One of the 2017 Hottest Korean Beauty Key Words is “CICA” and pretty much every (well-known) brand has released similar types of cream, generally with”CICA” as part of the product name – So I’d like to give some information & reviews about these “CICA” products.
1. Definition
It is not a medical/cosmetical word but is comes from special skincare ingredients – ‘Centella Asiatica‘ which helps soothe irritated skin and repair damaged skin from environmental aggressors, is also a healing ingredient.
In Korea, there is a limit to use “repair/regenerative” word in the cosmetics, especially in the marketing so someone/company may have created the word “CICA” for introducing the new ‘Dermo Cosmetics’ styles – quoted from Director PI[pai] (Author, Beauty Creative Director & Beauty Consultant).
*Another supportive opinion: ‘CICA’ comes from Latin – ‘cicatrix‘(scar)*
2. How it works?
As lots of Koreans mention how good they are, and there are proven results how it worked well to their skin, mostly sensitive or acne-prone skin types showed the improvement. Thousands of products have been sold, so we decided to have some remarkable best selling CICA products & some new ones as well.
This is a video from IOPE which shows the improvement of the skin. There are no subtitles but mainly explaining that the participant used the IOPE CICA cream for 10days and it has dramatically changed her skin (concept is they look twins but it’s the same person).
There are similar videos from Innisfree CICA Balm and other brands, all showing that the cream is worth trying if you have sensitive or problematic skin. (I use for relieving dryness and improving my pigmentation as some are whitening functional products, will talk more of these later on).
3. Texture & Functionality
I have tried just a few of these popular products and a new example is:
< IOPE Cica Cream, Innisfree Bija Cica Balm, ETUDE HOUSE SoonJung Cica Balm & MakeP:rem Cicapro™ Cream>
And this is the summary of these 4 products, and as it shows almost same purpose for getting healthy skin:
(1) IOPE Cica Cream
• Madecassoside(Centella Asiatica), Panthenol & Hinoki Cypress (phytoncide)
• 50ml, Unscented & Non-harmful ingredients
• All skin types, including sensitive & AM/PM
(2) Innisfree Bija Cica Baim
• Madecassoside(Centella Asiatica 4X), Bija Oil & D-panthenol
• 40ml, Unscented & Non-harmful ingredients
• All skin types, including sensitive & AM/PM
(3) Etude House SoonJung Cica Balm
• Madecassoside & Panthenol
• 40ml, Unscented & Non-harmful ingredients
• All skin types, including sensitive & AM/PM
(4) Makeprem Cicapro™ Revitalizing Cream
• Madecassoside(Centella Asiatica), Panthenol & Lactic Acid Bacteria
• 60ml, Slightly scented from ingredient & Non-harmful ingredients
• All skin types, including sensitive & AM/PM
• Whitening & Wrinkle-improvement
*Etude House has bit balmy texture compare to others however absorbs really well and Innisfree is the most moist/watery texture(almost same to IOPE).
— ( smoothness when you apply: Etude House < IOPE = Innisfree < MakeP:rem ) —
*Oil Content (after 3hrs result)
4. Alternatives
(1) Innisfree Truecare CICA Intensive Balm
– Yes, Innisfree has two types of Cica Balm and the other one (not mentioned here) – ‘CICA Intensive Balm’ is dual functional product (Whitening & Wrinkle-improvement) and contains Retinol so we reccommend for using at night.
(2) CNP Madecassoside & Dr Jart Cicapair Cream
– Both also dual functional products and contains Phenoxyethanol, and one of the most popular repair/soothing creams in Korea. I also use CNP cream and works well for me – if you worry about the ingredient you may consider one of the above CICA products.
(3) Other Centella Asiatica containing products:
SU:M Secret Essence & Water-full Deep Ampoule, ISOI Blemish Care Serum, Sidmool Zinc Ampoule & ACBY Propolis Serum and Klairs Whitening Serum etc,.
There are many so I just listed the more common ones
(4) Non-Korean Products?
Yes, they are available and both these products are well-known brands – ‘Laroche-posay Cicaplast Balm’ and ‘Bio-derma Cicabio Cream’. These are similar to the (CICA) products I have listed here, however they contain PEG/PPG and PEG/Lauryl Ether(PEG-7). With all skins being different, it may work for you.
Hope this information has been useful and NEOGEN CICA Pad is coming soon, so please check later.
Thanks for reading!
(..published on 2017, Oct.)
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