Where does this serum go in my routine?

After toner and before moisturizer, morning and evening. Anything thinner than a serum 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.

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

The Korean-market one, Niacinamide and all. We match this serum 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 Niacinamide?

Hydrolyzed Sponge, Allantoin and Adenosine. The order they are printed in on this serum's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Niacinamide sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Asiaticoside and Madecassic Acid.

ilso

H-A Shot Booster Serum 30ml

Name: ilso H-A Shot Booster Serum 30ml
Brand: ilso
SKU: 10384486030
Price: 37.5 USD
Availability: InStock

H-A Shot Booster Serum is ilso's ampoule serum (30ml), built around Niacinamide and Allantoin. It is used after toner and before moisturizer, as the routine's concentrated treatment step. This is the Original Korean Formula, not a version reworked for US retail.

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$37.50

30 ml

$125.00 per 100 ml

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

Suited to: Dehydrated skinSensitive skinDull, uneven tone

Helps with: Shoppers looking for Niacinamide in a serumRoutines that want Niacinamide and Hydrolyzed Sponge in one stepFilling the serum step with a Korean-market formulaAnyone who wants the Niacinamide serum sold on Korean shelves

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$37.50

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How it works

The H-A Shot Booster Serum is a 30ml serum, used after toner and before moisturizer, morning and evening. The active it is built around is Niacinamide, named fourth on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Hydrolyzed Sponge, Allantoin and Adenosine, 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 serum format rather than by the list alone. This is the Original Korean Formula, the serum ilso sells in Korea, Niacinamide and all.

Key benefits

Niacinamide, the active this serum is built around
Hydrolyzed Sponge, Allantoin, Adenosine and Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate on the same list, actives
Asiaticoside and Madecassic Acid further down the same list
Asiatic Acid and Madecassoside further down the same list
Niacinamide named fourth on the manufacturer list printed on this page
Sourced for the Korean market, not a US-shelf reformulation of this serum

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 5

43 of 44 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sodium Polyacrylate thickener: Sodium Polyacrylate is a polymer that absorbs many times its weight in water. It thickens a formula and holds water in a gel against the skin.
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.
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.
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.
Benzyl Glycol preservative booster: Benzyl Glycol is a solvent that also makes a formula less hospitable to microbes, so it appears in preservative blends built without parabens.
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.

31 more explained

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.
Hydrolyzed Sponge active: Hydrolyzed Sponge is processed freshwater sponge, which carries fine silica spicules. In a formula it works as a mild physical exfoliant.
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.
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.
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.
Trideceth-6 emulsifier: Trideceth-6 is a solubiliser used to dissolve fragrance and oil-soluble ingredients into a watery formula so it stays clear.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil emollient: Carrot seed oil, pressed from the seed rather than the root. It is used as a conditioning oil and carries its own earthy scent.
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 Phosphatidylcholine emulsifier: Hydrogenated Phosphatidylcholine is the stabilised form of the main lecithin phospholipid. It builds the liposome shells that hold an active together in a formula.
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.
Sucrose Stearate emulsifier: Sucrose Stearate is a sugar-based emulsifier chosen for a light finish in formulas built for reactive skin.
Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract plant extract: Licorice Root Extract carries glabridin and liquiritin. It is one of the classic plant ingredients used for the look of uneven tone and redness, and it appears in almost every brightening formula that avoids synthetic actives.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Madecassoside active: Madecassoside is the centella triterpene most associated with the look of redness, and the one brands lead with in cica products. It is water soluble and stable, so it appears in essences as readily as in creams.
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 Hyaluronate humectant: Potassium Hyaluronate is another salt of hyaluronic acid, used for the same reason as the sodium form: it dissolves easily and holds a large amount of water in the outer layer of skin.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ascorbyl Palmitate antioxidant: Vitamin C joined to palmitic acid so it dissolves in oil rather than water. It is used in oil phases, where ascorbic acid cannot go.

How to use

Apply after toner and before moisturizer. Pat or smooth it over a cleansed face and let it absorb before the next step, AM and PM.

Worth knowing

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

Complete the routine

This itemilso H-A Shot Booster Serum 30ml$37.50
Prep after cleansing, before the treatment stepilso Cicazulene Calming Toner 300ml$35.00
The treatment step of this routineilso CG Toning Serum 30ml$37.50

Total for 3 items$110.00

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ilso H-A Shot Booster Serum 30ml

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