Aqua/Water/Eau
Also-called: Aqua;Water | What-it-does: solvent
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Propanediol
Also-called: Zemea | What-it-does: solvent, moisturizer/humectant
Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often usedand often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved.
It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacyor to influence the sensory properties of the end formula.
Glycerin - superstar
Also-called: Glycerol | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
- A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
- A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
- Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
- Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits for dry skin at higher concentrations up to 20-40%
- High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin
Read all the geeky details about Glycerin here >>
Ethyl Macadamiate
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Saccharomyces/Xylinum/Black Tea Ferment
Also-called: NG Kombuchka
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Bellis Perennis (Daisy) Flower Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Cetearyl Alcohol
What-it-does: emollient, viscosity controlling, emulsifying, emulsion stabilising, surfactant/cleansing | Irritancy: 1 | Comedogenicity: 2
An extremely common multitasker ingredient that gives your skin a nice soft feel (emollient) and gives body to creams and lotions. It also helps to stabilize oil-water mixes (emulsions), though it does not function as an emulsifier in itself. Its typical use level in most cream type formulas is 2-3%.
It’s a so-called fatty alcohol, a mix of cetyl and stearyl alcohol, other two emollient fatty alcohols. Though chemically speaking, it is alcohol (as in, it has an -OH group in its molecule), its properties are totally different from the properties of low molecular weight or drying alcohols such as denat. alcohol. Fatty alcohols have a long oil-soluble (and thus emollient) tailpart that makes them absolutelynon-drying and non-irritating and are totally ok for the skin.
Dimethyl Isosorbide
What-it-does: solvent, viscosity controlling
A little helper ingredient that can boost the performance and enhance the delivery of active ingredients in a formula. It can penetrate deeplayers of the skin helping actives to do the same.
It's especially useful to help active ingredients for self-tanning (DHA), anti-acne or skin-whitening to penetrate deeper and work better.
Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate - goodie
Also-called: Form of Vitamin C, THDA | What-it-does: antioxidant, skin brightening
Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate is a stable, oil-soluble form of skincare big shot Vitamin C. If you do not know, why Vitamin C is such a big deal in skincare, click here and read all about it. We are massive vitamin C fans and have written about it inexcruciating detail.
So now, you know that Vitamin C is great and all, but it's really unstable and gives cosmetics companies many headaches. To solve this problem they came up with vitamin C derivatives, and one of them is Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (let's call it THDA in short).
It's a really promising candidate (see below), but while reading all the goodness about it in a minute, do not forget that derivatives not only haveto be absorbed into the skin but also have to beconverted to pure vitamin C (ascorbic acid or AA) and the efficacy of the conversion is often unknown. In addition,vitamin C's three magic properties (antioxidant, collagen booster, skin brightener) are all properly proven in-vivo (on real people), but for the derivatives, it's mostly in-vitro studies or in thecase of THDA, it's in-vitro and done by an ingredient supplier.
With thiscontext in mind let's see what THDA might be able to do. First, it is stable (if pH < 5), easy to formulate, and a joy to work with for a cosmetic chemist.
Second, because it's oil-soluble, its skin penetration abilities seem to be great. So great in fact, that it surpasses the penetration of pure vitamin Cthreefold at the same concentration and it penetrates successfully into the deeper layers of the skin (that is usually important to do some anti-aging work). There is also in-vitro data showing that it converts to AA in the skin.
Third, THDA seems to have all three magic abilitiesof pure vitamin C: it gives antioxidant protection from both UVB and UVA rays, it increases collagen synthesis (even more than AA) and it has askin brightening effect by reducing melanogenesis by more than 80% in human melanoma cell cultures.
So this all sounds really great, but these are only in-vitro results at this point. We could find Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate mentioned only in one publishedin-vivo study that examined the anti-aging properties of a silicone formula containing 10% AA and 7% THDA. The authors theorized that the 10% AA is released slowly from the silicon delivery system and probably stays in the upper layer of the skin to give antioxidant benefits, while THDA penetrates more rapidly and deeply and gives some wrinkle-reducing benefits. The study was a small (10 patients), double-blind experiment,and the formula did show some measurable anti-aging results. However, it is hard to know how much pure vitamin C or THDA can be thanked.
