Ingredients

50 ingredients scored by clinical evidence. Each page breaks down how it works, who should use it, and what to pair it with.

Ingredient Analyzer

Paste any product's ingredient list to decode it, check for irritants, and spot conflicts.

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)

Niacinamide is the active amide form of vitamin B3. Your skin cells convert it into NAD+ and NADP+, two coenzymes involved in ceramide synthesis, DNA…

Retinol (Vitamin A)

Retinol is an over-the-counter form of vitamin A that converts to retinoic acid in your skin through a two-step enzymatic process. Retinoic acid then…

Vitamin C (L-Ascorbic Acid)

Vitamin C is a water-soluble antioxidant your skin cannot produce on its own. In skincare, L-ascorbic acid is the most studied form. It interrupts…

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a glycosaminoglycan in the skin's extracellular matrix, where it binds and retains water. Baumann classifies it as a humectant…

Centella Asiatica (Cica)

Centella asiatica is a perennial herb used in traditional Asian medicine for centuries — and the reason "cica" appears on half the products in your…

Ceramides

Ceramides are waxy lipid molecules that make up roughly 50% of your stratum corneum's intercellular matrix. They form lamellar bilayers between your…

Panthenol (Provitamin B5)

Panthenol is the alcohol form of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). Your skin cells convert it to pantothenic acid after absorption, which then becomes…

Salicylic Acid (BHA)

Salicylic acid is a beta-hydroxy acid (BHA) derived from willow bark. Unlike AHAs, which are water-soluble and stop at your surface, salicylic acid is…

Green Tea (EGCG)

Green tea extract comes from Camellia sinensis leaves that are steamed (not oxidized) to preserve their polyphenol content. The primary active…

Collagen (Marine + Plant-Derived)

Collagen is the structural protein that makes up about 75% of your dermis by dry weight — the scaffolding responsible for your skin's firmness and…

Snail Mucin (Snail Secretion Filtrate)

Snail mucin — labeled Snail Secretion Filtrate (SSF) on ingredient lists — is the complex mixture secreted by Cryptomphalus aspersa, the common garden…

Squalane

Squalane is the hydrogenated, shelf-stable form of squalene — a lipid your sebaceous glands naturally produce that makes up about 12% of your sebum.…

AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acids)

Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are water-soluble acids that exfoliate your skin's surface by breaking the ionic bonds holding dead cells together in your…

Tranexamic Acid

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a synthetic lysine analogue originally developed as an antifibrinolytic drug to stop bleeding. In your skincare routine, it…

Azelaic Acid

Azelaic acid is a naturally occurring dicarboxylic acid (C9) produced by Malassezia furfur yeast on human skin. What makes it stand out in your…

Alpha-Arbutin

Alpha-arbutin is the alpha-glucoside of hydroquinone — a glucose molecule bonded to hydroquinone. That glycosidic bond is what separates it from raw…

Ginseng

Ginseng in skincare means extracts from Panax ginseng root — specifically the ginsenosides, a family of 30+ steroidal saponins. These compounds drive…

Rice Extract

Rice extract in skincare covers several distinct ingredients: fermented rice water (sake kasu or makgeolli filtrate), rice bran oil, rice bran…

PDRN

PDRN (polydeoxyribonucleotide) is a biopolymer extracted from salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) sperm DNA. Purification removes all proteins and peptides,…

Peptides

Peptides in skincare are synthetic short-chain amino acid sequences (2–50 amino acids) that function as cell-signaling molecules. Three distinct types…

Mung Bean Extract

Mung bean extract comes from Vigna radiata, a legume cultivated across East Asia for millennia. In skincare, it delivers vitexin (a flavone…

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a family of eight fat-soluble compounds: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols. In skincare,…

Heartleaf Extract

Heartleaf extract (Houttuynia cordata extract) is derived from a perennial herb native to East Asia. The plant contains decanoyl acetaldehyde (an…

MLE (Multi-Lamellar Emulsion)

MLE (Multi-Lamellar Emulsion) is a formulation technology that arranges skin-identical lipids (ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids) into a…

c-PDRN

c-PDRN (cell-free or chemically synthesized PDRN) is a synthetic polydeoxyribonucleotide produced through enzymatic polymerization rather than…

