Rohto Mentholatum
Melano CC Men Anti-blemish Concentration Brightening Gel
Uploaded on 04/09/2023
A moisturizing gel that contains a vitamin c derivative to
prevent and fade dark spots, anti-inflammatory ingredients to prevent acne, as well as dipotassium glycyrrhizate (licorice) and alpinia extract to soothe redness and irritation.
Rohto Mentholatum
Melano CC Whitening Gel
Uploaded on 03/20/2022
Skin whitening gel, improve dark spots & brown spots.
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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | antioxidant | skin brightening |
A stable and easy to formulate form of skincare superstar, vitamin C. In-vitro studies show that it shows all the three anti-aging benefits (antioxidant protection + collagen boosting + fading hyperpigmentation) that pure vitamin C does.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling |
A high-molecular-weight emollient ester that makes your skin nice and smooth. It leaves a non-oily, light, "wet" feel on the skin.
| what‑it‑does | buffering |
It's a very alkaline stuff that helps to set the pH of the cosmetic formula to be just right.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 1 |
A handy white powder that magically converts a liquid into a nice gel formula.
[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 | emulsifying | solvent | surfactant/cleansing |
| what‑it‑does | solvent |
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
A film-forming and thickening polymer (a large molecule composed of many repeated subunits) that comes to the formula usually as part of an emulsifier, thickener trio.
[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 | 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.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling | solvent |
A petroleum-derived emollient and thickener. It often comes to the formula as part of an emulsifier, thickener trio.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | preservative |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
The most common type of feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason parabens. It's a cheap, effective and well-tolerated ingredient to make sure the cosmetic formula does not go wrong too soon.
Apart from the general controversy around parabens (we wrote about it more here), there is a 2006 in-vitro (made in the lab not on real people) research about methylparaben (MP) sho
[more]
| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling |
A fatty alcohol (the non-drying type) that is used to increase the viscosity of the formula and stabilize emulsions.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | emollient | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 2, 2 |
A fatty (the good, non-drying kind of) alcohol that makes your skin feel smooth and nice (emollient), helps to thicken up products and also helps water and oil to blend (emulsifier).
| what‑it‑does | antioxidant |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A form of vitamin E that works as an antioxidant. Compared to the pure form it's more stable, has longer shelf life, but it's also more poorly absorbed by the skin.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
A not-very-interesting helper ingredient that is used as an emulsifier and/or surfactant. Comes from a coconut oil derived fatty alcohol, lauryl alcohol.
[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 | viscosity controlling |
A super commonly used thickener and emulsion stabilizer.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | soothing | moisturizer/humectant |
The salt form of one of the main anti-inflammatory ingredients in the licorice plant, monoammonium glycyrrhizinate. It’s a yellowish powder with a nice sweet smell.
It’s used mainly for its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, but according to manufacturer info, it’s also sebum regulating so it'
[more]
| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant |
A biocompatible copolymer with a similar structure to cell membrane ingredient, phospholipid. It's a good skin moisturizer and can also help to reduce irritation.
[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 | soothing | moisturizer/humectant |
Biosaccharide Gum-1 is a pretty interesting kind of sugar ingredient that is created from sorbitol via bacterial fermentation.
According to the manufacturer it’s a “S.M.A.R.T.” sugar:
[more]
| what‑it‑does | antioxidant | skin brightening | buffering |
Pure Vitamin C. A skincare superstar that is clinically proven to boost collagen production (in 5-20% concentration), fade hyperpigmentation and boost UV protection under sunscreen. Also, it's extremely unstable and hard to formulate.
[more]
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
If life gives the cosmetic industry lemon, it makes lemon fruit extract. As to why, we can write here extremely similar things to our shiny description of orange fruit extract. Being both of them citruses, they contain very similar active compounds with very similar (potential) effects on the skin.
[more]