The Best Medicube Products

The Medicube product we’d start with is Zero Pore Pads, a tub of 70 toner pads soaked in a mild AHA and BHA liquid. Put Collagen Jelly Cream over them and you have the two products the brand is best known for. After that, PDRN Pink Peptide Serum is the one to add for dull, dry skin. The rest of this list is one pick per need: an overnight peel-off mask, a vitamin C cream, a clay mask, a spicule serum and the Booster Pro X2 device. You don’t need all eight, and the skincare doesn’t need the device.

The eight at a glance

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1. Medicube Zero Pore Pads

Medicube Zero Pore Pads come 70 to a tub. Each pad has an embossed side to swipe with after cleansing and a silky side for a second pass. The liquid has salicylic acid, which is a BHA, plus AHA from a fruit complex, and Medicube names white willow bark at 0.45% as its BHA source.

We’d buy these first because they do the job this brand got famous for. The drawback is the name. Pores don’t go to zero, and our Zero Pore Pad review covers what an acid pad can and can’t change. Medicube says the pads are gentle enough for daily use, morning and night. We’d begin at two or three nights a week and wear sunscreen every morning. The brand also makes a Mild version for sensitive skin.

2. Medicube Collagen Jelly Cream

The pink jar. Medicube Collagen Jelly Cream is a see-through jelly moisturizer with niacinamide, freeze-dried hydrolyzed collagen and squalane as its key ingredients. It’s silicone free. Our link goes to the 3.71 ounce jar. It goes on morning and evening, after serum.

Buy it for the texture and the glossy finish. Our glass skin explainer goes into why hydrated skin looks that way. The firming numbers Medicube quotes are small ones from its own consumer study and self-test report, measured after 24 hours, so we wouldn’t buy it as a firming treatment.

3. Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum

Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum is a 1.01 ounce serum built around PDRN, the DNA fragments usually taken from salmon. Its key ingredients are salmon DNA PDRN, peptide and niacinamide. You apply it morning and night to clean skin, before moisturizer.

This is our pick for skin that looks flat and feels dry. Medicube says you can see improvement in as little as two weeks, and adds that results vary. A serum isn’t the in-office PDRN treatment the ingredient is named for, which our PDRN explainer lays out. If you avoid animal ingredients, Medicube makes a Rose PDRN version that it labels vegan.

4. Medicube Collagen Night Wrapping Mask

You paint this one on. Medicube Collagen Night Wrapping Mask is a 2.53 ounce tube of liquid mask that goes on as the last step of your evening routine, dries into a thin film, and peels off in the morning. Medicube’s key ingredients for it are collagen extract, niacinamide, ceramide NP and hyaluronic acid.

We’d pick it over a sheet mask if you want something you can sleep in. The catch is technique. Medicube says to apply an even layer and let it dry completely, because a layer that’s too thin or still damp won’t peel in one piece. Leftover bits rinse off with lukewarm water.

5. Medicube Deep Vita C Capsule Cream

Medicube Deep Vita C Capsule Cream is two textures in one 1.94 ounce jar: golden vitamin capsules sitting in a clear gel. You scoop both and mix them. Sea buckthorn water is the first ingredient, which Medicube puts at 50%, alongside 5% niacinamide. The list also has alpha-arbutin, ferulic acid, vitamin E and several forms of vitamin C. Use it morning and evening after serum, with sunscreen in the morning.

It’s our pick for dullness and uneven tone if you’d like your vitamin C in a moisturizer instead of a separate serum. Two things to know. Pure ascorbic acid sits near the end of the ingredient list, behind three vitamin C derivatives, so this isn’t a high-strength vitamin C product. And fragrance is on the list.

6. Medicube Zero Pore Blackhead Mud Mask

Medicube Zero Pore Blackhead Mud Mask is a 3.52 ounce clay mask made with five clays, bentonite and kaolin among them, plus AHA, BHA and PHA. It’s alcohol free. You spread it on clean, dry skin, keep it away from your eyes and mouth, wait three to five minutes until it’s dry, and rinse with lukewarm water. Medicube suggests its silicone jelly brush for hard-to-reach spots on the T-zone.

