Where does this toner go in my routine?

Straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp. Anything thinner than a toner goes on before it, and anything richer goes on after. If you are adding it to a routine you already like, give it a week on its own first, so what you see is the Sodium DNA and not three changes at once.

What else is on the list besides Sodium DNA?

Allantoin, Copper Tripeptide-1 and Tocopherol. The order they are printed in on this toner's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Sodium DNA sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Saccharum Officinarum (Sugarcane) Extract, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract and Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract.

Anua

PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner 250ml

Name: Anua PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner 250ml
Brand: Anua
SKU: 12243505645
Price: 37.5 USD
Availability: InStock

Anua PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner is a 250ml toner with Sodium DNA, used straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp.

Reviewed by Nurcan Saglam, licensed dermo-cosmetic expert (Paris)

No reviews yet

$37.50

250 ml

$15.00 per 100 ml

Korean-market formula
Ships from California or direct from Korea
Korean barcode and batch code intact

Suited to: Dehydrated skinSensitive skinSkin that has lost bounceDull, uneven tone

Helps with: Shoppers looking for Sodium DNA in a tonerRoutines that want Sodium DNA and Allantoin in one stepFilling the toner step with a Korean-market formula

One-time purchase

$37.50

SubscribeSave 10%

$33.75

In stock. Arrives in 3 to 7 business days

You’re $100.00 away from free US shipping.

30-day returns
Free US shipping on orders of $100 or more
Tracked delivery to your door

Verified authentic Shipping and returns

How it works

The PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner is a 250ml toner, used straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp. The active it is built around is Sodium DNA, named twenty-ninth on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Allantoin, Copper Tripeptide-1 and Tocopherol, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Sodium DNA stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the toner format rather than by the list alone. Anua sells this Sodium DNA toner in Korea, and this is that version.

Key benefits

Sodium DNA, the active this toner is built around
Allantoin on the same list, an active
Copper Tripeptide-1 on the same list, a peptide
Tocopherol on the same list, an antioxidant
Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract and Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract further down the same list
Cynanchum Atratum Extract and Coccinia Indica Fruit Extract further down the same list

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 4

39 of 41 explained

Water solvent: Water is the base almost every serum, toner and cream is built on. It dissolves the water-loving ingredients and sets how light the finished texture feels. On an INCI list it is usually first, which only means it is the largest single ingredient by weight.
Butylene Glycol humectant: Butylene Glycol is a small glycol that does two jobs at once: it holds water in the top layer of skin and it dissolves plant extracts and actives that plain water cannot. It also thins a formula, which is why watery Korean essences lean on it.
Glycerin humectant: Glycerin is the most used humectant in skincare. It draws water into the outer layer of skin and holds it there, and it is one of the very few ingredients whose hydrating effect is settled science rather than marketing. Higher amounts feel tacky, which is why it is usually blended.
Pentylene Glycol humectant: Pentylene Glycol hydrates and, like the other longer-chain glycols, makes a formula less hospitable to microbes so the preservative system can be lighter. It also improves how evenly a product spreads.
Propanediol humectant: Propanediol is a plant-derived glycol used in place of propylene glycol. It hydrates, carries actives into solution, and gives a lighter, less sticky slip than glycerin at the same strength.
Saccharum Officinarum (Sugarcane) Extract plant extract: Sugarcane Extract carries natural glycolic acid and sugars. In cosmetics it is used as a humectant; the acid content is far too low to work as an exfoliant.
Xylitylglucoside humectant: Xylitylglucoside is a sugar-derived humectant, the third member of the xylitol blend. Together the three hold water in the outer layer for longer than any of them does alone.
Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract plant extract: Soybean Seed Extract carries isoflavones, plant sterols and soy proteins. It is used as a conditioning antioxidant extract.
Malachite Extract mineral: Malachite is a green copper carbonate mineral. Its extract is used in a formula as a source of trace copper.
Xylitol humectant: Xylitol is a sugar alcohol humectant. It holds water in the outer layer of skin and is often paired with anhydroxylitol and xylitylglucoside as a hydration trio.
Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract plant extract: Melia Azadirachta is neem. Its leaf and flower extracts are long-standing Ayurvedic ingredients, and Korean formulas use them in products aimed at the look of congested, blemish-prone skin.
Cynanchum Atratum Extract plant extract: Cynanchum Atratum is a root used in Korean traditional practice. Its extract is used as a conditioning plant extract in formulas for reactive skin.

