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 | solvent

A light liquid that works as a handy helper ingredient in sunscreen formulas. It both helps to boost SPF protection as well as to create light, elegant formulas. [more]

what‑it‑does

antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling

Alcohol with some additives to make it unconsumable. It is great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent, and antimicrobial. In large amounts, it can be very drying to the skin. [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	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 | solvent

A light, velvety, unique skin feel liquid that is a good solvent and also makes the skin feel nice and smooth. [more]

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. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

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

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

Mexoryl XL - a L'Oreal group exclusive chemical sunscreen agent with both UVB and UVA protection. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

An emollient ester with a rich and creamy but non-greasy skin feel. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling | abrasive/scrub

Corn Starch that comes as a floury powder and helps to improve the skin feel of emulsions. [more]

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. 

A film-forming polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) to create water-resistant sunscreen formulas.  [more]

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

Uvinul T 150 - A new generation, chemical sunscreen (not available in the US due to impossible FDA regulations) that gives the highest photo-stable absorption of all available UVB filters today. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

PEG-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate is a popular water-in-oil (w/o) emulsifier, meaning that it helps the oily and watery parts of the formula to mix in a way where water droplets are dispersed in the continuous oil phase and not the other way round.  Compared to the more commonly used oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions, w/o emulsions tend to be heavier and less cosmetically elegant, but  [more]

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

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

what‑it‑does

emollient | solvent

A  clear, colorless and odorless, highly volatile (meaning it does not absorb into the skin but evaporates from it) liquid that's used as an emollient and gives a nice, non-oily light skin-feel. [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

emollient

A colorless to light yellow oily fluid that works as an emollient (makes your skin nice and smooth) and a solvent for poorly soluble materials, such as sunscreen agents. [more]

what‑it‑does

sunscreen

A  L'Oréal-group exclusive sunscreen agent commonly called Mexoryl SX. As opposed to most sunscreen agents, it is water soluble and protects in the UVA range with a peak absorbance at 345 nm.  [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling | emollient

A handy white powder that likes to absorb oily things. It has great oil and sebum absorption (aka mattifying) abilities and can also act as a thickening agent in the oil phase of a formula.

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

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	buffering
irritancy, com.	0, 2

Helps to set the pH of a cosmetic formulation to be right. It’s very alkaline. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

An organic derivative of hectorite clay, Disteardimonium Hectorite is used as a viscosity controller - it thickens up formulations to make them less runny.It’s most popular use in cosmetics is in sunscreens, under the trademarked name Bentone 38 from Elementis. [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

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

solvent | viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

solvent | viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | viscosity controlling | surfactant/cleansing

A synthetic big copolymer molecule that is used mainly as a solubilizer (make small amounts of oil-loving things soluble in water-based formulas) and gelling agent.In general, poloxamers are interesting big molecules composed of three blocks: [more]

what‑it‑does

anti-acne | soothing

A zinc salt known for its soothing and wound healing properties as well as for its anti-acne properties.  [more]

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. [more]

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. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

solvent | moisturizer/humectant

A natural corn sugar derived glycol. It can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

A very common emollient that makes your skin feel nice and smooth. Comes from coconut oil and glycerin, it’s light-textured, clear, odorless and non-greasy. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A common helper ingredient that stabilizes emulsions and helps to thicken up products. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A nice little helper ingredient that can thicken up cosmetic products and create beautiful gel formulas. It's derived from cellulose, the major component of the cell wall of green plants. [more]

what‑it‑does

chelating

A helper ingredient that helps to neutralize the metal ions in the formula (they usually come from water) so it stays nice longer. [more]