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 | 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]

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	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

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

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

Pro-Vitamin B5 is a goodie that moisturises the skin, has anti-inflammatory, skin protecting and wound healing properties. [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

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

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

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A silicone emulsifier that helps water and silicone oils to mix nicely together. 

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A hydrogenated castor oil derivative that is used as an oil gelling agent. It can thicken up both oils as well as silicones.  [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

antioxidant | soothing

One of the main biologically active components of the famous medicinal plant, Centella Asiatica, aka Gotu Kola. It has well established wound healing, skin-soothing and antioxidant activities. There is also a study by La Roche Posay (belongs to L'Oreal) that examined the anti-aging effects of 5% Vitamin C combined with 0. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A helper ingredient that is used as a bulking and viscosity controlling agent. It is also an emulsion stabilizer in water-in-oil emulsions, where water droplets are dispersed in the continuous oil phase and not the other way round. It can also be used as a heat generating agent in water-less formulas as it has an instant heat-generating chemical reaction with water. [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

soothing

A copper salt that is known to promote cellular regeneration and also has some antioxidant and tan-activating properties. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

what‑it‑does

preservative

A preservative that works mainly against fungi. Has to be combined with other preservatives. [more]

what‑it‑does

antimicrobial/antibacterial | preservative

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

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. [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

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

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

sunscreen

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

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	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

sunscreen

A chemical sunscreen agent that gives a strong protection in the UVB (280-320nm) range with a peak protection at 306 nm. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

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

A mainly oil-loving, vegetable raw material based ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together, aka emulsifier. It can also function as a wetting and dispersing agent helping insoluble particles such as color pigments or inorganic sunscreens (zinc/titanium dioxide) to disperse nice and even in liquids.   [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]

A spherical powder that holds more than 20 times its dry weight in water. Sodium Acrylates Crosspolymer-2 gives formulas a unique gel-to-water-to-powder transformation. [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

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	emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together, aka emulsifier. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A kind of polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) that helps to thicken up and stabilize products. Helps to create soft and supple textures.  [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

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

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

preservative

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