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Lira Clinical Ice Balancing Lotion With Psc

Ice Balancing Lotion With Psc

Provides light-weight hydration with a matte finish. Lightens, brightens and calms skin without drying or clogging pores.
Uploaded by: jess312 on

Ingredients overview

Water (Aqua), Propanediol, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Dimethicone, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Behenoxy Dimethicone, Pistacia Lentiscus Gum/​Pistacia Lentiscus(Mastic) Gum, Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17, Lecithin, Acetyl Carboxymethyl Cocoyl Glycine, Echinacea Angustifolia Meristem Cell Culture, Syringa Vulgaris (Lilac) Leaf Cell Culture Extract, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Cocoyl Arginine Amide, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Equisetum Arvense Extract, Symphytum-Officinale-Rhizome-Root-Extract, Thymus Vulgaris (Thyme) Flower Extract, Thymus Vulgaris Leaf Extract, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Resorcinol, Hydrastis Canadensis (Goldenseal) Extract, Niacinamide, Zingiber Zerumbet Extract, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Glycosaminoglycans, Malva Sylvestris (Mallow) Extract, Allantoin, Veronica Officinalis Extract, Melissa Officinalis Leaf Extract, Achillea Millefolium Extract, Phytosphingosine, Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi Leaf Extract, Ceramide 3, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Morus Alba Leaf Extract, Squalane, Ceramide 1, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract, Rice, Saccharomyces Lysate, Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate, Halidrys Siliquosa Extract, Ceramide 6 II, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Panthenol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Dimethylmethoxy Chromanyl Palmitate, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Carbomer, Acrylates/​C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Glyceryl Oleate, Behenyl Alcohol, Behenic Acid, Cholesterol, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Alcohol, Tromethamine

Highlights

Skim through

Ingredient name what-it-does irr., com. ID-Rating
Water (Aqua) solvent
Propanediol solvent, moisturizer/​humectant
Glycerin skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 superstar
Butylene Glycol moisturizer/​humectant, solvent 0, 1
Dimethicone emollient 0, 1
Ascorbyl Glucoside antioxidant, skin brightening goodie
Potassium Cetyl Phosphate emulsifying, surfactant/​cleansing
Behenoxy Dimethicone emollient
Pistacia Lentiscus Gum/Pistacia Lentiscus(Mastic) Gum
Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17 cell-communicating ingredient goodie
Lecithin emollient, emulsifying goodie
Acetyl Carboxymethyl Cocoyl Glycine chelating
Echinacea Angustifolia Meristem Cell Culture
Syringa Vulgaris (Lilac) Leaf Cell Culture Extract
Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract soothing goodie
Cocoyl Arginine Amide
Arnica Montana Flower Extract perfuming icky
Equisetum Arvense Extract soothing, emollient
Symphytum-Officinale-Rhizome-Root-Extract
Thymus Vulgaris (Thyme) Flower Extract
Thymus Vulgaris Leaf Extract
Fucus Vesiculosus Extract emollient, soothing
Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract soothing, antioxidant 0, 0 goodie
Resorcinol antioxidant, perfuming
Hydrastis Canadensis (Goldenseal) Extract
Niacinamide cell-communicating ingredient, skin brightening, anti-acne, moisturizer/​humectant superstar
Zingiber Zerumbet Extract
Fucus Vesiculosus Extract emollient, soothing
Sodium Hyaluronate skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 goodie
Glycosaminoglycans emollient
Malva Sylvestris (Mallow) Extract emollient, soothing
Allantoin soothing 0, 0 goodie
Veronica Officinalis Extract
Melissa Officinalis Leaf Extract
Achillea Millefolium Extract soothing, surfactant/​cleansing
Phytosphingosine skin-identical ingredient, cell-communicating ingredient, anti-acne, antimicrobial/​antibacterial goodie
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi Leaf Extract antioxidant, skin brightening goodie
Ceramide 3 skin-identical ingredient goodie
Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate skin brightening, antioxidant goodie
Morus Alba Leaf Extract
Squalane skin-identical ingredient, emollient 0, 1 goodie
Ceramide 1 skin-identical ingredient goodie
Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract soothing, skin brightening superstar
Rice viscosity controlling
Saccharomyces Lysate
Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate soothing goodie
Halidrys Siliquosa Extract
Ceramide 6 II skin-identical ingredient goodie
Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract antioxidant, soothing goodie
Panthenol soothing, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 goodie
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice soothing, moisturizer/​humectant goodie
Dimethylmethoxy Chromanyl Palmitate skin brightening
Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil perfuming icky
Carbomer viscosity controlling 0, 1
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer viscosity controlling
Sodium Citrate chelating, buffering
Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate emulsifying
Tocopheryl Acetate antioxidant 0, 0
Glyceryl Oleate emollient, emulsifying, perfuming
Behenyl Alcohol emollient, viscosity controlling
Behenic Acid surfactant/​cleansing, emulsifying 0, 0
Cholesterol skin-identical ingredient, emollient 0, 0 goodie
Phenoxyethanol preservative
Ethylhexylglycerin preservative
Alcohol antimicrobial/​antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling icky
Tromethamine buffering

