
Multiuse Skincare Oil
Ingredients overview
Highlights
Skim through
Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil) | emollient, solvent | 0, 0-2 | |
Triisononanoin | viscosity controlling | ||
Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate | emollient | ||
Isopropyl Myristate | emollient, perfuming | 3, 3-5 | |
Retinyl Palmitate | cell-communicating ingredient | 1-3, 1-3 | |
Tocopheryl Acetate | antioxidant | 0, 0 | |
Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil | soothing, perfuming | goodie | |
Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil | antimicrobial/antibacterial, perfuming | icky | |
Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil | antioxidant, antimicrobial/antibacterial | icky | |
Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract | soothing, antioxidant, perfuming | goodie | |
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil | emollient | 0, 0 | goodie |
Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil | emollient, perfuming | 0, 3 | goodie |
BHT | antioxidant, preservative | ||
Bisabolol | soothing | goodie | |
Parfum (Fragrance) | perfuming | icky |
Bio-Oil Multiuse Skincare OilIngredients explained
The famous or maybe rather infamous mineral oil. The clear oily liquid that is the "cheap by-product" of refining crude oil and the one that gets a lot of heat for its poor provenance. It is a very controversial ingredient with pros and cons and plenty of myths around it. So let us see them:
The pros of mineral oil
Trust us, if something is used for more than 100 years in cosmetic products, it has advantages. Chemically speaking, cosmetic grade mineral oil is a complex mixture of highly refined saturated hydrocarbons with C15-50 chain length. It is not merely a "by-product" but rather a specifically isolated part of petroleum that is very pure and inert.
It is a great emollient and moisturizer working mainly by occlusivity. Occlusivity is one of the basic mechanisms of how moisturizers work and it means that mineral oil sits on top of the skin and hinders so-called trans-epidermal water loss, i.e water evaporating out of your skin. When compared to heavy-duty plant oil, extra virgin coconut oil, the two of them were equally efficient and safe as moisturizers in treating xerosis, a skin condition connected to very dry skin.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
A synthetic emollient oil that leaves a soft non-greasy, non-sticky feel on the skin, absorbs fast and can be emulsified (mixed with water) very easily.
A clear, colorless oil-like liquid that makes the skin feel smooth and nice (aka emollient) and it does so without it being greasy.
What's more, it can even reduce the heavy, greasy feel in products with high oil content. It's also fast-spreading meaning that it gives the formula a good, nice slip. It absorbs quickly into the skin and helps other ingredients to penetrate quicker and deeper.
It's an ester form of vitamin A (retinol + palmitic acid) that belongs to the "retinoid family". The retinoid family is pretty much the royal family of skincare, with the queen being the FDA-approved anti-aging ingredient tretinoin. Retinol is also a very famous member of the family, but it's like Prince William, two steps away from the throne. Retinyl palmitate will be then little Prince George, quite far (3 steps) away from the throne.
By steps, we mean metabolic steps. Tretinoin, aka retinoic acid, is the active ingredient our skin cells can understand and retinyl palmitate (RP) has to be converted by our metabolic machinery to actually do something. The conversion is a 3 step one and looks like this:
It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. You can read all about the pure form here. This one is the so-called esterified version.
According to famous dermatologist, Leslie Baumann while tocopheryl acetate is more stable and has a longer shelf life, it’s also more poorly absorbed by the skin and may not have the same awesome photoprotective effects as pure Vit E.
The essential oil coming from the second most common type of chamomile, the Roman Chamomile. It also contains the biologically active anti-inflammatory components, bisabolol, and chamazulene, but less than the more commonly used German Chamomile. It's not clear what Roman Chamomile knows that the German one does not.
We have to start by writing how fascinated we are by the amazing lavender fields of Provance and we do love pretty much everything about lavender: its look, its color, its scent.... but, when it comes to skincare, lavender is a questionable ingredient that you probably do not want in your skincare products.
First, let us start with the pros: it has a lovely scent, so no wonder that it is popular as a fragrance ingredient in natural products wanting to be free from synthetic fragrances but still wanting to smell nice. The scent of lavender is famous for having calming and relaxing properties and some smallish scientific studies do support that. Inhaled volatile compounds seem to have a soothing effect on the central nervous system and studies have shown that lavender aromatherapy can improve patient's anxiety and experience in hospitals.
The essential oil coming from the leafs of the lovely herb, rosemary. It contains several fragrant components, including the well-known irritant, camphor (around 15%). It has a nice smell, is a potent antioxidant and it's also an antimicrobial agent.
If your skin is sensitive, it's probably a good idea to avoid 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.
Sunflower does not need a big intro as you probably use it in the kitchen as cooking oil, or you munch on the seeds as a healthy snack or you adore its big, beautiful yellow flower during the summer - or you do all of these and probably even more. And by even more we mean putting it all over your face as sunflower oil is one of the most commonly used plant oils in skincare.
It’s a real oldie: expressed directly from the seeds, the oil is used not for hundreds but thousands of years. According to The National Sunflower Association, there is evidence that both the plant and its oil were used by American Indians in the area of Arizona and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Do the math: it's more than 5000 years – definitely an oldie.
The emollient plant oil coming from the soybean. It is considered to be a nice, cost-effective base oil with moisturizing properties. As for its fatty acid profile, it contains 48-59% barrier-repairing linoleic acid, 17-30% nourishing oleic acid and also some (4.5-11%) potentially anti-inflammatory linolenic acid.
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. It's not a new ingredient, it has been used both as a food and cosmetics additive since the 1970s. Plenty of studies tried to examine if it's a carcinogen or not. This Truth in Aging article details the situation and also writes that all these studies examine BHT when taken orally.
It's one of the active parts of Chamomile that contains about 30% of bisabolol. It's a clear oily fluid that is used in skincare as a nice anti-inflammatory and soothing ingredient.
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
You may also want to take a look at...
what‑it‑does | emollient | solvent |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0-2 |
what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
what‑it‑does | emollient |
what‑it‑does | emollient | perfuming |
irritancy, com. | 3, 3-5 |
what‑it‑does | cell-communicating ingredient |
irritancy, com. | 1-3, 1-3 |
what‑it‑does | antioxidant |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
what‑it‑does | soothing | perfuming |
what‑it‑does | antimicrobial/antibacterial | perfuming |
what‑it‑does | antioxidant | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
what‑it‑does | soothing | antioxidant | perfuming |
what‑it‑does | emollient |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
what‑it‑does | emollient | perfuming |
irritancy, com. | 0, 3 |
what‑it‑does | antioxidant | preservative |
what‑it‑does | soothing |
what‑it‑does | perfuming |