Product Dossier · Amazon US · 31 October 2026
medicube · 30 ml / 1.01 fl. oz. · capsule suspension serum
4.6 / 5
Average rating
1,322
Global ratings
$19.80
Current price
#77
Rank in Facial Serums
01 Product information
A single 30 ml dropper bottle of a vitamin C serum that keeps its active inside suspended capsules: a pale-yellow, water-light fluid carrying visible yellow beads that are meant to melt into the skin as the serum is spread. The listing builds the whole proposition around that capsule format, a 77% sea-buckthorn-water base, 5% niacinamide and a very light, non-tacky finish rather than around a high percentage of acid.
Specifications
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Skin Type | All |
| Use for | Face |
| Brand | medicube |
| Item Form | Drop |
| Item Weight | 140 g |
| Unit Count | 1.01 Fluid Ounces |
| Package Dimensions | 4.13 x 1.85 x 1.81 inches; 4.94 ounces |
| Manufacturer | APR |
| ASIN | B0FR4QYNK5 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,757 in Beauty & Personal Care; #77 in Facial Serums |
Where it sits in the catalogue
Beauty & Personal Care › Skin Care › Face › Treatments & Masks › Serums
Product gallery
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
What the listing promises
- Skin Vitality Care. Formulated with 99% high-purity Vitamin C to help revive the look of tired, dull skin and support a more vibrant, energized complexion.
- Concentrated Capsule Care. Concentrated Vitamin C is encapsulated into melt-in capsules made with advanced liposome technology, dissolving upon contact to help deliver the formula evenly for smoother, more refined-looking skin.
- Vitamin-Powered Tone Vitality. Delivered revitalizing care with 77% Hippophae Rhamnoides Water and 5% Niacinamide to help enhance the look of dull, uneven skin. This carefully balanced formula helps improve overall clarity and supports a more balanced, healthy-looking complexion.
- Hydration & Glow Support. Delivered moisture-replenishing care with Hyaluronic Acid, Tocopherol, and Glutathione to help hydrate the skin and enhance its natural radiance. This nourishing blend supports a plump, dewy-looking appearance with a healthy glow.
- Dermatologist-Tested & Gentle Daily Care. Dermatologist-tested and evaluated as low-irritating with a skin irritation index of 0.00. Formulated for daily use with a gentle, skin-friendly formula, making it suitable for consistent, everyday skincare routines. *Clinically Tested by 'Global Institute of Dermatological Sciences' / Results may vary depending on individual skin types.
- Non-Sticky Daily Texture. Features a lightweight, fast-absorbing texture that melts smoothly into the skin without leaving a sticky or greasy residue. Delivers comfortable hydration with a fresh, clean finish that feels balanced.
What the brand shows in its panels
Why capsules at all
Vitamin C is held inside melt-in capsules built with liposome technology. The panel claims the capsules preserve the freshness of the vitamin C and dissolve on contact so the formula spreads evenly instead of sitting on the surface.
What carries the formula
77% Hippophae Rhamnoides Water as the base liquid, 5% niacinamide for tone and 99% high-purity vitamin C as the lead active, with hyaluronic acid, tocopherol and glutathione named for hydration and glow.
How gentle it claims to be
A dermatologist-tested, low-irritation claim backed by a human skin irritation test report, presented as suitable for all skin types and for daily use.
What results are shown
+4.15% for reviving dull, tired-looking skin after four weeks, and +31.78% for boosting natural glow after one use. Both panels are credited to brand ambassadors and carry a results-may-vary note.
02 Rating and customer voice
4.6
out of 5 · 1,322 ratings
Roughly nine ratings in ten land at four stars or better, and the tail is thin but not flat: the one-star share is twice the two-star share, the signature of a product that works for most people and fails hard for a small group rather than disappointing everyone mildly.
Brightening is the single most-mentioned theme, and effectiveness is where sentiment is weakest, at 68% positive.
Star distribution
| Stars | Share | Approx. ratings | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 star | 81% | ~1,071 | |
| 4 star | 11% | ~145 | |
| 3 star | 5% | ~66 | |
| 2 star | 1% | ~13 | |
| 1 star | 2% | ~26 |
Shares are the platform's rounded whole percentages, so a 0% bucket would not prove zero ratings. At 1,322 ratings one point is roughly 13 ratings, which is why the 2% versus 1% ordering should be read as directional rather than exact.