Lira Clinical Ice Balancing Lotion With Psc
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: 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. 

Glycerin - superstar
Also-called: Glycerol | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
  • 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
Read all the geeky details about Glycerin here >>

What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant, solvent | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1

Butylene glycol, or let’s just call it BG, is a multi-tasking colorless, syrupy liquid. It’s a great pick for creating a nice feeling product.  

BG’s main job is usually to be a solvent for the other ingredients. Other tasks include helping the product to absorb faster and deeper into the skin (penetration enhancer), making the product spread nicely over the skin (slip agent), and attracting water (humectant) into the skin.

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

Probably the most common silicone of all. It is a polymer (created from repeating subunits) molecule and has different molecular weight and thus different viscosity versions from water-light to thick liquid.

As for skincare, it makes the skin silky smooth, creates a subtle gloss and forms a protective barrier (aka occlusive). Also, works well to fill in fine lines and wrinkles and give skin a plump look (of course that is only temporary, but still, it's nice). There are also scar treatment gels out there using dimethicone as their base ingredient. It helps to soften scars and increase their elasticity. 

Also-called: Form of Vitamin C | What-it-does: antioxidant, skin brightening

A form of skincare superstar, vitamin C. If you do not know why vitamin C is such a big deal in skincare, we have a really detailed, geeky description that's good to read. :) 

So now you know that because pure vitamin C is such a diva (very unstable and hard to formulate) the cosmetic industry is trying to come up with some derivatives that have the badass anti-aging properties of vitamin C (antioxidant protection + collagen boosting + fading hyperpigmentation) but without the disadvantages. This is a hard task, and there is not yet a derivative that is really proven to be better in every aspect, but Ascorbyl Glucoside is one of the best options when it comes to vitamin C derivatives. Let's see why:

A white to beige powder that is described as the golden standard emulsifier for emulsions (oil+water mixtures) that are difficult to stabilize. It is especially popular in sunscreens as it can boost SPF protection and increase the water-resistance of the formula. 

What-it-does: emollient

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Mastic Gum, PoreAway;Pistacia Lentiscus Gum | What-it-does: absorbent/mattifier

Mustic gum is an aromatic resin coming from the bark of a tree that grows on the Greek island of Chios. It was traditionally used as a chewing gum to clean the teeth and freshen the breath thanks to its anti-microbial properties.

As for modern skincare, it is the active ingredient in a skin care complex trade named PoreAway, that is claimed to tighten dilated pores and reduce shine. It works by blocking 5α reductase type I, an enzyme that has an important role in the sebum-producing process (by converting testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, aka DHT, that is the main sebum producing hormone in the skin). 

Also-called: SymPeptide 226 | What-it-does: cell-communicating ingredient

A five amino acid peptide (Lys-Leu-Ala-Lys-Lys) attached to the oil-soluble fatty acid, myristic acid for better bioavailability. It is known to significantly stimulate keratin genes, i. e. it can convince the cells to produce more keratin, the super important structural protein in hair, nails and the outermost layer of the skin.

Most often you will meet Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17 combined with Myristoyl Hexapeptide-16 in eyelash growth products, as the two together can visibly increase eyelash length after two weeks. 

