The science · 01 Pore

21% is a mass, not an adjective.

A technical record of this ampoule: what is in the vial, how each figure is stated, and what has not been measured.

Specifications · formulations · provenance

Units and conventions

Concentration: Stated in ppm and as percent by weight. 10,000 ppm = 1%.
Length: Needle diameter in micrometers (µm). Depth in millimeters (mm). 1 mm = 1,000 µm.
What a concentration is: The amount present in the sealed vial. It is not a statement about how much crosses the barrier.
Mass figures: Where a mass in grams is given it assumes a density of about 1 g/mL. The manufacturer has not published a density, so every mass here is an estimate from volume.

What is in the vial

Niacinamide: 210,000 ppm = 21% by weight
Adenosine: 400 ppm = 0.04% by weight
rh-Oligopeptide-1: 100 ppb = 0.1 ppm = 0.00001% by weight
Sodium DNA: 100 ppb = 0.1 ppm = 0.00001% by weight
Fragrance: 100 ppm total. Linalool at 34 ppm and fragrance at 66 ppm. The only added scent across the three ampoules
Format: 50 mL crimp-sealed medical glass, aluminum crimp, rubber septum, flip-off cap
Origin: Developed and made in South Korea

What 21% weighs

A percentage is abstract. The mass it corresponds to in a 50 mL vial is not.

A percentage is a ratio and a ratio has no weight, so the plate converts the two published figures into the amounts actually sealed in the glass. 210,000 ppm is 0.21 of the contents by mass, which on a 50 g fill is 10.5 g of niacinamide. 400 ppm is 0.0004, which is 20 mg of adenosine. That is why one is drawn as a band and the other as a rule: 0.04% of a 168 px column is 0.07 px, and the gap left between the two filled bands is the adenosine layer at its true scale. Every gram figure rests on one assumption, printed on the plate rather than left down here, that the formula weighs about 1 g/mL. That is the standard figure for a water-based ampoule and it is not a measurement. No density has been published for this formula, so if the true value is higher or lower, all three masses move with it and only the percentages hold. The bands are fractions of mass and not layers, because the vial holds one clear solution rather than a stack. rh-Oligopeptide-1 and sodium DNA sit somewhere inside the 39.48 g remainder; their concentrations are not published, so they are named here and drawn at no size at all rather than guessed at. And the whole plate describes what is inside sealed glass. It says nothing about how much of any of it reaches skin, and nothing here converts one into the other.

Molecule size against the barrier

Every active in the range plotted against a rough size gate from the permeation literature.

Reference figure, citation outstanding. The 500 dalton mark is a rule of thumb from the skin permeation literature, not a re:tones measurement and not a hard physical law. Treat it as a rough size gate rather than a verdict: under 500 Da does not mean a molecule gets through intact skin, and over 500 Da does not mean it never does. What the plot does show is that these six actives are not one population. Four sit under the heuristic and two sit several times above it, and that split is the argument for opening a channel rather than assuming the barrier will let everything through. Values are published molecular weights on a linear axis. Copper tripeptide-1 is plotted as the copper complex, 402.9 Da; the GHK peptide on its own is 340.4 Da.

Formulated for an open channel

An ampoule meant to meet skin that has just been opened is a different brief from a serum meant to sit on an intact barrier. It arrives sterile and single integrity, and it is dispensed at the moment of contact rather than applied afterwards.

You cannot open skin and then open a pump.

The manufacturer's dataset

The laboratory in South Korea that makes this ampoule keeps an engineering dossier on it. The owner of this shop asked for the whole thing to be published rather than a selected line or two. It is below, in full, at the numbers the laboratory states.

Read one thing first. Every figure here was taken in a named test system. A bench rig, a dish of cells, an enzyme in a tube, or a panel of people under a camera. None of them was taken on you.

So each figure is printed with its method beside it, never underneath in small type. A laboratory number with no method attached reads like a forecast about your own face, and it is not one. With the method attached it goes back to being what it is, which is a true record of something somebody measured.

The method is not the fine print. The method is the claim.

