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Epicuren Discovery Ultra Rose Treat Enzyme Moisturizer

Ultra Rose Treat Enzyme Moisturizer

A rich rejuvenating moisturizer, featuring the metadermabolic® protein enzyme complex and bulgarian rose otto. Helps dehydrated skin to appear replenished and moisturized.
Uploaded by: hannahh on

Highlights

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Skim through

Ingredient name what-it-does irr., com. ID-Rating
Water (Aqua) solvent
Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Oil antioxidant, emollient 0, 0-2 goodie
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride emollient
Cetearyl Alcohol emollient, viscosity controlling, emulsifying, surfactant/​cleansing 1, 2
Tocopheryl Acetate antioxidant 0, 0
Collagen Amino Acids skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/​humectant goodie
Hydrolyzed Elastin moisturizer/​humectant, emollient
Rose Extract
Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract soothing, emollient, moisturizer/​humectant goodie
Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil emollient 0, 1-3 goodie
Ethylhexyl Palmitate emollient 0, 2-4
Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Seed Extract perfuming
Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi (Bearberry) Leaf Extract antioxidant, skin brightening goodie
Biotin
Niacin
Riboflavin colorant
Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer viscosity controlling
Allantoin soothing 0, 0 goodie
Ascorbyl Palmitate antioxidant 0, 2 icky
Ceteareth-20 emulsifying, surfactant/​cleansing 3, 2
Sorbitan Stearate emulsifying 1, 0
Retinyl Palmitate cell-communicating ingredient 1-3, 1-3
Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil emollient 0, 1-2 goodie
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil emollient 0, 0-2 goodie
Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Oil soothing, moisturizer/​humectant, perfuming
Panthenol soothing, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 goodie
Lecithin emollient, emulsifying goodie
Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil emollient goodie
Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil antioxidant, emollient 0, 0-3 goodie
Vitis Vinifera (Grapeseed) Oil antioxidant, emollient goodie
Rosa Canina (Rosehip) Oil emollient goodie
Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Oil
Propanediol solvent, moisturizer/​humectant
Phenoxyethanol preservative
Ethylhexylglycerin preservative

Epicuren Discovery Ultra Rose Treat Enzyme Moisturizer
Ingredients explained

Also-called: Aqua | What-it-does: solvent

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. 

Also-called: Safflower Seed Oil;Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil | What-it-does: antioxidant, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0-2

The oil coming from the seeds of the yellow flowered safflower plant. Similar to other plant oils, it's loaded with nourishing and moisturizing fatty acids: it's a high linoleic acid oil (70%) and has only smaller amounts of oleic acid (11%) (this might be great for acne-prone skin). It also contains antioxidant vitamin E (44mg/100g alpha-tocopherol).

What-it-does: emollient

A super common emollient that makes your skin feel nice and smooth. It comes from coconut oil and glycerin, it’s light-textured, clear, odorless and non-greasy. It’s a nice ingredient that just feels good on the skin, is super well tolerated by every skin type and easy to formulate with. No wonder it’s popular. 

What-it-does: emollient, viscosity controlling, emulsifying, emulsion stabilising, surfactant/cleansing | Irritancy: 1 | Comedogenicity: 2

An extremely common multitasker ingredient that gives your skin a nice soft feel (emollient) and gives body to creams and lotions. It also helps to stabilize oil-water mixes (emulsions), though it does not function as an emulsifier in itself. Its typical use level in most cream type formulas is 2-3%.  

It’s a so-called fatty alcohol, a mix of cetyl and stearyl alcohol, other two emollient fatty alcohols.  Though chemically speaking, it is alcohol (as in, it has an -OH group in its molecule), its properties are totally different from the properties of low molecular weight or drying alcohols such as denat. alcohol. Fatty alcohols have a long oil-soluble (and thus emollient) tail part that makes them absolutely non-drying and non-irritating and are totally ok for the skin.

Also-called: Vitamin E Acetate | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

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. 

Amino acids are important natural moisturizing factors (NMFs), that can be found naturally in the skin where they help the epidermis (upper layer of the skin) to stay nice and hydrated

Amino acids are also the building blocks of proteins, such as collagen, so when you thoroughly chop up a big collagen molecule, you end up with an amino acid mixture, like this guy we are writing about. Btw, if you chop it up less thoroughly, you get hydrolyzed collagen, a kind of peptide mixture with smallish chains of amino acids. 

