaris Extract
Humectant, Masking, Solvent

Dipropylene Glycol is a synthetically created humectant, stabilizer, and solvent.

This ingredient helps:

Dipropylene glycol is technically an alcohol, but it belongs to the glycol family (often considered part of the ‘good’ alcohols). This means it is hydrating and gentle on skin unlike drying solvent alcohols like denatured alcohol.

As a masking agent, Dipropylene Glycol can be used to cover the smell of other ingredients. However, it does not have a scent.

Studies show Dipropylene Glycol is considered safe to use in skincare.

Learn more about Dipropylene Glycol

Disodium EDTA is a chelating agent. It grabs onto and deactivates metal ions that sneak into your products from water, packaging, or air.

This ingredient mainly works behind the scenes and helps with:

On top of that, this ingredient can counteract the effects of hard water by binding to the minerals in it.

One thing worth knowing is that Disodium EDTA has been shown to be a mild penetration enhancer. It can help other ingredients absorb into skin more effectively which can be a double-edged sword (great for actives, but can also make the active too strong if you have sensitive skin).

Clinical patch testing showed no significant skin irritation at typical use concentrations and minimal dermal absorption.

You'll most likely see this ingredient near the end of an ingredient list. It's typically found in concentrations less than 1%.

Learn more about Disodium EDTA

We don't have a description for Gelidium Cartilagineum Extract yet.

Humectant

Glycereth-26 is a synthetic ingredient and polyethylene glycol ether of Glycerin. Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin and helps keep your skin moisturized.

It is a humectant and helps add texture to products. It can make your product thicker.

As a humectant, it helps draw moisture from the air to your skin. This helps your skin stay hydrated.

Learn more about Glycereth-26
Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting

Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.

Topically, glycerin does several things at once:

Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.

Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.

This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.

Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Learn more about Glycerin
Skin Protecting

Laminaria Japonica Extract is an extract of Japanese kelp, the same brown seaweed sold as kombu.

This ingredient is usually extracted from dried, ground kelp with water or a water/glycol mix. Most of what ends up in your bottle is mostly big sugar molecules, minerals, and amino acids rather than oils.

Those sugars help hold water and form a light film on the skin's surface, giving it humectant and mild-barrier supporting properties.

The best human data is a small Korean study where a cream with 10% extract upped skin hydration about 14% over placebo and cut water loss through the skin for up to eight hours.

Beyond this study, most of the anti-aging and anti-inflammatory claims come from mouse and cell studies; these studies found that topical kelp sugars preserved collagen in aging mice and the extract calmed UVB-triggered inflammation markers in cultured skin cells.

Though this sounds promising, it isn't the same as proof on human faces.

Industry data shows this ingredient is usually used anywhere from 0.0005% - 5%. Most leave-on products sit well under 1% and the 5% end mostly shows up in bath products.

Allergy-risk for this ingredient looks low as well. A cream with 10% extract patch-tested on 25 people caused no irritation and there have been no sensitization reports either.

There is one real allergy report on "laminaria" that involves medical cervical dilators made from whole dried kelp stems inserted internally; though this is a very different exposure from a few tenths of a percent in a serum.

Learn more about Laminaria Japonica Extract
Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.

So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.

You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water

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