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

What-it-does: chelating

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: White Willow Bark Extract | What-it-does: soothing, astringent

The extract coming from the bark of the White Willow, a big (25 m/80 ft.) tree that likes to live on riverbanks. It's famous for containing anti-inflammatory natural salicylates (this powder, for example, is standardized to contain 53-65%), a close chemical relative to famous exfoliant salicylic acid.

Thanks to its salicin content, willow bark is often touted as a natural alternative to salicylic acid, though it's quite questionable how effective it is as a chemical exfoliant in the tiny amounts used in cosmetics. Apart from soothing salicin, it also contains flavonoids and phenolic acids that give willow bark tonic, astringent, and antiseptic properties.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Mountain Arnica Extract | What-it-does: perfuming

A nice yellow flower living in the mountains. It has been used as a herbal medicine for centuries, though its effect on skin is rather questionable. It's most famously used to treat bruisings, but there are some studies that show that it's not better than placebo (source: wikipedia).  Also, some consider it to be anti-inflammatory, while other research shows that it can cause skin irritation. 

Also-called: Horsetail Extract | What-it-does: soothing, emollient, astringent

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

This ingredient name is not according to the INCI-standard. :( What, why?!

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

What-it-does: emollient, soothing

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: German Chamomile Flower Extract | What-it-does: soothing, antioxidant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

Chamomile probably needs no introduction as it's one of the most widely used medicinal herbs. You probably drink it regularly as a nice, calming cup of tea and it's also a regular on skincare ingredient lists.

Cosmetic companies use it mainly for its anti-inflammatory properties. It contains the terpenoids chamazulene and bisabolol both of which show great anti-inflammatory action in animal studies. On top of that chamomile also has some antioxidant activity (thanks to some other active ingredients called matricine, apigenin and luteolin).  

What-it-does: antioxidant, perfuming

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Niacinamide - superstar
Also-called: vitamin B3, nicotinamide | What-it-does: cell-communicating ingredient, skin brightening, anti-acne, moisturizer/humectant
  • A multi-functional skincare superstar with several proven benefits for the skin
  • Great anti-aging, wrinkle smoothing ingredient used at 4-5% concentration
  • Fades brown spots alone or in combination with amino sugar, acetyl glucosamine
  • Increases ceramide synthesis that results in a stronger, healthier skin barrier and better skin hydration
  • Can help to improve several skin conditions including acne, rosacea, and atopic dermatitis
Read all the geeky details about Niacinamide here >>

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

What-it-does: emollient, soothing

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

It’s the - sodium form - cousin of the famous NMFhyaluronic 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". 

What-it-does: emollient

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Mallow Extract | What-it-does: astringent, emollient, soothing

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

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: Speedwell Extract

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

It's a type of lipid, a so-called sphingoid base that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. It's found both in "free-form" and as part of famous skin lipids, ceramides.

There is emerging research about Phytosphingosine that shows that it has antimicrobial and cell-communicating properties and is considered part of the skin's natural defense system.

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

Ceramide 3 - goodie
Also-called: Ceramide NP | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient

One of the many types of ceramides that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. Ceramides make up about 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated. It works even better when combined with its pal, Ceramide 1.

We wrote way more about ceramides at ceramide 1, so click here to know more.

Also-called: Form of Vitamin C, MAP | What-it-does: skin brightening, antioxidant

A form of skincare superstar, Vitamin C. If you do not know, what the big deal about Vitamin C is, click here and read all about it, we will wait here for you. 

So now you know that pure vitamin C (aka ascorbic acid, AA) is really unstable and hard to formulate so the cosmetics industry is coming up with a bunch of derivatives to solve the problem and Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (or MAP) is one of them.  

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Squalane - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1

It seems to us that squalane is in fashion and there is a reason for it. Chemically speaking, it is a saturated  (no double bonds) hydrocarbon (a molecule consisting only of carbon and hydrogen), meaning that it's a nice and stable oily liquid with a long shelf life. 

It occurs naturally in certain fish and plant oils (e.g. olive), and in the sebum (the oily stuff our skin produces) of the human skin. As f.c. puts it in his awesome blog post, squalane's main things are "emolliency, surface occlusion, and TEWL prevention all with extreme cosmetic elegance". In other words, it's a superb moisturizer that makes your skin nice and smooth, without being heavy or greasy.