Bottom line: a really promising, but not well-proven vitamin C derivative that can be worth a try especially if you like experimenting (but if you likethe tried and true, pure vitamin Cwill be your best bet).
Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract - goodie
Also-called: Cucumber Fruit Extract | What-it-does: soothing, emollient
Cucumber is a nice, non-irritating plant extract that’s known for it’s soothing and emollient properties. It’s not something new to put it on our face: even Cleopatra used it to “preserve her skin”.
It’s commonly believed that cucumber is the answer to puffy eyes, but there is no research confirming this. What research does confirm is that it contains amino acids and organic acids that’s helpful for the skin’s acid mantle. There is also an enzyme (called shikimate dehydrigenase) in the pulp that’s shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.
Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Extract
Also-called: Lemon Peel Extract | What-it-does: emollient
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Extract
What-it-does: emulsion stabilising, perfuming, viscosity controlling
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Extract
Also-called: Grapefruit Peel Extract | What-it-does: perfuming, astringent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Citrus Nobilis (Mandarin Orange) Fruit Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Terminalia Ferdinandiana Fruit Extract
What-it-does: antioxidant, skin brightening
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Salvia Hispanica Seed Extract
What-it-does: emollient
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Capsicum Annuum Fruit Extract
What-it-does: antioxidant, antimicrobial/antibacterial, astringent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Bromelain
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Papain
Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Cucumis Melo Cantalupensis (Cantaloupe Melon) Fruit Extract
What-it-does: astringent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Elettaria Cardamomum Seed Extract
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Juniperus Virginiana Wood Extract
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Pelargonium Graveolens Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Punica Granatum Fruit Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract - goodie
Also-called: Apple Fruit Extract | What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant
Apple needs no introduction as one of the most common fruits on planet Earth. It's not only a healthy fruit snack, it's also a goodie if you put in all over your face.
It's loaded withproteins, starch, sugars, acids, vitamins and salts. The sugars (mainly fructose, glucose, sucrose) give apple fruit extract nice moisturizing and smoothing properties, while the acids (mainly malic and gallic acid) give it mild exfoliant, skin brightening and antibacterial properties.
Rose Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Guaiacum Officinale Wood Extract
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Santalum Album Wood (Sandalwood) Extract
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Extract - goodie
Also-called: Pineapple Fruit Extract | What-it-does: soothing, moisturizer/humectant
A goodie fruit extract coming from the lovelypineapple. It contains a bunch of good-for-the-skinstuff: bromelain and fruit acids have mild exfoliant properties, and fruit sugars and amino acids give the pineapple fruit nice moisturizing and soothing properties.
There is also a pineapple extract called pineapple ceramide on the market that's claimed to be loaded with aglucose linked ceramide derivative called glucoceramide. According to the manufacturer, glucoceramideis not only a skin moisturizerbut it also helps to lighten the skin and make it more smooth.
Phloretin
What-it-does: antioxidant
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Cetyl Palmitate
What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
A white, waxy emollient that gives "body" to skincare formulas. Comes from coconutor palm kernel oil.
Sorbitan Palmitate
What-it-does: emulsifying
A creamy solid that helps water and oil to mix, aka emulsifier. Its solid, wax-like nature is useful for oil-based formulas where some rigidity is needed.
Panthenol - goodie
Also-called: Pro-Vitamin B5 | What-it-does: soothing, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
An easy-to-formulate, commonly used, nice to have ingredient that’s also called pro-vitamin B5. As you might guess from the “pro” part, it’s a precursor to vitamin B5 (whose fancy name is pantothenic acid).
Its main job in skincare products is to moisturise the skin. It’s a humectant meaning that it can help the skin to attract water and then hold onto it. There is also research showing that panthenol can help our skin to produce more lovely lipids that are important for a strong and healthy skin barrier.