27 more explained

Coccinia Indica Fruit Extract plant extract: Coccinia Indica is ivy gourd. Its fruit extract is used as a conditioning, hydrating plant extract in Korean formulas.
Althaea Rosea Flower Extract plant extract: Althaea Rosea is hollyhock, a mallow relative rich in mucilage. Its flower extract hydrates and leaves a cushioned, slippery feel.
Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract plant extract: Aloe Flower Extract comes from the flower rather than the leaf gel. It is used as a conditioning plant extract.
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid humectant: Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid is hyaluronic acid cut into much shorter fragments. The smaller the fragment, the further into the outer layer it can settle, which is why serums stack several sizes together instead of using one.
Solanum Melongena (Eggplant) Fruit Extract plant extract: Eggplant Fruit Extract carries nasunin, the antioxidant pigment in aubergine skin. It is used as an antioxidant plant extract.
Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract plant extract: Ocimum Sanctum is holy basil, or tulsi. Its leaf extract carries plant antioxidants and is used in formulas built for the look of stressed, reactive skin.
Corallina Officinalis Extract plant extract: Corallina Officinalis is coral seaweed, which holds calcium and magnesium in its structure. Its extract is used as a mineral-rich conditioning ingredient.
Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract plant extract: Turmeric Root Extract carries curcuminoids, well studied plant antioxidants. It is used for the look of dullness and uneven tone, and it tints a formula faintly yellow.
1,2-Hexanediol humectant: 1,2-Hexanediol is a glycol used for two reasons: it holds water like glycerin, and it makes a formula harder for microbes to live in, so less traditional preservative is needed. Korean formulas use it heavily for that second reason.
Betaine humectant: Betaine is a sugar-beet-derived humectant that cells use to hold water. In a formula it hydrates and takes the edge off cleansers and acids, which is why it often appears alongside them.
Hydroxyacetophenone preservative booster: Hydroxyacetophenone is an antioxidant that also strengthens a preservative system, so a formula needs less traditional preservative. Korean formulas pair it with 1,2-hexanediol constantly.
Panthenol humectant: Panthenol is pro-vitamin B5: skin converts it to pantothenic acid. It is a humectant that holds water and leaves skin feeling soft and less tight, and it is one of the ingredients formulators reach for when a formula also contains something harsh.
Ethylhexylglycerin preservative booster: Ethylhexylglycerin softens skin and boosts a preservative system, which is why it is nearly always sitting beside phenoxyethanol or 1,2-hexanediol. It also cuts down the odour bacteria produce, so it turns up in deodorising products.
Anhydroxylitol humectant: Anhydroxylitol is a xylitol derivative used as a humectant. It is almost always part of the xylitol, anhydroxylitol and xylitylglucoside blend sold as a moisture-retention complex.
Allantoin active: Allantoin is a comfrey-derived compound used to condition skin and soften the outer layer so it feels smoother. It is one of the standard additions to a formula built for easily irritated skin.
Sodium DNA active: Sodium DNA is the salt of DNA, in Korean skincare almost always salmon derived, and it is the ingredient behind the PDRN category. It is used as a humectant and for the look of tired skin; the fragments themselves are what the name PDRN refers to.
Dipropylene Glycol humectant: Dipropylene Glycol is a glycol used as a solvent and a light humectant. Its main job is keeping the rest of the formula dissolved and the texture fluid rather than adding hydration of its own.
Octanediol preservative booster: A glycol that hydrates and, like the other longer-chain glycols, makes a formula less hospitable to microbes so the preservative system can be lighter.
Phosphatidylcholine emulsifier: Phosphatidylcholine is the main phospholipid in lecithin and in cell membranes. It emulsifies and forms the liposome walls a formula uses to carry an active.
Tocopherol antioxidant: Tocopherol is vitamin E. It is an oil-soluble antioxidant that protects the oils in a formula from going rancid and works on skin as an emollient, and it is regularly paired with vitamin C because each keeps the other going for longer.
C12-13 Alketh-9 emulsifier: C12-13 Alketh-9 is a solubiliser used to disperse oil-soluble ingredients evenly in a watery formula.
Dipotassium Phosphate pH adjuster: Dipotassium Phosphate is a buffer salt. Paired with its more acidic partner it holds a formula at a steady pH.
Acetyl Glutamine amino acid: Glutamine with an acetyl group added, which makes it more stable in water. It is used as a conditioning amino acid.
Copper Tripeptide-1 peptide: Copper Tripeptide-1 is three amino acids bound to a copper ion, and the classic firming peptide in cosmetic chemistry. It is blue in solution, which is often why a serum carrying it is tinted, and it is used for the look of firmness and fine lines.
Cellulose Gum thickener: Cellulose Gum is plant cellulose modified to dissolve in water. It thickens, holds particles in suspension and gives a smooth, slippery body.
Disodium EDTA chelator: EDTA is a chelator: it locks up trace metal ions from water and packaging that would otherwise turn a formula cloudy, off-colour or rancid. It does nothing to skin and appears at a fraction of a percent.
Xanthan Gum thickener: Xanthan Gum is a polysaccharide made by fermenting sugar. It thickens a watery formula into a gel and holds the whole thing in suspension so nothing separates. Too much of it and a serum turns stringy, which is why it appears in fractions of a percent.

