(Potato) Pulp Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Glycolic Acid - superstar
What-it-does: exfoliant, buffering
- It’s the most researched AHA with the most proven skin benefits
- It gently lifts off dead skin cells to reveal newer, fresher, smoother skin
- It can help skin’s own collagen production that results in firmer, younger skin
- It can fade brown spots caused by sun damage or PIH
- Choose a product where you know the concentration and pH value because these two greatly influence effectiveness
- Don’t forget to use your sunscreen (in any case but especially so next to an AHA product)
- Slight stinging or burning with a stronger AHA product is normal
- If your skin is very sensitive, rosacea prone choose rather a BHA or PHA product
Read all the geeky details about Glycolic Acid here >>
Glyceryl Stearate SE
What-it-does: emulsifying | Irritancy: 2 | Comedogenicity: 3
An oily kind of ingredient that can magically blend with water all by itself. This is called self-emulsifying and SE in its name stands for that.
The difference between "normal"Glyceryl Stearateand this guy is that the SE grade contains a small amount of water-loving soap molecules, such assodiumstearate. This increases Glyceryl Stearate's affinity for water and gives it stronger emulsifying abilities.
Other than that, it’s a nice emollient that gives a smooth and soft appearance to the skin.
You can read some more atGlyceryl Stearate >>
Cetearyl Alcohol
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) tailpart that makes them absolutelynon-drying and non-irritating and are totally ok for the skin.
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing
A cleansing agent that's claimed to be so gentle on the skin that it hardly impacts the skin barrier. It also gives arich, creamy foam, it's based on vegetable fatty acids and is readily biodegradable.
It's an especiallyimportant and popular ingredient in "syndet bars" (or soapless soaps). Dr. Leslie Baumann says in her greatCosmetic Dermatology book that thanks to the unique molecular characteristic ofSodium Cocoyl Isethionate, it "has defined a new dimension in the mildness of cleansing bars".
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
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 andeasy to formulate with. No wonder it’s popular.
Lactic Acid - superstar
What-it-does: exfoliant, moisturizer/humectant, buffering
- It’s the second most researched AHA after glycolic acid
- It gently lifts off dead skin cells to reveal newer, fresher, smoother skin
- It also has amazing skin hydrating properties
- In higher concentration (10% and up) it improves skin firmness, thickness and wrinkles
- Choose a product where you know the concentration and pH value because these two greatly influence effectiveness
- Don’t forget to use your sunscreen (in any case but especially so next to an AHA product)
Read all the geeky details about Lactic Acid here >>
Palmitic Acid
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient, emulsifying | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2
A fatty acid that can be found naturally in the skin. In fact, it's the most common saturated fatty acidfound in animals and plants.
As for skincare, it can make the skin feel nice and smooth in moisturizers (emollient) or it can act as a foam building cleansing agent in cleansers. It's also a very popular ingredient in shaving foams.
Stearic Acid
What-it-does: emollient, viscosity controlling | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2-3
A common multi-tasker fatty acid. It makes your skin feel nice and smooth (emollient), gives body to cream type products and helps to stabilize water and oilmixes (aka emulsions).
Ceteareth-20
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 thatthe mainly oil soluble, emollient fatty alcohol is converted to an emulsifier molecule that keeps oil and water mixedin creams. The numberin the name ofCeteareth emulsifiers refersto the average number of ethylene oxide molecules added and 20 makes a good emulsifier.
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter - goodie
Also-called: Shea Butter | What-it-does: emollient
Unless you live under a rock you must have heard about shea butter. It's probably the most hyped up natural butter in skincare today.It comes from the seeds of African Shea or KariteTreesand used as a magic moisturizer and emollient.
But it's not only a simple emollient, it regenerates and soothes the skin,protects it from external factors (such as UV rays or wind) and is also rich in antioxidants (among others vitamin A, E, F, quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate). If you are looking for rich emollient benefits + more, shea is hard to beat.
Prunus Avium (Sweet Cherry) Seed Oil
What-it-does: emollient, emulsion stabilising
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Malpighia Punicifolia (Acerola) Fruit Extract
What-it-does: antioxidant
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Bromelain
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Papain
Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Lactobacillus/Punica Granatum Fruit Ferment Extract - goodie
Also-called: Pomegranate Enzyme | What-it-does: exfoliant
It's the fancy name forpomegranate enzyme that's obtained by fermenting thepomegranate fruit withLactobacillus lactis.The fermentation process makes the desired phytochemicals readily available and selective filtration techniques are used toisolate the proteolytic fractions.
The end result is the enzyme that increases cell renewal and can be an alternative to acid exfoliation (though it is not as effective as glycolic acid even according to the manufacturer's measurementsnot to speak about the other benefits of glycolic acid).
