Here's our breakdown of the notable ingredients, benefits, and concerns we determined from the ingredients in this product. Click any item to learn more.

Concerns

Rosacea

Eczema

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and view relevant ingredients.

alcohol-free

silicon-free

fragrance-free

sulfate-free

paraben-free

oil-free

fungal-acne safe

reef-safe

eu-allergen-free

vegan

cruelty-free

Ingredients Overview

Here's our quick-to-read summary of the ingredients in this product. Keep scrolling if you'd like to learn more about what each ingredient does!

Ingredient

Com. / Irr. Rating

Features

Skin Conditioning

Perfuming

Emollient, Emulsifying, Emulsion Stabilising, Masking

2 / 2

Emulsifying

Preservative

Buffering

Emollient, Masking

Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

1 / 0

Masking, Perfuming

Ingredients Explained

This product contains 11 ingredients. Click on any ingredient to learn more about it

Ibuprofen 3%

What it does: Skin Conditioning

We don't have a description for Ibuprofen.

Isopropyl-Methylphenetole 0.3%

What it does: Perfuming

Isopropyl-Methylphenetole is a fragrance.

Stearyl Alcohol

What it does: Emollient, Emulsifying, Emulsion Stabilising, Masking

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Stearyl Alcohol is a type of fatty alcohol from stearic acid. It is a white, waxy compound used to emulsify ingredients.

Fatty Alcohols are most often used as an emollient or to thicken a product. Emollients help soothe and hydrate the skin by trapping moisture.

They are usually derived from natural fats and oils and therefore do not have the same drying or irritating effect as solvent alcohols. FDA allows products labeled "alcohol-free" to have fatty alcohols.

Learn more about Stearyl Alcohol

Polysorbate 60

What it does: Emulsifying

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Polysorbate 60 is used to help stabilize products. It is a surfactant and emulsifier. These properties help keep ingredients together in a product. Surfactants help reduce surface tension between ingredients with different states, such as liquids and solids. Emulsifiers help prevent oils and waters from separating.

Polysorbate 60 is sorbitol-based and created from the ethoxylation of sorbitan. Ethoxylation is a chemical reaction used to add ethylene oxide. Sorbitan is a the dehydrated version of sorbitol, a sugar found in fruits.

In this case, the 60 comes from reacting 60 units of ethylene oxide with sorbitan.

Polysorbates are commonly used in medicine and foods.

Learn more about Polysorbate 60

Disodium EDTA

What it does:

Community Rating: Disliked

Disodium EDTA plays a role in making products more stable by aiding other preservatives.

It is a chelating agent, meaning it neutralizes metal ions that may be found in a product.

Disodium EDTA is a salt of edetic acid and is found to be safe in cosmetic ingredients.

Learn more about Disodium EDTA

Sodium Paraben

What it does: Preservative

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Sodium Paraben is a preservative and is a paraben.

Isopropanolamine

What it does: Buffering

We don't have a description for Isopropanolamine.

Octyldodecanol

What it does: Emollient, Masking

Community Rating: Disliked

Octyldodecanol is a fatty alcohol. It is primarily used to enhance the texture of products.

As an emulsifier, Octyldodecanol helps prevent the oils and waters from separating. It also prevents ingredients from creating foam when shaken.

Octyldodecanol is created by reducing fatty acid to an alcohol.

Due to its high molecular weight, it does not get absorbed into the skin.

Learn more about Octyldodecanol

Butylene Glycol

What it does: Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Community Rating: Mixed

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

It is a solvent, meaning that it helps to dissolve other ingredients. This also enhances the absorption of the product into one's skin.
It is a humectant, which means that it helps attract moisture into the skin.
It helps improve product application.

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient. It is unlikely to irritate skin, and works well with pretty much all other ingredients.

Polyvinylalcohol Crosspolymer

What it does:

We don't have a description for Polyvinylalcohol Crosspolymer.

