Description
The Medicube Deep Vita C Cream opens with a number we have not seen anywhere else. Its first ingredient is sea buckthorn water, declared at 500,000 ppm — fifty percent of the formula — and it sits ahead of plain water on the list.
That is a real and expensive formulation decision. Most creams are half water. This one is half botanical extract, and Medicube published the figure rather than hiding behind the phrase “botanical complex”.
Then comes the part the box does not tell you. The vitamin C that gives the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream its name is spread across six different forms, and every one of them sits in the bottom third of a sixty-one ingredient list. Pure ascorbic acid is 46th of 61.
Why the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream leads with the vitamin tree
In Korean, sea buckthorn is 비타민나무 — literally “vitamin tree”. The berry is genuinely rich in vitamin C, along with vitamin E, carotenoids and omega fatty acids, and that name is why it anchors a product called Deep Vita C.
But sea buckthorn water is not sea buckthorn berry. The water fraction is the aqueous distillate, and it carries a small share of what is in the whole fruit. Fifty percent of it in a jar is a lovely base. It is not fifty percent vitamin C, and nobody should read it that way.
Where the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream vitamin C actually sits
Six forms, and here is every one with its position out of sixty-one.
- Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate — 39
- Ascorbyl Glucoside — 43
- 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid — 44
- Ascorbic Acid — 46
- Ascorbyl Propyl Hyaluronate — 53
- Ascorbyl Palmitate — 54
Using several derivatives is defensible, because they differ in stability and in how they convert on skin. Using six is a label. Six named vitamin C entries reads far better on a box than two used at a level that would actually do something.
What genuinely is near the top of the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream is niacinamide at position 4. As with almost every product we have taken apart, the ingredient not printed on the front is the one carrying the formula.
The full Medicube Deep Vita C Cream ingredient list
Sixty-one ingredients from the Korean regulatory filing, in legal descending order, with the declared concentration shown as filed.
1 Sea Buckthorn Water (500,000 ppm) · 2 Glycerin · 3 Water · 4 Niacinamide · 5 Methylpropanediol · 6 Propanediol · 7 1,2-Hexanediol · 8 Butylene Glycol · 9 Dipropylene Glycol · 10 Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride · 11 Glycereth-26 · 12 Ethylhexyl Palmitate · 13 Cetearyl Alcohol · 14 Arginine · 15 Carbomer · 16 Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer · 17 Cetearyl Olivate · 18 Sunflower Seed Oil · 19 Sorbitan Olivate · 20 Simethicone
21 Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate · 22 Ethylhexylglycerin · 23 Adenosine · 24 Fragrance · 25 Polyacrylate-13 · 26 Wild Soybean Oil · 27 Disodium EDTA · 28 Polyisobutene · 29 Hydrolyzed Sclerotium Gum · 30 Glyceryl Stearate · 31 Gluconolactone · 32 Polysorbate 20 · 33 Sorbitan Isostearate · 34 Hydrogenated Lecithin · 35 Annatto Seed Oil · 36 Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate · 37 Alpha-Arbutin · 38 Panthenol · 39 Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate · 40 Pentylene Glycol
41 Ferulic Acid · 42 Tocopherol · 43 Ascorbyl Glucoside · 44 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid · 45 Bisabolol · 46 Ascorbic Acid · 47 Hydroxyphenyl Propamidobenzoic Acid · 48 Pyridoxine · 49 Ubiquinone · 50 Biotin · 51 Folic Acid · 52 Sodium Hyaluronate · 53 Ascorbyl Propyl Hyaluronate · 54 Ascorbyl Palmitate · 55 Cyanocobalamin · 56 Thiamine HCl · 57 Riboflavin · 58 Linoleic Acid · 59 Beta-Carotene · 60 Rutin · 61 Hydroxycinnamic Acid
The yellow is not the vitamin C
People assume the yellow capsules are the vitamin C. They are not. The colour comes from annatto seed oil at 35 and beta-carotene at 59, both natural pigments.
We flag it because it is the same trick the pink products play, and in both cases the answer is the same and reasonably honest: the colour is a real botanical pigment rather than a synthetic dye. It just is not the active.