Prunus Cerasus (Bitter Cherry) Shell Powder
What-it-does: abrasive/scrub
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Litchi Chinensis Seed Powder
What-it-does: abrasive/scrub
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Furcellaria Lumbricalis Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Tocopherol - goodie
Also-called: Vitamin E | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0-3 | Comedogenicity: 0-3
- Primary fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin
- Significant photoprotection against UVB rays
- Vit C + Vit E work in synergy and provide great photoprotection
- Has emollient properties
- Easy to formulate, stable and relatively inexpensive
Read all the geeky details about Tocopherol here >>
Coconut Acid
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emollient, emulsifying
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Extract - goodie
What-it-does: soothing, emollient
When it comes to sunflower and skincare, the seed oil is the common and well-known one. But according to manufacturer info, the seed extract also contains a bunch of skin goodies, including anti-inflammatory minerals, moisturizing and soothing amino acids, sugars and proteinsas well as antioxidant polyphenol derivatives.
Raphanus Sativus (Sunflower) Root Extract
What-it-does: astringent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract - goodie
Also-called: Rosemary Leaf Extract | What-it-does: antioxidant, soothing, antimicrobial/antibacterial
The extract coming from the lovely herb, rosemary. It contains lots of chemicals, including flavonoids,phenolic acids, and diterpenes. Its main active is rosmarinic acid, a potent antioxidant, andanti-inflammatory. It has also anti-bacterial, astringent and toning properties.
The leaves contain a small amount of essential oil (1-2%) with fragrant components, so if you are allergic to fragrance, it might be better to avoid it.
Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate
Also-called: Fermented Radish Root | What-it-does: antimicrobial/antibacterial, preservative
It's an alternative, natural preservative that comes fromradishes fermented withLeuconostoc kimchii, a lactic acid bacteria that has been used to make traditional Korean dish, kimchi. During the fermentation process, a peptide issecreted from the bacteria that has significant antimicrobial properties.
It is one of the more promising natural preservatives that can be used even alone (recommended at 2-4%), but it's not as effective as more common alternatives, like parabens or phenoxyethanol.
Caprylyl Glycol
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant, emollient, deodorant
It’s a handy multi-tasking ingredient that gives the skin a nice, soft feel. At the same time, it also boosts the effectiveness of other preservatives, such as the nowadays super commonly used phenoxyethanol.
The blend of these two (caprylyl glycol + phenoxyethanol) is called Optiphen, which not only helps to keep your cosmetics free from nasty things for a long time but also gives a good feel to the finished product. It's a popular duo.
Maltodextrin
What-it-does: absorbent/mattifier, emulsion stabilising
It's a little helper ingredient coming from corn, rice or potato starch that can help to keep skin mat (absorbent), to stabilise emulsions, and to keep the product together (binding).
Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate
Also-called: Tinogard TT | What-it-does: antioxidant, preservative
Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate is an antioxidant molecule used in small amounts (less than 0.8%) to help products stay nice longer. More specifically, it is great at preventing discoloration or other types of oxidative degradation. It is a trendy alternative to often bad-mouthed synthetic antioxidant and stabilizer,BHT.
Sodium Benzotriazolyl Butylphenol Sulfonate
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Sodium Isethionate
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Sodium Hydroxide
Also-called: lye | What-it-does: buffering
The unfancy name for it is lye. It’s a solid white stuff that’s very alkaline and used in small amounts to adjust the pH of the product and make it just right.
For example, in case of AHA or BHA exfoliants, the right pH is super-duper important, and pH adjusters like sodium hydroxide are needed.
BTW, lye is not something new. It was already used by ancient Egyptians to help oil and fat magically turn into something else. Can you guess what? Yes, it’s soap. It still often shows up in the ingredient list of soaps and other cleansers.
Sodium hydroxide in itselfis a potent skin irritant, but once it's reacted (as it is usually in skin care products, like exfoliants) it is totallyharmless.
Phenoxyethanol
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.
Other than having a good safety profile and being quite gentle to the skin it has some other advantages too. It can be used in many types of formulations as it has great thermal stability (can be heated up to 85°C) and works on a wide range of pH levels (ph 3-10).
It’s often used together with ethylhexylglycerin as it nicely improves the preservative activity of phenoxyethanol.
Parfum/Fragrance - icky
Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum | What-it-does: perfuming
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.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Red 40 (Ci 16035)
Also-called: Ci 16035 | What-it-does: colorant | Irritancy: 2 | Comedogenicity: 2
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Yellow 5 (Ci 19140)
Also-called: Tartrazine, Yellow 5;Ci 19140 | What-it-does: colorant
Ci 19140 or Tartrazine is a super common colorant in skincare, makeup, medicine & food. It’s a synthetic lemon yellow that'sused alone or mixed with other colors for special shades.
FDA saysit's possible, but rare, to have an allergic-type reaction to a color additive. As an example, it mentions that Ci 19140may cause itching and hives in some people but the colorant is always labeled so that you can avoid it if youare sensitive.
Red 33 (Ci 17200)
Also-called: Red 33, D&C Red 33, Red 33 Lake;Ci 17200 | What-it-does: colorant | Irritancy: 2 | Comedogenicity: 1
A super common synthetic colorant that adds a purple-red color - similar tored beet - to a product.
