Ingredients

what‑it‑does

emollient | solvent

It's a super commonly used water-thin volatile silicone that gives skin and hair a silky, smooth feel.  [more]

what‑it‑does

solvent

Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more]

what‑it‑does	sunscreen
irritancy, com.	0, 1

A physical/inorganic sunscreen with the broadest spectrum (UVB and UVA II, less good at UVA I) protection available today. It also has good stability and also works as a skin protectant, anti-irritant. Might leave some whitish tint on the skin, though. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does	moisturizer/humectant | solvent
irritancy, com.	0, 1

An often used glycol that works as a solvent, humectant, penetration enhancer and also gives a good slip to the products. [more]

what‑it‑does	emollient | solvent
irritancy, com.	0, 2

A spherical texturizing powder that's used as a texture enhancer and soft focus agent. [more]

what‑it‑does

abrasive/scrub | viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

The snappily named Lauryl Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone is a silicone emulsifier fluid whose main thing is being a good dispersant for powders such as mineral UV filters or color pigments. According to the manufacturer Kobo, this partly water- and partly oily soluble form of dimethicone helps filters like Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide disperse more evenly and thus provi [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

Uvinul A Plus - A new generation, chemical sunscreen agent (not available in the US due to impossible FDA regulations) that's designed for high UVA protection and high photostability. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's the salt form of famous humectant and natural moisturizing factor, hyaluronic acid. It can bind huge amounts of water and it's pretty much the current IT-moisturizer. [more]

A silicone molecule that is half-way between Dimethicone and Methicone, meaning that some of the methyl (-CH3) groups are replaced with a hydrogen atom (in Methicone half of the CH3 groups are replaced). [more]

A silicone fluid used mainly to treat insoluble powders (such as mineral sunscreen agents or pigments) so that they are easily and evenly dispersable both in the formula and on the skin. 

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 [more]

what‑it‑does

chelating

Super common little helper ingredient that helps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate is a variation of current IT moisturizer, Hyaluronic acid, where some water-loving -OH groups are replaced by amphipathic (partly water-loving and partly water-hating) acetyl groups. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | moisturizer/humectant

The chemically chopped up version of the big protein molecule, collagen. It is often derived from fish or bovine sources and works as a nice moisturizer and humectant that helps the skin to hold onto water.   To understand a bit more what Hydrolyzed Collagen is, you have to know that proteins are large chains of amino acids connected with so-called peptide bonds. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An amino acid that is one of the primary building blocks of hair keratin and skin collagen. It's a natural moisturizing factor and might also help to speed up wound healing.  [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant

A clear, colorless liquid that gives advanced protection for the skin lipids and photostabilizes UV filters. It's also a promising ingredient for acne pevention. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | moisturizer/humectant | viscosity controlling

Officially, CosIng (the official EU ingredient database) lists Aluminum Hydroxide 's functions as opacifying (making the product white and non-transparent), as well as emollient and skin protectant. However, with a little bit of digging, it turns out Aluminum Hyroxide often moonlights as a protective coating for UV filter superstar Titanium Dioxide. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A big polymer molecule that has a bunch of different versions and thus different uses. It can act as a film former,  as a thickening agent, or it can increase the water-resistance in sunscreens. [more]

what‑it‑does	colorant
irritancy, com.	0, 3

what‑it‑does

preservative

Pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, and can be used up to 1% worldwide. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does	abrasive/scrub
irritancy, com.	0, 1

Talc is the major component of most powder makeup products (think face powder, eyeshadows, and blushers) that usually contain it up to 70%. Its two winning properties that make it very suitable for this role is its outstanding spreadability for a smooth application and its low covering power, aka translucency to avoid clown-like effects. [more]

what‑it‑does

antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling

Simple alcohol that's a great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent, and antimicrobial. In large amount can be very drying. [more]

what‑it‑does	colorant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A mix of red, yellow and black iron oxide. [more]

what‑it‑does

colorant | abrasive/scrub | viscosity controlling

Far from the tin cans you find in the supermarket, Tin Oxide is mostly used when dealing with so-called effect pigments, tricky composite pigments that can do color travel (change color depending on the viewing angle) or give multiple color effect.  It's often found alongside Mica (as a base material) and Titanium Dioxide (as a coating) to give a glossy, pearlescent effect. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does	antioxidant
irritancy, com.	0-3, 0-3

Pure Vitamin E. Great antioxidant that gives significant photoprotection against UVB rays. Works in synergy with Vitamin C. [more]

what‑it‑does

colorant

A mineral powder used to improve skin feel, increase product slip, give the product some light-reflecting properties, enhance skin adhesion or serve as an anti-caking agent. A real multi-tasker. [more]

what‑it‑does	emollient | viscosity controlling
irritancy, com.	2, 1

A synthetic liquid oil that can replace mineral oil or silicone oils in the cosmetic formulas. There are different grades depending on the molecular weight ranging from very light, volatile, non-residue leaving ones to more substantial, slight residue leaving ones.Apart from leaving the skin soft and smooth (emollient), it' [more]

A synthetic copolymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) that is used as a slip and surface modifier. It is claimed to give sunscreen formulas long-lasting, lightweight and non-sticky properties.

what‑it‑does	emollient
irritancy, com.	1, 3-4

A clear, colorless emollient ester (oily liquid) that makes the skin nice and smooth. [more]

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

Tinosorb S - a new generation, broad-spectrum and very photostable sunscreen agent with great safety profile. [more]

A fluid silicone that reduces surface tension. It can improve oil (or silicone) in water emulsions with faster absorption, better spreading, and a lighter feel. 

A clear, light yellow liquid that is used to coat pigments (such as inorganic sunscreen agents or colorants) in cosmetic products.  [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

This bamboozling INCI name is given to a spherical silicone powder that has an elastic silicone rubber inner part and a harder silicone resin outer part.It gives formulas a uniquely soft, silky feeling, and has a mattifying and soft focus effect. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A white, elastomeric silicone powder that gives a nice silky and powdery feel to the products. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant | solvent

what‑it‑does

emollient

Bearing a close relationship to the famous Dimethicone, Methicone is the slightly trimmed down version missing the methyl (-CH3)  groups on one side of the silicone chain. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | preservative

It's the acronym for Butylated Hydroxy Toluene. It's a common synthetic antioxidant that's used as a preservative.There is some controversy around BHT. [more]