What is the Centellian24 MADECA Solution Essence Perfection 120ml?

It is a 120ml essence, the watery hydrating layer that goes between toner and serum. It is poured into the palms and pressed on rather than wiped with cotton, and the damp surface it leaves is the point of the step. Every skin type can use one.

What is the difference between the essence and a toner?

A toner is mostly there to leave the skin damp and evenly prepared after cleansing, and an essence is the slightly richer hydrating layer that follows it. In practice the essence is the one you can be generous with and the one whose damp finish the next layer sits on. If your routine is short you can use one or the other, but the order never reverses.

How much of the 120ml do I use?

A small pool in the palm covers a face and neck, and most people go through it faster than they expect because it is meant to be generous rather than rationed. Two passes over drier areas is better than one heavy pass everywhere. What matters is that the surface is left damp, not that a set amount was measured out.

Do I still need a moisturiser after it?

Yes, on most skin. An essence puts water on the surface and a cream is what keeps it there, so using the first without the second means the layer dries off through the evening. Oily skin can sometimes get away with a light gel over it instead of a cream.

Is this the authentic Korean-market formula?

Yes. We stock the version sold on Korean shelves rather than one reworked for US retail, and the 120ml arrives with Korean primary packaging and the barcode intact so you can check it against the brand yourself.

Centellian24

MADECA Solution Essence Perfection 120ml

Name: Centellian24 MADECA Solution Essence Perfection 120ml
Brand: Centellian24
SKU: 4963309955
Price: 30.0 USD
Availability: InStock

A 120ml essence for the hydrating step between toner and serum, patted on generously by hand on any skin type.

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

No reviews yet

$30.00

120 ml

$25.00 per 100 ml

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

Suited to: Normal skinCombination skinDry skinOily skin

Helps with: Everyday hydrationA damp base for the next layerSkin that feels tightA fuller looking surface

One-time purchase

$30.00

SubscribeSave 10%

$27.00

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

An essence is the watery step between toner and serum, closer to a toner in feel and closer to a serum in intent. It goes on generously by hand rather than in drops, and it soaks in fast enough that the next layer can follow almost immediately. Because it is water based it belongs under everything oilier than itself, which in most routines is everything after it. The reason to keep it rather than skip to a serum is that damp skin takes the next layer better than dry skin does. At 120ml it is sized to be used generously, which is the right instinct with an essence and the wrong one with a serum.

Key benefits

What it is: essence, 120ml, used the hydrating step between toner and serum.
Texture: a watery layer pressed on by hand.
Aimed at: everyday hydration, a damp base for the next layer, skin that feels tight.
Original Korean Formula: the version sold on Korean shelves, not a US reformulation.

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 2

70 of 73 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.
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.
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.
Alcohol Denat solvent: Alcohol Denat. is ethanol with a bitter additive that makes it undrinkable, which is a tax rule rather than a formulation choice. It behaves like alcohol: a fast-evaporating solvent that gives a weightless finish and can feel drying at higher levels.
Cyclopentasiloxane silicone: Cyclopentasiloxane is a volatile silicone: it spreads a formula thin and smooth then evaporates, leaving no residue. It is the silicone behind a dry, powdery primer finish.
Triethylhexanoin emollient: Triethylhexanoin is a light ester emollient that softens skin and disperses pigment. It absorbs cleanly and is often used to thin a heavy oil phase.
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.
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.
Linum Usitatissimum (linseed) Seed Extract plant extract: Flaxseed extract. Flaxseed swells into a mucilage in water, so the extract hydrates and leaves a cushioned, slippery feel.
Pyrus Malus (apple) Fruit Water plant extract: Apple distillate used in place of plain water. Like every fruit water it is far more dilute than the extract of the same fruit.
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.
Hydrolyzed Corn Starch absorbent: Hydrolyzed Corn Starch is starch broken into smaller fragments. It gives a silky, powdery slip and absorbs a little oil.

