What is the KLAIRS Midnight Blue Calming Cream 30ml?

It is a 30ml calming cream used as the last leave on step of a routine, aimed at skin that looks flushed. The blue tint is optical and sits on the surface, so it offsets redness while worn rather than changing anything underneath. The small jar suits occasional rather than daily use.

Where does the cream go in a routine?

Last among the leave on steps, after toner, essence and serum. A cream is the seal, so anything thinner has to go on before it rather than after. A face oil or a sleeping mask can still go over the top of it.

Will it feel heavy or pill under makeup?

That depends on how much you use rather than on the cream itself. A thin layer pressed in and given a minute to settle sits under makeup without trouble, and a generous layer applied straight before foundation is where pilling starts. Save the fuller layer for the evening.

Is the 30ml enough for morning and night?

Used as a thin pressed layer twice a day, a jar or tube this size runs for one to two months, which is a fair run for judging how skin feels. If you find yourself using far more than that, the layer is probably thicker than it needs to be. A cream works by covering, not by volume.

KLAIRS

Midnight Blue Calming Cream 30ml

Name: KLAIRS Midnight Blue Calming Cream 30ml
Brand: KLAIRS
SKU: 378787181
Price: 35.0 USD
Availability: InStock

A 30ml calming cream for the sealing step, aimed at skin that looks flushed and wants the redness visually toned down.

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$35.00

30 ml

$116.67 per 100 ml

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

Suited to: Dry skinNormal skinCombination skinSensitive skin

Helps with: Redness that comes and goesSkin that feels tightA calmer looking surfaceReactive weeks

One-time purchase

$35.00

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How it works

A cream is the sealing step of a routine, the layer whose job is to keep the water the earlier layers put down. It is thicker than everything before it, which is exactly why it goes last among the leave on steps rather than first. Spread thin it disappears into the surface in a minute; spread thick it stays perceptible, which is useful at night and awkward under makeup. That is the difference from a serum, which is chosen for what it works on rather than for how long it holds. It carries a blue tint that sits on the surface, so it visually offsets a flushed look while it is on and makes no difference once it is off.

Key benefits

What it is: cream, 30ml, used the last leave on step of a routine.
Texture: a dense layer that seals what is under it.
Aimed at: redness that comes and goes, skin that feels tight, a calmer looking surface.
Original Korean Formula: the version sold on Korean shelves, not a US reformulation.

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

1 of 2

34 of 34 explained

Aqua (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.
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.
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.
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.
Sorbitan Stearate emulsifier: Sorbitan Stearate is a mild emulsifier and thickener used to hold oil and water together in creams.
Cetyl Alcohol fatty alcohol: Cetyl Alcohol is a waxy fatty alcohol from coconut or palm, unrelated to drying ethanol. It thickens creams, stabilises the emulsion and leaves skin feeling softer.
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter emollient: Shea Butter is the fat pressed from the shea nut, rich in oleic and stearic acids and unsaponifiable plant sterols. It is a heavy emollient and partial occlusive, which is why it sits in balms and night creams rather than in essences.
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.
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.
Sorbitan Sesquioleate emulsifier: Sorbitan Sesquioleate is a water-in-oil emulsifier and pigment disperser. Cleansing oils use it so water can be worked into the oil at the rinse.

22 more explained

Glyceryl Stearate emulsifier: Glyceryl Stearate is glycerin joined to stearic acid, and one of the most used emulsifiers in skincare. It holds oil and water together and thickens the result, and it softens skin at the same time.
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.
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.
Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract plant extract: Roman chamomile flower extract. It carries flavonoids and is one of the classic plant ingredients in formulas aimed at the look of reddened skin.
Candelilla Cera occlusive: Candelilla wax, from a desert shrub, and the usual plant substitute for beeswax. It gives sticks and balms a firm, slightly brittle set.
Chlorphenesin preservative: A preservative effective against bacteria, yeast and mould across a wide pH range, which is why it appears where a single milder preservative cannot cover the formula.
Polysorbate 60 emulsifier: Polysorbate 60 is a water-loving emulsifier used with a fatty co-emulsifier to build stable lotions and creams.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer thickener: This is a carbomer relative with fatty side chains, so it thickens and stabilises an emulsion at the same time. It gives a light gel-cream body rather than a heavy one.
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.
Brassica Oleracea Italica (Broccoli) Extract plant extract: Broccoli extract, carrying sulforaphane and vitamin C. It is used as a plant antioxidant.
Morus Alba Root Extract plant extract: White mulberry bark extract, one of the classic East Asian plant ingredients used for the look of uneven tone. It carries mulberroside and flavonoids.
Guaiazulene active: Guaiazulene is the deep blue compound distilled from chamomile and guaiac wood, and it is what colours a blue formula naturally. It is used for the look of reactive, reddened skin.
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.
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.
Arachidic Acid fatty acid: Arachidic Acid is a long-chain saturated fatty acid used to thicken and stabilise a formula.
Palmitic Acid fatty acid: Palmitic Acid is a saturated fatty acid present in skin's own lipids. It thickens a formula, stabilises the emulsion and softens skin.
Oleic Acid fatty acid: Oleic Acid is the main fatty acid in olive and many nut oils. It is a rich emollient that softens skin and can feel heavy on skin prone to congestion.
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.

How to use

Apply it as the final leave on step, after toner, essence and serum have all gone on.
Warm a small amount between the fingertips and press it over the face and down the neck.
Use a thinner layer in the morning under makeup and a fuller one at night when nothing goes on top.
Do not put a serum on over the top, since nothing thinner will pass through a cream once it is down.

Worth knowing

Use a thinner layer under makeup, since a full layer of cream is where pilling starts.
Patch test on the jawline for a few days if your skin reacts easily to a new cream.
The tint is optical and washes off, so blend it thinly to avoid a visible cast.

Complete the routine

This itemKLAIRS Midnight Blue Calming Cream 30ml$35.00
Seal the routine in as the last stepKlairs Rich Moist Soothing Cream 80ml$42.50
The treatment step of this routineKLAIRS Rich Moist Soothing Serum 80ml$32.50

Total for 3 items$110.00

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KLAIRS Midnight Blue Calming Cream 30ml

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KLAIRS, Korean-market original

A 30ml calming cream for the sealing step of a routine, stocked in the Original Korean Formula.

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