Ceramide 1 - goodie
Also-called: Ceramide EOP | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient

Ceramides get quite a lot of hype recently and good news: there is a reason for that. But before we go into the details, let's just quickly define what the heck ceramides are:

They are waxy lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin (called stratum corneum - SC). And they are there in big amounts! The goopy stuff between our skin cells is called extracellular matrix that consists mainly of lipids. And ceramides are about 50% of those lipids (the other important ones are cholesterol with 25% and fatty acids with 15%). 

Also-called: Licorice Root | What-it-does: soothing, skin brightening

You might know licorice as a sweet treat from your childhood, but it's actually a legume that grows around the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, central and southern Russia. It's sweet and yellow and not only used for licorice all sorts but it's also a skincare superstar thanks to two magic properties:

Nr. 1 magic property is that it has skin-lightening or to say it another way depigmenting properties. The most active part is called glabridin. The topical application (meaning when you put it on your face) of 0.5% glabridin was shown to inhibit UVB caused pigmentation of guinea pigs. Another study even suggested that licorice is more effective than the gold standard skin-lightening agent hydroquinone. All in all, licorice is considered to be one of the safest skin lightening agents with the fewest side effects.

What-it-does: viscosity controlling

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

What-it-does: soothing

Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate is a probiotic ingredient with soothing and maybe some anti-aging properties. It is produced by promoting Lactobacillus bulgaricus cells to secrete stress response elements. The secretion is then isolated and extracted from the live bacteria cell and voila, Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate. 

As for what it does in a cosmetic product, the manufacturer did several in-vitro (made in tubes) and one in-vivo (made on people) study. The in-vitro studies found plenty of good things:  Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate promoted oxygen uptake, collagen production, and ATP (the energy molecule in our body) synthesis in test tubes, however, these things might or might not happen when we smear it onto our faces. The only in-vivo, aka made on people study shows that our probiotic guy has some nice soothing and anti-irritant props. Though it was done only with 5 people,  5% of Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate Filtrate showed a 47% reduction in redness.

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Ceramide 6 II - goodie
Also-called: Ceramide AP | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient

A type of ceramide that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated. 

We have written way more about ceramides at ceramide 1, so click here to know more.

Also-called: Ginger Root Extract | What-it-does: antioxidant, soothing

The extract coming from ginger, the lovely spice that we all know from the kitchen. It is also a medicinal plant used both in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for pretty much everything you can imagine (muscular pain, sore throat, nausea, fever or cramps,  just to give a few examples).

As for ginger and skincare, the root extract contains the biologically active component called gingerol that has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Combined with Bisabololthe duo works synergistically to sooth the skin and take down redness. 

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. 

Also-called: Aloe Vera | What-it-does: soothing, moisturizer/humectant

Aloe Vera is one of today’s magic plants. It does have some very nice properties indeed, though famous dermatologist Leslie Baumann warns us in her book that most of the evidence is anecdotal and the plant might be a bit overhyped.

What research does confirm about Aloe is that it’s a great moisturizer and has several anti-inflammatory (among others contains salicylates, polysaccharides, magnesium lactate and C-glucosyl chromone) as well as some antibacterial components. It also helps wound healing and skin regeneration in general. All in all definitely a goodie. 

Also-called: Chromabright | What-it-does: skin brightening

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Also-called: Peppermint Oil | What-it-does: perfuming

The essential oil coming from steam distillation of freshly harvested, flowering peppermint sprigs. Its major component is menthol that gives the oil its well-known refreshing and cooling properties. Peppermint oil is traditionally used as an inhalant for cold and coughs and there is also some clinical data validating its use against headaches by rubbing a peppermint oil cream on the forehead. 

As for skincare, other than the nice grassy-minty smell and the refreshing sensations, we cannot write good things. It can be a skin irritant, so much so that it is a well-known counterirritant for muscle pains creating mild surface irritation to make things better in the deeper layers. But for everyday skincare, counterirritation is not something you wanna do, so we think that peppermint oil is better to avoid, especially if your skin is sensitive. 

