Where does this lotion go in my routine?

As the last skincare step, morning and evening, over serum. Anything thinner than a lotion 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 Bisabolol and not three changes at once.

Is this the Korean-market lotion or a US version?

The Korean-market one, Bisabolol and all. We match this lotion to its Korean barcode before it reaches the shelf, which is the check that tells you which market release you are holding.

What else is on the list besides Bisabolol?

Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester and Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables. The order they are printed in on this lotion's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Bisabolol sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Centella Asiatica Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract and Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil.

ATOPALM

Soothing Gel Lotion 120ml

Name: ATOPALM Soothing Gel Lotion 120ml
Brand: ATOPALM
SKU: @1438836981
Price: 32.5 USD
Availability: InStock

Bamboo water leads this 120ml gel lotion ahead of any oil, with witch hazel and lotus flower waters fifth and sixth and centella asiatica extract ninth; the plant oils only start at tenth, which is what keeps the finish light.

No reviews yet

$32.50

120 ml

$27.08 per 100 ml

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

Suited to: Dry skinCompromised barrierDehydrated skinSensitive skin

Helps with: Shoppers looking for Bisabolol in a lotionRoutines that want Bisabolol and Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate in one stepFilling the lotion step with a Korean-market formulaAnyone who wants the Bisabolol lotion sold on Korean shelves

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 Soothing Gel Lotion is a 120ml lotion, used as the last skincare step, morning and evening, over serum. The active it is built around is Bisabolol, named twentieth on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester and Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Bisabolol stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the lotion format rather than by the list alone. This is the Original Korean Formula, the lotion ATOPALM sells in Korea, Bisabolol and all.

Key benefits

Bisabolol, the active this lotion is built around
Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate on the same list, an active
Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester on the same list, a peptide
Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables on the same list, a barrier lipid
Portulaca Oleracea Extract and Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil further down the same list
Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil and Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil further down the same list

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 2

44 of 47 explained

Bambusa Vulgaris Water plant extract: Bamboo water, the sap or leaf distillate of bamboo, used in place of plain water. It carries silica and minerals and is a dilute base ingredient.
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.
Ethylhexyl Palmitate emollient: Ethylhexyl Palmitate is a palm-derived ester used as a light emollient and a solvent for pigment. It gives a smooth, non-greasy slip.
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.
Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Leaf Water plant extract: Witch hazel leaf distillate, the aromatic water rather than the extract. It is far more dilute than witch hazel extract and carries little of the tannin the extract is used for.
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.
Cetearyl Alcohol fatty alcohol: Cetearyl Alcohol is a waxy solid, not the drying kind of alcohol. It is a blend of cetyl and stearyl alcohols used to thicken a cream and keep oil and water from separating, and it softens skin as it does so.
Centella Asiatica Extract plant extract: Centella Asiatica is the plant behind the whole cica category, sold as gotu kola or Madagascar centella. Its extract is the anchor of Korean formulas built for easily reddened skin, and its work is done by four triterpenes: asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid.
Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil emollient: Grape Seed Oil is a light, linoleic-acid-rich oil with a fast, dry absorption. It is one of the plant oils used where an oil is wanted without a heavy finish.
Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil emollient: Safflower seed oil, among the highest-linoleic plant oils. High-linoleic oils feel lighter and absorb faster than high-oleic ones.
Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil emollient: Oil pressed from tea seeds. It is high in oleic acid, carries some of the antioxidants of the tea plant, and is lighter in feel than most oleic oils.
Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil emollient: Evening primrose oil, the main plant source of gamma-linolenic acid. It absorbs fast and oxidises fast, so formulas pair it with an antioxidant.