What buyers talk about
| Aspect | Mentions | Positive | Negative | Positive share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| brightening | 68 | 63 | 5 | 93% |
| effectiveness | 63 | 43 | 20 | 68% |
| hydration | 58 | 53 | 5 | 91% |
| non-greasy | 35 | 27 | 8 | 77% |
| skin feel | 30 | 29 | 1 | 97% |
| value for money | 26 | 23 | 3 | 88% |
| lightweight | 23 | 23 | 0 | 100% |
| absorption | 16 | 15 | 1 | 94% |
Aspect mentions overlap, so the rows do not add up to the number of ratings. Four aspects sit at 90% positive or better: skin feel, lightweight, absorption and brightening. Effectiveness at 68% and non-greasy at 77% are the split readings, not negatives.
In the platform's own words
Customers find the vitamin C serum effective at brightening skin and notice noticeable lightening of dark spots, while also appreciating its hydrating properties and smooth, supple feel. The serum absorbs quickly into the skin without leaving a sticky or greasy feeling, and customers consider it a good value for money. While some customers find it effective, others report no noticeable results.
On individual review text
The listing returned no individual review bodies at capture time and no buyer-uploaded photos, so no customer is quoted here and no review photograph is reproduced. Everything above is aggregate: the star histogram, the platform's aspect counts and its generated summary. The absence is stated rather than filled with paraphrases.
03 Ingredient analysis
Coverage of this section
All 54 ingredients below are the complete INCI list for this product, captured in one pass and matching the database's own total. A second ingredient database was queried for independent acne-risk and irritancy grading and returned a bot challenge on the capture date, so no second grading is reported. The ratings shown are the ones that were available; where a cell is empty the ingredient is unrated, which is not the same as safe.
For clarity on the two rating columns: a lower comedogenic score and a lower irritancy score both mean a lower risk. Neither is a prediction about a specific person.
What's inside, claim by claim
Six of the twelve claims hold and six do not. The failing half is the half that matters for a sensitive buyer: this formula is not fragrance-free, not oil-free, not silicone-free, not vegan, and it carries both a pore-clogging and a fungal-acne flag.
How the 54 ingredients divide up
Classified by the job each ingredient does in the formula. The three largest blocks are the structuring system that keeps the capsules suspended (7), the fragrance and botanical load (7), and the solvent and emollient vehicles (6 each). The vitamin C actives are six separate species rather than one.
Where the weight of the formula sits
Split by INCI position, which is the only concentration proxy the list gives. Half the formula is concentrated in the first 25 slots; the entire antioxidant, hyaluronic and vitamin C tail sits in the last third.
Graded risk, by level
Of 54 ingredients, ten carry any grading at all: seven are graded zero on both axes, two sit at or below 2, and one - tocopherol - is printed as a 0-3 range, which is read here on its upper bound. The other 44 are unrated. A formula where four in five ingredients carry no grade cannot be scored as a whole, so this section reports counts, not an aggregate risk number.
What the formula is built to do
The count beside each bar is how many ingredients in this formula deliver that benefit. Hydration leads with 16; a benefit carried by a single ingredient (PHA, vitamin E, niacinamide) is a weaker claim than one carried by sixteen.
Key ingredient groups
Vitamin C
Brightens, evens tone, supports collagen.
6
ingredients
Antioxidants
Shields skin from free radical damage.
6
ingredients
Hyaluronic Acid
Hydrates by attracting and holding water.
3
ingredients
PHA
Gently exfoliates and hydrates with less irritation.
1
ingredients
Vitamin E
Protects skin and soothes irritation.
1
ingredients
Niacinamide
Strengthens, smooths and brightens skin.
1
ingredients
Flags worth knowing before buying
Two class-level concerns
May trigger acne (can clog pores or trigger breakouts) and may worsen irritation (may cause stinging, redness or sensitivity). Both are ingredient-class warnings about what the formula is capable of, not predictions about an individual.
Fragrance with no fragrance line
Nothing in the list is named Parfum or Fragrance, yet the product is flagged as not fragrance-free. The load is botanical: the lead sea-buckthorn water is itself classed as perfuming, and six plant oils follow. A fragrance-sensitive buyer should not read the alcohol-free and paraben-free badges as a gentleness verdict.
One silicone, chosen for shine
Diphenylsiloxy phenyl trimethicone is a high-reflectance fluid. It is what makes the finish look glossy on camera - and the entire reason the silicone-free claim fails.