Deep Sea Water

Deep sea water (DSW) is seawater extracted from depths of 200 meters or more, below the photic zone where sunlight penetrates. In Korea, DSW is…

Tea Tree

Tea tree oil is the steam-distilled essential oil from Melaleuca alternifolia leaves, native to Australia. It contains over 100 compounds, with…

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) gel is the clear, viscous substance from the inner leaf of the aloe plant. It contains acemannan (a beta-linked…

Propolis

Propolis is a resinous mixture honeybees produce from tree bud exudates, sap flows, and botanical sources. They use it to seal gaps in the hive and…

PHA

Polyhydroxy acids (PHAs) are a class of hydroxy acid with larger molecules than standard AHAs. The two you will see most often are gluconolactone…

Bakuchiol

Bakuchiol is a meroterpene isolated from the seeds and leaves of Psoralea corylifolia. The plant has a long record in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine,…

Beta-Carotene

Beta-carotene is a provitamin A carotenoid, a lipid-soluble orange pigment found in carrots, sweet potatoes, sea buckthorn, and palm fruit. Your skin…

Birch Sap

Birch sap (Betula platyphylla) is the xylem fluid harvested from white birch trees each spring. The fluid is 98% water, with the remaining 2% composed…

Bee Venom

Bee venom (apitoxin) is a complex mixture of peptides, enzymes, and bioactive compounds from Apis mellifera honeybees. The active compound in skincare…

Artemisia (Mugwort)

Artemisia princeps (Korean mugwort, or ssuk) is a perennial herb in the Asteraceae family, native to East Asia. In Korean skincare, its extract is…

Bifida Ferment Lysate

Bifida ferment lysate is the filtrate produced when Bifidobacterium bacteria are fermented and then lysed (their cell walls broken open). The…

Beta-Glucan

Beta-glucan is a polysaccharide made of glucose molecules linked by beta-glycosidic bonds. What it does in your skin depends on its source.…

EGF

Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) is a 53-amino-acid signaling peptide (6.2 kDa) that binds the EGFR (ErbB1) receptor on your keratinocytes and…

Exosomes

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles 30-150 nanometers in diameter, released by cells through the endosomal pathway. They carry proteins, lipids, mRNA,…

Chaga Mushroom Extract

When you use a chaga product, you're getting an extract from Inonotus obliquus — a parasitic fungus that colonizes birch trees in cold climates,…

Guaiazulene

What you're applying when you use a guaiazulene product is a bicyclic sesquiterpene hydrocarbon (C15H18) — naturally occurring in chamomile essential…

Shea Butter

Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nuts of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa), native to West Africa. What makes it unusual among plant fats is…

Black Bean

Black bean extract in K-beauty refers specifically to Korean black soybean (Glycine max, black seed coat variety) — distinct from common black beans…

Fermented Soybean

Fermented soybean extract is produced by fermenting soybeans (Glycine max) with bacteria — Bacillus subtilis, the same culture used in Korean…

Hydrocolloid

Hydrocolloid is a wound dressing material: carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) particles suspended in a polyisobutylene or polyurethane adhesive matrix,…

Camellia Oil

Camellia oil is cold-pressed from the seeds of Camellia japonica, an evergreen tree native to Korea, Japan, and southern China. Your bottle contains…

Yuja (Citron)

Yuja (Citrus junos, called yuzu in Japan) is a cold-hardy citrus native to East Asia, grown primarily in Korea's Goheung and Jeju regions. The…

Colloidal Gold

Colloidal gold is a suspension of gold nanoparticles — typically 1-100nm in diameter — produced by chemically reducing gold salts (chloroauric acid)…

Orchid Extract

Orchid extract in skincare is a water or ethanol extract from orchid species — most commonly Cymbidium grandiflorum, Dendrobium nobile, Dendrobium…

Plum Extract

Plum extract in K-beauty is Prunus mume — Korean maesil, Japanese ume — a stone fruit native to East Asia that's been a culinary staple for millennia…

Glycerin

Glycerin is a small, three-carbon sugar alcohol (propane-1,2,3-triol) that attracts and holds water. It's produced naturally by your body during fat…

Lactic Acid

Lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) derived from the fermentation of sugars — originally from sour milk, now primarily from beet sugar or corn.…

Mandelic Acid

Mandelic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid derived from the hydrolysis of bitter almonds (where it gets its name — 'mandel' is German for almond). In your…