Where does this essence go in my routine?

After toner and before serum, morning and evening, on damp skin. Anything thinner than an essence 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 essence contain fragrance?

Yes. The ingredient list names Benzyl Salicylate, Fragrance, Hexyl Cinnamal and Limonene. They sit 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 essence is not the one.

What else is on the list besides Niacinamide?

Caffeine, Adenosine and Copper Tripeptide-1. The order they are printed in on this essence's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Niacinamide sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: BHT, Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Extract and Lysine.

HERA

HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN 125ml

Name: HERA HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN 125ml
Brand: HERA
SKU: 5067560263
Price: 57.5 USD
Availability: InStock

HERA HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN is a 125ml essence with Niacinamide, used after toner and before serum, morning and evening, on damp skin.

No reviews yet

$57.50

125 ml

$46.00 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 Niacinamide in an essenceRoutines that want Niacinamide and Caffeine in one stepFilling the essence step with a Korean-market formula

One-time purchase

$57.50

SubscribeSave 10%

$51.75

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

Key benefits

Niacinamide, the active this essence is built around
Caffeine and Adenosine on the same list, actives
Copper Tripeptide-1 on the same list, a peptide
BHT on the same list, an antioxidant
Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Extract and Lysine further down the same list
Arginine and Histidine further down the same list

Key actives

6Niacinamideactive

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

All products with Niacinamide

9Caffeineactive

Caffeine constricts small blood vessels near the surface, which is why eye products use it for the look of puffiness and shadow. It is water soluble and works only while it is on the skin. It is named ninth on this essence's list, alongside Niacinamide.

All products with Caffeine

22Adenosineactive

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. The panel names it twenty-second on this essence's list, beside Niacinamide.

All products with Adenosine

43Copper Tripeptide-1peptide

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. It is named forty-third on this essence's list, alongside Niacinamide.

All products with Copper Tripeptide-1

44BHTantioxidant

BHT is a synthetic antioxidant used in traces to stop the oils in a formula going rancid. It protects the product, not the skin. The panel names it forty-fourth on this essence's list, beside Niacinamide.

All products with BHT

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

#14

Fragrance on the list

6Niacinamide9Caffeine22Adenosine43Copper Tripeptide-1

6Niacinamide
9Caffeine
22Adenosine
43Copper Tripeptide-1

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

1 of 2

46 of 50 explained

Purified 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.
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.
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.
Glycereth-26 humectant: Glycereth-26 is a modified glycerin that hydrates with far less stickiness than glycerin itself. It is a common way to load water into a formula that has to stay light.
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.
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.
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.
Caffeine active: Caffeine constricts small blood vessels near the surface, which is why eye products use it for the look of puffiness and shadow. It is water soluble and works only while it is on the skin.
PPG-13-Decyltetradeceth-24 emulsifier: PPG-13-Decyltetradeceth-24 is a solubiliser used to hold oils and fragrance in a clear water-based formula.
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.
Octyldodeceth-16 emulsifier: An ethoxylated branched fatty alcohol. It emulsifies and also gives a formula a soft, cushioned slip.

34 more explained

Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane silicone: A water-soluble silicone used for a light, silky slip without an oily film. It also helps other ingredients spread evenly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lysine amino acid: Lysine is an essential amino acid used as a conditioning humectant in an amino acid complex.
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.
Histidine amino acid: Histidine is an amino acid used as a humectant and a buffer, part of skin's own free amino acid pool.
Glucose humectant: Glucose is a simple sugar used as a humectant and as food for the ferment ingredients in the same formula. It hydrates mildly and adds a soft slip.
Xylose sugar: Xylose is a simple wood sugar. It is a humectant, and it is the unit the xylitol-based hydration blends are built from.
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.
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.
Butylphenyl Methylpropional fragrance component: A synthetic aroma molecule with a soft floral note, once widely known as Lilial. It is one of the fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named separately.
Hexyl Cinnamal fragrance component: Hexyl Cinnamal is a jasmine-like aromatic. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named individually.
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.
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone fragrance component: A soft violet and woody aromatic. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named.
Achillea Millefolium Extract plant extract: Yarrow extract. The plant carries flavonoids, tannins and azulene compounds, so the extract has an astringent character and is used as a conditioning botanical.
Benzyl Salicylate fragrance component: Benzyl Salicylate is a faint floral aromatic that also holds a fragrance on skin longer. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named.
Mannose sugar: Mannose is a simple sugar closely related to glucose. It is used as a humectant and as a building block in the polysaccharide blends that hold water on the surface.
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.
Lecithin emulsifier: Lecithin is a soy or sunflower-derived phospholipid, the same class of molecule cell membranes are built from. It emulsifies oil into water and is the basis of the liposomes formulators use to carry actives.
Potassium Hydroxide pH adjuster: Potassium Hydroxide is a strong base used in traces to raise a formula to its target pH. In a soap-style cleanser it also converts fatty acids into the surfactant that does the cleansing.
Sodium Phosphate pH adjuster: Sodium Phosphate is a buffer salt. It holds a formula at a steady pH so its actives stay in the form they work in.
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.
BHT antioxidant: BHT is a synthetic antioxidant used in traces to stop the oils in a formula going rancid. It protects the product, not the skin.
Potassium Chloride mineral: Potassium Chloride is a mineral salt used to bring a formula closer to the salt balance of skin, most often as part of a sea-water or mineral-water blend.
Potassium Phosphate pH adjuster: Potassium Phosphate is a buffer salt used to hold a formula at the pH its actives need.
Calcium Chloride mineral: Calcium Chloride is a mineral salt used in traces to balance a formula and to firm up gels made with alginate or gellan gum.
Magnesium Chloride mineral: Magnesium Chloride is the magnesium salt that makes sea water taste bitter. In a formula it is a mineral salt in the water phase and helps set gum gels.

How it works

The HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN is a 125ml essence, used after toner and before serum, morning and evening, on damp skin. The active it is built around is Niacinamide, named sixth on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Caffeine, Adenosine and Copper Tripeptide-1, 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 essence format rather than by the list alone. HERA sells this Niacinamide essence in Korea, and this is that version.

How to use

Pat it into clean, toned skin with your palms, morning and night, before serum or cream.

Worth knowing

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

Complete the routine

This itemHERA HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN 125ml$57.50
The last step of the morning, over everything elseHERA UV Protector Tone-Up SPF50+ PA++++ 50ml #Peach$57.50
From the same Korean-market lineHERA Homme Black Active Special Set$157.50

Total for 3 items$272.50

Reviews

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

Write a review

HERA HOMME ESSENCE IN SKIN 125ml

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

Read every customer review

HERA, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula essence from HERA, 125ml formulated with Niacinamide and Caffeine, 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.

It has also been proven that caffeine stimulates lipolysis, which Lupo et al postulated may contribute to improvements in lower eyelid sagging and puffiness.
Stacey J. PilkingtonDO, Azeal Dermatology Institute, The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology
Peptides can be anti-inflammatory, and chronic inflammation damages the tissue in your skin.
Wilma Bergfeld, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic

1 more professional perspective

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