The display panel for this cream at Olive Young in Seoul is unusually honest. It says:
글로벌 1등 진정크림 — global No.1 soothing cream
누적 판매량 2,000만개 — 20 million units sold to date
ONLY 올리브영 — Olive Young exclusive
용량 70ml
Note the first word. Not “Korea’s No.1.” Global.
That is the whole story of this product in one line of shelf copy, and the search numbers confirm it.
49,500 against 70
| Korea | English-speaking | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | 닥터알테아 — 70 | — |
| This cream by name | 닥터알테아 345 — 10 | dr althea 345 relief cream — 49,500 |
| The mist version | — | 2,900 |
| Reviews of it | — | 1,900 |
| Where to buy it | — | amazon 880 · costco 720 |
Roughly 49,500 English searches a month against about 70 Korean ones. That is the widest gap I have measured on this site — wider than Dr.Groot, which ran 49,500 against 1,300.
A brand can sell 20 million units and still be almost unsearched at home, and this is how: Dr.Althea is a Korean brand built for the export market. Olive Young stocks it, badges it as a global winner, and sells it largely to people who already know the name from outside Korea. Koreans walking that aisle reach for domestic-famous names instead.
What that means for you: this is not a hidden Korean favourite that the internet discovered. You are not getting an insider pick. You are buying a competent, widely-sold cream whose fame was built in your market, not in this one.
⚠️ A caveat on the numbers: Korea runs most of its searches through Naver rather than Google, so Google’s Korean figures understate domestic interest. I use them for relative comparison inside one market, never as a headcount. A gap of this size is not an artefact of that, though — the direction is unambiguous.
The size Korea gets and you probably cannot
Here is the part worth acting on.
| Where | Size |
|---|---|
| Olive Young shelf, Seoul | 70 ml, marked ONLY 올리브영 |
| Amazon / Ulta / brand site | 50 ml |
| Costco (US) | 1.69 fl oz 2-pack (50 ml each) |
| Amazon duo listing | Cream + Mist set |
The Korean shelf carries a 70 ml Olive Young-exclusive configuration. Almost every export listing is 50 ml. So when you compare a Korean price against a foreign one, you are usually not comparing the same jar — and the per-millilitre maths people do in comments is often wrong for that reason.
This is the twelfth Korean product I have checked where the Korean shelf version and the export version differ in name or size. It is the single most consistent finding on this site.
[🇰🇷 Kate 확인 필요] — 올리브영 70ml 실가격. 전자 가격표가 사진에 안 잡혔다. 확인되면 위 표에 넣고 수출 50ml 와 ml당으로 비교한다. 확인 전에는 어느 쪽이 싸다고 쓰지 않았다.
Cream or mist — they are two products
2,900 people a month search the 345 Relief Cream Mist, and it is not a travel size of the cream. It is a separate spray product, often bundled with the cream as a duo on Amazon.
What to check before you pay: the word Cream (not Mist), and the size — 70 ml if you are buying in Korea, 50 ml if you are buying abroad.
What “345” means, and what the cream is for
The name refers to the formula’s ceramide-and-soothing concept rather than to a percentage, and the product sits in Olive Young’s 스팟집중 (spot-focus) section — the same bay as celimax’s retinal booster and a 20% niacinamide serum. That placement is informative: Korean beauty retail uses section headers as a shortcut, and this one is grouped with targeted problem-solvers rather than with daily moisturisers.
The positioning is post-acne recovery and calming — skin that is irritated, reactive or recovering from breakouts, rather than skin that is simply dry. The brand’s own global site files it under acne-prone moisturiser.
If your skin is dry and reactive rather than blemish-prone, the Korean derma shelf points somewhere else — that is AESTURA’s Atobarrier 365, which sits in its own derma block and is the one product I have checked where both markets independently landed on the same hero.
[🇰🇷 Kate 확인 필요] — 전성분표 사진. 영어권에서 ingredients 검색이 월 480 건이고 상위 글 다수가 전성분을 싣는다.
Who this is for
Buy it if: your skin is irritated or recovering from breakouts, you want a calming moisturiser rather than a barrier-repair one, and you are comfortable that its reputation was built in English-language beauty rather than on the Korean shelf.
Buy AESTURA instead if: dry and sensitive is the problem rather than post-acne. That is the derma-section answer in Korea.
Buy in Korea if: you can. The 70 ml Olive Young exclusive is more product than the 50 ml sold abroad.
Skip it if: you are shopping for something Koreans themselves are reaching for. On the evidence, they are not — about 70 searches a month says so.
[🇰🇷 Kate 확인 필요] — 실사용 후기. 써봤다면 1인칭 문단(발림성·유분감·진정 체감·트러블 시기 반응). 안 써봤다면 이 섹션은 비워두고 매대·검색 근거만으로 간다. 사용 경험을 창작하지 말 것.
Where to get it
- 🛒 Dr.Althea 345 Relief Cream on Amazon — check for Cream rather than Mist, and note most listings are the 50 ml
- 🛒 Shop Korean skincare at Jolse — search “Dr.Althea 345” (K-beauty retailer, ships worldwide)
- 🇰🇷 In Korea: Olive Young, 스팟집중 section — the 70 ml ONLY 올리브영 version
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, and we may earn a small commission from other links — at no extra cost to you. Nothing here was gifted or sponsored.
How I put this together
Not a lab test, not a sponsored placement. What is here: the Dr.Althea display photographed at an Olive Young in Seoul in September 2026 — which is where the 글로벌 1등 진정크림, 누적 판매량 2,000만개, ONLY 올리브영 and 70 ml details come from — the shelf section it sits in, the sizes listed by Amazon, Ulta, Costco and the brand’s own global site, the top eighteen Google results for the product name, and Google search volumes pulled for Korea and the United States in the same month. The 20-million-units figure is the brand’s own claim as printed on the shelf display, not an audited number, and I have labelled it that way. The Korean price and the full ingredient list are not included because I have not read them off a label myself.
FAQ
Is Dr.Althea popular in Korea?
Not by search. The brand pulls roughly 70 searches a month in Korea against 49,500 for this one cream in English. Olive Young stocks it and badges it 글로벌 1등 — global, not domestic — which matches what the numbers show.
What size is Dr.Althea 345 Relief Cream?
It depends where you buy. Olive Young in Korea carries a 70 ml marked as an Olive Young exclusive; Amazon, Ulta and the brand’s own site sell 50 ml. Costco sells a 2-pack of the 50 ml.
What is the difference between the 345 Relief Cream and the Relief Cream Mist?
Two separate products, often sold together as a duo. The cream is the one with 49,500 searches; the mist pulls 2,900.
What is it for?
Calming and post-acne recovery. Olive Young shelves it in the 스팟집중 (spot-focus) section with targeted treatments, not with daily moisturisers.
Dr.Althea or AESTURA Atobarrier 365?
Different problems. Dr.Althea is aimed at irritated, blemish-prone skin; AESTURA is the derma-section barrier cream for dry and sensitive skin. AESTURA is also the rarer case where Koreans and English speakers search for the same product.
How much is it in Korea?
I have not read the price off the shelf label myself, so I am not quoting one. The size on that shelf is 70 ml.
Is it sold at Olive Young?
Yes — confirmed in person, September 2026, in the 스팟집중 section, marked ONLY 올리브영.
Affiliate disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy through them, My Korea Palette may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. I only feature products I genuinely rate. Full disclosure.