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Aloe Leaf Extract | What-it-does: soothing, emollient, moisturizer/humectant

The extract coming from the juice containing leaves of the Aloe vera plant. It's usually a hydroglycolic extract (though  oil extract for the lipid parts also exists) that has similar moisturizing, emollient and anti-inflammatory properties as the juice itself. We have written some more about aloe here.

Also-called: Sesame Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1-3

A goldish to dark yellow emollient plant oil coming from Sesame seeds. Similar to many other plant oils, it contains high amounts of nourishing and moisturizing fatty acids (about 38% of oleic and 48% of linoleic acid) and is a nice oil to repair and regenerate dry skin. It is rapidly absorbed and gives the skin a soft and gentle feel.  

What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2-4

A super common, medium-spreading emollient ester that gives richness to the formula and a mild feel during rubout. It can be a replacement for mineral oil and is often combined with other emollients to achieve different sensorial properties.

Also-called: Grapefruit Seed Extract | What-it-does: perfuming, astringent

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Bearberry, Kinnikinnick | What-it-does: antioxidant, skin brightening

Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi is a little plant with nice red berries that lives in the North and is also called bearberry or kinnikinnick. According to Wikipedia the uva-ursi part means “grape of the bear”.  

As for skincare bearberry is interesting because it contains the well-known skin lightening agent arbutin. The leaves contain 5-15% percent of it and might be able to help fading brown spots on the skin. Also, kinnikinnick (such a cool name :)) is an antioxidant and has some antibacterial activity

Also-called: Vitamin H

Also called vitamin H, biotin is the main component of many enzymes in our body. A nice ingredient to take as a supplement for stronger nails and hair. When you do not take it as a supplement its effects are a bit more questionable but according to manufacturer info it can smooth the skin and strengthen the hair.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

What-it-does: colorant

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Sepinov EMT 10 | What-it-does: viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising

This long-named, polymer molecule (big molecule from repeated subunits) is a helper ingredient that's good at emulsifying and stabilizing oils into water-based formulas. It also acts as a thickening and gelling agent that creates nice, non-sticky and supple textures. It works over a very wide pH range (3-12) and can be used to thicken up low-ph formulas, such as exfoliants. Its recommended used range is 0.3-3%.

Allantoin - goodie
What-it-does: soothing | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 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' also skin-softening and protecting and can promote wound healing.

Also-called: Form of Vitamin C | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2

A form of skincare superstar, vitamin C. Even though we are massive vitamin C fans,  Ascorbyl Palmitate  (AP) is our least favorite. (Btw, if you do not know what the big deal with vitamin C is then you are missing out. You must go and read our geeky details about it.) 

So, AP is one of the attempts by the cosmetics industry to solve the stability issues with vitamin C while preserving its benefits,  but it seems to fall short on several things.

What-it-does: emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | Irritancy: 3 | Comedogenicity: 2

A common functional ingredient that helps to keep the oil-loving and water-loving ingredients together (emulsifier), stabilizes and thickens the products. 

Chemically speaking, it is ethoxylated Cetearyl alcohol, meaning that some ethylene oxide is added to the fatty alcohol to increase the water-soluble part in the molecule. The result is that the mainly oil soluble, emollient fatty alcohol is converted to an emulsifier molecule that keeps oil and water mixed in creams. The number in the name of Ceteareth emulsifiers refers to the average number of ethylene oxide molecules added and 20 makes a good emulsifier.

What-it-does: emulsifying | Irritancy: 1 | Comedogenicity: 0

A popular, vegetable-derived oil-loving emulsifier that helps water to mix with oil. In itself, it is suitable for water-in-oil emulsions (where water droplets are dispersed in oil), but it is more often used as a co-emulsifier next to other, water-loving emulsifiers. 

Chemically speaking, it comes from the attachment of sorbitan (a dehydrated sorbitol (sugar) molecule) with the fatty acid Stearic Acid, that creates a partly water (the sorbitan part) and partly oil soluble (stearic part) molecule. 

Also-called: Form of Retinoids | What-it-does: cell-communicating ingredient | Irritancy: 1-3 | Comedogenicity: 1-3

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 king being the FDA-approved anti-aging ingredient tretinoin. Retinol is also a very famous member of the family, but it's like Prince George, two steps away from the throne. Retinyl palmitate will be then Prince Charlotte (George's little sister), 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:

Also-called: Apricot Kernel Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1-2

The emollient plant oil coming from the kernel (the seed of the seed) of the delicious apricot fruit. Like other plant oils, it contains antioxidant vitamin E and nourishing fatty acids (mostly oleic acid 54-74%, linoleic acid 12-35%).

