Most clay masks pick a single clay and let it dry the skin into a shell; this one layers five — kaolin first for gentleness, then the more absorbent smectites — and pads them with glycerin, honeysuckle, the full four-compound centella complex and five hyaluronic acid forms so the drying phase never turns punishing. It also adds green-tea leaf powder for a soft physical polish and the Calming line's willow-bark-and-PHA duo at rinse-off levels, which is more formulation thinking than the category usually gets.
A five-clay mask engineered not to punish: kaolin leads, glycerin sits third, and the full centella complex plus five hyaluronic acids keep the drying phase civil. It mattifies and de-congests oily and combination skin without the cracked-shell tightness of a bentonite mask, but its pore-clearing power is honest-mild — a weekly reset, not a blackhead remover.
About four hundred Amazon ratings over four years, plus a fully disclosed INCI, are enough to speak with some confidence about texture, tolerance and the no-crack dry-down; the pore-clearing assessment rests on the clay literature and the formula's structure rather than on any measurement of this mask's effect on sebum or comedones. Tolerance on rosacea or eczema-prone skin is the least documented part and is inferred from the botanical list.
The case for it
Cautions: fungal-acne triggers.
What would change this: A declared concentration would move this to a firmer reading of the dose.
Same rule for everyone. “Promising” is the verdict on 7,858 of 45,024 concern verdicts across the catalog; rule R9p decided 7,858 of them. As of September 25, 2026, engine 5.1.1.
Brand or formulator? Disclose a concentration or correct a fact →
The studies behind the evidence row
Also listed for Large Pores, Blackheads, Acne and Rough Texture — the actives here (Kaolin Clay, Green Tea Extract, Gluconolactone, Mugwort (Artemisia) are in our research queue for those concerns; there is no verdict until their evidence rows are written. That is a gap in our table, not a mark against the product.
As a maskNot judged: what a mask is for — works within its wear time, benefit outlasts the mask, comes off cleanly — cannot yet be measured from the ingredient list (only intensity without injury can).
A verdict is DermApproved’s assessment of how well a product’s ingredients fit a concern — never a claim about what the product treats. Evidence dots and collected reviews sit beside it and are never blended in. Rules 0.5.1 · evidence table ev-2026.09-r228 · how we decide
There is a moment in every clay mask that people have been taught to wait for: the crack. The mask dries, tightens, turns pale, and finally fissures across the cheek, and that, we are told, is when it has 'worked'. It has not. By the time a clay mask cracks it has stopped pulling oil from the pores and started pulling water from the skin, which is why so many people rinse one off, feel squeaky-tight for an hour, and call it clarifying. Pyunkang Yul's Calming Pore Clear Wash Off Pack is built, quite deliberately, never to reach the crack — and that single design choice explains almost everything about how it behaves.
The ingredient list opens with water and then five clays in a row: kaolin, montmorillonite, bentonite, hectorite and illite. Kaolin, the gentlest and least absorbent, is placed first; the stronger smectites follow. That ordering matters, because it puts the bulk of the clay content into the mild end of the spectrum and uses the absorbent clays as a supporting dose. Third in the list, ahead of most of the clay, is glycerin, and further down come honeysuckle, whole centella extract, its four purified triterpenes named individually, and five forms of hyaluronic acid. This is a clay mask with a humectant and a calming system built into its bones, and the effect is that it sets to a matte, flexible film that tightens a little and never fissures.
The rest of the formula is the Calming line's usual cast. Green-tea leaf powder, ground and visible as dark flecks through the pale clay, gives the mask its speckled look, a faint tea smell and a light polish when it is massaged off. Tea tree leaf extract, willow bark and gluconolactone — the trio from the Calming toner pad — appear at rinse-off levels, enough to soften surface dead cells during the ten-minute wear but nowhere near enough to sting. The brand's headline duo, mugwort and a fermented bean extract at 11,000 ppm, nods to Korean-medicine tradition: mugwort for calming, mung bean as the old cleansing grain. Neem leaf and flower extracts and nardostachys root round out a botanical list that is longer than the brand's reputation would suggest, and no fragrance or alcohol appears anywhere.
Using it is pleasant in a way clay masks rarely are. The cream is dense but scoops and spreads thin from the jar, cool on the skin, and sets in about ten minutes to a soft matte. There is no tingle. Rinsing takes a little effort — the tea flecks and clays want a splash and a gentle rub, or a soft cloth — and afterwards the skin is smooth, shine-free and only mildly tight, a feeling that disappears the moment a toner goes on. Pores in the T-zone look cleaner and smaller for a day or so. Small bumps along the jaw feel flatter after a couple of weeks of twice-weekly use.
