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	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
com.	0-1

A clear pale yellow oily liquid (an ester) that makes your skin feel nice and smooth, aka emollient. It has a rich, but non-greasy skin-feel, and can provide a mild feel to the products.

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. [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

viscosity controlling

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

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A polymer that helps to thicken up products and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A white to beige powder that is the golden standard emulsifier for emulsions (oil+water mixtures) that are difficult to stabilize. [more]

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

anti-acne | moisturizer/humectant

A synergistic combination of Zinc and l-PCA that can reduce sebum production and limit the proliferation of evil acne-causing bacteria. A goodie for oily, acne-prone skin. [more]

what‑it‑does	emulsifying
irritancy, com.	2, 3

An oily ingredient that can magically blend with water all by itself (called Self Emulsifying). Other than that it’s a nice emollient that gives a smooth and soft appearance to the skin. [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

buffering

Lye - A solid white stuff that’s very alkaline and used in small amount to adjust the pH of the product.  [more]

what‑it‑does	emollient
irritancy, com.	2, 0-5

It's a waxy emollient with a melting point near to skin temperature. It gives body and consistency to the formula and leaves a velvety feel on the skin. It has a high comedogenicity index (5 out of 5), so it might clog pores if you are prone to it. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

A sugar molecule that works as a great humectant and moisturizer in cosmetic products.  [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

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

exfoliant

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

An AHA that comes from citrus fruits. It is usually used as a helper ingredient to adjust the pH of the formula. [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]

It's a little helper ingredient coming from corn, rice or potato starch that can help to keep skin mat (absorbent), to stabilise emulsions, and to keep the product together (binding). 

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A super commonly used thickener and emulsion stabilizer. [more]

what‑it‑does

solvent | moisturizer/humectant

A multi-functional, silky feeling helper ingredient that can do quite many things. It's used as an emulsion stabilizer, solvent, and a broad spectrum antimicrobial. [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

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

preservative

what‑it‑does

perfuming

The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average. [more]

Porous spherical microbeads that can give an elegant silky texture to the products. They are also used to scatter light to reduce the look of fine lines on the skin, as well as to absorb excess oil and give a matt finish. 

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

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]