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 | 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

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

viscosity controlling

A polymer that helps to thicken up products and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions. [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	emollient | viscosity controlling
irritancy, com.	0, 2-3

A common multi-tasker fatty acid that works as an emollient, thickener and emulsion stabilizer. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.  [more]

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]

A colorless gas used as a propellant in cosmetic products that come in a spray form. Chemically, it is an isomer of butane (same number of C and H atoms), but while butane has a straight chain structure, isobutane is branched.  [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

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	surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying | perfuming
irritancy, com.	0, 3

A 14 carbon length fatty acid that can be naturally found in nutmeg, palm kernel oil, coconut oil and butter fat. It's used as a foam building cleansing agent. [more]

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | emollient | emulsifying
irritancy, com.	0, 2

A fatty acid that can be found naturally in the skin. It can make the skin feel nice and smooth in moisturizers (emollient) or it can act as a foam building cleansing agent in cleansers. [more]

what‑it‑does

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

viscosity controlling

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

what‑it‑does

perfuming | solvent

A clear, colorless liquid with a wine-like odor. It is usually used in tiny amounts as an aromatic and flavor ingredient.  [more]

A plastic microsphere that improves the skin feel of aqueous gel formulas and makes them smooth and comfortable. It is also used in hair sprays to increase hair volume. [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	skin-identical ingredient | emollient
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's one of the important lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin. About 25% of the goopy stuff between our skin cells consists of cholesterol. [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. 

what‑it‑does

soothing | skin-identical ingredient | emollient

The small (1.5-2%) part of sunflower oil that resists soap making. It contains valuable skin-nourishing molecules like vitamin E, sterols and fatty acids. It's also claimed to have lipid-replenishing and soothing properties. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | moisturizer/humectant | surfactant/cleansing

A type of silicone that makes the skin smooth and nice (emollient), moisturizes and helps to reduce the tackiness of the products. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A big polymer (a molecule from repeated subunits) with crazy water binding abilities. Used as a thickening and emulsion stabilizing agent. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

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

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A polymer microsphere that gives products an elegant, silky texture. Can also scatter light to blur fine lines. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

The snappily named Lauryl Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone is a silicone emulsifier fluid whose main thing is being a good dispersant for powders such as mineral UV filters or color pigments. According to the manufacturer Kobo, this partly water- and partly oily soluble form of dimethicone helps filters like Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide disperse more evenly and thus provi [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

A PEG-modified self-emulsifying crosslinked silicone elastomer surfactant that helps water to mix nicely with silicone oils, aka a water in silicone emulsifier. [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

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

buffering

A slightly basic (7.0-7.6 pH) molecule used to adjust the pH is cosmetic formulas.  [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative | antimicrobial/antibacterial

A little helper ingredient that works as a preservative. It works against bacteria and some species of fungi and yeast. [more]

what‑it‑does

emulsifying

A silicone emulsifier that helps to create water in silicone emulsions. 

what‑it‑does

solvent | viscosity controlling

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

cell-communicating ingredient

An important compound in our body that has a vital cell-signalling role. It is wound healing, anti-inflammatory and can help with barrier repair. [more]

what‑it‑does

solvent

A clear, colorless liquid that works as a solvent and viscosity decreasing ingredient. It also has great skin-moisturizing abilities.  [more]

what‑it‑does

antimicrobial/antibacterial | perfuming

Lavender - essential oil with a calming scent and antimicrobial properties. Contains fragrant components (linalyl acetate - 50% and linalool - 35%) and might be cytotoxic from 0.25%. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | antimicrobial/antibacterial

The essential oil coming from the leafs of rosemary. It has a nice smell, is a potent antioxidant and it's also an antimicrobial agent. Contains several fragrant components, including potential skin irritant, camphor (around 15%).

what‑it‑does

perfuming | solvent

A clear liquid with a camphor-like odor that is used as a solvent.  [more]

what‑it‑does

perfuming

The essential oil coming from steam distillation of freshly harvested, flowering peppermint sprigs. Its major component is menthol that gives the oil its well-known refreshing and cooling properties. [more]

what‑it‑does

chelating | buffering

A helper ingredient that is used to adjust the pH of the product. Also helps to keep products stay nice longer by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula. 

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

skin-identical ingredient

Ceramides get quite a lot of hype recently and good news: there is a reason for that. But before we go into the details, let's just quickly define what the heck ceramides are: They are waxy lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin (called stratum corneum - SC). [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

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]