What-it-does: viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1

A big molecule created from repeated subunits (a polymer of acrylic acid) that magically converts a liquid into a nice gel formula.  It usually has to be neutralized with a base (such as sodium hydroxide) for the thickening to occur and it creates viscous, clear gels that also feel nice and non-tacky on the skin. No wonder, it is a very popular and common ingredient. Typically used at 1% or less in most formulations.

Though its long name does not reveal it, this polymer molecule (big molecule from repeated subunits or monomers) is a relative to the super common, water-loving thickener, Carbomer. Both of them are big molecules that contain acrylic acid units, but Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer also contains some other monomers that are hydrophobic, i.e. water-hating. 

This means that our molecule is part water- and part oil-loving, so it not only works as a thickener but also as an emulsion stabilizer. It is very common in gel-type formulas that also contain an oil-phase as well as in cleansers as it also works with most cleansing agents (unlike a lot of other thickeners). 

What-it-does: chelating, buffering

A little helper ingredient that is used to adjust the pH of the product. It also helps to keep products stay nice longer by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (they usually come from water). 

What-it-does: emulsifying

A helper ingredient that's used as a co-emulsifier (meaning next to other emulsifiers in the formula it helps water and oil to mix) and as a stabilization agent for foams. Also, has some antimicrobial activity so it can help to boost the effectiveness of the preservative system.

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. 

What-it-does: emollient, emulsifying, perfuming

The attachment of glycerin and oleic acid that works mainly as a co-emulsifier and stabilizer to create stable water-oil mixes, aka emulsions. It is also popular in cleansing products as it helps to thicken them up and has some refatting and skin-smoothing effect. 

A fatty alcohol (the non-drying type with a long oil loving chain of 22 carbon atoms) that is used to increase the viscosity of the formula and it also helps the oily and the watery parts to stay nicely mixed together (called emulsion stabilizing). 

What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Cholesterol - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

It's one of the important lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin. About 25% of the goopy stuff between our skin cells consists of cholesterol. Together with ceramides and fatty acids, they play a vital role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated. 

Apart from being an important skin-identical ingredient, it's also an emollient and stabilizer

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

Alcohol - icky
Also-called: Ethanol | What-it-does: antimicrobial/antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling, astringent

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. 

What-it-does: buffering

It's a little helper ingredient that helps to set the pH of the products to be right. It has an alkaline pH and can neutralize acidic ingredients.

