1. Ingredient Watch — Exosome Skin Booster (Considered This Month)

    This month, one molecular category the desk returns to: extracellular vesicles, commonly written as exosomes. The Korean exosome skin-booster category has matured enough to read as a category rather t

  2. Ingredient Watch — Hyaluronic Acid (Considered This Month)

    This month the desk slows down on the molecule everyone thinks they already know. Hyaluronic acid is the oldest line in the Korean booster register and the most over-claimed serum on the K-beauty shel

  3. Ingredient Watch — Niacinamide (Considered This Month)

    This month the desk returns to the most-asked ingredient on the column's inbox — niacinamide. Korean readers know it from the back of an Olive Young serum bottle; international readers know it from a

  4. Ingredient Watch — Retinol / Tretinoin (Considered This Month)

    This week, three notes from the desk on the retinoid family — the column's slow read of the molecule the brand chatter keeps re-launching every season. Retinol, retinaldehyde, prescription tretinoin (

  5. Ingredient Watch — PDLLA Microsphere: A Considered Month

    This month, one molecule the desk returned to: poly-D,L-lactic acid microspheres. PDLLA has been read at the column for two years; this is the slow month, the bench-and-protocol month, the month befor

  6. Ingredient Watch — PDRN Polynucleotide: A Considered Month

    This month, the desk returns to a molecule it has tracked for three years — polynucleotide skin booster, the salmon-DNA fragment family. PDRN is the most-read injectable in the Korean column register,