Review: Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula

If this brand is almost unknown on the European and American continents, it’s not the case in Asia where the famous Madeca Cream has had a cult following for years!

I had vaguely spotted it during my travels in Korea a few years ago, but I didn’t really consider it more than that.

And I was wrong! The Madeca Cream is definitely worth checking out. And as usual, it’s when I heard Odile Monod talking about it in a livestream video on YouTube a few months ago that I thought I really needed to buy it ASAP!

So I started looking into it and found out that not only did this Madeca Cream look like an interesting product, but it also had a special story! You know me, it’s typically something irresistible to me. I love telling beauty product stories 😂😂😂

It didn’t take me long to track it down, order it, and introduce it into my skincare routine. And now, icing on the cake, my skin loves it!

Anyway, I’ll stop keeping you waiting, I’ll tell you all about this famous Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula!

Ingredients Focus on: Centella Asiatica (and the “cica” trend) A huge trend in Korea, Centella Asiatica-based “cica” products are absolutely everywhere at the moment. Today, let’s focus on this ingredient adored by sensitive skins! Read more

Centellian24, Dongkook Pharmaceutical and the Madecassol ointment:

The company behind the Centellian24 brand is a pharmaceutical company, Dongkook Pharmaceutical.

This lab is very well known in Korea because they sell a medical healing ointment that almost every household has had, or still has, in their bathroom. It’s a bit like the ultimate cust & scratches healing ointment that you should always have at home when you have children, in short!

This famous medical product is called Madecassol, and it contains a large quantity of Centella Asiatica, this super soothing and regenerating plant that I’ve often talked about in my posts (you can see my Focus article on Centella Asiatica here). Since its release in 1970 in Korea, Madecassol has been appreciated by the general public as a healing balm, for more than 45 years!

Originally, Dongkook Pharmaceutical imported the first version of the ointment from Laroche Navarron, a French pharmaceutical company, which they introduced and popularized in Korea.

Then later, the Dongkook company started to extract the raw materials of Centella Asiatica by themselves and manufacture the product using their own technology. In 1985, the company launched a new product line, Madecassol Complex Ointment, with a new green packaging containing an image of the Centella Asiatica plant and highlighting the fact that it’s made from plant extracts (as you can see, natural bias/ greenwashing has been around for a long time 😉 ).

Worth noting, in addition to Centella Asiatica extracts, Madecassol also contains an antibiotic (neomycin) and an anti-inflammatory hydrocortisone. In this medical ointment, the Centella Asiatica extract helps to restore collagen synthesis during the healing process, thus accelerating skin regeneration and preventing scar tissue formation.

Fun fact:
I was putting together this review last week and thought it would be fun to show you a tube of Madecassol to illustrate the brand’s history! So I ordered a tube on Amazon. I figured that if I had to, it wouldn’t go to waste, I could always use it on myself if needed. I thought it was probably the equivalent of the Homeoplasmine balm, a famous French healing ointment very mild (I hadn’t started my deep research for this article yet)! And then, while talking with Odile Monod about it, she told me that their other product, Madeccasol ointment (not reviewed here) contained cortisone, which I had not understood at all! So, I prefer to insist on it in case you are tempted by this other product too. The more you know 😉

Building on their popular success with Madeccasol ointment that has been going strong for decades, Dongkook Pharmaceutical decided in 2015 to enter the cosmetics market in 2015 and started the Centellian24 brand!

Dongkook pharmaceutical knows all about Centella Asiatica already. So Centellian24 products benefit from the same technology used for Madeccasol to extract Centella Asiatica, and they are also very concentrated in TECA! (but not in cortisone lol, it’s definitely a cosmetic brand this time 😜).

What is TECA, and why is it interesting when it comes to Centella Asiatica?

In very short, a plant extract is the addition of the dry plant extract, and its diluent (which is usually water). This means that it can be composed of 90% water and 10% dry extract/active ingredient, for example. In practical terms, when you read on the package that a cosmetic product contains 80% Centella Asiatica extract, you can’t really know how that extract was processed and how much active ingredient you’re actually getting (and how much water/diluent there is).

Whereas TECA (short for Titrated Extract of Centella Asiatica) indicates how much of the active ingredients (Asian acid, madecassic acid, asiaticoside and madecassoside) extracted from Centella Asiatica there is in your product.

Not only does Centellian24 indicate the TECA of their products, but as I said above, they also have the highest TECA level on the market!

Source of all this information: Odile Monod

Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula, product presentation:

The Madeca Cream is clearly the Centellian24 brand’s best-seller! In fact, they launched with this product in 2015.

A brand’s characteristic: the Madeca Cream is reformulated every year to be the most effective and to benefit from the latest cosmetic innovations. But the old versions are still popular, so they’re not discontinued, and they are still part of the brand Centellian24’s catalog. To differentiate them, the brand talks about “seasons” (like for a TV show!). Sounds familiar? Yes, it’s the same principle as the AHC eye cream!