32 more explained

Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil emollient: Jojoba Oil is a liquid wax rather than a true oil, and its structure is close to human sebum, which is why it absorbs so readily. It is an emollient that leaves a soft, non-greasy finish.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil emollient: Sunflower Seed Oil is high in linoleic acid, the fatty acid dry and blemish-prone skin is often short of. It is a light, non-fragrant emollient and one of the better tolerated plant oils.
Coco-Caprylate/Caprate emollient: Coco-Caprylate/Caprate is a coconut-derived ester used as a light, dry emollient in place of silicone. It spreads far and leaves a soft finish.
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer thickener: This is a carbomer relative with fatty side chains, so it thickens and stabilises an emulsion at the same time. It gives a light gel-cream body rather than a heavy one.
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.
Sodium Acrylic Acid/Ma Copolymer thickener: An acrylic copolymer used to thicken water into a gel and to hold an emulsion stable.
Alpha-Bisabolol active: Bisabolol is the main active fraction of chamomile oil, usually supplied from candeia wood. It is used for the look of redness in formulas for reactive skin, and it helps other ingredients absorb.
Sorbitan Stearate emulsifier: Sorbitan Stearate is a mild emulsifier and thickener used to hold oil and water together in creams.
Potassium Cetyl Phosphate emulsifier: Potassium Cetyl Phosphate is an emulsifier prized for keeping powdered ingredients evenly suspended, which is why tinted and mineral-powder textures use it.
Stearic Acid fatty acid: Stearic Acid is a saturated fatty acid from plant fats, and one of the three lipid classes skin's own barrier is built from. In a formula it thickens, stabilises the emulsion and can be turned into a soap-style cleanser by adding a base.
Sorbitan Laurate emulsifier: Sorbitan Laurate is a light emulsifier and solubiliser, used to keep small amounts of oil or fragrance dissolved in a watery formula.
Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables barrier lipid: The fraction of olive oil that will not turn into soap, which is the sterols, squalene and vitamin E, concentrated and hardened. It is a rich barrier lipid.
Sodium Phytate chelator: Sodium Phytate is a rice-derived chelator used in place of EDTA. It ties up trace metals so the formula stays stable and its colour and scent hold.
Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate active: Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate is a water-soluble salt derived from licorice root. It is the licorice fraction Korean formulas use for the look of redness, and it is far more stable in water than the whole extract.
Portulaca Oleracea Extract plant extract: Portulaca Oleracea is purslane. Its extract is unusually high in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants for a plant, and Korean formulas use it for the look of reddened, reactive skin.
Sodium Hyaluronate humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt of hyaluronic acid, and it is what most products labelled hyaluronic actually contain. The salt dissolves more readily and the molecule is smaller, so it sits in the outer layer of skin rather than only on top of it.
Phytosterols emollient: Phytosterols are plant sterols, structurally close to the cholesterol in skin's own lipid layer. They soften skin and help the oil phase of a formula hold together.
Cetyl Hydroxyethylcellulose thickener: Cellulose modified with a fatty cetyl chain. It thickens water and holds small amounts of oil in place at the same time.
Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester peptide: Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester is a two-amino-acid peptide with a fatty cetyl tail attached, which lets it sit in the oil phase of a formula rather than only the water phase.
Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil fragrance component: Anthemis Nobilis is Roman chamomile. The flower oil is an essential oil, so it scents a formula as well as conditioning it, and essential oils are the class most likely to bother reactive skin.
Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil fragrance component: Sage essential oil. It scents a formula and carries the plant's own aromatic compounds, which is also why it can bother reactive skin.
Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer is hyaluronic acid linked into a mesh. It holds water in a soft gel on the surface rather than sinking in, and it releases that water slowly through the day.
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.
Hyaluronic Acid humectant: Hyaluronic Acid is a sugar chain the body already makes, and one gram of it can hold several litres of water. In a formula it is a humectant that pulls water to the surface of skin and holds it in a film, which is what makes skin look plumper while it is there.
Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate humectant: Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate is hyaluronic acid modified to be part oil-loving, so it clings to skin instead of rinsing away. Formulators call it the one that stays put.
Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate humectant: Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate carries a positive charge, and skin carries a slight negative one, so it is attracted to the surface and stays through rinsing. It is the hyaluronic used where a formula gets washed off.
Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Oil fragrance component: Sandalwood oil, distilled from the heartwood. Its scent comes from santalol, and it is used as a base note that lasts on skin longer than most aromatic oils.
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.
Arginine amino acid: Arginine is an amino acid that does two jobs here: it holds water in the outer layer of skin, and it neutralises acidic gelling agents, which is why it often stands in for a synthetic pH adjuster.
Carbomer thickener: Carbomer is a synthetic polymer that only gels once a base neutralises it, which is why arginine or tromethamine sits nearby on the list. It gives the clear, non-stringy gel texture a xanthan formula cannot reach.
Caprylyl Glycol preservative booster: Caprylyl Glycol is a glycol that conditions skin and, more importantly, strengthens a preservative system so less of the traditional preservative is needed. It appears in most modern formulas built without parabens.
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.

How to use

Apply Soothing Gel Lotion 120ml after serum or essence, massaging gently until it settles, morning and night.

Worth knowing

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

Complete the routine

This itemATOPALM Soothing Gel Lotion 120ml$32.50
From the same Korean-market lineATOPALM MLE Baby Lotion 300ml$67.50
Seal the routine in as the last stepATOPALM Baby MLE Cream 100ml$55.00

Total for 3 items$155.00

Reviews

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

Write a review

ATOPALM Soothing Gel Lotion 120ml

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

ATOPALM, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula lotion from ATOPALM, 120ml formulated with Bisabolol and Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, 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.

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