Six vitamin C species
Pure ascorbic acid plus 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid, ascorbyl glucoside, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, sodium ascorbyl phosphate and ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate. Water-soluble and oil-soluble forms coexist, which is a stability strategy rather than a single hero dose.
The capsule is a real liposome, and the list says so
Three ingredients explain the visible beads better than any marketing line: hydrogenated lecithin (25), cholesterol (27) and hydrogenated phosphatidylcholine (53) form the classic three-part phospholipid shell. The capsules are not decorative - they are vesicles. Three more - dextrin palmitate (24), dibutyl ethylhexanoyl glutamide (28) and dibutyl lauroyl glutamide (33) - build the gel network that keeps those vesicles suspended instead of floating. That is the physical reason the bottle looks the way it does, and it is the one brand claim the INCI list independently corroborates.
Complete ingredient list
54 of 54 rows, in INCI order. "—" in a rating cell means unrated.
| # | Ingredient | Function | Comedogenic | Irritancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hippophae Rhamnoides Water | Masking · Perfuming · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 2 | Glycereth-26 | Humectant | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Niacinamide | Smoothing | — | — |
| 4 | Glycerin | Humectant · Skin Conditioning · Skin Protecting | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Water | Skin Conditioning · Solvent | — | — |
| 6 | 1,2-Hexanediol | Skin Conditioning · Solvent | — | — |
| 7 | Diphenylsiloxy Phenyl Trimethicone | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 8 | Benzyl Glycol | Solvent | — | — |
| 9 | Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride | Masking · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 10 | Isononyl Isononanoate | Emollient · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 11 | Diethoxyethyl Succinate | Solvent | — | — |
| 12 | Arginine | Masking · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 13 | Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer | Emulsion Stabilising | — | — |
| 14 | C12-14 Alketh-12 | Emulsifying | — | — |
| 15 | Octyldodeceth-16 | Emulsifying | — | — |
| 16 | Castor Oil/IPDI Copolymer | EM | — | — |
| 17 | Gluconolactone | Chelating · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 18 | Ethylhexylglycerin | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 19 | Allantoin | Skin Conditioning · Skin Protecting · Soothing | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Xanthan Gum | Emulsifying · Emulsion Stabilising · Gel Forming | — | — |
| 21 | Adenosine | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 22 | Disodium EDTA | Chelating | — | — |
| 23 | Panthenol | Skin Conditioning | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Dextrin Palmitate | Emulsifying · Surfactant | — | — |
| 25 | Hydrogenated Lecithin | Emulsifying · Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 26 | Olea Europaea Fruit Oil | Masking · Perfuming · Skin Conditioning | 0-2 | 0 |
| 27 | Cholesterol | Emollient | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Dibutyl Ethylhexanoyl Glutamide | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 29 | Carbomer | Emulsion Stabilising | 1 | 0 |
| 30 | Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil | Emollient | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Glutathione | EM | — | — |
| 32 | Ascorbic Acid | Antioxidant | — | — |
| 33 | Dibutyl Lauroyl Glutamide | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 34 | Citrus Medica Vulgaris Peel Oil | Masking | — | — |
| 35 | 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 36 | Ascorbyl Glucoside | Antioxidant | — | — |
| 37 | Xanthophylls | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 38 | Propanediol | Solvent | — | — |
| 39 | Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil | Masking | — | — |
| 40 | Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil | Masking | — | — |
| 41 | Foeniculum Vulgare Oil | Emollient | — | — |
| 42 | Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate | Antioxidant | — | — |
| 43 | Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate | Antioxidant | — | — |
| 44 | Sodium Hyaluronate | Humectant | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Tocopherol | Antioxidant | 0-3 | 0-3 |
| 46 | Coriandrum Sativum Fruit Oil | Masking | — | — |
| 47 | Dipropylene Glycol | Humectant | — | — |
| 48 | Mentha Arvensis Leaf Oil | Masking | — | — |
| 49 | Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate | Antioxidant | — | — |
| 50 | Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate | Skin Conditioning | — | — |
| 51 | Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid | Humectant | — | — |
| 52 | Glycine Max Oil | Emollient | — | — |
| 53 | Hydrogenated Phosphatidylcholine | Emulsifying | — | — |
| 54 | Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate | Humectant | — | — |
04 Price analysis
$19.80
Current price
$17.82
Subscribe & save
$19.60
Per fluid ounce
$15.12
All-time low
No list price is published for this offer, so there is no struck-through figure to compare against: $19.80 is both the selling price and the reference price, and the only discount on the page is the 10% subscription tier at $17.82. The unit price Amazon renders is $19.60 per fluid ounce, which is close enough to the bottle price to confirm the 1.01 fl. oz. fill is being used as the divisor rather than a rounded unit count.
