Our consulting expert
Nurcan Saglam
Licensed dermo-cosmetic expert, Paris. Director of NN Academy de Paris.
Nurcan Saglam, Director of NN Academy de Paris, has reviewed the twelve Korean brand lines in our founding catalog: COSRX, VT Cosmetics, Medicube, Round Lab, Anua, SKIN1004, Dr. Althea, Isntree, Centellian24, Purito Seoul, Beauty of Joseon and Biodance. A new brand carries her byline only once she has reviewed it.
Who is Nurcan Saglam?
Nurcan Saglam is a Paris-licensed dermo-cosmetic expert and the Director of NN Academy de Paris, an esthetician training institute. She practises in Paris and she teaches the practitioners who go on to advise customers across the counter.
She is the consulting skincare expert for Korean Pharmacy and for our sister store Paris Pharmacy. The same person, the same credential, the same review standard applied to two different catalogs.
She is not a medical doctor and she is not a dermatologist. Her expertise is dermo-cosmetic: how a cosmetic formula is built, what an ingredient list is actually doing, and whether a product line holds together as a coherent piece of skincare.
Three pillars of dermo-cosmetic expertise
Director, NN Academy de Paris
NN Academy trains estheticians in dermo-cosmetic practice and pharmacy-grade skincare science. Setting the standard other practitioners learn is a different kind of authority than practising alone.
Licensed dermo-cosmetic expert
Specialised in the science of pharmacy-grade cosmetic formulation: actives and their real working concentrations, delivery systems, irritation potential, and how a formula sits on a compromised barrier.
Practising in Paris
She works with real client cases daily at her Paris practice. A review from someone still in the chair catches what a formula does to skin, not only what its ingredient list promises.
What her review covers, and what it does not
Nurcan has reviewed twelve Korean brand lines: COSRX, VT Cosmetics, Medicube, Round Lab, Anua, SKIN1004, Dr. Althea, Isntree, Centellian24, Purito Seoul, Beauty of Joseon and Biodance, in August 2026. For each of those lines she looked at the formulation approach, the ingredient quality, and whether the line belongs in a curated dermo-cosmetic catalog at all. A brand that does not hold up does not get shelf space.
Where a product page carries her byline, that page has passed the same review. The byline is a statement about our curation, not a personal endorsement of a result you will get.
The Korean brand lines she has reviewed, as of August 2026:
- It is not medical advice. For a diagnosis, a prescription, or a skin condition you are worried about, see your own physician or dermatologist.
- It is not a claim that any product treats a disease. Nothing we sell is an approved drug in the United States.
- It is not a dermatologist review. Nurcan is a licensed dermo-cosmetic expert, not a medical dermatologist, and we will never describe her work as anything else.
Dermo-cosmetic, and why it applies to Korean skincare
Dermo-cosmetic is the European pharmacy tradition of skincare designed where cosmetic care meets clinical research: restrained allergen loads, active concentrations chosen to work rather than to headline, and testing under dermatological control.
Korean formulation arrives at a similar place from a different direction. Korean labs iterate faster, layer lighter textures, and put real money into cosmetic elegance, which is why a Korean essence often outperforms its ingredient list on skin. What the two traditions share is the discipline the review is looking for.
Reading a Korean ingredient list against that standard, and translating it for a US shopper who cannot read the Korean packaging, is exactly what Nurcan brings to this catalog.
NN Academy de Paris
NN Academy de Paris is an esthetician training institute in Paris specialising in dermo-cosmetic practice and pharmacy-grade skincare science. Its graduates go on to work in pharmacies, clinics, and aesthetic practices.
Nurcan is its Director. That trainer-of-trainers role is what makes her an unusually credible advisor to a catalog: she is not one practitioner with one opinion, she sets the standard other practitioners are taught.
Frequently asked about Nurcan and the review
- Is Nurcan a medical doctor?
- No. She is a Paris-licensed dermo-cosmetic expert and the Director of NN Academy de Paris, an esthetician training institute. She is not a physician and not a medical dermatologist. For a personal skin concern, consult your own doctor.
- How does she review the catalog?
- At the brand level. She has reviewed twelve Korean brand lines so far: COSRX, VT Cosmetics, Medicube, Round Lab, Anua, SKIN1004, Dr. Althea, Isntree, Centellian24, Purito Seoul, Beauty of Joseon and Biodance, looking at the formulation approach, ingredient quality, and whether the line fits a curated dermo-cosmetic catalog. Only product pages from those twelve brands carry her byline; a brand new to the catalog carries it once she has reviewed it too.
- Are the products themselves tested by dermatologists?
- Several of the Korean brands we carry run their own dermatological testing programmes and print those claims on their own packaging. Those are the brands' own claims about their own products, made by the brands, and they are a separate thing from Nurcan's review of our catalog.
- Does she work for Paris Pharmacy too?
- Yes. Korean Pharmacy and Paris Pharmacy are run by the same owner and Nurcan is the consulting expert for both. Her profile on the Paris Pharmacy site describes the same person and the same credential.