Reading a Korean ingredient list: what actually matters

We publish the complete ingredient list on every product page, because it is the only part of the packaging that cannot exaggerate. Learning to read it takes about ten minutes and will save you a lot of money.

Order is concentration

Ingredients are listed by weight, highest first. There is one exception: anything present below 1% may be listed in any order, which is usually everything after the preservatives and fragrance.

Practical consequence: if the hero ingredient on the front of the box appears near the end of the list, it is present in trace amounts. A “ginseng ampoule” whose ginseng extract sits after the fragrance is a marketing decision, not a formulation one.

Water is first in most products. That is normal and not a criticism.

Concentrations worth knowing

• Niacinamide — 2–5% for barrier support and tone; 10% is effective but more likely to sting
• Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) — 10–20%, and it needs a low pH to work
• Salicylic acid — 0.5–2% for congestion
• Centella asiatica — look for the isolated actives (asiaticoside, madecassoside) rather than just “extract”
• Hyaluronic acid — concentration barely matters; molecular weight variety does

Korean brands are generally better than most about stating percentages on the packaging. When a brand does not, that is information too.

Names that sound alarming and are not

Butylene glycol, propanediol, 1,2-hexanediol — solvents and humectants. They carry actives into the skin and hold water. Harmless.

Carbomer, xanthan gum — thickeners. They give a product its texture and nothing else.

Phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin — preservatives. A cosmetic without preservatives grows bacteria; this is not a corner worth cutting.

Dimethicone — a silicone that smooths and reduces water loss. It does not “suffocate” skin and it is not comedogenic for most people.

Names worth checking against your own skin

Fragrance / parfum — fine for most, a common trigger for reactive skin. It appears in a lot of Korean formulas.

Essential oils — lavender, citrus, peppermint. “Natural” does not mean gentle; these are among the more frequent irritants.

Denatured alcohol — near the top of the list it can be drying with repeated use. Low down it is a formulation aid and not a concern.

None of these are objectively bad. They are simply the ones most likely to explain why a well-reviewed product did not suit you.

Fermented ingredients

You will see a lot of Lactobacillus ferment, Saccharomyces ferment filtrate, and rice ferment in Korean formulas. Fermentation breaks large molecules into smaller ones and produces amino acids and peptides as a by-product. The evidence is reasonable rather than spectacular — useful, well-tolerated, not magic.

Claims that mean nothing

“Dermatologist tested” — tested, with no stated result.
“Hypoallergenic” — no regulated definition.
“Chemical-free” — physically impossible.
“Clinically proven” without a published study — unverifiable.

“Non-comedogenic” is worth slightly more, but comedogenicity is tested per ingredient, not per formula, so it is a weak signal.

How to use this

Before you buy anything new, scan the first six ingredients and check for anything you already know your skin dislikes. Patch test on your inner forearm or behind the ear for three days before putting a new active on your face.

Full ingredient lists are on every one of our product pages, under Ingredients. If a list is unclear, message us on WhatsApp and we will go through it with you.