REVE:AM Cicazom Calming Deep Cleansing Foam

What is this product?

A 150ml potassium soap foam cleanser from REVE:AM, named for centella and built as a deep-clean soap. Thirty-two items: stearic, myristic and palmitic acid at 4, 7 and 8 neutralised into potassium soaps at 3, 5 and 11, with lauryl hydroxysultaine at 9 and potassium cocoyl glycinate at 10 as secondary surfactants, and caprylol salicylic acid at 22 supplying lipophilic exfoliation. The label prints levels for the centella family, which is unusual: centella leaf extract at 10.1ppm and six further forms down to 0.001ppm each for asiaticoside, asiatic acid, madecassoside and madecassic acid, totalling about 10.3ppm. No fragrance, no essential oil, no sulfate, no paraben. The statutory label prints 해당 없음 for functional-cosmetic filing and no pH is stated anywhere. Fits oily and congested skin wanting a squeaky finish; poor for dry or barrier-compromised skin; the cica in the name is a trace rather than a treatment.

What makes it different?

Two things separate it on its shelf. First, it prints levels at all, and it prints them on the family the product is named after: seven centella entries carry figures from 10.1ppm down to 0.001ppm, which is what makes the naming assessable rather than a matter of belief. A printed ppm figure on a rinse-off cleanser is the exception rather than the norm in the Korean market, and it is what makes the naming assessable here. Second, it pairs a full potassium soap system with a lipohydroxy acid, which is a deliberately assertive combination in a category that has largely moved toward weakly acidic syndet bases. The corollary is the caution: that same combination is why it is the wrong daily cleanser for dry or reactive skin, and why the calming name misdescribes it.

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.

• Water
• Glycerin
• Potassium Myristate
• Stearic Acid
• Potassium Stearate
• Glyceryl Stearate
• Myristic Acid
• Palmitic Acid
• Lauryl Hydroxysultaine
• Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate
• 포타슘팔미테이트
• Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate
• Butylene Glycol
• Sorbitol
• Potassium Benzoate
• Sodium Chloride
• Hydroxyacetophenone
• Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Panthenol
• Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract
• Capryloyl Salicylic Acid
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Castanea Crenata (Chestnut) Shell Extract
• Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Extract
• Centella Asiatica Extract
• Centella Asiatica Root Extract
• Pinus Pinaster Bark Extract
• Asiaticoside
• Asiatic Acid
• Madecassoside
• Madecassic Acid

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

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.

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.

• Torriden Balanceful Cica Pore Cleansing FoamAnother product in the same category
• VT Cosmetics Cica Mild Foam CleanserAnother product in the same category
• REVE:AM Enzyme Cleansing PowderAnother product in the same category
• beplain Mung Bean Weakly Acidic Cleansing FoamAnother product in the same category