The plain-language methods note is next, and every table on this page links back to it.

How to read these figures

Manufacturer-stated: The figure comes from the laboratory that makes this ampoule. It is published as given, with the test it came from. re:tones has not repeated it.
In vitro: In glassware. Cells, enzymes or tissue in a dish, outside a body. It shows what a molecule does to a target. It does not show what a product does to a face.
Ex vivo: On living tissue taken out of the body and kept alive for the test. Closer to skin than a dish. Still not a person.
Dermal explant: A small piece of real skin, kept alive in the lab. n=12 dermal explants means twelve such pieces were tested.
Franz cell diffusion assay: A bench rig. Skin or a membrane is clamped between two chambers. The formula goes on top and the fluid underneath is sampled over time, to see how much crossed and how fast. It is the standard way to compare delivery. The skin in the rig is not attached to anybody.
Enzymatic assay: An enzyme in a tube, the compound added, and a measurement of how much the enzyme slows down. Tyrosinase figures come from this kind of test.
Split-face study: One side of each face gets the product and the other side does not. Each person is their own control.
3D Visia imaging: A camera system that maps the surface of a face and counts and measures pores from the image. It measures the picture.
n: How many were tested. n=47 is forty-seven people. n=12 dermal explants is twelve pieces of skin. A figure with no n is a figure you cannot weigh.
ppm and ppb: Parts per million and parts per billion. 10,000 ppm is 1%. 1,000 ppb is 1 ppm.
Zero-order release: Release at a flat rate, the same amount every hour, instead of most of it in the first few minutes.
Kd, the dissociation constant: How tightly a molecule holds its receptor. Smaller is tighter. 0.23 nM is tight.
Test system not stated: The dossier gives the figure but does not say what it was measured in. Those rows are marked, because an unnamed method is worth less than a named one.
What none of this is: None of these figures was measured on somebody using this product at home. None of them is a statement about your skin, and none of them tells you what to expect.

Manufacturer laboratory data, 01 Pore

From the 2026 engineering dossier held by the laboratory in South Korea that makes this ampoule. Manufacturer-stated throughout.

What was measuredResult as statedTest system, sample and date

Niacinamide concentration21% by weight, 210,000 ppmComposition sheet for the filled vial. A concentration, not a test result

Why 21% is unusualFormulas stop near 5%. Above that, niacinamide can trigger vasodilation, the niacinamide flushManufacturer statement of formulation practice

Encapsulation efficiency94.7% of the niacinamide held inside the nano-vectorIn-process measurement, 2026 dossier

Release rateZero-order release over 8.2 hours, in place of a first-order burstRelease-kinetics testing, 2026 dossier. Test method not named

Sebum Excretion RateReduced 78.2%Split-face study, n=47, at 14 days. 2025

Pore volumeReduced 34.7%Same split-face study, n=47, at 14 days, measured by 3D Visia imaging. 2025

Sustained release is the reason the laboratory gives for exceeding the usual ceiling. What the ceiling is there for is comfort, so read the patch-test line on the product page as well. How to read these figures.

Sodium DNA and rh-Oligopeptide-1, both at 100 ppb

Two ingredients present at a hundred parts per billion, and the mechanisms the laboratory attributes to them.

What was measuredResult as statedTest system, sample and date

Sodium DNA concentration100 ppb. Sourced from Nordic salmon roe and enzymatically cleaved to fragments of 10 to 50 base pairsComposition sheet and process description, 2026 dossier

What the fragments are forThey act as a nucleotide salvage pool, a supply of ready-made building blocks for cells whose own supply has run downManufacturer-stated mechanism of action

Epidermal turnover28 days to 26.1 days. An acceleration of 18.3 hours2026 dossier. Test system not stated

rh-Oligopeptide-1 concentration100 ppbComposition sheet, 2026 dossier

How tightly it bindsBinds the EGF receptor with a dissociation constant, Kd, of 0.23 nMReceptor binding measurement, in vitro. 2026 dossier

What follows the bindingThe receptor pairs up and phosphorylates itself, the MAPK and ERK pathway switches on, and the genes for involucrin, loricrin and filaggrin are read moreManufacturer-stated signalling cascade, in vitro

What the laboratory says that leads toRegeneration of the epithelium of the pilosebaceous unit, the structure each pore sits inManufacturer-stated interpretation. No test system given, and no figure attached

A hundred parts per billion is a trace. It is printed because it is in the vial. How to read these figures.