Price history
| Price type | Lowest ever | Highest ever | Current | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd party new | $15.12 Feb 16, 2026 | $21.80 Jan 04, 2026 | $19.80 Aug 31, 2026 | $17.85 |
| 3rd party used | — | — | — | — |
A dash is a finding, not a gap: there is no Amazon-owned offer and no used offer in the record, so every figure describes third-party sellers only. The current value carries an observation date of Aug 31, 2026 - a change timestamp, not a reading taken that day - and it matched the live buy box on the capture date to the cent.
Where today's price sits
| Benchmark | Value | Current vs benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| All-time low | $15.12 | +31.0% |
| All-time average | $17.85 | +10.9% |
| Live buy box | $19.80 | 0.0% - exact parity |
| All-time high | $21.80 | -9.2% |
Derived, not published: a $6.68 spread between low and high, equal to 44.2% of the low. A range that wide is ordinary for a listing with no Amazon-owned offer anchoring it - individual sellers set their own price. Today's $19.80 is 9% below the record high and 31% above the record low, which puts the current offer in the top third of everything this product has cost.
The record in three dates
$21.80
Jan 04, 2026
Record begins, highest ever
$15.12
Feb 16, 2026
Lowest ever
$19.80
Aug 31, 2026
Most recent change, current
The highest-ever value falls on the first day of the record, which usually means a launch listing or a reseller offer rather than a sustained market high - so it should not be read as proof the product used to cost $21.80, and it inflates the $17.85 average as a central estimate.
05 Verdict, method and limits
Who it fits
Good fit: dull, uneven tone in normal-to-dry skin that tolerates botanical oils; anyone who wants a light, glossy-finish vitamin C they will actually use daily and who values the capsule format as a freshness mechanism rather than a gimmick.
Poor fit: fragrance-sensitive or reactive skin (six aromatic oils plus a perfuming base water), fungal-acne-prone skin (flagged), and anyone shopping specifically for an oil-free or silicone-free vitamin C - this is neither.
The honest read: the strongest evidence for this product is its rating profile (4.6 from 1,322 ratings, 81% five-star) and the texture consensus (97% positive on skin feel, 100% on lightweight). The weakest link in the chain is efficacy at 68% positive - one buyer in three who mentions effectiveness does not come away convinced - and the formula does not hedge: six vitamin C species and a genuine liposome shell, but also a fragrance load and a lipid content that undercut the gentle positioning.
How this was collected
| Element | Detail | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Catalogue page | Amazon US product detail page read on 31 October 2026 with a US delivery address, native USD pricing, no currency conversion | High |
| Price | Buy box read in a US context; no list price is rendered on this offer | High |
| Rating and distribution | Platform rating widget and five-bucket histogram, summing to 100% | High |
| Individual reviews | None rendered at capture time; no review text is quoted anywhere in this report | Disclosed absence |
| Ingredient list | Complete 54-row INCI list from a formula database; a second grading database returned a bot challenge and is not represented | High for the list, single-source for grading |
| Price history | Independent tracker summary; all-time values only, no observation-level series | High for values, medium for the average |
| Product images | Six listing images, each opened and captioned from its own frame | High |
Limits of this report
- Everything is a point-in-time snapshot. Price, rank, rating count and buy-box ownership all move.
- The 1,322 figure counts star ratings, not written reviews.
- No customer review text and no buyer photograph was available, so the qualitative voice in section 02 is the platform's aggregate, not quotations.
- Ingredient grading comes from one database. The second was unreachable, so acne-risk and irritancy are single-source.
- Price history is all-time only and covers third-party sellers only; a period-specific low or high cannot be derived from it.
- Nothing here is a dermatological or regulatory conclusion. The claim badges and risk grades are consumer-database classifications.
Compiled 31 October 2026. Prices in USD. Reviewer identities withheld; no reviewer name, handle or profile appears in this report.