58 more explained

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.
Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (bergamot) Fruit Oil fragrance component: Bergamot Fruit Oil is a citrus essential oil and the top note of eau de cologne. It scents a formula; citrus oils are the aromatic class most likely to bother reactive skin.
Olea Europaea (olive) Fruit Oil emollient: Olive Fruit Oil is high in oleic acid and plant sterols. It is a rich emollient that suits dry skin and is heavy enough that blemish-prone skin often does not get on with it.
Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil fragrance component: Pelargonium Graveolens is rose geranium. Its flower oil is an essential oil used to scent a formula, carrying citronellol and geraniol.
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (orange) Oil fragrance component: Sweet Orange Peel Oil is a citrus essential oil carrying limonene. It scents a formula, and limonene is one of the components EU labelling names separately.
Cananga Odorata Flower Oil fragrance: Ylang ylang oil, a heavy sweet floral essential oil. It is among the most commonly declared natural fragrance materials.
Citrus Grandis (grapefruit) Peel Oil fragrance component: Grapefruit Peel Oil is a citrus essential oil rich in limonene. It scents a formula and belongs to the aromatic class reactive skin often avoids.
Lavandula Angustifolia (lavender) Oil fragrance component: Lavender Oil is an essential oil carrying linalool and linalyl acetate. It scents a formula, and linalool is one of the fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named separately.
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.
Cedrus Atlantica Bark Oil fragrance component: Atlas Cedar Bark Oil is a woody essential oil used to scent a formula.
Rosa Damascena Flower Oil fragrance component: Rosa Damascena Flower Oil is rose essential oil, one of the most expensive materials in perfumery. It scents a formula, and like every essential oil it is a class reactive skin often does not tolerate.
Copaifera Officinalis (balsam Copaiba) Resin emollient: Copaiba Resin is a fragrant tree resin used as a thick emollient and a natural scent component in balms.
Jasminum Officinale (jasmine) Oil fragrance: Jasmine oil, an intensely floral aromatic used in very small amounts. It is a fragrance ingredient.
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.
Artemisia Absinthium Extract plant extract: Artemisia Absinthium is wormwood, another mugwort relative. Its extract carries aromatic plant compounds and is used as a conditioning extract.
Ferula Galbaniflua (galbanum) Resin Oil fragrance component: Galbanum Resin Oil is a green, resinous essential oil used in perfumery to scent a formula.
Thuja Occidentalis Leaf Oil fragrance: Northern white cedar leaf oil, a sharp coniferous essential oil used at very low levels for scent.
Honey Extract humectant: Honey is a natural humectant loaded with sugars and trace acids. In a formula it holds water at the surface and leaves a soft, cushioned feel.
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.
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein protein: Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein is plant protein cut into water-soluble fragments. It forms a light conditioning film that holds water at the surface.
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.
Nymphaea Alba Flower Extract plant extract: White water lily flower extract, carrying tannins and flavonoids. It is used as a conditioning floral extract.
Rosa Canina Fruit Oil emollient: Rosehip oil, pressed from the fruit of the dog rose. It is high in linoleic acid and carotenoids and is used for the look of marked, uneven skin.
Cyclomethicone silicone: Cyclomethicone is a ring-shaped volatile silicone. It gives a light, fast-spreading feel and evaporates rather than staying on skin.
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.
Glyceryl Stearate emulsifier: Glyceryl Stearate is glycerin joined to stearic acid, and one of the most used emulsifiers in skincare. It holds oil and water together and thickens the result, and it softens skin at the same time.
PEG-40 Stearate emulsifier: Stearic acid with a long polyethylene glycol chain attached, which makes it water soluble. It is a non-ionic emulsifier and solubiliser for small amounts of oil or fragrance.
Polysilicone-11 silicone: A silicone elastomer used as a film former and thickener. It gives a formula a soft cushioned body and helps it cling.
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.
Polysorbate 20 emulsifier: Polysorbate 20 is a solubiliser: it dissolves small amounts of oil or fragrance into a watery formula so nothing separates or floats.
Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer thickener: This is a pre-neutralised polymer thickener that gels on contact with water and stabilises an emulsion without heat.
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.
Tromethamine pH adjuster: Tromethamine neutralises acidic thickeners such as carbomer so they gel, and holds a formula near skin-friendly pH. It is used at a fraction of a percent.
Isohexadecane emollient: Isohexadecane is a branched hydrocarbon emollient that spreads easily and leaves a dry finish. It is often paired with a thickener to build a gel-cream.
