Ingredients

what‑it‑does

emollient

A very common emollient that makes your skin feel nice and smooth. Comes from coconut oil and glycerin, it’s light-textured, clear, odorless and non-greasy. [more]

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

Jojoba oil - a wax ester (chemically not a real oil), that's very similar to human sebum. It's uniquely excellent at helping the skin with its protective barrier and helping it to stay moisturized. [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

solvent

Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A sugar ester (sucrose + lauric acid) that works as an emulsifier and oil thickener. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A sugar ester (sucrose + palmitic acid) that works as a natural emulsifier. It also has a great skin-feel, improves smoothness, emolliency and even hydrates the skin. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

A beautiful golden-yellow oil coming from the Camellia tree. It's a 5 -10 meters high tree with spectacular white flowers native to Asia. It's pretty common there and also used as cooking oil or salad dressing. [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

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

buffering

what‑it‑does	moisturizer/humectant | solvent
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products. It's also a solvent, humectant and to some extent a penetration enhancer. [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

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

antioxidant | preservative

Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate is an antioxidant molecule used in small amounts (less than 0.8%) to help products stay nice longer. More specifically, it is great at preventing discoloration or other types of oxidative degradation. [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, 1

An emollient and natural moisturizer that can be found also in the sebum (oily stuff our skin produces). It leaves a nice non-greasy, non-heavy feeling on the skin. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

A light emollient ester (C8-10 fatty acids connected to C12-18 fatty alcohols) that absorbs quickly and leaves a dry but silky finish on the skin. In terms of skin feel, it is similar to Dicaprylyl Carbonate, another commonly used light emollient.  [more]

what‑it‑does	emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A sugar ester (sucrose + stearic acid) that works as a natural emulsifier (helps water and oil to mix). [more]

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant

what‑it‑does

emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

what‑it‑does

viscosity controlling

A helper ingredient that helps to thicken up formulas and form a nice gel texture. It leaves a rich, elegant feel with a velvety finish on the skin.

what‑it‑does

emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

A handy helper ingredient that works as an emulsifier or solubilizer to include oil-loving ingredients (such as fragrance) into water-based products. 

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

antioxidant | soothing

A nature-identical (but synthetic) molecule that copies a phyto-active found in grains of paradise, a spice from the ginger family. It is claimed to be a 4-in-1 active with potent topical & [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]

what‑it‑does

exfoliant | buffering

An AHA that comes from apple. An exfoliant, that can gently lift off the dead skin cells of your skin and make it more smooth and fresh. Less effective than glycolic or lactic acid. [more]

what‑it‑does

preservative

It can boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too. [more]