Another great thing about panthenol is that it has anti-inflammatory and skin protecting abilities. A study shows that it can reduce the irritation caused by less-nice other ingredients (e.g. fragrance, preservatives or chemical sunscreens) in the product.
Research also shows that it might be useful for wound healing as it promotes fibroblast (nice type of cells in our skin that produce skin-firming collagen) proliferation.
If that wasn’t enough panthenol is also useful in nail and hair care products. A study shows that a nail treatment liquide with 2% panthenol could effectively get into the nail and significantly increase the hydration of it.
As for the hair the hydration effect is also true there. Panthenol might make your hair softer, more elastic and helps to comb your hair more easily.
Allantoin - goodie
What-it-does: soothing | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
Super common soothing ingredient. It can be found naturally in the roots & leaves of the comfrey plant, but more often than not what's in the cosmeticproductsis produced synthetically.
It's not only soothing but it' also skin-softening and protecting and can promote wound healing.
Hexylresorcinol - goodie
What-it-does: skin brightening, antimicrobial/antibacterial
A molecule that is naturally present in the bran of rye and other cereals. It has been used for a long time in the food industry as an "anti-browning agent" for fresh-cut fruits or shrimps.
It turns out that Hexylresorcinol works as an "anti-browning agent" also in cosmetic products. It is a pretty well-researched molecule with significant tyrosinase (the famous enzyme needed to produce melanin) inhibiting abilities. The clinical study of the manufacturer showed that 0.5% Hexylresorcinol has a comparable skin-lightening effect to gold-standard, 2%Hydroquinone.
Even better, a 12-weeks, double-blind, placebo-controlledstudy with 65 volunteers confirmed the effectivenessof our skin-lightening molecule and it measured an average of 88% skin-lightening improvement. The study also included before and after photos (always a good sign!) and the skin-lightening was indeed visible and significant (though the pigmentation spots did not completely disappear, just so you have realistic expectations).
Our molecule is also a good team player and seems to work in synergy with skincare-do-it-all Niacinamide. A 2022 study compared 3% Niacinamide on its own and a combination of 0.4%Hexylresorcinol + 3% Niacinamide and found that the combo delivered superior skin tone and anti-ageing benefits significantly better than Niacinamide alone.
Galactoarabinan - goodie
What-it-does: antioxidant
Galactoarabinan is a natural polysaccharide (a bigcarbohydrate molecule) that comes from theLarch trees.
According to the manufacturer it can do all kinds of good in a formula: it can reduce trans-epidermal-water-loss (a fancy way of saying that it's moisturizing),improve the appearance of skin’s superficial fine lines, improvethe uniformity and spreadability of a formulation and provides SPF enhancement. What's more it can also help to boost the efficacy of AHA exfoliants (while not boosting the irritation side effect).
Sorbitan Oleate
What-it-does: emulsifying | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 3
A mainly oil-loving, vegetable raw material based ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together, aka emulsifier. It can also function as a wetting and dispersing agent helping insoluble particles such as color pigments or inorganic sunscreens (zinc/titanium dioxide) to disperse nice and even in liquids.
Chemically speaking, it comes from the attachment of sorbitan (a dehydrated sorbitol (sugar) molecule) with the unsaturated fatty acid Oleic Acid, that creates a partly water (the sorbitan part) and partly oil soluble (oleic part) molecule.
Trehalose - goodie
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant
A type of sugar that haswater-bindingproperties and helps to keep your skinhydrated.
Sclerotium Gum
What-it-does: viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising
A big sugar molecule (polysaccharide) that is used as a natural thickening and gelling agent. It is similar to more commonly used Xanthan Gum, and the two are also often combined to create gel formulas or to stabilize emulsions.
Lysolecithin
What-it-does: emulsifying
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Xylitol - goodie
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant
A type of sugar that's part of a moisturizing trio called Aquaxyl. You can read more about its magic properties atxylitylglucoside.