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.
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.
Polysorbate 80 emulsifier: Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier and solubiliser used to keep oils, fragrance and oil-soluble actives dissolved in water.
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.
Sorbitan Oleate emulsifier: Sorbitan Oleate is an emulsifier for water-in-oil formulas. It keeps a rich cream or a cleansing oil from separating.
Sucrose humectant: Sucrose is table sugar, used here as a humectant. It draws water into the outer layer of skin and, in a scrub, doubles as the physical grain.
Asiaticoside active: Asiaticoside is one of the four active triterpenes isolated from centella and the most studied of them. Korean formulas name it separately when they want to show which fraction of the plant they standardised.
Madecassic Acid active: Madecassic Acid is the fourth centella triterpene. A list that names all four is telling you the extract was standardised rather than simply pressed, which is the difference between a cica claim and a cica formula.
Asiatic Acid active: Asiatic Acid is the third of centella's four triterpenes and the aglycone form, meaning it has no attached sugar. It is oil soluble, so it turns up in cica creams and balms more than in watery layers.
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride emollient: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride is the light fraction of coconut oil, with the heavy parts removed. It is the workhorse emollient of modern formulas: it softens skin, dissolves oil-soluble actives and absorbs without the greasy weight of a whole plant oil.
Hydrogenated Lecithin emulsifier: Hydrogenated Lecithin is lecithin with its unsaturated bonds filled in, which makes it far more stable. It emulsifies and is the standard shell for the liposomes that carry actives into the outer layer of skin.
Ceramide Np barrier lipid: Ceramide NP is the most used cosmetic ceramide, the same class of lipid that makes up roughly half the mortar between cells in the outer layer of skin. Added to a cream it slots into that structure, which is why ceramide formulas feel less leaky rather than merely greasy.
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.
Squalane emollient: Squalane is the stable, saturated version of squalene, a lipid human skin already makes. It is a light emollient that absorbs quickly, does not oxidise, and is one of the few oils widely considered safe for blemish-prone skin. Most cosmetic squalane is now from sugarcane or olive rather than shark.
Maltodextrin film former: Maltodextrin is a starch-derived sugar chain used to carry powdered extracts and to form a light film. It also gives a soft, smoothing feel.
Sodium Palmitoyl Proline amino acid: The amino acid proline with a fatty tail attached, which lets it work at the boundary between oil and water. It conditions and helps hold an emulsion together.
Polyglutamic Acid humectant: Polyglutamic Acid comes from fermented soy and holds several times more water than hyaluronic acid for its weight. It forms a light film on the surface, so it is often layered with hyaluronic rather than replacing it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Phenoxyethanol preservative: Phenoxyethanol is the most widely used cosmetic preservative outside the paraben family. It keeps a water-containing formula from growing bacteria and mould, and is capped at one percent in most markets, so it always sits low on a list.
Limonene fragrance component: Limonene is the citrus-peel aromatic. It appears here because EU labelling requires 26 fragrance components to be named individually rather than hidden inside "fragrance", and it is one of them.
Linalool fragrance component: Linalool is a floral aromatic found in lavender, bergamot and coriander. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be declared by name.

How to use

Cleanse and tone first, then pour a little into the palms while the skin is still damp.
Press it over the cheeks, forehead and neck in one or two passes rather than wiping it on with cotton.
Follow immediately with your serum or cream, while the surface is still slightly damp.
Do not wait for it to dry completely before the next step, since the damp surface is the whole reason for the layer.

Worth knowing

Give the layer a moment to settle before the next step so nothing rolls or pills.
Patch test on the jawline for a few days if a new hydrating step usually bothers you.

Complete the routine

This itemCentellian24 MADECA Solution Essence Perfection 120ml$30.00
Prep after cleansing, before the treatment stepCENTELLIAN24 Madeca Cica Mist 100ml$22.50
Cleanse first, so the next step meets bare skinCENTELLIAN24 Madeca Enzyme Cleansing Powder 60g$27.50

Total for 3 items$80.00

Reviews

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

Write a review

CENTELLIAN24 MADECA Solution Essence Perfection 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

Centellian24, Korean-market original

A 120ml essence for the hydrating step between toner and serum, stocked in the Original Korean Formula.

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