The Medicube Deep Vita C Cream contains fragrance
In the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream, fragrance is declared at position 24. If you came to Medicube for the fragrance-free serums, this jar is not one of them.
There is also wild soybean oil at 26 and sunflower seed oil at 18, neither of which appears on the front of the box. Worth knowing if soy is a problem for you.
Alpha-arbutin is the other real brightener
Alpha-arbutin sits at 37. It is a tyrosinase inhibitor, which means it works on the enzyme that makes pigment rather than on the signal that requests it, and it is one of the better-evidenced brightening ingredients available without a prescription.
Position 37 of 61 is not a heroic dose. But paired with niacinamide at 4 it gives the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream two brightening mechanisms rather than one, which is more useful than six versions of the same molecule stacked at the bottom.
What the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream vitamin stack is really for
Look at positions 48 to 57: pyridoxine, ubiquinone, biotin, folic acid, cyanocobalamin, thiamine, riboflavin. That is vitamin B6, CoQ10, B7, B9, B12, B1 and B2 in a row.
They are all real ingredients and none of them are harmful. They are also all sitting below position 47, which in a sixty-one ingredient list means fractions of a percent at best. Their job is to let the marketing say “multivitamin”.
The honest way to read the bottom half of this list is as a very long, very cheap way to make the ingredient list look comprehensive. The top ten is where the product lives.
How to use the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream
- Last step of your routine, after serum.
- Scoop both the yellow capsule side and the clear gel side.
- Mix them on the back of your hand until the capsules break down.
- Smooth over face and neck following your skin texture.
- Morning and evening.
Adjust the ratio to the weather rather than to a rule. Gel-heavy through Dhaka’s humid months so the finish stays light, capsule-heavy in the cool dry season or if you sit under air conditioning all day.
Mix it on your hand, not on your face. Breaking the capsules against your skin wastes product and gives an uneven layer. Ten seconds of mixing first makes a visible difference to the finish.
Sunscreen decides whether this works
Every brightening ingredient in this jar works by reducing new pigment production. None of them protects you from the thing that triggers it.
Using the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream without daily sunscreen is emptying a bucket with a hole in it, and in Dhaka’s UV that is not a figure of speech. If your budget covers one of the two, buy the sunscreen first and come back for this later.
Who the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream suits
Buy it if you want a light brightening moisturiser, you like being able to dial the texture, and you are comfortable with fragrance. The sea buckthorn base is genuinely pleasant and the niacinamide placement is real.
Skip it if you are buying it for the vitamin C, because ascorbic acid is 46th. Skip it if you avoid fragrance or react to soy. And skip it if you want a proper vitamin C treatment, because a dedicated 10–15% vitamin C serum is a different product doing a different job.
Anyone with reactive skin should also note the fragrance at 24 sits well above every vitamin C form in the jar. That is a trade most brightening-focused customers would not choose if they were shown the list.
Medicube Deep Vita C Cream against the rest of the range
- TXA Niacinamide 15% Serum — niacinamide declared at 10%, tranexamic acid at 5%. If brightening is the goal, this is the stronger buy.
- PDRN Pink Collagen Capsule Cream — the same two-part capsule format. Collagen 49th of 59 there.
- Collagen Jelly Cream — collagen declared at 10 ppm, niacinamide 9th of 48.
- Kojic Acid Turmeric Niacinamide Serum — niacinamide 2nd, turmeric 6th, kojic acid 9th of 32.
- Zero Pore Blackhead Mud Mask — kaolin 2nd, bentonite 3rd.
Across the range the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream is the most interesting formula and not the most effective one. The 50% sea buckthorn base is the best single ingredient decision Medicube has made in any product we have read. The vitamin C behind the name is the weakest.
Medicube Deep Vita C Cream product facts
- Volume: 55ml / 1.94 oz
- Country of manufacture: Republic of Korea
- Manufacturer: B&B Korea
- Responsible seller: APR Corp
- Shelf life: 30 months unopened
- Period after opening: 12 months
- Declared: sea buckthorn water 500,000 ppm (50%)
- Functional cosmetic certification: yes
- Fragrance: declared, position 24
- Total ingredients: 61
Medicube Deep Vita C Cream FAQ
Is there real vitamin C in it?
