Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleansing Balm

What is this product?

Round Lab's 1025 Dokdo Cleansing Balm is a 50ml melting balm for taking makeup and sunscreen off, and the reason to look twice is the tail of its label: 43 ingredients that open with esters and a synthetic wax, with water not arriving until position 29, and close with seven skin-lipid entries, five ceramides plus cholesterol and phytosphingosine, which is a lot of lipid for something you rinse away. Its scent comes from bergamot and sage essential oils, so limonene and linalool are declared on the label and reactive skin has a genuine reason to hesitate.

What makes it different?

Two things stand out in a thin record. First, the tail of its list of 43 ingredients assembles seven physiological lipids, five ceramide types (NP, NS, AP, AS and EOP) with cholesterol and phytosphingosine, a lipid breadth you rarely see in a rinse-off, even though every one of them sits in the free-ordering part of the label with no amount given. Second, its scent is not synthetic fragrance but an essential oil pair, bergamot and sage, which tells you where the formula is aimed and also brings in two declared terpene allergens, limonene and linalool, a real caution for reactive skin rather than a marketing quibble.

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 ingredientWorth a closer look

• Cetyl Ethylhexanoate
• Ethylhexyl Palmitate
• Sorbeth-30 Tetraoleate
• Isododecane
• Synthetic Wax
• Butylene Glycol
• Sorbitan Sesquioleate
• Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil
• Limonene
• Linalool
• Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil
• Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate
• Tocopherol
• Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract
• Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract
• Coccinia Indica Fruit Extract
• Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract
• Solanum Melongena (Eggplant) Fruit Extract
• Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil
• Corallina Officinalis Extract
• Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Extract
• Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract
• Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil
• Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil
• Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil
• Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil
• Capryloyl Salicylic Acid
• Gluconolactone
• Water
• Protease
• Hydrogenated Lecithin
• Cetearyl Alcohol
• Sea Water
• Stearic Acid
• 1,2-Hexanediol
• Ceramide NP
• Ceramide NS
• Cholesterol
• Phytosphingosine
• Ceramide AP
• Ceramide AS
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Ceramide EOP

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: Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Capryloyl Salicylic Acid

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 3 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. 2 of them look likely, though none are proven outright.

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

What else is worth seeing?

Products we read alongside this one.

• Round Lab 1025 Dokdo CleanserAnother product in the same category
• Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleansing OilAnother product in the same category
• Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleansing WaterAnother product in the same category

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.