How to use

Cleanse first, then apply the toner to slightly damp skin as your next step.
Pat it in with clean hands, or sweep it on with a cotton pad if you prefer.
Follow with your serum and moisturizer once the toner has absorbed.
Do not skip your regular moisturizer after this step, since a booster toner is designed to work alongside a moisturizer rather than in place of one.

Worth knowing

Patch test this toner on a small area and wait a day before using it more widely, especially with Sodium DNA on the list.
Introduce this toner on its own for the first week, so anything your skin does is traceable to the Sodium DNA rather than to three changes at once.

Complete the routine

This itemAnua PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner 250ml$37.50
Cleanse first, so the next step meets bare skinAnua Peach Niacin Spread Cleansing Foam 150ml$30.00
The treatment step of this routineAnua Vita 10 Porestrix Brightening Serum 20ml$60.00

Total for 3 items$127.50

Reviews

No reviews yet. Tell us how much you love the product!

Write a review

Anua PDRN 100 Hyaluronic Acid Booster Toner 250ml

How it felt, how your skin took it, what you layer it with. Straight answers help the next person choose.

Read every customer review

We’re on gram!

Creators trying on authentic Korean skincare routines and products from us.

Watch on YouTube
Rating a shelf of Dr. Althea products one by one.
Jasmine Loo · YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Two hydrating serums side by side, IUNIK and Dr. Althea.
Kristin · YouTube
Watch on YouTube
A walk through the Dr. Althea serum lineup and who each one suits.
auraofmahmuda · YouTube
Watch on YouTube
A blunt first take on the Dr. Althea range.
Lexi Chang · YouTube
Watch on YouTube
A first look at the viral 345 Relief Cream before buying.
Shelley Nayak · YouTube
Watch on YouTube
A first try of the Dr. Althea serum on camera.
Hannah Ziad · YouTube

Anua, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula toner from Anua, 250ml formulated with Sodium DNA and Allantoin, shipped from California or direct from Korea.

Verify your unit when it arrives

Korean-market stock with the original barcode and batch code intact, exactly as it left Korea.

Anua uses a holographic QR seal that only the HiddenTag app can read. Install HiddenTag from your phone’s app store and scan the seal on the box. A camera app alone will not resolve it.

Source: Anua packaging, HiddenTag scheme

On the unit itself

The Korean-market barcode, unaltered from the retail package.
The manufacturer’s batch code, exactly as the maker printed it.

정품Genuine article, Korean-market stock

What professionals say

What skin-care professionals say about skin care, quoted from the medical sources linked beside each.

Your skin barrier is basically your outer layer of the skin.
Melissa Piliang, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic
Pretty much every step of a Korean skin care routine is going to have some component of hydration.
Alok Vij, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic