Perfect Brightening Serum 355
Highlights
Key Ingredients
Skim through
Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Sodium Hyaluronate | skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | 0, 0 | goodie |
Palmaria Palmata Extract | |||
Caprylic Acid | surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying, perfuming | 3, 1 | |
Mandelic Acid | exfoliant, antimicrobial/antibacterial | goodie | |
Malva Sylvestris(Mallow) Extract | emollient, soothing | ||
Pentylene Glycol | solvent, moisturizer/humectant |
Ko Dermacare Perfect Brightening Serum 355Ingredients explained
It’s the - sodium form - cousin of the famous NMF, hyaluronic acid (HA). If HA does not tell you anything we have a super detailed, geeky explanation about it here. The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to hold onto water, being plump and elastic. HA is famous for its crazy water holding capacity as it can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water.
As far as skincare goes, sodium hyaluronate and hyaluronic acid are pretty much the same and the two names are used interchangeably. As cosmetic chemist kindofstephen writes on reddit "sodium hyaluronate disassociates into hyaluronic acid molecule and a sodium atom in solution".
In spite of this, if you search for "hyaluronic acid vs sodium hyaluronate" you will find on multiple places that sodium hyaluronate is smaller and can penetrate the skin better. Chemically, this is definitely not true, as the two forms are almost the same, both are polymers and the subunits can be repeated in both forms as much as you like. (We also checked Prospector for sodium hyaluronate versions actually used in cosmetic products and found that the most common molecular weight was 1.5-1.8 million Da that absolutely counts as high molecular weight).
What seems to be a true difference, though, is that the salt form is more stable, easier to formulate and cheaper so it pops up more often on the ingredient lists.
If you wanna become a real HA-and-the-skin expert you can read way more about the topic at hyaluronic acid (including penetration-questions, differences between high and low molecular weight versions and a bunch of references to scientific literature).
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
- Mandelic acid is an AHA that comes from bitter almond
- It can gently lift off dead surface skin cells and make the skin more smooth and even
- It has antibacterial properties
- It’s promising against acne and post inflammatory hyperpigmentation
- It’s light sensitive, so choose a product with opaque packaging
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
A multi-functional, silky feeling helper ingredient that can do quite many things. It's used as an emulsion stabilizer, solvent and a broad spectrum antimicrobial. According to manufacturer info, it's also a moisturizer and helps to make the product feel great on the skin. It works synergistically with preservatives and helps to improve water-resistance of sunscreens.
You may also want to take a look at...
what‑it‑does | skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying | perfuming |
irritancy, com. | 3, 1 |
what‑it‑does | exfoliant | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
what‑it‑does | emollient | soothing |
what‑it‑does | solvent | moisturizer/humectant |