Yes, six forms of it, at positions 39, 43, 44, 46, 53 and 54 out of 61. Present, but in the bottom third.
Is the sea buckthorn figure real?
It is filed with the Korean regulator at 500,000 ppm, which is fifty percent, and it sits first on the list ahead of water. That part is exactly as claimed.
Will the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream fade dark spots?
Slowly, if at all, and mostly on the strength of the niacinamide at 4 and the alpha-arbutin at 37 rather than the vitamin C. For real pigmentation work, use a dedicated serum.
Why are the capsules yellow?
Annatto seed oil at 35 and beta-carotene at 59. Natural pigments, not the vitamin C.
Does it smell of anything?
Yes. Fragrance is declared at position 24.
Can I use it with a vitamin C serum?
Yes, and if vitamin C is your goal that is the better way to get it. Use the serum first and this as the moisturiser over it.
Why we read the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream filing first
Korean law makes brands publish the full ingredient list and, sometimes, the actual concentrations. Most shops never look. We read it before writing anything, and we publish what it says even when it costs us the sale.
On this jar the filing gave us both halves of the truth: a genuinely impressive 50% botanical base that deserves credit, and a vitamin C story that does not survive contact with the list. The ascorbic acid is 46th of 61, and you can look that up yourself.
The two-part format of the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream
This is the same jar architecture as the Pink Collagen version: a capsule-loaded cream on one side, a clear gel on the other, and you decide the ratio each time you use it.
It is a genuinely good idea and most people never use it properly. The point of the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream format is that your skin needs a different weight of moisturiser in June than it does in January, and Dhaka’s humidity swing is wide enough that a single fixed cream is wrong for part of every year.
Run gel-heavy through the monsoon. Run capsule-heavy in the cool months. If you use the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream at a fixed ratio all year you have bought a two-part jar and turned it into a one-part one.
What the capsules in the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream actually are
The yellow beads are an encapsulation, not a different formula. Encapsulation exists to keep unstable ingredients away from air and light until the moment you break them, and the unstable ingredients here are the vitamin C forms and the carotenoids.
That is a sensible reason to encapsulate. Ascorbic acid oxidises quickly in a water-based cream, and keeping it in a bead until use is a real answer to a real problem. It does not change how much is in there, which is the part the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream does not advertise.
Storage and shelf life
Keep it out of direct sunlight and out of a hot bathroom. Vitamin C degrades with heat and light regardless of encapsulation, and the botanical oils in the base will turn faster in a warm room.
If the yellow ever browns noticeably or the smell changes, stop using it. That is oxidation, and with six vitamin C forms in the formula there is plenty available to oxidise.
Buying the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream in Bangladesh
Medicube is one of the most counterfeited brands in this market because it sells fast and the jars are easy to copy. Two checks on any jar from anywhere: the printed ingredient list should match the sixty-one above in the same order, and the Korean text on a genuine carton is crisp rather than blurred or doubled.
A Medicube Deep Vita C Cream priced far below the market should make you ask where it came from. We import directly rather than through a chain of local resellers, and we check packaging, labelling and condition before anything is dispatched.
What we would change about the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream
Three things, and the first is the biggest.
Lead with the sea buckthorn. Fifty percent of a formula being a declared botanical water is a genuinely rare thing to be able to print on a box, and Medicube has buried it under a vitamin C claim that the ingredient list does not support. The best fact about the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream is not the one on the front.
Second, cut the vitamin C forms from six to two. Two well-chosen derivatives at a real level would do more than six at fractions of a percent, and the list would be honest instead of decorative.
Third, drop the fragrance. A brightening product is bought by people with reactive, post-inflammatory skin, and perfume sitting at 24 — above every vitamin C form in the jar — is the wrong priority for that customer.
None of that makes the Medicube Deep Vita C Cream a bad moisturiser. It makes it a good moisturiser sold on the wrong story, which is a different and more fixable problem.
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