Ingredients
| what‑it‑does | solvent |
Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | solvent |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0-2 |
A clear, oily liquid that comes from refining crude oil. Even though it is a highly controversial ingredient, the scientific consensus is that it is a safe, non-irritating and effective emollient and moisturizer working mainly by occlusivity.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 2-3 |
A common multi-tasker fatty acid that works as an emollient, thickener and emulsion stabilizer.
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A real oldie but a goodie. Great natural moisturizer and skin-identical ingredient that plays an important role in skin hydration and general skin health.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| irritancy, com. | 2, 2 |
A handy multi-tasker, white to light yellowish oil-loving wax that works very well in oil-in-water emulsions. It makes your skin feel nice and smooth (emollient), stabilizes oil-water mixes and gives body to them.Oh, and one more thing:
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | perfuming |
| irritancy, com. | 3, 3-5 |
A clear, colorless oil-like liquid that's used as a fast-spreading, non-greasy emollient.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying |
| what‑it‑does | sunscreen | colorant |
A physical/inorganic sunscreen with pretty broad spectrum (UVB and UVA II, less good at UVA I) protection and good stability. Might leave some whitish tint on the skin, though.
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| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
A handy white powder that magically converts a liquid into a nice gel formula.
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| what‑it‑does | buffering |
It's a very alkaline stuff that helps to set the pH of the cosmetic formula to be just right.
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| what‑it‑does | exfoliant | moisturizer/humectant | buffering |
A superstar AHA that not only exfoliates skin but is also a very good moisturizer. In higher concentration (10% and up) it can even improve skin firmness, thickness, and wrinkles.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative | perfuming |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A very common type of feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason parabens. It's a cheap, effective and well-tolerated ingredient to make sure the cosmetic formula does not go wrong too soon.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
The most common type of feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason parabens. It's a cheap, effective and well-tolerated ingredient to make sure the cosmetic formula does not go wrong too soon.
Apart from the general controversy around parabens (we wrote about it more here), there is a 2006 in-vitro (made in the lab not on real people) research about methylparaben (MP) sho
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| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant |
The big and important protein molecule that usually comes from animal skin such as fish or bovine. The gist of the "collagen in topical skincare" subject is to know that collagen in a jar has nothing to do with wrinkles but everything to do with skin hydration.
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| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average.
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| what‑it‑does | sunscreen |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
Octinoxate - an old-school chemical sunscreen that absorbs UVB radiation (wavelengths: 280-320 nm). Not photostable and does not protect against UVA.
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| what‑it‑does | cell-communicating ingredient | skin brightening | anti-acne | moisturizer/humectant |
A multi-functional skincare superstar that has clinically proven anti-aging, skin lightening, anti-inflammatory and barrier repair properties.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
Shea butter that's considered to be a magic moisturizer and emollient. It is also soothing and rich in antioxidants.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | solvent |
A four-unit long, cyclic structured, super light silicone that is the small sister of the more commonly used 5-unit long cyclic structured Cyclopentasiloxane.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | solvent |
It's a super commonly used water-thin volatile silicone that gives skin and hair a silky, smooth feel.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 2, 2 |
A fatty (the good, non-drying kind of) alcohol that makes your skin feel smooth and nice (emollient), helps to thicken up products and also helps water and oil to blend (emulsifier).
| what‑it‑does | emollient | emulsifying |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
Waxy, white, solid stuff that helps water and oil to mix together and leaves the skin feeling soft and smooth.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| irritancy, com. | 3, 2 |
A common functional ingredient that helps to keep the oil-loving and water-loving ingredients together (emulsifier), stabilizes and thickens the products.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| irritancy, com. | 1, 2 |
A super common multitasker ingredient that gives your skin a nice soft feel (emollient) and gives body to creams.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A white, waxy emollient that gives "body" to skincare formulas. Comes from coconut or palm kernel oil.
| what‑it‑does | preservative |
Pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, and can be used up to 1% worldwide.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
It can boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
A very common silicone that gives both skin and hair a silky smooth feel. It also forms a protective barrier on the skin and fills in fine lines. Also used for scar treatment.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
An often used emollient with a light and silky feel. It's very mild to both skin and eyes and spreads nicely and easily. It's often used in sunscreens as it's also an excellent solvent for sunscreen agents.
| what‑it‑does | sunscreen |
Avobenzone - the only globally available chemical sunscreen that gives proper UVA protection. It is not photostable so has to be combined with ingredients that help to stabilize it.
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| what‑it‑does | sunscreen |
An oil-soluble chemical sunscreen agent that protects skin in the UVB and somewhat in the UVA II range with a peak absorption of 304 nm.
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| what‑it‑does | sunscreen |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A chemical sunscreen agent that absorbs UVB and short UVA rays (280-350nm). It's a highly stable but weak UVB absorber, that's often used as a photostabilizer in non-sunscreen proudcts.
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| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying |
An ester coming from sorbitol and the fatty acids of olive oil. It often comes to the formula coupled with Cetearyl Olivate and the two together help water and oil to blend (emulsifier). It's a natural and Ecocert approved duo.
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling | abrasive/scrub |
A multi-functional helper ingredient that's used mainly as a pigment carrier helping pigments in mineral sunscreens and color cosmetics to flow freely and evenly and not to clump.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
A type of silicone that's used mainly to stop the product from foaming when it's not needed. It's also often used to coat the sunscreen agent titanium dioxide for better spreading and easier formulation.
| what‑it‑does | buffering |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 2 |
Helps to set the pH of a cosmetic formulation to be right. It’s very alkaline.
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| what‑it‑does | exfoliant | chelating |
A next generation AHA, a so-called PHA that gently exfoliates skin without irritation. It also moisturizes and helps the skin barrier. It also has antioxidant properties.
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| what‑it‑does | chelating |
A helper ingredient that helps to neutralize the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.
| what‑it‑does | soothing |
One of the active parts of Chamomile that is used in skincare as a nice anti-inflammatory and soothing ingredient.
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| what‑it‑does | antioxidant | skin brightening |
| what‑it‑does | skin brightening | soothing |