What it does not do is the thing its name promises most loudly. 'Pore clear' oversells the case. The clays absorb surface oil and lift loose debris, and that genuinely makes pores look cleaner, but an established blackhead — an oxidised plug that has been sitting in a pore for weeks — does not come out with ten minutes of kaolin and a trace of gluconolactone. Anyone expecting a nose-strip result will be underwhelmed. The honest job description is a weekly oil and texture reset for skin that produces too much sebum, and at that job it is very good.
The sensitivity picture is mostly reassuring with one footnote. The mask is fragrance-free, alcohol-free, low in acid and heavy on calming agents, and the four-hundred-odd Amazon reviewers who describe it as gentle enough for reactive acne-prone skin are, on the evidence of the formula, right. The footnote is the botanical tail: artemisia, neem, willow bark and tea tree all have sensitisation reports, and while they sit low in a rinse-off product, rosacea or eczema-prone skin should patch test before committing a full face. Dry skin, meanwhile, will find even this well-cushioned clay more than it needs; the mask is for oil, and skin without oil to spare has no reason to use it.
At twenty dollars for 100 ml, the value is fair. Clay is cheap; what you are paying for is the formulation — the clay ordering, the humectant cushion, the centella complex — and a wide jar that makes it easy to scoop. Used twice a week on the T-zone it lasts months; used on the whole face it goes faster than 100 grams suggests, and the open-jar format means keeping the lid tight and fingers clean. For a brand that has spent a decade earning trust through restraint rather than viral moments, the price reads as honest, and a good deal cheaper than the spa-branded clay masks it outperforms on gentleness.
Buy it if your skin is oily or combination, your pores look congested by Wednesday and every clay mask you have tried has left you tight and flaking. It will mattify, smooth and calm, and it will never crack. Skip it if you want a blackhead extraction in a jar, if your skin is dry, or if a long list of Korean herbs is exactly what your reactive cheeks react to. Everyone in between will find this one of the more thoughtfully built clay masks in its price bracket — and will finally have permission to rinse before the crack.
The hero actives that drive this product's performance.
| Ingredient | Function | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Kaolin + Montmorillonite + Bentonite + Hectorite + Illite | Five clays stacked from second to ninth in the list, with kaolin — the mildest, least drying of them — placed first and the more strongly absorbent smectites (montmorillonite, bentonite, hectorite) behind it. The blend is what lets this mask pull oil and loosen debris from pores while glycerin, third in the list, stops it from setting into the tight, cracking shell a pure bentonite mask forms. | Not yet assessed |
| Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Powder | Whole ground tea leaf rather than an extract, visible as dark flecks through the pale clay. It adds a very gentle physical polish when the mask is massaged off and a polyphenol antioxidant note; it is also what gives the pack its speckled look and its faint tea-leaf smell. | Limited for Excess Oiliness |
| Artemisia Capillaris (Mugwort) Extract + Bean Ferment (11,000 ppm) (1.1%) | The brand's declared duo: mugwort, a Korean-medicine staple for calming inflamed skin, and a lactobacillus-fermented bean extract that stands in for the traditional mung-bean cleansing grain. Together at 1.1% they supply the soothing and mild clarifying story that separates this from a plain clay mask, though they sit behind the clays in the work they do. | Not yet assessed |
| Gluconolactone + Willow Bark + Tea Tree Leaf Extract | The Calming line's signature exfoliating-and-clarifying trio, dosed low in a rinse-off mask so the ten-minute contact time softens surface dead cells and helps loosen sebum without the sting a leave-on acid mask would bring. They are why the pack can call itself 'pore clear' rather than simply absorbent. | Not yet assessed |
| Centella Asiatica Extract + Madecassoside, Madecassic Acid, Asiaticoside, Asiatic Acid | The complete four-compound centella complex plus whole extract, together with honeysuckle and five hyaluronic acid forms, is the counterweight to five clays: it keeps the skin calm and hydrated through the drying phase so the mask rinses off leaving skin soft rather than parched. It is the reason the formula is pitched at sensitive, blemish-prone skin. | Not yet assessed |
Purified Water, Kaolin, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Montmorillonite, 1,2-Hexanediol, Bentonite, Hectorite, Illite, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Powder, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Extract, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Sorbitan Isostearate, Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract, Gluconolactone, Lactobacillus/Bean Seed Extract/Sodium Glutamate Ferment Filtrate, Polyglyceryl-10 Myristate, Hydroxyacetophenone, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Artemisia Capillaris Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Nardostachys Jatamansi Rhizome/Root Extract, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Madecassoside, Madecassic Acid, Asiaticoside, Asiatic Acid
treatment
PM
Use it once or twice a week on a cleansed, dry face, before toner and serum, and go straight into a hydrating routine after rinsing. Do not stack it on the same night as a leave-on acid or a retinoid, and skip it during a flare or the week after any in-office peel. Combination skin can apply it to the T-zone only.
