skinnlab Pore Barrier Cleansing Balm

What is this product?

Skinnlab's pore cleansing balm earns the pore half of its name honestly: the exfoliating work is done by 카프릴로일살리실릭애씨드, a real LHA-class keratolytic, not by a botanical. What the name gets wrong is the barrier half, because there is no barrier ingredient of any class on its eleven-entry list. It is a 100ml waterless first cleanse, it is fragranced, and Skinnlab publishes no amount, no pH and no test of its own for it.

What makes it different?

A pore claim carried by an actual keratolytic ester rather than by a botanical is rare in this category, and the list is short enough that nothing sits behind it as filler or as a botanical tail, just a light ester and olive oil phase, two PEG emulsifiers and a wax. Skinnlab also prints the Korean and the English ingredient statements side by side on its own page, which small brands usually skip. Its review base is small enough that the topic counts should be read as direction only, and it was showing as sold out on the brand's own sites.

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.

Key ingredientWorth a closer look

• Cetyl Ethylhexanoate
• Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
• PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate
• PEG-10 Isostearate
• Synthetic Wax
• Sorbitan Sesquioleate
• Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil
• Capryloyl Salicylic Acid
• Ethylhexylglycerin
• Caprylyl Glycol
• Fragrance

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 3 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.

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.

• Dr.G Green Deep Pore Cleansing BalmAnother product in the same category
• BANILA CO Clean It Zero Pore Clarifying Cleansing BalmAnother product in the same category

Which articles cover it?

Articles on this site that write about this product.

• Pore care in Korean skincare: six labels read end to endSix Korean pore products, from a gel cream to two cleansing balms, sorted by what their ingredient lists can actually do and where the marketing runs past it.