Ingredients

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	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. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

The famous Vaseline or Petroleum Jelly. Just like mineral oil, it is also a by-product of refining crude oil, aka petroleum, and it is also a mixture of hydrocarbons but with bigger (C18-90+) carbon chain length.The unique thing about petrolatum is that it is the most effective occlusive agent known today. [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 | 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

viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does	emollient | emulsifying | viscosity controlling
irritancy, com.	0, 0-2

what‑it‑does	emollient
irritancy, com.	0, 1-3

Emollient plant oil coming from the seeds of Sesame. Contains high amounts of nourishing and moisturizing fatty acids (about 38% of oleic 48% of linoleic acid). [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming | antimicrobial/antibacterial

The essential oil created by steam distilling the leaves of the Eucalyptus tree. It's a colorless, pale yellow oil with a camphoraceous aroma used traditionally in vapor rubs to treat coughs. [more]

what‑it‑does

abrasive/scrub

what‑it‑does

abrasive/scrub

what‑it‑does

chelating | moisturizer/humectant

The neutralized form of gluconic acid. It's a great ingredient to neutralize metal (especially iron and copper) ions in a cosmetic product. This helps to prevent discoloration of the formula over time or rancidity of cosmetic oils. [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

moisturizer/humectant

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

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

viscosity controlling | perfuming

what‑it‑does

antioxidant

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, 3

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

emollient | perfuming

A clear, slightly yellow, odorless oil  that's a very common, medium-spreading emollient. It makes the skin feel nice and smooth and works in a wide range of formulas.

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	colorant | moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 1

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

perfuming | solvent

A super common fragrance ingredient found naturally in many plants including citrus peel oils, rosemary or lavender. It autoxidizes on air exposure and counts as a common skin sensitizer. [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

A common fragrance ingredient that smells like rose and can be found in rose oil. [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

A super common fragrance ingredient that can be found among others in lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot or jasmine. The downside of it is that it oxidises on air exposure and might become allergenic. [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

A fragrance with a sweet scent somewhere between lily and fruity melon. [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

A common fragrance ingredient with a nice rose-like smell. [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

It’s a common fragrance ingredient that has a light floral smell.  It’s one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately (and cannot be simply included in the term “fragrance/perfume” [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

A common fragrance ingredient that smells like lemon. [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative

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

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]

what‑it‑does

emollient | viscosity controlling

what‑it‑does

preservative

Preservative with relatively high irritation risk. It's always used together with Methylisothiazolinone. [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative

Preservative with relatively high irritation risk that is used mainly in rinse-off products. [more]