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 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 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 moisturizer/humectant | solvent
irritancy, com. 0, 1
An often used glycol that works as a solvent, humectant, penetration enhancer and also gives a good slip to the products. [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
irritancy, com. 0, 1
A very common silicone that gives both skin and hair a silky smooth feel. It also forms a protective barrier on the skin and fills in fine lines. Also used for scar treatment. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant | skin brightening
A stable and easy to formulate form of skincare superstar, vitamin C. In-vitro studies show that it shows all the three anti-aging benefits (antioxidant protection + collagen boosting + fading hyperpigmentation) that pure vitamin C does. [more]
what‑it‑does emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing
A white to beige powder that is the golden standard emulsifier for emulsions (oil+water mixtures) that are difficult to stabilize. [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
Mustic gum is an aromatic resin coming from the bark of a tree that grows on the Greek island of Chios. It was traditionally used as a chewing gum to clean the teeth and freshen the breath thanks to its anti-microbial properties.As for modern skincare, it is the active ingredient in a skin care complex trade named PoreAway, that is claimed to tighten  [more]
what‑it‑does cell-communicating ingredient
A five amino acid peptide (Lys-Leu-Ala-Lys-Lys) attached to the oil-soluble fatty acid, myristic acid for better bioavailability. It is known to significantly stimulate keratin genes, i. [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 chelating
what‑it‑does soothing
White Willow Bark Extract - Famous for containing anti-inflammatory natural salicylates. It also has tonic, astringent, and antiseptic properties. [more]
what‑it‑does perfuming
Mountain Arnica Extract - Most famously used to treat bruisings, though the scientific basis for its effectiveness is questionable. [more]
what‑it‑does soothing | emollient
what‑it‑does emollient | soothing
what‑it‑does soothing | antioxidant
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Chamomile extract - has great anti-inflammatory and some antioxidant properties. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant | perfuming
what‑it‑does cell-communicating ingredient | skin brightening | anti-acne | moisturizer/humectant
A multi-functional skincare superstar that has clinically proven anti-aging, skin lightening, anti-inflammatory and barrier repair properties. [more]
what‑it‑does emollient | soothing
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
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It's the salt form of famous humectant and natural moisturizing factor, hyaluronic acid. It can bind huge amounts of water and it's pretty much the current IT-moisturizer. [more]
what‑it‑does emollient
what‑it‑does emollient | soothing
what‑it‑does soothing
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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 soothing | surfactant/cleansing
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | cell-communicating ingredient | anti-acne | antimicrobial/antibacterial
A type of lipid that can be found naturally in the skin. Has antimicrobial and cell-communicating properties and is considered to be part of the skin's natural defence system. [more]
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]
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient
Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.  [more]
what‑it‑does skin brightening | antioxidant
A form of skincare superstar, Vitamin C - it has proven skin-brightening abilities (in-vivo) and it might be able to boost collagen production as well (in-vitro). [more]
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | emollient
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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 skin-identical ingredient
Ceramides get quite a lot of hype recently and good news: there is a reason for that. But before we go into the details, let's just quickly define what the heck ceramides are: They are waxy lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin (called stratum corneum - SC). [more]
what‑it‑does soothing | skin brightening
You might know licorice as a sweet treat from your childhood, but it's actually a legume that grows around the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, central and southern Russia. [more]
what‑it‑does viscosity controlling
what‑it‑does soothing
A probiotic ingredient with soothing and maybe some anti-aging properties. [more]
what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient
A type of ceramide that can be found naturally in the upper layer of the skin. Ceramides make up 50% of the goopy stuff that's between our skin cells and play a super important role in having a healthy skin barrier and keeping the skin hydrated.  We have written way more about ceramides at ceramide 1, so click here to know more. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant | soothing
Ginger extract that has antioxidant and soothing properties. It is also known to increase blood circulation and thus have a toning effect. [more]
what‑it‑does soothing | moisturizer/humectant
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Pro-Vitamin B5 is a goodie that moisturises the skin, has anti-inflammatory, skin protecting and wound healing properties. [more]
what‑it‑does soothing | moisturizer/humectant
The famous aloe vera. A great moisturizer and anti-inflammatory ingredient that also helps wound healing and skin regeneration. [more]
what‑it‑does skin brightening
what‑it‑does perfuming
The essential oil coming from steam distillation of freshly harvested, flowering peppermint sprigs. Its major component is menthol that gives the oil its well-known refreshing and cooling properties. [more]
what‑it‑does viscosity controlling
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A handy white powder that magically converts a liquid into a nice gel formula. [more]
what‑it‑does viscosity controlling
A common helper ingredient that stabilizes emulsions and helps to thicken up products. [more]
what‑it‑does chelating | buffering
A helper ingredient that is used to adjust the pH of the product. Also helps to keep products stay nice longer by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula. 
what‑it‑does emulsifying
A helper ingredient that's used as a co-emulsifier and as a stabilization agent for foams. [more]
what‑it‑does antioxidant
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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 emollient | emulsifying | perfuming
The attachment of glycerin and oleic acid that works mainly as a co-emulsifier and stabilizer to create stable water-oil mixes, aka emulsions. It is also popular in cleansing products as it helps to thicken them up and has some refatting and skin-smoothing effect.  [more]
what‑it‑does emollient | viscosity controlling
A fatty alcohol (the non-drying type) that is used to increase the viscosity of the formula and stabilize emulsions. [more]
what‑it‑does surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying
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what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | emollient
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It's one of the important lipids that can be found naturally in the outer layer of the skin. About 25% of the goopy stuff between our skin cells consists of cholesterol. [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]
what‑it‑does antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling
Simple alcohol that's a great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent, and antimicrobial. In large amount can be very drying. [more]
what‑it‑does buffering
It's a little helper ingredient that helps to set the pH of the products to be right. It has an alkaline pH and can neutralize acidic ingredients.