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.

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

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

Retinyl Palmitate, Biotin and Thiamine HCl. 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: Folic Acid, Pyridoxine and Cyanocobalamin.

Isntree

C-Niacin Toning Cream 50ml

Name: Isntree C-Niacin Toning Cream 50ml
Brand: Isntree
SKU: 2097040519
Price: 22.5 USD
Availability: InStock

C-Niacin Toning Cream 50ml is Isntree's cushioned moisturizer, formulated for dullness and an uneven-looking tone. Built around Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract and Niacinamide, it is aimed at rough, flaky or wind-chapped texture and dehydration and tight-feeling skin.

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

No reviews yet

$22.50

50 ml

$45.00 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 Niacinamide in a creamRoutines that want Niacinamide and Retinyl Palmitate in one stepFilling the cream step with a Korean-market formulaAnyone who wants the Niacinamide cream sold on Korean shelves

One-time purchase

$22.50

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$20.25

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How it works

The C-Niacin Toning Cream is a 50ml cream, used as the last skincare step, morning and evening, over serum. The active it is built around is Niacinamide, named seventh on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Retinyl Palmitate, Biotin and Thiamine HCl, 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. This is the Original Korean Formula, the cream Isntree sells in Korea, Niacinamide and all.

Key benefits

Niacinamide, the active this cream is built around
Retinyl Palmitate on the same list, an active
Biotin, Thiamine HCl and Folic Acid on the same list, vitamins
Pyridoxine and Cyanocobalamin further down the same list
Tocopheryl Acetate and Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate further down the same list
Niacinamide named seventh on the manufacturer list printed on this page

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 2

43 of 46 explained

Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract plant extract: Sea Buckthorn Fruit Extract is high in vitamin C and carotenoids, which give it a strong orange colour. It is used as an antioxidant extract.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter emollient: Mango seed butter, pressed from the kernel. It is a soft solid at room temperature and melts on skin, so it is used where a formula needs richness without the waxiness of shea.
Ethyl Hexanediol humectant: Ethyl Hexanediol is a glycol that hydrates and makes a formula less hospitable to microbes, the same double role 1,2-hexanediol plays.

31 more explained

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.
Hippophae Rhamnoides Oil emollient: Sea buckthorn oil, deep orange from its carotenoid content, which is often why a formula carrying it has a colour nobody added. It is high in the unusual fatty acid palmitoleic acid.
Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil emollient: Argan Oil is pressed from the argan kernel and is rich in oleic and linoleic acids plus vitamin E. It is a medium-weight emollient that absorbs reasonably fast.
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.
Polysorbate 80 emulsifier: Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier and solubiliser used to keep oils, fragrance and oil-soluble actives dissolved in water.
Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil emollient: Macadamia Seed Oil is unusually high in palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid that human sebum also contains, which is why it absorbs faster than most nut oils. It is a cushioning emollient for dry skin.
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.
Tocopheryl Acetate antioxidant: Tocopheryl Acetate is a stable vitamin E ester that skin converts to tocopherol. It is used as an antioxidant and a light emollient and holds up better than plain vitamin E in a formula.
Glyceryl Acrylate/Acrylic Acid Copolymer film former: This is a polymer that forms a moisture-holding film on the surface, usually supplied with glycerin and propylene glycol as a hydrating complex.
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.
Sucrose Distearate emulsifier: Sucrose Distearate is a sugar-based emulsifier that is mild and gives a light, silky feel. It also conditions skin.
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.
PVM/MA Copolymer film former: PVM/MA Copolymer is a film-forming polymer used to hold a formula in place and, in a mask, to give the peel-off film its strength.
Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil emollient: Moringa Seed Oil is high in oleic acid and behenic acid and very stable. It is a conditioning emollient with a light, non-sticky finish.
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.
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.
Beta-Glucan polysaccharide: Beta-Glucan is a polysaccharide from oats or yeast. It holds a large amount of water, forms a soothing film, and is one of the ingredients formulators reach for in products aimed at reactive skin.
Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate emulsifier: Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate is a mild sugar-derived emulsifier that holds oil into water and thickens slightly.
Myrciaria Dubia Fruit Extract plant extract: Camu camu fruit extract, an Amazonian berry with one of the highest vitamin C contents of any fruit. It is used as a plant antioxidant.
Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Extract plant extract: Acai fruit extract, from the Amazonian palm berry. It carries anthocyanins, the same purple pigment polyphenols found in blueberry, and is used as a plant antioxidant.
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.
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.
Hydroxypropyl Guar thickener: Modified guar bean gum. It thickens water, stabilises a formula, and leaves a smooth conditioning film.
Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate antioxidant: Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate is a water-soluble, stable vitamin C salt. It works at near-neutral pH, so it appears in formulas aimed at skin that pure ascorbic acid leaves stinging.
Retinyl Palmitate active: Retinyl Palmitate is retinol bound to a fatty acid. It is the mildest common retinoid because skin has to make three conversions before it becomes active, which also makes it the least likely to cause flaking.
Biotin vitamin: Biotin is vitamin B7. In skincare it is a conditioning vitamin, most often in hair and scalp formulas.
Thiamine HCl vitamin: Thiamine is vitamin B1, supplied as its hydrochloride salt so it dissolves in water. It is a conditioning vitamin and usually appears as part of a B-complex.
Folic Acid vitamin: Folic Acid is vitamin B9. It is used in a formula as a conditioning vitamin, usually as part of a B-complex blend.
Pyridoxine vitamin: Pyridoxine is vitamin B6. In a formula it is a conditioning vitamin, most often in B-complex blends and scalp products.
Cyanocobalamin vitamin: Cyanocobalamin is vitamin B12, and it is a deep pink-red, which is why a formula carrying it often has a colour nobody added on purpose. It is used as a conditioning vitamin.

How to use

Use it as the final leave-on step so nothing thinner has to sit on top.
Take a small amount, warm it briefly between your fingers, then press it over the face.
Add a second thin layer only where the skin feels tight rather than everywhere.
Do not introduce it in the same week as a new exfoliating acid, since you will not know which one caused a reaction.

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.
Retinyl is on this list, so keep this cream to the evening and build the nights up slowly rather than starting nightly.

Complete the routine

This itemIsntree C-Niacin Toning Cream 50ml$22.50
The treatment step of this routineIsntree TW-REAL BIFIDA Ampoule 50ml$37.50
Prep after cleansing, before the treatment stepIsntree Aloe Soothing Toner 200ml$15.00

Total for 3 items$75.00

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Isntree C-Niacin Toning Cream 50ml

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Isntree, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula cream from Isntree, 50ml formulated with Niacinamide and Retinyl Palmitate, 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