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

soothing

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

A multi-functional helper ingredient that acts as a humectant and emollient. It's also a solvent and can boost the effectiveness of preservatives. [more]

what‑it‑does

buffering | moisturizer/humectant

The sodium salt of lactic acid. It's a great skin moisturizer and also used to regulate the pH value of the cosmetic formula. [more]

what‑it‑does

exfoliant | buffering

The most researched and well-known AHA exfoliant. It gently lifts off dead skin cells to reveal newer, fresher, smoother skin. In larger concentration (>10%) it's a proven collagen booster. [more]

what‑it‑does

exfoliant | antimicrobial/antibacterial

The combination of famous exfoliant, salicylic acid and gentle moisturizer, betaine. It counts as a mild exfoliant and natural moisturizer, skin smoothing agent. You usually find this guy in K-Beauty products, as due to regulations, pure salicylic acid can be used only in tiny amounts in South-Korean formulations. [more]

what‑it‑does	soothing
irritancy, com.	0, 0

Super common soothing ingredient. It can be found naturally in the roots & leaves of the comfrey plant, but more often than not what's in the cosmetic products is produced synthetically. It's not only soothing but it' [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

solvent

A colorless, slightly viscous liquid that, similar to other glycols, is used as a solvent in cosmetic products. Its recommended concentration is less than 5%.  [more]

Rose flower water that has a lovely relaxing scent. Contains some antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds, as well as some fragrant components.  [more]

what‑it‑does

soothing

Flower distillate from cornflower that's traditionally used in European phytotherapy to treat smaller eye inflammations. Has nice soothing properties. [more]

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	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	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

buffering

An alkaline (high pH, aka basic) material that is used to set the pH of the cosmetic formula to the right value.  [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | emollient

Ginseng - A traditional Korean medicine that has antioxidant properties, and is known to improve blood circulation. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | soothing

Tasmanian Pepper Extract that has anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenic and antioxidant activity. It's great at relieving itching and burning sensation. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

A non-essential amino acid  (important building block of collagen and elastin) that hydrates the skin. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

A non-essential amino acid (a building block of skin proteins like collagen or elastin) that hydrates the skin.

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An amino acid (the building blocks of skin proteins, like collagen) that hydrates the skin and might help wound healing and improve wrinkles. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

Serine is an amino acid that most often comes to the formula as part of a moisturizing complex. It's a non-essential amino acid (meaning that our body can synthesize it) and serves as a water-binding ingredient.In general, amino acids are great skincare ingredients that play an important role in proper skin hydration but there is not much info out there about what specifically serine can d [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An essential amino acid (a building block of skin proteins like collagen) that is a skin hydrator. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An essential amino acid that hydrates the skin and might be also a barrier repair ingredient. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

A non-essential amino acid (meaning that our body can produce it) that might be able to improve wrinkles combined with other amino acids, glycine and leucine. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An essential amino acid (important building block of collagen and elastin) that hydrates the skin. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant

An amino acid that is important in regulating the immune defense and inflammatory processes in the body. It's a skin moisturizer that might protect from skin infections. [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An essential amino acid that is used in the treatment of vitiligo. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

Glutamic acid is a little molecule and non-essential (our body can synthesize it) amino acid with the important job of being a neurotransmitter in the human body meaning that it helps your nervous system work correctly.  As for what it's doing in cosmetics, Glutamic acids' main thing (similar to other amino acids) is being a humectant moisturizer and skin-conditioning [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient

An amino acid that is one of the primary building blocks of hair keratin and skin collagen. It's a natural moisturizing factor and might also help to speed up wound healing.  [more]

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant

PCA stands for Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid and though it might not sound like it, it is a thing that can be found naturally in our skin. In fact, after amino acids, it is the second biggest NMF component of the skin with 12% being PCA of the NMF composition of normal skin.  So similar to other NMFs, it's a skin goodie that  [more]

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's an important skin-identical ingredient and great natural moisturizer that helps the skin to hold onto water and stay nicely hydrated. [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

Fancy name for fruit sugar. It has nice water-binding properties and helps to keep skin hydrated. 

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

Sugar - as a skincare ingredient it has water-binding properties, which means that it helps to keep your skin nice and hydrated.  [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant | soothing

A type fo sugar, usually refined from cane or beet sugar. On the skin, it is water-binding properties and helps to keep your skin hydrated.

what‑it‑does

skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant

The thing in the pee that is also a natural moisturizing factor (NMF) with mild keratolytic and strong skin moisturizing superpowers. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

It's an emollient and moisturizer. It also increases blood flow. [more]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling | moisturizer/humectant

A little helper ingredient that can be a thickener, a humectant, a foam booster, an adhesion promoter and a filler. [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	emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's a common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together. Also, it can help to increase the solubility of some other ingredients in the formula. 

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

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]

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.  If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. [more]

what‑it‑does	solvent | emulsifying | perfuming | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com.	0-1, 0-2

Similar to other glycols, it's a helper ingredient used as a solvent, or to thin out thick formulas and make them more nicely spreadable.  Hexylene Glycol is also part a preservative blend named Lexgard® [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative

A not so strong preservative that doesn’t really work against bacteria, but more against mold and yeast. [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative

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

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]