Argiltubo Green Clay Mask
Highlights
Key Ingredients
Other Ingredients
Skim through
| Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solum Fullonum | viscosity controlling | goodie | |
| Aqua | solvent | ||
| Glycerin | skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | 0, 0 | superstar |
| Alcohol | antimicrobial/antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling | icky | |
| Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract | soothing, antioxidant, perfuming | goodie | |
| Equisetum Arvense Leaf Extract | emollient, soothing | ||
| Borago Officinalis Seed Oil | soothing, emollient | goodie | |
| Lavandula Hybrida Oil | emollient | ||
| Xanthan Gum | viscosity controlling | ||
| Echinacea Purpurea Root Extract | moisturizer/humectant | ||
| Styrax Benzoin Resin Extract | perfuming | icky | |
| Berberis Vulgaris Bark Extract | |||
| Limonene | perfuming, solvent | icky | |
| Linalool | perfuming | icky | |
| Geraniol | perfuming | icky |
Argital Argiltubo Green Clay MaskIngredients explained
Fuller's Earth describes types of clay that have absorbing and bleaching properties. The name comes from traditional textile workers cleaning or "fulling" wool with this clay. It consists mainly of the clay mineral called palygorskite (that's different both from kaolin or bentonite) or some type of bentonite (mainly calcium montmorillonite).
In cosmetic products, Fuller's Earth is used as an absorbent that can suck up excess oil from the skin. It's excellent absorbent properties also mean that too much of it can dry out the skin, so just like with bentonite, use it for good measure and moisturize after it.
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
- A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
- A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
- Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
- Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits for dry skin at higher concentrations up to 20-40%
- High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin
Simply alcohol refers to ethanol and it's a pretty controversial ingredient. It has many instant benefits: it's a great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent and antimicrobial. No wonder it's popular in toners and oily skin formulas.
The downside is that it can be very drying if it's in the first few ingredients on an ingredient list.
Some experts even think that regular exposure to alcohol damages skin barrier and causes inflammation though it's a debated opinion. If you wanna know more, we wrote a more detailed explanation about what's the deal with alcohol in skincare products at alcohol denat. (it's also alcohol, but with some additives to make sure no one drinks it).
The extract coming from the popular garden plant Calendula or Marigold. According to manufacturer info, it's used for many centuries for its exceptional healing powers and is particularly remarkable in the treatment of wounds. It contains flavonoids that give the plant anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
We feel that this one is a bit under the radar probably because the Borage plant is not very well known. Maybe because its name isn't as cool as some others, it's hard to compete with kukui or baobab, not to mention murumuru. But let us tell you when it comes to skin care, borage seed oil is one of the best oils that can happen to your skin. Especially, if it's dry, sensitive, easily irritated, often itchy or eczema prone.
So what is so special about it? It is the richest known plant source of the super important essential fatty acid, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). GLA is soothing and nourishing, and can repair even severely dry and irritated skin, but it's pretty rare and borage contains by far the most of it (17-28%). Next to GLA, it also contains more common fatty acids, like linoleic (36%), oleic (18%) or palmitic acid (10%).
If your skin is dry and sensitive, this one is totally for you.
It's one of the most commonly used thickeners and emulsion stabilizers. If the product is too runny, a little xanthan gum will make it more gel-like. Used alone, it can make the formula sticky and it is a good team player so it is usually combined with other thickeners and so-called rheology modifiers (helper ingredients that adjust the flow and thus the feel of the formula). The typical use level of Xantha Gum is below 1%, it is usually in the 0.1-0.5% range.
Btw, Xanthan gum is all natural, a chain of sugar molecules (polysaccharide) produced from individual sugar molecules (glucose and sucrose) via fermentation. It’s approved by Ecocert and also used in the food industry (E415).
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
The resin extract coming from a nice tree with white flowers native to Sumatra in Indonesia. It's the brother of Siam Benzoin that also comes from a type of Styrax tree.
They have a similar composition but this one contains more cinnamic acid. It also contains fragrant compounds and it is used as a perfuming ingredient. It's better to avoid if your skin is sensitive.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
A super common and cheap fragrance ingredient. It's in many plants, e.g. rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint and it's the main component (about 50-90%) of the peel oil of citrus fruits.
It does smell nice but the problem is that it oxidizes on air exposure and the resulting stuff is not good for the skin. Oxidized limonene can cause allergic contact dermatitis and counts as a frequent skin sensitizer.
Limonene's nr1 function is definitely being a fragrance component, but there are several studies showing that it's also a penetration enhancer, mainly for oil-loving components.
All in all, limonene has some pros and cons, but - especially if your skin is sensitive - the cons probably outweigh the pros.
Linalool is a super common fragrance ingredient. It’s kind of everywhere - both in plants and in cosmetic products. It’s part of 200 natural oils including lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot, jasmine, geranium and it can be found in 90-95% of prestige perfumes on the market.
The problem with linalool is, that just like limonene it oxidises on air exposure and becomes allergenic. That’s why a product containing linalool that has been opened for several months is more likely to be allergenic than a fresh one.
A study made in the UK with 483 people tested the allergic reaction to 3% oxidised linalool and 2.3% had positive test results.
Geraniol is a common fragrance ingredient. It smells like rose and can be found in rose oil or in small quantities in geranium, lemon and many other essential oils.
Just like other similar fragrance ingredients (like linalool and limonene) geraniol also oxidises on air exposure and becomes allergenic. Best to avoid if you have sensitive skin.
You may also want to take a look at...
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
| what‑it‑does | solvent |
| what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
| what‑it‑does | antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling |
| what‑it‑does | soothing | antioxidant | perfuming |
| what‑it‑does | emollient | soothing |
| what‑it‑does | soothing | emollient |
| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant |
| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
| what‑it‑does | perfuming | solvent |
| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
| what‑it‑does | perfuming |