We’d use it once or twice a week on an oily nose, forehead and chin, and skip the cheeks if they run dry. Medicube’s blackhead and sebum percentages come from its own self-test, measured right after one use. That tells you skin looks cleaner straight after a clay mask, not that blackheads stay gone. Don’t use it on the same night as the pads if your skin is easily irritated; both have exfoliating acids.

7. Medicube Zero Exosome Shot 7,500

The one to be careful with. Medicube Zero Exosome Shot 7,500 is a 1.01 ounce serum containing spicules, tiny needle-shaped particles made from hydrolyzed sponge, along with AHA, BHA and PHA. It comes in three strengths, which Medicube labels Mild (2,000 ppm), Strong (7,500) and Intense (25,000). This is the middle one.

It’s one of the brand’s most talked-about products, and you should expect to feel it. Medicube says tingling, redness, itching and a heat sensation can follow and may last for some time, and it recommends a patch test for sensitive skin. Keep it away from your eyes and lips. If you’ve never used a spicule serum, or your skin is sensitive, start with the Mild 2,000 strength instead of this one, and use it less often at first. Medicube doesn’t recommend that people new to spicules use it with its devices. We’d leave it out entirely if your skin is reactive or your barrier is already irritated.

8. Medicube Booster Pro X2

Medicube Booster Pro X2 is a handheld device with a dual head, seven modes and six intensity levels. Four modes are the core ones: Booster, MC, Derma Shot and Air Shot. Mask mode goes over a sheet mask, Dual mode runs two modes at once, and AI mode suggests a routine through Medicube’s AGE-R app. The device works without the app, though AI mode needs it. The box holds the device, a manual and a USB charging cable. Medicube’s schedule is Air Shot two or three times a week without skincare, the other modes one to three times a day with your regular skincare, and Mask mode once a day. Most sessions take five to 10 minutes.

This is the only pick that costs real money, about $249, though the price changes often. Medicube says Booster mode helps skincare absorb and boosts radiance, Air Shot refines the look of pores, and MC and Derma Shot give a plumper, more defined look, and it cites figures from a test by the Global Institute of Dermatological Sciences. Those are the brand’s claims. Read the manual’s warnings first and start at a low intensity level. Medicube says not to use it over the front of the neck or too close to the eyes. Ask your doctor before using it if you’re pregnant or have an implanted medical device. Our beauty device guide has the questions to ask before buying any gadget like this. If the price is the obstacle, the Medicube Mini Booster Pro Plus is about $99: a smaller device with three modes and five intensity levels, meant for about five minutes a day. It doesn’t come with a charging cable, so you’ll need a USB-C one.

What goes with what

Three of the eight contain exfoliating acids, so the order and the spacing matter.

• Pads, then serum, then cream. The wrapping mask goes on last, over everything.
• One acid product per night. The pads, the mud mask and the Exosome Shot all contain AHA and BHA, and stacking them is how skin ends up red and tight.
• Go slowly with the device and strong actives. Medicube recommends introducing exfoliating acids, retinol and high-strength vitamin C gradually alongside the Booster Pro X2, and holding off if you’re new to them or your skin is sensitive.

If I Were You

• If you’re buying one thing, make it Zero Pore Pads, unless your skin is dry or reactive. Then make it Collagen Jelly Cream.
• If your complaint is dullness, not oil, choose the serum and Deep Vita C Capsule Cream and leave the Zero Pore products alone.
• If your skin stings easily, skip the Zero Exosome Shot and start the pads slowly, or pick the Mild pads.
• If you’re eyeing the Booster Pro X2, use the skincare for a month first. It costs more than ten times what anything else here does.

Bottom line

Medicube is at its best when you treat it as a few good, inexpensive products and ignore the percentages. The pads handle oil and texture, the jelly cream gives you the shine, and the PDRN serum adds a hydrating layer. The spicule serum and the device are for the curious, and nothing else on the list depends on them.