Gellan Gum
What-it-does: viscosity controlling
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Xanthan Gum
What-it-does: viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising
It's one of the most commonly used thickeners and emulsion stabilizers. If the product is too runny, a little xanthan gum will make it more gel-like.Used alone, it can make the formula sticky and it is a good team player so it is usually combined with other thickeners and so-calledrheology modifiers (helper ingredients that adjust the flow and thus the feel of the formula). The typical use level of Xantha Gum is below 1%, it is usually in the 0.1-0.5% range.
Btw, Xanthan gum is all natural, a chain of sugar molecules (polysaccharide) produced from individual sugar molecules (glucose and sucrose) via fermentation. It’s approved by Ecocert and also used in the food industry(E415).
Pullulan
If you ever wondered what those little Listerine breath strips were made of, you found your answer! Pullulan is a polysaccharide polymer, which basically means that it’s a big molecule made up of smaller sugar molecule units.
It dissolves in water and can make a thin, elastic, and moisture-absorbing film when spread on the skin that can cause an instant tightening effect. It can also be used as a thickener to get a silicone-like feeland can be used in peel-off masks. Btw, it's made from fungus via fermentation.
Sorbitol
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
It's a sweet tasting sugar substitute that helps your skin to hold onto water when used in cosmetic products. It also helps to thicken up products and give them a bit more slip.
Caprylyl Glycol
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant, emollient, deodorant
It’s a handy multi-tasking ingredient that gives the skin a nice, soft feel. At the same time, it also boosts the effectiveness of other preservatives, such as the nowadays super commonly used phenoxyethanol.
The blend of these two (caprylyl glycol + phenoxyethanol) is called Optiphen, which not only helps to keep your cosmetics free from nasty things for a long time but also gives a good feel to the finished product. It's a popular duo.
Tocopherol - goodie
Also-called: Vitamin E | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0-3 | Comedogenicity: 0-3
- Primary fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin
- Significant photoprotection against UVB rays
- Vit C + Vit E work in synergy and provide great photoprotection
- Has emollient properties
- Easy to formulate, stable and relatively inexpensive
Read all the geeky details about Tocopherol here >>
Malic Acid - goodie
What-it-does: exfoliant, buffering
Malic acid comes from apple and is an AHA. If these magic three letters don’t tell you anything, click here and read our detailed description on glycolic acid, the most famous AHA.
So malic acid is an exfoliant, that can - just like other AHAs - gently lift off the dead skin cells of your skin and make it more smooth and fresh.
There is not much research out there about malic acid itself. We could find one comparative study, thatcompared the effectiveness of glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid and malic acid. The first two ones were the winners while malic and citric acid were less effective.
Silica
What-it-does: viscosity controlling, absorbent/mattifier
A white powdery thing that's the major component of glass and sand. In cosmetics, it’s often in products that are supposed to keep your skin matte as it has great oil-absorbing abilities. It’s also used as a helper ingredient to thicken up productsorsuspendinsoluble particles.
Citric Acid
What-it-does: buffering
Citric acid comes from citrus fruits and is an AHA. If these magic three letters don’t tell you anything, click here and read our detailed description on glycolic acid, the most famous AHA.
So citric acid is an exfoliant, that can - just like other AHAs - gently lift off the dead skin cells of your skin and make it more smooth and fresh.
There is also some research showing that citric acid with regular use (think three monthsand 20% concentration) can help sun-damaged skin, increase skin thickness and some nice hydrating things called glycosaminoglycans in the skin.
But according to a comparative study done in 1995, citric acid has less skin improving magic properties than glycolic or lactic acid. Probably that’s why citric acid is usually not used as an exfoliant but more as a helper ingredient in small amounts to adjust the pH of a formulation.
Sodium Salicylate
What-it-does: preservative
The sodium salt of salicylic acid. CosIng (the official EU cosmetic ingredient database) says that it's a preservative and helps to make the product taste bad (called denaturant),while some manufacturerclaims that it has exfoliating properties and is antimicrobial. It's good to know, that the salt of an exfoliant is a neutralized form, so if you want to go for exfoliation stick to the pure acid.