It's a nice general purpose emollient, has nourishing and moisturizing properties (as a high oleic oil it's ideal for dry skin types) and is quite easily absorbed into the skin.

Also-called: Jojoba Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0-2

Jojoba is a drought resistant evergreen shrub native to South-western North America. It's known and grown for jojoba oil, the golden yellow liquid coming from the seeds (about 50% of the weight of the seeds will be oil).  

At first glance, it seems like your average emollient plant oil: it looks like an oil and it's nourishing and moisturizing to the skin but if we dig a bit deeper, it turns out that jojoba oil is really special and unique: technically - or rather chemically - it's not an oil but a wax ester (and calling it an oil is kind of sloppy). 

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Panthenol - goodie
Also-called: Pro-Vitamin B5 | What-it-does: soothing, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

An easy-to-formulate, commonly used, nice to have ingredient that’s also called pro-vitamin B5. As you might guess from the “pro” part, it’s a precursor to vitamin B5 (whose fancy name is pantothenic acid). 

Its main job in skincare products is to moisturise the skin. It’s a humectant meaning that it can help the skin to attract water and then hold onto it. There is also research showing that panthenol can help our skin to produce more lovely lipids that are important for a strong and healthy skin barrier. 

Lecithin - goodie
What-it-does: emollient, emulsifying

A very common ingredient that can be found in all cell membranes. In cosmetics it's quite the multi-tasker: it's an emollient and water-binding ingredient but it's also an emulsifier and can be used for stabilization purposes. It's also often used to create liposomes

Also-called: Meadowfoam Oil | What-it-does: emollient

The emollient plant oil coming from the seeds of the white flowering plant called meadowfoam.  Meadowfoam Oil has a unique fatty acid composition with 95% of it being long chain fatty acids (eicosenoic acid C20:1 - 61%, docosenoic acid C22:1 - 16% and docosadienoic acid C22:2 - 18%) that make the oil extraordinarily stable. It also contains antioxidant components such as vitamin E as well as phytosterols.

Apart from Meadowfoam Oil's crazy stability, the oil is described as non-greasy, rapidly absorbed and having a similar skin feel to more often used jojoba oil. The oil is ideal for products where a soft, smooth, silky feel is required whether it be on skin or hair.

Also-called: Avocado Oil, Persea Americana Oil | What-it-does: antioxidant, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0-3

The oil coming from the pulp of one of the most nutritious fruits in the world, the avocado. It's loaded with the nourishing and moisturizing fatty acid, oleic (70%) and contains some others including palmitic (10%) and linoleic acid (8%). It also contains a bunch of minerals and vitamins A, E and D

Avocado oil has extraordinary skin penetration abilities and can nourish different skin layers. It's a very rich, highly moisturizing emollient oil that makes the skin smooth and nourished. Thanks to its vitamin E content it also has some antioxidant properties. As a high-oleic plant oil, it is recommended for dry skin

Also-called: Grape Seed Oil;Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil | What-it-does: antioxidant, emollient

A goodie plant oil coming from the polyphenol-rich seeds of the grape. It's a light emollient oil that makes your skin feel smooth and nice and also contains a bunch of good-for-the-skin stuff. It's a great source of antioxidant polyphenols, barrier repair fatty acid linoleic acid (about 55-77%, while oleic acid is about 12-27%) and antioxidant, skin-protectant vitamin E

Also-called: Dog-Rose Seed Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil;Rosa Canina Seed Oil | What-it-does: emollient

The oil coming from the seeds of dog-rose, a wild rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It's a nice emollient, moisturizing plant oil loaded with skin-nourishing fatty acids (linoleic acid - 51%, linolenic acid - 19% and oleic acid - 20%). 

If you start to dig a bit deeper into the rosehip oil topic, you will soon see that there are lots of species of rose, and it's all a bit confusing to know what the differences and similarities between the oils of the different roses are. As far as our research can tell, here is the gist.

Also-called: Sandalwood Oil

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Zemea | What-it-does: solvent, moisturizer/humectant

Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often used and often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved. 

It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula. 

What-it-does: preservative

It’s pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, but even more importantly, it’s not a feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason paraben.

It’s not something new: it was introduced around 1950 and today it can be used up to 1% worldwide. It can be found in nature - in green tea - but the version used in cosmetics is synthetic. 

What-it-does: preservative, deodorant

If you have spotted ethylhexylglycerin on the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative, phenoxyethanol. They are good friends because ethylhexylglycerin can boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too.

