Where does this cream go in my routine?

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

Does this cream contain fragrance?

Yes. The ingredient list names Fragrance. It sits on the panel printed on this page, so you can read the position for yourself before you buy. If fragrance components are something you avoid, this cream is not the one.

What else is on the list besides Niacinamide?

Adenosine, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate and Glutathione. The order they are printed in on this cream's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Niacinamide sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Ceramide NP, Cholesterol and Phytosphingosine.

Dr. Melaxin

Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream 25g

Name: Dr. Melaxin Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream 25g
Brand: Dr. Melaxin
SKU: 10597867428
Price: 47.5 USD
Availability: InStock

Dr. Melaxin Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream is a 25g cream with Niacinamide, used as the last skincare step, morning and evening, over serum.

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$47.50

25 g

$19.00 per 10 g

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 Niacinamide in a creamRoutines that want Niacinamide and Adenosine in one stepFilling the cream step with a Korean-market formula

One-time purchase

$47.50

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$42.75

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How it works

The Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream is a 25g cream, used as the last skincare step, morning and evening, over serum. The active it is built around is Niacinamide, named ninth on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Adenosine, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate and Glutathione, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Niacinamide stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the cream format rather than by the list alone. Dr. Melaxin sells this Niacinamide cream in Korea, and this is that version.

Key benefits

Niacinamide, the active this cream is built around
Adenosine on the same list, an active
Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate and Glutathione on the same list, antioxidants
Ceramide NP on the same list, a barrier lipid
Cholesterol and Phytosphingosine further down the same list
Ceramide NG and Ceramide NS further down the same list

Key actives

9Niacinamideactive

Niacinamide is vitamin B3, and it is the most studied active in Korean formulation. On this cream's own ingredient list it is named ninth.

All products with Niacinamide

18Adenosineactive

Adenosine is a nucleoside that Korea's own cosmetic authority recognises as a wrinkle-care functional ingredient, which is why it appears on so many Korean lists at a low level. It is used for the look of fine lines and is stable and well tolerated. It is named eighteenth on this cream's list, alongside Niacinamide.

All products with Adenosine

23Ceramide NPbarrier 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. The panel names it twenty-third on this cream's list, beside Niacinamide.

All products with Ceramide NP

24Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamateantioxidant

This is a stabiliser that keeps the oils and fragrance in a formula from oxidising. Its job is the shelf life of the product rather than any effect on skin. It is named twenty-fourth on this cream's list, alongside Niacinamide.

All products with Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate

31Glutathioneantioxidant

Glutathione is a small peptide the body uses as one of its main antioxidants. In skincare it is used as an antioxidant and for the look of dullness; it is unstable in water, so formulas that carry it are usually built around protecting it. It is named thirty-first on this cream's list, alongside Niacinamide.

All products with Glutathione

1 of 3

31 of 32 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.
Cetyl Ethylhexanoate emollient: Cetyl Ethylhexanoate is a synthetic ester used as a dry-feeling emollient. It spreads easily, leaves a silky rather than oily finish, and helps disperse pigments and UV filters evenly.
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.
Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone silicone: A silicone emulsifier used to hold water inside an oil or silicone phase. It is the standard emulsifier in a cushion or a silicone-based primer.
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate emollient: C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate is a light ester emollient and solvent. It gives a silky finish, dissolves pigments and UV filters, and mildly discourages microbial growth.
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.
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.
Boron Nitride absorbent: A plate-like mineral powder with a notably slippery feel. It softens how light falls on skin and makes a powder or stick glide rather than drag.
Niacinamide active: Niacinamide is vitamin B3, and it is the most studied active in Korean formulation. It is used at roughly 2 to 5 percent for the look of uneven tone and visible pores, and it is water soluble, stable and comfortable beside almost every other active, which is why it turns up in so many lists.
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.
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.
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.

