Where does this cleansing oil go in my routine?

As the first of two evening cleanses, on dry skin and dry hands, before any water reaches the face. Nothing goes under it: this cleansing oil is the step everything else in the routine lands on top of. 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 Sodium DNA and not three changes at once.

Is this the Korean-market cleansing oil or a US version?

The Korean-market one, Sodium DNA and all. We match this cleansing oil to its Korean barcode before it reaches the shelf, which is the check that tells you which market release you are holding.

Does this cleansing oil contain fragrance?

Yes. The ingredient list names Citronellol and Linalool. 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 cleansing oil is not the one.

What else is on the list besides Sodium DNA?

Tocopherol, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract and Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil. The order they are printed in on this cleansing oil's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Sodium DNA sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil and Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil.

isoi

Brightening Cleansing Oil 150ml

Name: isoi Brightening Cleansing Oil 150ml
Brand: isoi
SKU: 12279434401
Price: 50.0 USD
Availability: InStock

isoi puts olive fruit oil second on this 150 ml cleansing oil's 35 entry list, with macadamia, grape seed, apricot kernel, camellia japonica, jojoba, argan and meadowfoam behind it, plus damascena rose oil and rose water. Korean-market formula.

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$50.00

150 ml

$33.33 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 Sodium DNA in a cleansing oilRoutines that want Sodium DNA and Tocopherol in one stepFilling the cleansing oil step with a Korean-market formulaAnyone who wants the Sodium DNA cleansing oil sold on Korean shelves

One-time purchase

$50.00

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$45.00

In stock. Arrives in 3 to 7 business days

You’re $100.00 away from free US shipping.

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How it works

The Brightening Cleansing Oil is a 150ml cleansing oil, used as the first of two evening cleanses, on dry skin and dry hands, before any water reaches the face. The active it is built around is Sodium DNA, named twenty-second on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Tocopherol, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract and Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Sodium DNA stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the cleansing oil format rather than by the list alone. This is the Original Korean Formula, the cleansing oil isoi sells in Korea, Sodium DNA and all.

Key benefits

Sodium DNA, the active this cleansing oil is built around
Tocopherol on the same list, an antioxidant
Rosa Damascena Flower Extract on the same list, a plant extract
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil and Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil on the same list, emollients
Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil and Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil further down the same list
Camellia Japonica Seed Oil and Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil further down the same list

How to use

Massage into dry skin and face to dissolve makeup and sunscreen, then emulsify with a little water and rinse, or follow with a water-based cleanser.

1 of 3

33 of 35 explained

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.
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.
Triethyl Citrate solvent: Triethyl Citrate is a citric acid ester used as a light solvent and plasticiser. It keeps films flexible and helps hold fragrance in place.
Polyglyceryl-6 Dicaprate emulsifier: A plant-derived emulsifier and mild cleanser. It is common in cleansing oils that rinse without leaving a film.
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.
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.
Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil emollient: Grape Seed Oil is a light, linoleic-acid-rich oil with a fast, dry absorption. It is one of the plant oils used where an oil is wanted without a heavy finish.
Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil emollient: Apricot kernel oil, a light oil high in oleic acid. It absorbs quickly and is used where a formula needs softening without heaviness.
Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil fragrance component: Rosemary Leaf Oil is an essential oil carrying camphor and cineole. It scents a formula and is a stronger aromatic than most.
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.
Camellia Japonica Seed Oil emollient: Camellia Seed Oil is the traditional Korean and Japanese hair and skin oil, high in oleic acid. It is a light emollient that absorbs quickly for its richness.
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil emollient: Jojoba Oil is a liquid wax rather than a true oil, and its structure is close to human sebum, which is why it absorbs so readily. It is an emollient that leaves a soft, non-greasy finish.

21 more explained

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.
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.
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.
Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil emollient: Meadowfoam Seed Oil is over 95 percent long-chain fatty acids, which makes it exceptionally stable against going rancid. It is an emollient that leaves a soft, sealed feel.
Rosa Damascena Flower Water plant extract: Rosa Damascena Flower Water is the water left from distilling rose petals. It is used in place of plain water as a base and carries the scent and trace compounds of the distillation.
Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil emollient: Rice Bran Oil is pressed from the bran left over from milling rice. It carries vitamin E and a group of rice-specific antioxidants, and it is a light emollient.
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.
Sodium Dna active: Sodium DNA is the salt of DNA, in Korean skincare almost always salmon derived, and it is the ingredient behind the PDRN category. It is used as a humectant and for the look of tired skin; the fragments themselves are what the name PDRN refers to.
Rosa Damascena Flower Extract plant extract: Damask rose flower extract, the rose grown for perfume. It carries tannins and flavonoids and is used as a conditioning extract.
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.
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.
Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans humectant: Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans are short fragments of the sugar chains that sit between cells in skin, hyaluronic acid among them. They act as humectants and give a cushioned feel.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Citronellol fragrance component: Citronellol is a rose-geranium aromatic and one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling names individually.

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

Worth knowing

Patch test this cleansing oil on a small area and wait a day before using it more widely, especially with Sodium DNA on the list.
This list names Citronellol and Linalool, so skip it if fragrance components are something you avoid.

Complete the routine

This itemisoi Brightening Cleansing Oil 150ml$50.00
The treatment step of this routineisoi Bulgarian Rose Blemish Care Spot 25ml$45.00
Seal the routine in as the last stepisoi Bulgarian Rose Intensive Treatment Lotion 90ml$95.00

Total for 3 items$190.00

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isoi, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula cleansing oil from isoi, 150ml formulated with Sodium DNA and Tocopherol, 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