Also, it's an effective deodorant and a medium spreading emollient

You may also want to take a look at...

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 antioxidant | emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 0-2
Safflower Seed Oil - emollient plant oil with moisturizing fatty acids (linoleic: 70%, oleic: 11%) and antioxidant vitamin E (44mg/100g alpha-tocopherol). [more]
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 | viscosity controlling | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com. 1, 2
A super common multitasker ingredient that gives your skin a nice soft feel (emollient) and gives body to creams. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant
irritancy, com. 0, 0
A form of vitamin E that works as an antioxidant. Compared to the pure form it's more stable, has longer shelf life, but it's also more poorly absorbed by the skin. [more]
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
Amino acids are important natural moisturizing factors (NMFs), that can be found naturally in the skin where they help the epidermis (upper layer of the skin) to stay nice and hydrated. Amino acids are also the building blocks of proteins, such as collagen, so when you thoroughly chop up a big collagen molecule, you end up with an amino acid mixture, like this guy we are writing about. [more]
what‑it‑does moisturizer/humectant | emollient
what‑it‑does soothing | emollient | moisturizer/humectant
The extract coming from the juice containing leaves of the Aloe vera plant with moisturizing, emollient and anti-inflammatory properties. [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 1-3
Emollient plant oil coming from the seeds of Sesame. Contains high amounts of nourishing and moisturizing fatty acids (about 38% of oleic 48% of linoleic acid). [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 2-4
A super common, medium-spreading emollient ester that gives richness to the formula and a mild feel during rubout. [more]
what‑it‑does perfuming
what‑it‑does antioxidant | skin brightening
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi is a little plant with nice red berries that lives in the North and is also called bearberry or kinnikinnick. According to Wikipedia the uva-ursi part means “grape of the bear”. [more]
Vitamin H is a great supplement for stronger nails and hair. As a skincare ingredient, it's a bit more questionable, but it might smooth the skin and strengthen the hair. [more]
what‑it‑does colorant
what‑it‑does viscosity controlling
A helper ingredient that's good at stabilizing water-based formulas and also serves as a thickener. [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 antioxidant
irritancy, com. 0, 2
An oil soluble vitamin C derivative that has mixed data about its effectiveness. [more]
what‑it‑does emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
irritancy, com. 3, 2
A common functional ingredient that helps to keep the oil-loving and water-loving ingredients together (emulsifier), stabilizes and thickens the products.  [more]
what‑it‑does emulsifying
irritancy, com. 1, 0
A popular, vegetable-derived oil-loving emulsifier that helps water to mix with oil. In itself, it is suitable for water-in-oil emulsions (where water droplets are dispersed in oil), but it is more often used as a co-emulsifier next to other, water-loving emulsifiers.  Chemically speaking, it comes from the attachment of sorbitan (a dehydrated sorbitol (sugar) molecule) with the fatty [more]
what‑it‑does cell-communicating ingredient
irritancy, com. 1-3, 1-3
An ester form of vitamin A (retinol + palmitic acid) that is pretty much the least effective member of the retinoid family. Its anti-aging effects are quite questionable as well as its behavior in the presence of UVA light. (Use it at night if possible!) [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 1-2
Apricot Kernel Oil - a nice general purpose emollient plant oil with vitamin E and fatty acids (mostly oleic acid 54-74%, linoleic acid 12-35%). [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 soothing | moisturizer/humectant | perfuming
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 emollient | emulsifying
It's quite the multi-tasker: an emollient and water-binding ingredient but also an emulsifier and can be used for stabilization purposes. It's also often used to create liposomes.  [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
Meadowfoam Oil - An emollient plant that is stable, non-greasy and rapidly absorbed. It gives a soft, smooth, silky skin feel. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant | emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 0-3
Avocado oil - a highly moisturizing, rich emollient oil that is loaded with fatty acids (oleic - 70%) and vitamin A, E and D. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant | emollient
A goodie plant oil coming from the polyphenol-rich seeds of the grape. It's a light emollient oil that is a great source of antioxidant polyphenols, barrier repair fatty acid linoleic acid and antioxidant, skin-protectant vitamin E. 
what‑it‑does emollient
The oil coming from dog-rose. A nice emollient, moisturizing plant oil loaded with skin-nourishing fatty acids (linoleic acid - 51%, linolenic acid - 19% and oleic acid - 20%). [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 preservative
Pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, and can be used up to 1% worldwide. [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]