ETUDE SoonJung Panthensoside 10 Cica Balm

What is this product?

Reach for this ETUDE balm if the goal is a fragrance free, vegan certified soothing balm with panthenol high in the list and the centella triterpene quartet behind it, and skip it if a balm texture on acne prone skin worries you. Panthenol sits third of thirty entries and the brand puts it at 10 percent, though that figure appears only in marketing copy and not in the statutory ingredient block. Madecassoside, asiaticoside, madecassic acid and asiatic acid occupy positions 24 to 27, and no Centella Asiatica extract entry exists despite the marketing naming it. Vegan certification is carried by a named body, the Korea Vegan Certification Institute.

What makes it different?

The centella content is declared as four purified triterpenes rather than as a plant extract, which is a more specific disclosure than an extract line but also means the marketing naming of Centella Asiatica describes something the label does not list. Vegan status comes with an actual certifying body attached rather than as a self applied word, and the nine ingredient exclusion list holds up on a direct search of all thirty entries. The brand's mildness case rests on a primary irritation test result of zero with no institution, panel size or date printed anywhere.

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.

Key ingredient

• Water
• Butylene Glycol
• Panthenol
• Squalane
• Cetearyl Alcohol
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Hydrogenated Poly(C6-14 Olefin)
• Phenyl Trimethicone
• Diisostearyl Malate
• Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate
• Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer
• Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
• Glyceryl Stearate Citrate
• Glyceryl Stearate
• Cetearyl Glucoside
• Hydrogenated Lecithin
• Tromethamine
• Glycerin
• Caprylyl Glycol
• Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate
• Disodium EDTA
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Sorbitan Isostearate
• Madecassoside
• Asiaticoside
• Madecassic Acid
• Asiatic Acid
• Glucose
• Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
• Tocopherol

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: 다이아이소스테아릴말레이트, 솔비탄아이소스테아레이트, 폴리글리세릴-10스테아레이트, 글리세릴스테아레이트, 폴리글리세릴-3메틸글루코오스다이스테아레이트, 세테아릴알코올

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 10 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. 2 of them hold up. The rest are only partly right or have nothing behind them.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.

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