Did Medicube's Zero Pore Pad 2.0 Improve on Yuka?

Yuka reads the Medicube Zero Pore Pad 2.0 at 60 out of 100, in the Good band. We took the reading in the app on 7 September 2026, where it is listed as a separate product from the original Zero Pore Pad rather than as an update to it. Ten ingredients are flagged. Thirty-seven come back risk-free.

The original pad reads 62. So the reformulation moved the score down by two points, which is not the direction a "2.0" is supposed to travel.

Ten Flags, All at the Same Severity

This is the longest flag list we hold for any Medicube product. Every entry on it is marked Low risk, which is the mildest category the app has.

• Alcohol denat. Fourth on the ingredient list, so present in quantity rather than as a trace.
• Salicylic acid, the BHA the pad is sold on.
• Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil.
• Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil.
• Eucalyptus globulus leaf oil.
• Lavandula angustifolia oil.
• Cinnamomum cassia bark extract.
• Limonene, declared by name at the very end of the list.
• Glycereth-26 and disodium EDTA. The humectant and the chelator, the same pair that turns up on three other Medicube products we have read.

Six of those ten are aromatic materials. That is where the score went.

Something we noticed and cannot explain: the published ingredient list carries nine aromatic materials, and Yuka flags six of them. Grapefruit peel oil, bergamot fruit oil and rosemary leaf oil sit on the same list and collect nothing. We do not know where the app draws that line, and we are not going to invent a reason.

On the counts, this reading holds up. The published INCI list runs to forty-six entries and omits water at the head, which every pre-soaked pad formula contains; adding it gives forty-seven. Yuka's ten flagged plus thirty-seven risk-free is forty-seven. All ten flagged ingredients appear on the published list.

Two Points Down, and What Changed

The 2.0 is a more aggressive product than the pad it replaces. Its list carries lactic acid, betaine salicylate and salicylic acid together, which is an AHA and two forms of BHA acting in the same wipe, alongside a denatured alcohol high in the order.

None of that pushed the score below 50, and it is worth being clear about why. Yuka works by cap: one moderate-risk ingredient would hold this product under 50, one high-risk ingredient under 25. Neither exists in this formula. Ten yellow flags cost points one at a time rather than slamming a ceiling down, which is how a pad with this much active in it still lands in the Good band.

Whether the reformulation is better for your skin is a separate question from whether it scores better, and the two answers may well disagree. A stronger exfoliant that scores two points lower is exactly what you would expect a stronger exfoliant to do.

What EU Law Restricts on This List

We ran all ten through our own CosIng lookup on 14 September 2026 rather than repeating the app's framing. CosIng is the European Commission's database of cosmetic substances and the machine-readable form of the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009.

One of the ten returned an annex entry.

Limonene, Annex III, entry 88. No maximum concentration is stated. The condition, in the Commission's own wording, is that "the presence of the substance shall be indicated in the list of ingredients" above 0.001% in a leave-on product or 0.01% in a rinse-off one, and that the peroxide value of the substance stays under 20 mmoles per litre. That is why limonene is printed on this box at all: the Regulation made the brand name it.

The other nine returned inventory records with no annex entry. Alcohol denat. is recorded with antimicrobial, astringent, solvent and fragrance functions, and no restriction our name-exact lookup could match. Salicylic acid is recorded as a keratolytic, anti-seborrheic and preservative among other functions, again with no annex entry returned; we will not print a limit we did not read, so we make no claim about its restriction status. The four essential oils and the cassia bark extract all came back as inventory records with fragrance or skin-conditioning functions and nothing more.

Ten reasons to lose points, one of which European law has anything at all to say about, and what it says is "write it on the label".

Who This Is Still Fine For

• Oily, congested skin that has used acid pads before without trouble. This formula is more active than the original, not riskier by Yuka's measure.
• People who like the aromatic finish. Six of the ten flags are there because the product was designed to smell like that, and if you enjoy it, you are getting what was intended.
• Anyone who reads a 60 as a warning. It is not one. Nothing in the jar is rated above the mildest level, and a formula with a moderate-risk ingredient could not have cleared 50 at all.

Be careful if your skin is dry, reactive or currently irritated. Denatured alcohol high in the list plus four essential oils plus an AHA plus two BHAs is a lot of stimulus in one wipe, and none of that shows up in the number. If you are also using a retinoid, alternate nights rather than stacking.

Pads That Score Higher

• Medicube PDRN Pink Collagen Toning Gel Toner Pad, 91/100. Same brand, same jar format, thirty-one points higher, because the formulator left the essential oils out. It contains retinol, which is its own conversation.
• The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, 93/100. A liquid rather than a pad, and a single acid rather than three, but it is the higher-scoring way to keep chemical exfoliation in the routine.
• Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Toning Toner, 86/100. The calm option for weeks when your barrier has had enough.

Staying inside the Zero Pore line moves you sideways at best. The original pad reads 62 and the Deep Vita C Pads read 64.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Yuka score of the Medicube Zero Pore Pad 2.0?

60/100, in the Good band, read on 7 September 2026. Ten ingredients are flagged, all at low risk, and thirty-seven are returned risk-free. Yuka lists it separately from the original Zero Pore Pad, which reads 62.

Is the 2.0 worse than the original?

Two points lower on Yuka, which is close to noise. It is a stronger product: the 2.0 list carries lactic acid, betaine salicylate and salicylic acid together. Whether that is worse depends on your skin, not on the score.

Why is limonene listed if the oils already contain it?

Because EU law requires it. Limonene holds entry 88 in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, and that entry requires the name to appear in the ingredient list once it exceeds 0.001% in a leave-on product. The citrus oils in the formula are where it comes from.

Our Verdict

A 60 here is a fragrance score, not a safety score. Six of the ten flags are essential oils or the marker compound they carry, and if aromatic skincare suits you, the number is measuring a preference rather than a risk.

The version question has a cleaner answer than the score suggests: the 2.0 is a stronger exfoliant that reads two points lower, so pick it for the actives and not for the number. If the number is what you want, the brand's own PDRN pad at 91 is in the same format and thirty-one points ahead. The whole range is set out in our Medicube Yuka guide, and every score we hold sits on the Medicube hub.