Immediate: a matte, tightened finish and visibly less shine as soon as it is rinsed, with pores looking cleaner for a day. Short-term (1-2 weeks): twice-weekly use keeps the T-zone less congested and rough patches smoother. Full benefits (4-8 weeks): steady use reduces the frequency of clogged pores and small bumps, but it does not resolve deep blackheads or inflamed acne on its own.
The working part of this mask is its clay stack, and the clays are not interchangeable. Kaolin (kaolinite) is a non-swelling layered silicate with a low cation-exchange capacity — it absorbs oil and debris gently and does not draw much water from the skin. Montmorillonite, bentonite and hectorite are smectites: swelling clays with a high cation-exchange capacity that take up far more oil and water and are responsible for the strong tightening of a classic clay mask. Illite sits between the two. A 2024 review in the journal Cosmetics, surveying clay minerals in cosmetics and dermocosmetics, notes that kaolin is the most widely used clay in cosmetic formulations with bentonite second, that smectites are chosen where absorbent capacity is the goal, and that such mixtures are applied against seborrhoea, blackheads and acne precisely for their adsorption of sebum and impurities (Cosmetics, 2024). Placing kaolin ahead of the smectites, as this formula does, is a way of tuning that absorbent capacity down toward tolerability.
The second design decision is the humectant cushion. Glycerin at third in the list, backed by low- and high-molecular-weight hyaluronates, keeps the drying film plasticised and slows the point at which the clay switches from absorbing sebum to absorbing skin water — the transition that produces the cracked, tight finish. This is the mechanism behind the formula's most consistent user report, that it does not dry down tight.
The acid and botanical layer is supporting cast. Gluconolactone is a polyhydroxy acid with a well-documented low-irritation profile, and at rinse-off levels over ten minutes its contribution is surface softening, not exfoliation in any measurable sense; willow bark supplies salicin with mild anti-inflammatory activity, and tea tree leaf extract a trace antimicrobial note. The centella triterpenes — madecassoside, asiaticoside and their acids — have in-vitro and small clinical evidence for reducing inflammatory mediators and supporting barrier recovery, which is the rationale for including them in a mask that stresses the barrier slightly by design. Artemisia capillaris (a mugwort species) has traditional use and some laboratory anti-inflammatory data, and neem extracts have antimicrobial activity in vitro; both, along with willow and tea tree, also carry contact-sensitisation reports, which is the evidence-based reason for a patch test on reactive skin despite the brand's completed irritation test.
The clinical view of clay masks is that they are a reasonable adjunct for oily and mildly comedonal skin — short-contact sebum absorption with no systemic effect — and that the main harm they do is over-drying, which in acne patients can rebound into more oil production and, in retinoid users, into frank irritation. A kaolin-led blend with glycerin and hyaluronic acid built in addresses that concern better than most, and practitioners would generally have no objection to twice-weekly use in a patient on an evidence-based acne regimen, provided it is kept off retinoid nights. It is not a treatment for comedones; guideline-supported options for blackheads are topical retinoids and salicylic acid, and a mask should be positioned alongside those, not instead of them. For rosacea, atopic dermatitis or a recently disrupted barrier, the general advice is to avoid clay masks altogether, and this formula's botanical extracts — artemisia and neem in particular — give a second reason for caution in that group. Patch testing behind the ear or on the jawline before a first full application is the sensible precaution.
On a cleansed, dry face — no more than twice a week — scoop out a grape-sized amount with a clean spatula or dry fingers and spread a thin, even layer over the whole face or just the T-zone, keeping clear of the eyes and lips. Leave it for ten to fifteen minutes — until it turns matte and feels lightly tightened, not until it cracks. Wet the face, massage gently in circles to loosen the clay and tea flecks, and rinse with lukewarm water; a soft cloth helps on sensitive cheeks. Follow immediately with a hydrating toner and moisturiser. Keep it off nights when you use a retinoid or a leave-on acid, and pause it during any flare.
Twenty dollars for a 100 g jar is twenty cents a gram, which sits in the middle of the Korean clay-mask market and well below Western spa-branded clay masks that charge two or three times as much for a single clay and a fragrance. There is only the one size. The money buys formulation rather than rare ingredients — the kaolin-first clay ordering, the glycerin and hyaluronic cushion, the full centella complex — and a sturdy jar with a wide lid. At twice-weekly T-zone use it lasts four months or more; full-face users will see it go in about ten weeks, which is the one place the value thins. From a brand with a decade of steady, well-reviewed formulas and no hype tax, the price is straightforward and fair.
Oily and combination skin that gets shiny and congested by midweek and has been left tight or flaky by ordinary clay masks. It is a good fit for acne-prone skin that reads as sensitive, and for anyone who wants a weekly oil reset that will not fight with a retinoid routine.