The delivery platform, measured on a bench

All three ampoules ride the same seven-stage nano-vector platform. It is the payload half of the system, engineered for a channel the device has already opened. Manufacturer-stated, 2026 dossier.

What was measuredResult as statedTest system

Payload reaching the dermal-epidermal junction94.7% (±2.1%)Franz cell diffusion assay, fluorescence-tagged actives. In vitro

Time to arrival4.7 minutes (±0.3 minutes)Same Franz cell assay. In vitro

Left on the surfaceUnder 5.3% retained in the stratum corneumSame Franz cell assay. In vitro

Mean particle diameter147.3 nm (±2.1 nm)Dynamic light scattering, 173° backscatter. In-process specification

Polydispersity indexUnder 0.08Dynamic light scattering. Batch acceptance criterion. A batch above 0.08 is rejected

Zeta potential-35.2 mV (±2.8 mV)Electrophoretic measurement. Batch acceptance criterion

Diffusion coefficient4.2 × 10⁻¹¹ m²/s, against 1.1 × 10⁻¹¹ m²/s for a conventional carrier2026 dossier. Test system not stated

Stages in the platformSeven, from water purification through to stability validationManufacturer process description

Stability24 months at room temperature, with no drift in particle size or pHAccelerated aging, 6 months at 40°C and 75% relative humidity

A Franz cell is a bench rig, not a face, and 94.7% is what crossed a membrane in that rig. The device is what opens the channel this platform was engineered for. Neither half is sold as the whole system. How to read these figures.

Evidence grades

Substantiated: Traceable to a manufacturing specification, a supplier ingredient statement, or the physical product.
Manufacturer-stated: A measurement supplied by the laboratory that makes the ampoule, published with the test system it came from. re:tones has not repeated it and does not present it as a result on a customer.
Test system not stated: The dossier gives the figure without saying what it was measured in. Printed as given, and marked.
Reference figure: A published literature value used for scale, not a re:tones measurement.
Not published: The manufacturer has not supplied it. Listed rather than estimated.
Not claimed: re:tones has run no consumer panel and no clinical study of its own. Where a percentage appears on this site it belongs to a manufacturer measurement in a named test system. It is not a re:tones result and not a statement about any individual.

Claims ledger, this ampoule

Every figure this page uses and what it rests on.

Claim What it rests on Status

Niacinamide 210,000 ppm Manufacturer ingredient statement Substantiated

Adenosine 400 ppm Manufacturer ingredient statement Substantiated

Mass in grams per vial Derived from volume assuming about 1 g/mL Estimate, density not published

rh-Oligopeptide-1 and sodium DNA at 100 ppb Manufacturer composition sheet, 2026 dossier Substantiated

Sebum Excretion Rate down 78.2% and pore volume down 34.7% Manufacturer split-face study, n=47, 14 days, 3D Visia imaging, 2025 Manufacturer-stated

Encapsulation 94.7% and zero-order release over 8.2 hours Manufacturer release-kinetics testing, 2026 dossier Manufacturer-stated, test method not named

Epidermal turnover 28 days to 26.1 days Manufacturer 2026 dossier Manufacturer-stated, test system not stated

Kd 0.23 nM at the EGF receptor Manufacturer receptor binding measurement, in vitro Manufacturer-stated

94.7% to the dermal-epidermal junction in 4.7 minutes Manufacturer Franz cell diffusion assay, in vitro Manufacturer-stated, measured on a bench rig

Regeneration of the pilosebaceous epithelium Manufacturer interpretation with no test system and no figure Manufacturer-stated, weakest item on this page

Any effect on your pores, sebum or texture re:tones has run no consumer panel and no clinical study Not claimed

Every figure on this page names its own basis.

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