19 more explained

Stearalkonium Hectorite thickener: Stearalkonium Hectorite is a modified clay that gels oils and keeps powders evenly suspended in an anhydrous formula.
Sodium Chloride thickener: Sodium Chloride is salt. In a cleanser it thickens the liquid; in a mask or essence it balances the mineral content of the water phase. It has no active role.
Propylene Carbonate solvent: A polar solvent used mainly with clays: it swells montmorillonite and hectorite so they thicken an oil phase. It also thins heavy pigment pastes.
Fragrance fragrance: Fragrance, or Parfum, is a single declaration standing for a whole scent blend, which can be dozens of materials. Regulators allow it as a trade secret, so a list showing only this word does not say what the scent is made of. It is the most common trigger named by people with reactive skin.
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.
Adenosine active: Adenosine is a nucleoside that Korea's own cosmetic authority recognises as a wrinkle-care functional ingredient, which is why it appears on so many Korean lists at a low level. It is used for the look of fine lines and is stable and well tolerated.
Eriobotrya Japonica Leaf Extract plant extract: Eriobotrya Japonica is loquat. Its leaf extract carries triterpenes and is used as a conditioning antioxidant extract.
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.
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.
Mentha Viridis (Spearmint) Extract plant extract: Spearmint Extract carries aromatic plant compounds and gives a faint cooling sensation. It also scents a formula.
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.
Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate antioxidant: This is a stabiliser that keeps the oils and fragrance in a formula from oxidising. Its job is the shelf life of the product rather than any effect on skin.
Cholesterol barrier lipid: Cholesterol is the third of the three lipids the outer layer of skin is built from, with ceramides and fatty acids. Formulas that carry all three are following the ratio skin itself holds.
Phytosphingosine barrier lipid: Phytosphingosine is the backbone every ceramide is built on, and skin uses it in its own lipid layer. In a formula it works with ceramides and cholesterol and also keeps the product stable against microbes.
Ceramide NG barrier lipid: One of the ceramide types found between skin cells, also written ceramide 2. Ceramides are the lipid that fills the space between cells in the outer layer.
Ceramide NS barrier lipid: Ceramide NS is another of the ceramides skin makes for itself. It is used alongside NP and AP so a formula supplies a mixture rather than a single lipid.
Ceramide AP barrier lipid: Ceramide AP is a second cosmetic ceramide, distinguished by an extra hydroxyl group. Formulas that name several ceramides are copying the mix skin actually holds rather than relying on one.
Glutathione antioxidant: Glutathione is a small peptide the body uses as one of its main antioxidants. In skincare it is used as an antioxidant and for the look of dullness; it is unstable in water, so formulas that carry it are usually built around protecting it.
Ceramide EOP barrier lipid: Ceramide EOP is the ceramide with the longest tail, and in skin it acts as the rivet holding the lipid layers together. It is the third member of the standard cosmetic ceramide trio.

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

#16

Fragrance on the list

9Niacinamide18Adenosine23Ceramide NP31Glutathione

9Niacinamide
18Adenosine
23Ceramide NP
31Glutathione

Where each key active sits on the declared ingredient list, by entry number. Position is proportion: the further forward, the larger its share.

How to use

Use it by smoothing it over the face as the last step of the routine, working it into the skin in the position this cream occupies in a full routine, and following up with the next step once it has settled.

Worth knowing

Patch test this cream on a small area and wait a day before using it more widely, especially with Niacinamide on the list.
This list names Fragrance, so skip it if fragrance components are something you avoid.

Complete the routine

This itemDr. Melaxin Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream 25g$47.50
Seal the routine in as the last stepDr.Melaxin Cactox Pore Relief Dual Capsule Cream 65g$75.00
From the same Korean-market lineDr.Melaxin Cactox 3-Step Nose Pore Pack 3P$32.50

Total for 3 items$155.00

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Dr.Melaxin Picotonic Shot Pigmentation Cream 25g

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Dr. Melaxin, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula cream from Dr. Melaxin, 25g formulated with Niacinamide and Adenosine, 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 the key actives in this formula, quoted from the medical sources linked beside each.

Ceramides are part fatty acid and part amino acid and are able to be the grout that keeps the building blocks of the skin together and functioning as a barrier between the inside and outside world.
Amy Kassouf, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic
Niacinamide helps reduce the appearance of pores in a few ways. By strengthening the skin barrier and improving elasticity, pores appear less noticeable and more even.
Ashlyn YankeAesthetician, Cleveland Clinic