Ingredients

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	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

emollient

Shea butter that's considered to be a magic moisturizer and emollient. It is also soothing and rich in antioxidants. [more]

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. [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 clear, colorless, very easily spreadable and very volatile (evaporates from the skin easily) silicone fluid. It leaves a non-greasy, dry-smooth feel on the skin. 

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	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

moisturizer/humectant | soothing

A type fo sugar, usually refined from cane or beet sugar. On the skin, it is water-binding properties and helps to keep your skin hydrated.

what‑it‑does

emollient

what‑it‑does	surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A commonly used water-soluble surfactant and emulsifier. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | soothing

Green Tea - one of the most researched natural ingredients that contains the superstar actives called catechins. It has proven antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticarcinogenic properties. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant

what‑it‑does

emollient

A plant extract that comes from wheat germ. Used as skin- and hair conditioner and skin protectant.

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A sugar based emulsifier that's especially great for low viscosity lotions or even sprays. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

what‑it‑does

emollient | moisturizer/humectant

An extract that comes from one or more of the 20 000 kinds of algae out there. In general algae extracts serve as moisturizing, emollient and thickening agents, and many of them also have additional anti-aging properties. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | perfuming

The well-known stimulant from coffee. It has nice antioxidant properties and can improve the microcirculation. Might be helpful for dark circles, puffy eyes, as well as cellulite and hair loss. [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing

what‑it‑does

emollient | emulsifying

It's the chemically chopped up version of normal lecithin. Most often it's used to create liposomes and to coat and stabilize some other ingredient. 

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

The common plastic molecule that is used as a white wax to give hardness and slip to the formulas. It used to be used as microbeads as well but was banned in 2015 due to environmental reasons. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does

exfoliant | anti-acne | soothing | preservative

One of the gold standard ingredients for treating problem skin. It can exfoliate skin both on the surface and in the pores and it's a potent anti-inflammatory agent. [more]

what‑it‑does	moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 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.  [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | emulsifying

A mild, corn-sugar derived, oil-loving emulsifier that helps oil and water to mix nicely together. [more]

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | emollient
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's one of the important lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin. About 25% of the goopy stuff between our skin cells consists of cholesterol. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient | emollient | surfactant/cleansing

The famous omega-6 fatty acid, the mother of all ω-6 fatty acids in our body. It is a so-called polyunsaturated fatty acid meaning it has more than one (in this case two) double bonds and a somewhat kinky structure that makes LA and LA-rich oils a thin liquid.It is also an essential fatty acid meaning our body cannot synthesize  [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An amino acid (the building blocks of skin proteins, like collagen) that hydrates the skin and might help wound healing and improve wrinkles. [more]

A naturally occurring fructose polysaccharide used in skincare for its prebiotic activity. [more]

what‑it‑does

buffering

It's a little helper ingredient that helps to set the pH of the products to be right. It has an alkaline pH and can neutralize acidic ingredients.

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient | cell-communicating ingredient | anti-acne | antimicrobial/antibacterial

A type of lipid that can be found naturally in the skin. Has antimicrobial and cell-communicating properties and is considered to be part of the skin's natural defence system. [more]

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	antioxidant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A form of vitamin E that works as an antioxidant. Compared to the pure form it's more stable, has longer shelf life, but it's also more poorly absorbed by the skin. [more]

what‑it‑does

soothing

One of the active parts of Chamomile that is used in skincare as a nice anti-inflammatory and soothing ingredient. [more]

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | emollient
irritancy, com.	0, 1

An emollient and natural moisturizer that can be found also in the sebum (oily stuff our skin produces). It leaves a nice non-greasy, non-heavy feeling on the skin. [more]

A handy spherical powder that gives excellent slip, fluidity and overall skin feel to the formula (often combined with Polymethylsilsesquioxane). [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | viscosity controlling

A fatty alcohol (the non-drying type) that is used to increase the viscosity of the formula and stabilize emulsions. [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]

what‑it‑does	viscosity controlling
irritancy, com.	0, 1

A handy white powder that magically converts a liquid into a nice gel formula. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A white powdery thing that can mattify the skin and thicken up cosmetic products. [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

preservative

A not so strong preservative that doesn’t really work against bacteria, but more against mold and yeast. [more]

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

colorant

Synthetic colorant with smurf-like blue color. [more]

what‑it‑does

colorant

A super common colorant with the color yellow. [more]

what‑it‑does

colorant

An inorganic (as in no carbon in its molecule, it is Cr2O3X(OH), the hydrated version of this guy) pigment that gives blue-green shades. It is not permitted in lip products in the US.  [more]

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

Titanium dioxide as a colorant. It's a white pigment with great color consistency and dispersibility.

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

soothing | preservative

A probiotic ingredient that might protect the skin against environmental aggressors, have anti-acne and anti-inflammatory properties. Also works as a natural preservative. [more]

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

moisturizer/humectant | emollient

A handy multi-tasking ingredient that gives the skin a nice, soft feel and also boosts the effectiveness of other preservatives. [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]