Alcohol - icky
Also-called: Ethanol | What-it-does: antimicrobial/antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling, astringent
Simply alcohol refers to ethanol and it's a pretty controversial ingredient. It has many instant benefits: it's a great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent and antimicrobial. No wonder it's popular in toners and oily skin formulas.
The downside is that it can be very drying if it's in the first few ingredients on an ingredient list.
Some experts even think that regular exposure to alcohol damages skin barrier and causes inflammation though it's a debated opinion. If you wanna know more, we wrote a more detailed explanation about what's the deal with alcohol in skincare products at alcohol denat.(it's also alcohol, but with some additives to make sure no one drinks it).
Sodium Benzoate
What-it-does: preservative
A helper ingredient that helps to makethe products stay nice longer, aka preservative. It works mainly against fungi.
It’s pH dependent and works best at acidic pH levels (3-5). It’s not strong enough to be used in itself so it’s always combined with something else, often with potassium sorbate.
Potassium Sorbate
What-it-does: preservative
It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. It’s not a strong one and doesn’t really work against bacteria, but more against mold and yeast. To do that it has to break down to its active form, sorbic acid. For that to happen, there has to be water in the product and the right pH value (pH 3-4).
But even if everything is right, it’s not enough on its own. If you see potassium sorbate you should see some other preservative next to it too.
BTW, it’s also a food preservativeand even has an E number, E202.
Sodium Phosphate
What-it-does: buffering
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Sodium Chloride
Also-called: Salt | What-it-does: viscosity controlling
Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.
If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. The reason for this is that salt acts as a fantastic thickener in cleansing formulas created with ionic cleansing agents(aka surfactants) such as Sodium Laureth Sulfate. A couple of percents (typically 1-3%) turns a runny surfactant solution into a nice gel texture.
If you are into chemistry (if not, we understand, just skip this paragraph), the reason is that electrolytes (you know, the Na+ and Cl- ions) screen the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups of ionic surfactants and thus support the formation of long shaped micelles (instead of spherical ones) that entangle like spaghetti, and viola, a gel is formed. However, too much of it causes the phenomenon called "salting out", and the surfactant solution goes runny again.
Other than that, salt also works as an emulsion stabilizer inwater-in-oil emulsions, that is when water droplets are dispersed in the outer oil (or silicone) phase. And last but not least, when salt is right at the first spot of the ingredient list (and is not dissolved), the product is usually a body scrub where salt is thephysical exfoliating agent.
Potassium Chloride
What-it-does: viscosity controlling
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Disodium Phosphate
What-it-does: buffering
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Potassium Phosphate
What-it-does: buffering
It’s a little helper ingredient that helps toset the pH of a cosmeticformulation to be just right.
Phenethyl Alcohol
A colorless liquid used in small amounts as a so-calledmasking ingredient, meaning it can hide the natural not-so-nice smell of other cosmetic ingredients. It has a nice rose-like scentand can be found in several essential oils such as rose, neroli or geranium. It also has some antimicrobial activity and can boost the performance of traditional preservatives.
Triethyl Citrate
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Pentylene Glycol
What-it-does: solvent, moisturizer/humectant
A multi-functional, silky feeling helper ingredient that can do quite many things. It's used as anemulsion stabilizer, solvent and a broad spectrum antimicrobial. According to manufacturer info, it's also amoisturizer and helps to make the product feel great on the skin. It works synergistically with preservatives and helps to improvewater-resistance of sunscreens.
Benzyl Alcohol
What-it-does: preservative, perfuming, solvent, viscosity controlling
It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. It can be naturally found in fruits and teas but can also be made synthetically.
No matter the origin, in small amounts (up to 1%) it’s a nice, gentle preservative. Has to be combined with some other nice preservatives, like potassium sorbateto be broad spectrum enough.
In high amounts, it can be a skin irritant, but don’t worry, it’s never used in high amounts.
