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 | sunscreen |
An oil-soluble chemical sunscreen agent that protects the skin from UVB (295-315 nm) with a peak protection at 306 nm. Homosalate is not a strong UV filter in and of itself (gives only SPF 4.3 protection at max.
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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 | 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 colorless to light yellowish oily liquid that works as a UVB (280-320nm) sunscreen filter with a peak absorbance at 306 nm. It's not a strong filter in itself, it's always used in combination with other sunscreen agents.
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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 | viscosity controlling |
A handy helper ingredient that comes in a white powder form and works as an anti-caking and oil-absorbing agent. It also gives products good spreadability, long lasting and velvet touch characteristics.
| 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 | 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 | moisturizer/humectant | solvent |
| what‑it‑does | colorant | moisturizer/humectant |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
| 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 | 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 | 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 |
Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient |
A type of ceramide that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.
We have written way more about ceramides at ceramide 1, so click here to know more.
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient |
Ceramides get quite a lot of hype recently and good news: there is a reason for that. But before we go into the details, let's just quickly define what the heck ceramides are:
They are waxy lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin (called stratum corneum - SC).
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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 | surfactant/cleansing |
An antistatic, hair conditioning and softening ingredient used mainly in haircare products. Otherwise, it's probably next to Cetearyl Alcohol to form a great emulsifier duo.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying |
A helper ingredient that's used as a co-emulsifier and as a stabilization agent for foams.
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| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying | perfuming |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 3 |
A 14 carbon length fatty acid that can be naturally found in nutmeg, palm kernel oil, coconut oil and butter fat. It's used as a foam building cleansing agent.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient | emollient | emulsifying |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 2 |
A fatty acid that can be found naturally in the skin. It can make the skin feel nice and smooth in moisturizers (emollient) or it can act as a foam building cleansing agent in cleansers.
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| 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 | viscosity controlling |
A polymer that helps to thicken up products and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
A super commonly used thickener and emulsion stabilizer.
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| 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.
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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 | moisturizer/humectant | solvent |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products. It's also a solvent, humectant and to some extent a penetration enhancer.
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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 | antioxidant | soothing | emollient | abrasive/scrub |
When you hear oatmeal, you probably think of breakfast, but the finely ground version of whole oat kernels, aka colloidal oatmeal, can do good things for your skin, especially if it's dry, itchy or prone to skin-rashes or eczema.Oat is loaded with compounds good for the body, inside or outside, such as soothing agent beta-glucan
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient |
| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient |
One of the 9 types of ceramides that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. Ceramides make up a big part (about 50%) of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells (called extracellular matrix) and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.
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| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient |
| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A commonly used water-soluble surfactant and emulsifier.
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| 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 | viscosity controlling |
A common helper ingredient that stabilizes emulsions and helps to thicken up products.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
A preservative that works mainly against fungi. Has to be combined with other preservatives.
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| what‑it‑does | solvent |
| 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 | perfuming |
| 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.
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