Name: Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil
Brand: Anua

What is this product?

Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil is a 200ml emulsifying first-cleanse oil whose Korean label lists 22 ingredients, led by 에틸헥실팔미테이트 with 솔베스-30테트라올리에이트 and 솔비탄세스퀴올리에이트 at positions two and three, 카프릴릭/카프릭트라이글리세라이드 fourth, and five plant oils from position seven. It is an ester-led blend with a conventional nonionic emulsifier pair, applied to dry skin and rinsed with lukewarm water. A fragrance compound is declared at position six, ahead of every oil and extract. The heartleaf the product is named after, 약모밀추출물, is printed eighteenth of twenty-two at an undisclosed level. No INCI list, no concentration figure, no pH and no brand-cited test was secured for this SKU.

What makes it different?

Three things separate it inside its own category. First, the base construction: an ester-led oil phase with a polyethoxylated sorbitol tetraester and a sorbitan ester placed second and third, which is a lighter and faster-emulsifying build than the plant-oil-led cleansers it sits beside in the catalog. Second, the absence of any leave-behind ambition; the list carries no humectant, no cationic depositing agent and no acid, so it is a removal step and nothing else, which distinguishes it from category neighbours that put a humectant in the product name. Third, and against it, a declared fragrance compound printed above every botanical on the label, which is the single most consequential line for a sensitive or fragrance-avoidant reader and the reason this SKU is not the default recommendation in its own category despite its sebum-removal signal.

What is in it?

The full ingredient list as the brand publishes it, in the printed order. Each name links to what we know about that ingredient.

This brand publishes its ingredient list in Korean only. Names below are the matching INCI names from the Korean Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary, except 1 with no dictionary entry, left in Korean.

Key ingredientWorth a closer look

Ingredients with no mark are ones we found nothing notable about, and when marks overlap on one ingredient we show the caution first.

We could not place these in the list above: Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Butyl Avocadate, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Sorbeth-30 Tetraoleate, Olea Europaea Fruit Oil, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil, Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 4 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. One of them holds up. The rest are only partly right or have nothing behind them.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.

backed by evidence1

Dispense an appropriate amount of oil onto dry hands, roll it gently over the whole face as if massaging, then rinse several times with lukewarm water.
Korean original
물기 없는 손에 오일을 적당량 덜어 얼굴 전체를 마사지 하듯이 부드럽게 롤링 한 후 미온수로 여러 번 씻어냅니다.

partly backed1

※ Because no artificial colourant is used, colour fading may occur depending on how it is stored.
Korean original
※ 인공 색소를 사용하지 않아 보관 방법에 따라 색 빠짐 현상이 생할 수 있습니다.

overstated ad line2

For use on all skin types
Korean original
모든 피부에 사용
Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil
Korean original
어성초 포어 컨트롤 클렌징오일

Each line is quoted as the brand published it, and each one was read on its own against the ingredient list and the documents the brand publishes.

How we read these lines

What else is worth seeing?

Products we read alongside this one.

Which articles cover it?

Articles on this site that write about this product.

Olive Young cleansing balms and oils: six first cleanse picksSix Korean cleansing balms and oils from the Olive Young shelf, sorted by what their labels disclose, including which ones are scented and which are not.