Parfum

What it does: Masking, Perfuming

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Parfum is a catch-all term for an ingredient or more that is used to give aroma to products. Parfum, or fragrance, can be a blend of hundreds of chemicals or plant oils. This means every product with "fragrance" or "Parfum" in the ingredients list is a different mixture.

In the US, the alternative name for parfum is 'fragrance'. The term 'fragrance' is not regulated in many countries. In many cases, it is up to the brand to define this term.

For instance, many brands choose to label themselves as "fragrance-free" because they are not using synthetic fragrances. However, their products may still contain ingredients such as essential oils that are considered a fragrance. One example is Calendula flower extract. Essential oil ingredients still impart a scent or 'fragrance'.

Depending on the blend, it can cause allergies and sensitivities on the skin. Some ingredients that are known EU allergens include linalool and citronellol.

Products use parfum often to give products a scent or cover up smells of different ingredients.

The bottom line is: not all fragrances/parfum/ingredients are created equally. If you are worried about fragrances, we recommend taking a closer look at an ingredient. And of course, we always recommend speaking with a professional.

Learn more about Parfum

Embed Ingredients

Here's what our community thinks of the 11 ingredients in this product ✨

0% are loved or liked

9% have mixed ratings

55% are disliked or very disliked

36% have no rating yet

When to use

We've created a guide with info on when you should use Lion Pair Acne Cream W. We've also included some recommended products to use it with, as well as some routine inspiration!

Read our guide on when to use Pair Acne Cream W ->

Verified by SkinSort

We're dedicated to providing you with the most up-to-date and science-backed ingredient info out there.

The data we've presented on this page has been verified by a member of the SkinSort Team.

Top Reviews

View all 6

Review by Clover

Mar 30, 2024

Update March 2024: I’m not gonna change my old rating because allergies/sensitivities are not universal, but I just wanted to make this update as a word of caution for anyone with reactionary prone skin. It is possible to develop new allergies over time and unfortunately that’s what happened to me. I’ve been using this cream since February 2023 but recently the patches of skin where I use this cream become inflamed, red, itchy, flakey, etc. I had to use a prescription steroid ointment to treat it, so it was pretty bad. My best guess is that it is due to whatever specific fragrance blend Lion uses in this cream, but I’m not entirely sure. Not all products with fragrance bother my skin but this one sure does, so if you have reactionary skin please just be careful.

Original Review July 2023:
A unique and gentle approach to adult acne
This product is so different compared to other acne products I’ve tried. (From what I’ve heard) this product is marketed in Japan for the treatment of adult acne and is often found in the pharmaceutical section of the drug store rather than the cosmetic. The active ingredients in this are ibuprofen piconol (IPPN) and isopropyl methylphenol (IPMP). IPPN is a topical ibuprofen so it is anti-inflammatory, and IPMP is antibacterial. This cream is so gentle and works amazingly for calming down tender and inflamed pimples. Some spot treatments are hard to blend into skin and just kinda sit on top, but not this one! It’s super gentle and blends away into skin effortlessly, so it’s easy to wear under makeup. I recommend this to anyone with adult acne OR just anyone who wants to try a slightly different approach to treating their breakouts. I’ve really loved the results so far.

Great Value

Irritating

Light

Absorbs Well

Light Scent

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3 likes

Latest Reviews

View all 6

Review by Yawnkun

Mar 7, 2024

I only used to use this as a very effective spot treatment, but this saved me from a really weird, sudden breakout - like cystic acne around my mouth, chin and eyebrow areas. Suddenly thought of stopping using all of my other products for a while, and to use this all over my face as a "treatment" cream. Lo and behold, it worked! This only proved that this product deserves my holy grail spot. I'm definitely using this again as a whole face treatment when I breakout. I recommend this for anyone who gets hormonal and cystic acne, when you apply this to your active pimples before you sleep, when you wake up they're less inflamed and almost ready to heal. It's very, very cheap too.

Great Value

Absorbs Well

No Scent

Works Well

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