The one I’m reviewing today is season 4, the Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula. This is not the latest version, but the second to last. The Centellian24 brand has just released the Season 6 (which I just received but haven’t had time to try yet).

If you want info on Season 6, Odile Monod talked about it in one of her latest posts 😉

When I was looking into it a few months ago, Season 4/ Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula was the easiest to find (it still is at the moment) and I liked the formula on paper!

The Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula is indeed an incredible soothing and anti-aging multi-tasking moisturizer, which is based on the very soothing and also regenerating power of Centella Asiatica (the TECA is concentrated here at 10,000 ppm).

In cosmetics, Centella Asiatica and its constituents (madecassoside, asiaticoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid) have healing, antibacterial, regenerating and antioxidant properties. Moreover, they also have the capacity to increase the synthesis of collagen and to strengthen the skin barrier.

Centella Asiatica is an effective repairing and anti-aging ingredient to prevent and reduce the signs of aging.

But Centellian24 doesn’t cut corners and the formula of this cream is not just based on Centella Asiatica!

It also contains:
– anti-aging, antioxidant, brightening niacinamide… It’s really the ingredient that does it all!
– lots of anti-oxidant ingredients: Centella Asiatica extract, olive oil, apricot kernel oil, green tea, rosemary, chamomile, purslane, vitamin E…
– other anti-aging ingredients: adenosine, as well as several peptides (Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7),
– licorice for radiance,
– several moisturizing ingredients: collagen, elastin, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, Aloe Vera,
– nourishing ingredients: ceramides, cholesterol, beeswax…
– and especially tons of soothing ingredients: Centella Asiatica extract, asiaticoside, madecassic acid, panthenol, but also fermented ingredients, jasmine oil, borage oil, evening primrose oil, birch extract, prickly pear extract, Chinese skullcap…

In short, as you can see, there are plenty of cool ingredients (and I didn’t mention everything!) 😉

The innovation behind this formula also relies on the fact that the active ingredients (especially those derived from Centella Asiatica) are encapsulated for a better protection of these active ingredients and a better absorption into the skin! This “Skin Analogue Capsule” technology is the same as the one used by the pharmaceutical laboratory Dongkook for its drugs.

There are also essential oils in the formula. I point it out for those who are sensitive to them (and no, not everyone is; the majority of skins can handle them without issue when they’re dosed correctly, as is the case here 😉 ).

Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula, my experience:

I’ve mentioned it several times, my skin has changed quite a bit in the last few years. From dehydrated combination, it has become very dehydrated (even dry in some areas), and quite sensitized.

It’s almost winter here, it’s a bit colder and I wanted a richer night moisturizer (yes, you can laugh, the notion of “cold” in Dubai is very personal!)

So at the beginning of November, I added the Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula to my evening routine as a night moisturizer. Usually, that’s when I use my soothing products; in the morning, I prefer to stick to hydration and prevention with my antioxidant ingredients, and I prefer lighter textures since I wear makeup.

Let me tell you, this cream has a RICH texture. If you’re a fan of lightweight textures that absorb right away, this is definitely not the product for you! But my skin loves it, and even if it leaves my skin quite shiny when I go to bed, the next morning, my skin doesn’t feel more greasy than normal, it absorbs very well.

Regarding the results, I can’t really tell you anything about the anti-aging effect, you already know that. It’s something to consider in the long run, and for me, anti-aging creams are mostly there for prevention (and that’s all I ask, to be honest!) 😉

However, I can tell you about the soothing results I get with this cream. Because they are impressive! This summer, I needed to use a sleeping mask in addition to my night moisturizer to keep my skin comfortable and soothed.

With this Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula, no need! My skin is super comfortable and soothed when I wake up in the morning. No more redness, almost no more small irritation breakouts. It actually helps me a lot to better handle tretinoin as well!

The icing on the cake is that this cream is quite affordable. Of course, you have to order it from Asia but you can find it on many Korean e-shops and even on Amazon!

Anyway, for me, it’s definitely a gem and I’m glad that Odile put it on my radar 😀

In conclusion:

If you’re a fan of La Roche Posay’s Cicaplast B5 balm and use it as a night moisturizer, you will not be worse off with the Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula, actually, quite the opposite 😀

I’m being a bit provocative, because I know very well, that the B5 La Roche Posay product is not a proper equivalent of the Madeca Cream, it’s a much simpler healing product, and is mostly recommended for very irritated skin. The Cicaplast B5 balm is not really an anti-aging cream, I know, even if I was surprised to see how many people use it as a night moisturizer…

It’s a very popular product, but that’s also the case with this Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula in Korea, and quite honestly, especially if you want to use it as a night cream, you’ll admit that the latter’s formula is definitely more unique 😉

Anyway, I’m a fan of this season 4 from Centellian24, and I can’t wait to test the latest version (season 6). I have a feeling that these Madeca Creams are going to become a staple in my winter routine 🙂

The Centellian24 Madeca Cream Power Boosting Formula (season 4) retails between $15 and $20 for 50ml, depending on the retailers.