Medi-peel

Medi-Peel belongs to Skinidea, a Seoul-based company. In its own words, the brand grew out of fifteen years in professional aesthetics and one belief: professional-level skincare should be something everyone can have every day, not just on special occasions. It also runs its own research centre. Peel-off masks are where the brand started and, as it puts it, are still its speciality. Medi-Peel’s names — Wrapping Mask, Lacto, Mooltox, Peptide 9, Phyto PDRN, Naite — explain nothing on their own, so this page is built as a dictionary: what each word means and what to do with it.

Wrapping mask: Medi-Peel’s name for a peel-off mask

A wrapping mask isn’t a sheet mask but a mask you spread over your face: it dries to a clear film, and you peel the film off by hand. That’s where “wrapping” comes from: the film wraps the face and holds the ingredients against the skin. The two masks in the next section use the same instructions:

  • Do your full routine first, right through to the last step — toner, then cream. The mask goes on after your routine, not instead of it, so your skin doesn’t feel dry.
  • Amount: a dollop about the size of a large coin (the brand says a 500-won coin — roughly a 10-dinar coin). Spread it over the whole face, avoiding the eyes and lips.
  • Wait 20–30 minutes, until the layer has turned into a clear film and is no longer tacky to the touch. How long it takes depends on your skin type and your surroundings.
  • Don’t rinse: peel the film off by hand, starting from the edges; it comes off cleanly.
  • Nothing else is needed afterwards; if your skin feels dry, you can follow with more skincare.

How often: two or three times a week, the brand says, and it has no objection to more. Light exercise with the mask on is fine; a sweaty workout is not. Suitable for all skin types. Peel-off masks live in our face masks collection.

Red Lacto or Mooltox: which peel-off mask to choose

Medi-Peel makes a whole range of wrapping masks, and on its own site — on the Mooltox page — it rates two of them against each other with stars. Red Lacto Collagen Wrapping Mask is the collagen one. It contains hydrolysed collagen in very small fragments, 300 Da: the brand says “smaller than the pore itself”, and what that means is explained in our collagen guide. Next comes lactobacillus ferment, the Lacto in the name, which the brand credits with tightening pores. Then hyaluronic acid. To go with the mask, the brand recommends the toner, ampoule and cream from the same Red Lacto Collagen line. Hyaluronic Acid Layer Mooltox Wrapping Mask is the one for glow. First on its ingredient list is carbonated water, then niacinamide, then the Hyaluron tox™ line’s hyaluronic acid, which the brand describes as “round” — the kind that slips into any pore. On the skin the mask feels cool. Both are about pores, and the brand’s star ratings show the difference like this:

  • Lifting and nourishment: Red Lacto scores higher.
  • Hydration and dewy glow: Mooltox scores higher.

In short: for firmness and nourishment, Red Lacto; for moisture, a cooling feel and a dewy glow, Mooltox.

Phyto Exosome PDRN: a PDRN serum with plant-derived PDRN from lotus

PDRN is DNA fragments, which Korean skincare most often takes from salmon; what to expect from them is in our PDRN guide. Medi-Peel calls its PDRN plant-derived, from lotus, and presents it as an alternative to the salmon kind. The exosome here is apple-derived: on the ingredient list it appears as apple cell extract. The brand itself explains the “10,000 ppm” on the bottle: it is the combined amount of four ingredients — apple cells, lotus leaf, lotus flower and peptides — not of PDRN alone. The third thing to know about is spicules, tiny particles that give a tingling feeling (what they are is in our Reedle Shot article). Medi-Peel’s spicules, the brand says, are vegan and round-tipped, so they irritate the skin less than sharp, needle-shaped ones, and the brand considers the Phyto Exosome PDRN Lifting Shot Serum gentle enough for daily use. The formula also contains eleven peptides (what they do for the skin is in our peptides guide), niacinamide and adenosine. In Korea the serum is officially registered as a brightening and anti-wrinkle product; the brand aims it at both the first signs of ageing and those already showing. Apply after toner, from the centre of the face outwards. The line also has an ampoule, a cream, a toner, an eye cream, a mist and an overnight lip mask; PDRN products from other brands are in the PDRN collection.

More Medi-Peel names: Peptide 9, Cica-nol B5, Melanon X, Retinal NMN, Naite

  • Peptide 9 — nine peptides; a line for skin that, in the brand’s words, looks “sagging, deflated”. It runs from an ampoule and the Volume & Tension cream to a toner, an eye cream and a sun stick you can reapply over makeup. Peptide products from other brands are in the peptides collection.
  • Cica-nol B5 — a line for sensitive skin, built on the brand’s own Cicanol™ complex: it calms and leaves a moisturising film on the skin.
  • Melanon X — a dark-spot cream.
  • Retinal NMN — “beyond retinol”: retinal (how it differs from retinol is in our retinal guide) with NMN and NAD; the line is a booster and an eye cream.
  • Naite — Korean for “tree rings”: products mainly for the neck — a cream with collagen threads for deep lines and a stick with spicules.
  • Tox, Shot, Lifting Shot — simply names of creams, serums and lines (the brand also uses Shot for its spicule products, as in “Vegan Spicule Shot”); the brand doesn’t explain exactly what they mean, but they have nothing to do with injections — this is ordinary skincare.