What is the KLAIRS Rich Moist Soothing Cream 20g?

It is the 20g travel jar of a soothing face cream, used as the last leave on step of a routine. It is the same cream as the larger size in a jar sized for a bag or a trial. A thin pressed layer is what a cream wants.

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 20g 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

Rich Moist Soothing Cream 20g

Name: KLAIRS Rich Moist Soothing Cream 20g
Brand: KLAIRS
SKU: 7312973623
Price: 15.0 USD
Availability: InStock

A 20g travel size of a soothing cream for the sealing step, for trying it or for a cabin bag rather than for daily use.

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$15.00

20 g

$7.50 per 10 g

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: Trying a new creamTravel and cabin bagsSkin that feels tightEveryday moisture

One-time purchase

$15.00

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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. At 20g this is the size to buy before you commit to the 80ml, which is the sensible order with any cream you have not worn for a fortnight.

Key benefits

What it is: cream, 20g, used the last leave on step of a routine.
Texture: a dense layer that seals what is under it.
Aimed at: trying a new cream, travel and cabin bags, skin that feels tight.
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 3

61 of 64 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.
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.
Cyclopentasiloxane silicone: Cyclopentasiloxane is a volatile silicone: it spreads a formula thin and smooth then evaporates, leaving no residue. It is the silicone behind a dry, powdery primer finish.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

49 more explained

Microcrystalline Wax occlusive: Microcrystalline Wax is a fine-crystalled petroleum wax. It gives balms and sticks body and flexibility and holds oil from separating out.
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.
Sorbitan Stearate emulsifier: Sorbitan Stearate is a mild emulsifier and thickener used to hold oil and water together in creams.
PEG-100 Stearate emulsifier: PEG-100 Stearate is a water-loving emulsifier almost always paired with glyceryl stearate. Together they form the standard cream base of the last fifty years.
Dimethicone silicone: Dimethicone is the most used cosmetic silicone. It forms a breathable film that smooths the surface, slows water leaving skin, and gives the slip that makes a primer or cream feel silky. It is inert and does not penetrate.
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.
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.
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.
Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract plant extract: Paeonia Suffruticosa is tree peony, a long-standing East Asian medicinal plant. Its root extract carries paeoniflorin and is used for the look of reddened skin.
Illicium Verum (Anise) Fruit Extract plant extract: Star Anise Fruit Extract carries aromatic plant compounds. It is used as a conditioning extract and contributes scent.
Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Extract plant extract: Lotus flower extract, from the same sacred lotus as the leaf. It carries flavonoids and sugars and is used as a conditioning, hydrating extract.
Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract plant extract: Grapefruit fruit extract, carrying fruit acids, sugars and flavonoids. It is used as a conditioning, antioxidant-rich extract.
Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract plant extract: Scutellaria Baicalensis is Chinese skullcap. Its root extract carries baicalin, a well studied plant antioxidant, and it is used for the look of redness.
Citric Acid pH adjuster: Citric Acid is used in tiny amounts to bring a formula to the pH its actives need, not as an exfoliant at that level. It is an AHA, so at much higher concentrations it can also exfoliate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract plant extract: Aloe Leaf Extract is mostly water with polysaccharides, amino acids and mild plant acids. It hydrates and leaves a light, cooling film, which is why it is the default after-sun ingredient.
Althaea Rosea Flower Extract plant extract: Althaea Rosea is hollyhock, a mallow relative rich in mucilage. Its flower extract hydrates and leaves a cushioned, slippery 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.
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.
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.
Polyquaternium-51 film former: Polyquaternium-51 is a polymer, sometimes sold as Lipidure, built on the same phosphorylcholine structure as a cell membrane. It holds water in a film on the surface and gives a distinctive soft, dry finish.
Apium Graveolens (Celery) Extract plant extract: Celery extract, carrying flavonoids, minerals and plant acids. It is used as a light conditioning extract.
Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract plant extract: Rice bran extract, from the outer layer milled off white rice. Bran is the richest part of the grain, carrying ferulic acid, vitamin E and phytic acid.
Brassica Oleracea Capitata (Cabbage) Leaf Extract plant extract: Cabbage leaf extract. The leaf carries sulphur compounds, vitamin C and vitamin K, and the extract is used as a conditioning antioxidant botanical.
Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract plant extract: Carrot Root Extract carries carotenoids, which give it a strong orange colour. It is used as an antioxidant extract and can tint a formula.
Brassica Oleracea Italica (Broccoli) Extract plant extract: Broccoli extract, carrying sulforaphane and vitamin C. It is used as a plant antioxidant.
Lysine Hcl amino acid: Lysine is an essential amino acid, here as its hydrochloride salt for solubility. Amino acids on a label hold water and condition the surface.
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.
Acetyl Methionine amino acid: The amino acid methionine with an acetyl group attached, which makes it more stable in a formula. Methionine is one of the sulphur carrying amino acids.
Theanine amino acid: Theanine is the amino acid that gives green tea its savoury character, and it is the most abundant free amino acid in the tea leaf. In a formula it is a water holding amino acid.
Proline amino acid: Proline is an amino acid abundant in collagen and one of skin's own humectants. Added to a formula it holds water in the outer layer.
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.
Arachidic Acid fatty acid: Arachidic Acid is a long-chain saturated fatty acid used to thicken and stabilise a formula.
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.
Sodium Hydroxide pH adjuster: Sodium Hydroxide is a strong base used in traces to bring an acidic formula up to skin-friendly pH. None of it remains as itself once the formula is neutralised.
Algin thickener: Algin is a brown-seaweed polysaccharide. It thickens, forms a film, and sets into a rubbery gel when calcium is added, which is how a peel-off modelling mask works.
Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract plant extract: Papaya fruit extract. The fruit is where the enzyme papain comes from, and the extract is used both as a conditioning extract and in gentle enzyme formulas.
Natto Gum humectant: Polyglutamic Acid comes from fermented soy and holds several times more water than hyaluronic acid for its weight. It forms a light film on the surface, so it is often layered with hyaluronic rather than replacing it.
Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil fragrance: Cold-pressed lemon peel oil. Citrus peel oils carry limonene and can make skin more sensitive to sunlight, which is why leave-on formulas use them sparingly.
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.
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil fragrance component: Sweet Orange Peel Oil is a citrus essential oil carrying limonene. It scents a formula, and limonene is one of the components EU labelling names separately.
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.
Cananga Odorata Flower Oil fragrance: Ylang ylang oil, a heavy sweet floral essential oil. It is among the most commonly declared natural fragrance materials.
Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil fragrance component: Eucalyptus Leaf Oil is an essential oil carrying eucalyptol. It scents a formula sharply and gives a cooling sensation.

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.

Complete the routine

This itemKLAIRS Rich Moist Soothing Cream 20g$15.00
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$90.00

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Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Cream 20g

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KLAIRS, Korean-market original

A 20g travel size soothing cream, 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