Dry skin has no reason to use a clay mask this absorbent, however well cushioned. Rosacea or eczema-prone skin should be cautious about the artemisia, neem and willow extracts, and anyone hoping to extract established blackheads will find the effect too mild for that job.
Ready to try Pyunkang Yul Calming Pore Clear Wash Off Pack?
Buy at Amazon ♥A soft, dense, pale beige-khaki cream flecked with dark specks of ground tea leaf, thicker than a lotion but still spreadable in a thin layer; it dries to a matte, slightly flexible film rather than a rigid crust
A faint, earthy tea-leaf and clay smell with no added fragrance, gone once the mask is rinsed
A squat, clear glass-look jar with a wide dark-green screw lid, showing the flecked beige clay inside; 100 g, no spatula included
The first application feels cool and creamy rather than gritty, and the mask sets in around ten minutes to a matte, lightly tightened finish that does not crack or pull. There is no sting from the acids; skin feels smooth and a little tight just after rinsing, which passes once a toner goes on. Nothing purges — clogged pores simply look cleaner for a day or two.
About two and a half months at twice-weekly full-face use, or four to five months if kept to the T-zone
All Year
Released in 2022 as the mask step of Pyunkang Yul's Calming range, this pack answered a gap the brand's minimalist catalogue had ignored: a clarifying treatment for oily, blemish-prone customers who found ordinary clay masks too harsh. The 11,000 ppm mugwort-and-bean declaration nods to Korean-medicine traditions — mugwort for calming, mung bean for cleansing — that the brand's hospital parent has drawn on for decades.
Pyunkang Yul launched in 2013 out of a Seoul Korean-medicine hospital and is best known for minimalist toners aimed at reactive skin; its Calming line, which this mask belongs to, arrived in 2021. The brand reports EWG-graded ingredient selection and a completed skin-irritation test, but publishes no clinical trials — its standing comes from a decade of consistent, independently reviewed formulas.
A clay mask should be left on until it is completely dry and cracking to work properly.
The absorption happens while the clay is damp; once it is fully dry it starts drawing water from the skin instead of oil from the pores. This mask is built to stay flexible with glycerin and hyaluronic acid, and the brand's ten-to-fifteen-minute window is the point to rinse, not the point to wait past.
The AHA and PHA in this mask make it a chemical exfoliant that will clear blackheads.
Gluconolactone and citric acid sit low in a rinse-off formula with a ten-minute contact time; they soften surface dead cells but cannot dissolve the oxidised plugs of a deep blackhead. The clays lift loose debris and oil, which makes pores look cleaner, but stubborn comedones need a leave-on salicylic acid or a retinoid.
Ten to fifteen minutes, per the brand, and no longer. The five clays absorb oil while the mask is still slightly damp; once it is bone dry it starts pulling water from the skin instead. The glycerin and hyaluronic acid keep the film flexible, so it will not crack — rinse when it turns matte rather than waiting for it to tighten.
Less than most clay masks. Kaolin leads the clay blend and glycerin is the third ingredient, with centella and five hyaluronic acid forms behind it, so the rinse-off leaves skin smooth rather than parched. Combination skin that still finds it a touch tight can apply it to the T-zone only and follow with a hydrating toner.
It is designed for once or twice a week. Daily clay masking, even with a formula this gentle, strips more sebum than oily skin benefits from and the willow bark and gluconolactone would add up. Twice a week on congested areas is the sweet spot, spaced away from retinoid or leave-on acid nights.
It makes pores look cleaner by absorbing surface oil and loosening debris, and regular use reduces new congestion, but it does not dissolve the oxidised plugs of established blackheads. For those, pair it with a leave-on salicylic acid product and treat the mask as the weekly reset.
Ground green-tea leaf powder, tenth in the ingredient list. They give the beige clay its speckled look, a faint tea smell and a very light physical polish when the mask is massaged off with water; if the flecks feel gritty on sensitive cheeks, rinse with a soft cloth rather than rubbing.
Yes by the usual standards: it is a rinse-off clay mask with no retinoids, no salicylic acid and no essential oils. The willow bark extract does contain a small amount of salicin, and the mugwort and neem extracts are botanicals some prefer to avoid in pregnancy, so anyone advised to skip salicylates or herbal extracts should choose a plainer clay mask.
Recurring themes our editors read across retailer reviews of this product — summaries in our words, not quotations, and not a substitute for your own patch test.
does not dry down tight or crack like a pure bentonite mask
skin feels smooth and shine-free after rinsing without tightness
gentle enough for sensitive, acne-prone skin used twice a week
creamy texture spreads thin and rinses off easily
pore-clearing effect is mild — deep blackheads stay put
100 g jar runs out faster than expected with full-face use
green tea flecks can feel gritty when massaging off