Laneige Water Bank Aqua Facial Serum

What is this product?

Read the name carefully, because this is an exfoliating serum wearing a hydration name. Laneige advertises a 7.7 percent acid complex, and while no amount is printed on the ingredient label itself, the classes are all there to check: gluconolactone third of 44, salicylic acid at 22, lactic and glycolic acid at 25 and 26, and a protease at 37. That makes it a bad daily pairing if you already use an acid or a retinoid, the salicylic acid puts it on the standard avoid list in pregnancy, and although the water side is real with betaine second and glycerin fourth, hydration is only half of what it does. The label's own cautions are worth following: it says the product can increase skin's sensitivity to sunlight and to wear sunscreen during the day, to try it on a small area first, and not to use it on children under three.

What makes it different?

Advertising a total acid percentage at all is rare, and 7.7 percent would be a working strength rather than a token, though the figure sits in the brand copy and not on the ingredient label. The trial behind the marketing is named down to the detail, 32 women aged 20 to 55 at a named research centre across four weeks, yet no control arm is described, and the headline plus 113.3 percent moisture figure was taken immediately after application, which reads the serum on the skin rather than a change in it. The plus 14.6 percent barrier result at four weeks is the more meaningful number and the quieter one. Ceramide NP, glutathione and polyglutamic acid sit together at 39, 40 and 41, no fragrance entry appears anywhere in the 44 ingredients, and it comes in 30ml.

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
• Betaine
• Gluconolactone
• Glycerin
• Butylene Glycol
• Dipropylene Glycol
• Sodium Lactate
• Glycereth-26
• Niacinamide
• Dimethyl Isosorbide
• Tromethamine
• Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Caffeine
• Diethoxyethyl Succinate
• Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract
• Allantoin
• Dextrin
• Propanediol
• Pectin
• Saccharum Officinarum (Sugarcane) Extract
• Salicylic Acid
• Sodium Gluconate
• Sphingomonas Ferment Extract
• Lactic Acid
• Glycolic Acid
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Xanthan Gum
• Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract
• Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract
• Cyclodextrin
• Acrylates/Stearyl Methacrylate Copolymer
• Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid
• Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Acer Saccharum (Sugar Maple) Extract
• Protease
• Calcium Chloride
• Ceramide NP
• Glutathione
• Polyglutamic Acid
• Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer-6
• Glyceryl Caprylate
• Hydrolyzed DNA

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: Salicylic Acid

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 6 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. None of them hold up on their own. They are partly right at best.

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