What is this cream for?

It closes a routine with comfort as the aim rather than working on a mark or a texture. That makes it the step to keep constant while you introduce or pause other products.

It is a face sized jar rather than a body one, so expect six to eight weeks at twice daily use. That is long enough to know whether the texture suits you before buying a larger size.

Can I use it while my skin is reacting?

Yes, and the more useful move alongside it is pausing whatever caused the reaction. Keeping the routine to a cleanser, a plain toner and this for a few days is usually what settles things.

Will it work under makeup?

Yes, at a thin layer. Give it a minute or two to settle before foundation and press the base on rather than dragging it. A thick layer underneath is what makes a base move.

How long does 30ml last?

Six to eight weeks at twice daily use on the face. Pressing a small amount onto damp skin covers more ground than rubbing a scoop into dry skin. Use clean fingers with an open jar.

VT Cosmetics

VT Cica Cream Plus 30ml

Name: VT Cosmetics VT Cica Cream Plus 30ml
Brand: VT Cosmetics
SKU: 10839508133
Price: 25.0 USD
Availability: InStock

A soothing cream in a 30ml jar, made for skin that looks flushed and feels reactive and wants a small jar to try first.

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

No reviews yet

$25.00

30 ml

$83.33 per 100 ml

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

Suited to: Sensitive skinNormal skinCombination skinDry skin

Helps with: Skin that looks flushedA reactive feeling faceA small jar to try first

One-time purchase

$25.00

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How it works

This closes a routine with comfort as the aim, and the 30ml jar tells you it is a face sized product meant to be used sparingly. The texture is medium weight, staying on the surface long enough to slow water loss without feeling like a balm. Skin that looks flushed is usually uncomfortable before it is uneven, so a closing step is where that gets addressed. A treatment cream in the same slot would be doing two jobs and would be harder to judge. Judge it on how the cheeks look and feel the next morning.

Key benefits

Panthenol listed 18th on the ingredient list, soothing, moisture-binding
Melia Azadirachta (Neem) Leaf Extract listed 19th on the ingredient list, clarifying
Melia Azadirachta (Neem) Flower Extract listed 25th on the ingredient list, clarifying
Sodium Hyaluronate listed 32nd on the ingredient list, hydration
A cream finish meant to sit as the last water-based step before an oil or sunscreen
Built to replace a routine's moisturizer step rather than sit alongside a second one

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

#15

Fragrance on the list

1 of 3

42 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.
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.
PEG-8 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides emulsifier: Coconut-derived glycerides with a water-loving PEG chain added, which turns them into a solubiliser. They keep oils dispersed in a watery formula.
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.
Cetearyl Olivate emulsifier: Cetearyl Olivate is the water-loving half of the olive-derived emulsifier pair. With sorbitan olivate it builds emulsions whose lipid profile is close to skin's own.
Phenoxyethanol preservative: Phenoxyethanol is the most widely used cosmetic preservative outside the paraben family. It keeps a water-containing formula from growing bacteria and mould, and is capped at one percent in most markets, so it always sits low on a list.
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.
Sorbitan Olivate emulsifier: Sorbitan Olivate is an olive-derived emulsifier, the oil-loving half of the pair sold as Olivem. It holds oil into water and leaves a light, non-waxy feel.
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.
Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer thickener: This is a synthetic thickener that gels quickly and holds an emulsion stable across a wide pH range. It gives a light, non-tacky body.

30 more explained

Beeswax occlusive: Beeswax is the wax bees build comb from. In a formula it thickens the oil phase and forms a breathable, water-resisting film, which is what makes a balm hold its shape.
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.
Fragrance fragrance: Fragrance, or Parfum, is a single declaration standing for a whole scent blend, which can be dozens of materials. Regulators allow it as a trade secret, so a list showing only this word does not say what the scent is made of. It is the most common trigger named by people with reactive skin.
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.
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.
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.
Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract plant extract: Melia Azadirachta is neem. Its leaf and flower extracts are long-standing Ayurvedic ingredients, and Korean formulas use them in products aimed at the look of congested, blemish-prone 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.
Alcohol solvent: Alcohol here means ethanol. It dissolves ingredients water cannot, evaporates fast so a formula sets quickly and does not feel heavy, and thins texture. In quantity it can leave dry or reactive skin feeling tight, which is why many Korean formulas avoid it and some deliberately use it for a fast, weightless finish.
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.
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.
Artemisia Princeps Leaf Extract plant extract: Artemisia Princeps is Korean mugwort, one of the country's oldest skincare and bathing plants. Its leaf extract is used for the look of reddened, reactive skin, and it is the ingredient behind the mugwort category.
Centella Asiatica Leaf Water plant extract: Centella Asiatica Leaf Water is the distilled water of the centella leaf, used in place of plain water as a formula base. It is far more dilute than the extract, so it sets the base rather than supplying the actives.
Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Extract plant extract: Cocoa Extract carries polyphenols and a little caffeine. It is used as an antioxidant plant extract and gives a faint warm tint.
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.
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.
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.
Dextrin thickener: Dextrin is a starch fragment used to thicken and to give a formula a light, powdery finish. It is also a common carrier for powdered extracts.
Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate emulsifier: Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate is a mild sugar-derived emulsifier and solubiliser used where a formula must stay clear.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cinnamomum Camphora (Camphor) Leaf Extract plant extract: Camphor laurel leaf extract. It carries the tree's own aromatic compounds and is used as a conditioning extract with a cooling character.
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.
Propolis Extract plant extract: Propolis is the resin bees collect from tree buds and use to seal the hive. It is rich in flavonoids, carries a warm amber colour and scent, and is used for the look of dull, stressed skin. It is a bee product, so it is worth knowing about if you react to those.
Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Extract plant extract: Tea Tree Leaf Extract is the water-based extract rather than the essential oil, so it is far milder and much less aromatic. It is used in formulas for blemish-prone skin.
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.

How to use

Apply it last among your leave-on steps, after your toner and any serum.
Press a small amount over slightly damp skin with flat hands rather than massaging it in.
Keep this step constant while you introduce or pause anything stronger, so you can tell what caused what.
Do not add a new active on a night your skin already looks flushed, and let the closing step work first.

Worth knowing

A 30ml jar runs out quickly at twice daily use, so it works well as a first purchase.
Patch test along the jaw for a few days first, since reactive skin deserves a slow introduction.

Complete the routine

This itemVT Cosmetics VT Cica Cream Plus 30ml$25.00
An as-needed step, in place of the prep layerVT Cica Collagen All In One 3step Mask 1.5g+24g+1.5g$12.50
The treatment step of this routineVT Reedle Shot 1000 15ml$102.50

Total for 3 items$140.00

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VT Cosmetics, Korean-market original

A 30ml soothing cream in a small jar for flushed, reactive feeling skin, 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