What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Salicylic Acid 2%
Masking
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Sd Alcohol 40-B
Astringent
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Skin Conditioning
Hamamelis Virginiana Water
Astringent
Hydroxyethylcellulose
Emulsion StabilisingSpiraea Ulmaria Extract
AstringentLens Esculenta Fruit Extract
Skin ConditioningArnica Montana Flower Extract
Masking
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Antimicrobial
Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract
Masking
Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract
Masking
Lavandula Angustifolia Extract
Skin Conditioning
Glycyrrhiza Glabra Rhizome/Root
EmollientSalix Alba Bark Extract
Astringent
Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil
Masking
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil
Masking
Mentha Piperita Oil
Masking
Citral
Perfuming
Limonene
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
Salicylic Acid 2%, Water, Glycerin, Sd Alcohol 40-B, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Hamamelis Virginiana Water, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Spiraea Ulmaria Extract, Lens Esculenta Fruit Extract, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Rhizome/Root, Salix Alba Bark Extract, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil, Mentha Piperita Oil, Citral, Limonene, Linalool
Water
Skin ConditioningAloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Skin Conditioning
Arnica Montana Flower Extract
Masking
Taraxacum Officinale Root Extract
Skin ConditioningGeranium Maculatum Extract
TonicEquisetum Arvense Extract
AstringentCentella Asiatica Extract
Cleansing
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Antimicrobial
Mentha Piperita Oil
Masking
Menthol
Masking
Glycerin
Humectant
Dimethyl Sulfone
SolventCarbomer
Emulsion StabilisingHydroxyethylcellulose
Emulsion StabilisingCarrageenan
Alcohol
Antimicrobial
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningPhenoxyethanol
Preservative
Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Taraxacum Officinale Root Extract, Geranium Maculatum Extract, Equisetum Arvense Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Mentha Piperita Oil, Menthol, Glycerin, Dimethyl Sulfone, Carbomer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Carrageenan, Alcohol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice comes from leaves of the aloe plant. Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice is best known for helping to soothe sunburns. It is also anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, antiseptic, and can help heal wounds.
Aloe is packed with good stuff including Vitamins A, C, and E. These vitamins are antioxidants, which help fight free-radicals and the damage they may cause. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells, such as pollution.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice also contains sugars. These sugars come in the form of monosaccharides and polysaccharides, folic acid, and choline. These sugars are able to help bind moisture to skin.
It also contains minerals such as calcium, 12 anthraquinones, fatty acids, amino acids, and Vitamin B12.
Learn more about Aloe Barbadensis Leaf JuiceArnica Montana Flower is more commonly known as Wolf's Bane. While this flower has been used in traditional medicine, its skin benefits are in question.
The FDA considers Wolf's Bane to be an unsafe herb. They advise against taking it orally or applying it to broken skin.
Wolf's Bane has been said to have anti-inflammatory properties. However, studies are conflicting about whether this is true.
According to the Final report on the safety assessment of Arnica montana, this plant has not been found to cause dermal irritation.
This flower contains numerous fatty acids such as palmitic, linoleic, myristic, and linolenic acids. The presence and amount of fatty acids depends on where the flower is harvested.
Like other flowers, this ingredient has a natural fragrance. It can also be used to mask, or cover, the unpleasant scents from other ingredients.
Learn more about Arnica Montana Flower ExtractCamellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (tea extract) is one of the most well-researched plant extracts in skincare with an impressive resume.
Black tea, green tea, and oolong tea are all harvested from the Camellia Sinensis plant.
Studies show green tea extract and its catechins (like epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)) help your skin cells product energy more efficiently and reducing the number of free-radicals that can damage your skin from the inside.
In lab-grown skin models, this translated to younger, healthier, and stronger skin.
There's also good sun protection data; researchers saw less DNA damage and redness on human skin when green tea was applied before UVB exposure. And the more they applied, the better the protection.
Needless to say, this ingredient shouldn't replace your sunscreen. But it is a great supportive ingredient that you can already find in many sunscreens and antioxidant serums.
A 2009 study found a 2% green tea lotion was effective for mild-to-moderate acne thanks to its anti-inflammatory and mild antimicrobial activity.
The quality of the extract matters a lot here:
Good extracts contain 50-90% catechins while lower quality ones are mostly there for marketing. We recommend reaching out to the brand if you have questions about the quality or source of their ingredients.
Human Repeated Insult Patch Testing showed no irritation or sensitization at use concentrations (0.86% in leave-on products and up to 30% as leaf water).
Learn more about Camellia Sinensis Leaf ExtractGlycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.
Topically, glycerin does several things at once:
Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.
Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.
This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.
Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.
Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.
Learn more about GlycerinHydroxyethylcellulose is used to improve the texture of products. It is created from a chemical reaction involving ethylene oxide and alkali-cellulose. Cellulose is a sugar found in plant cell walls and help give plants structure.
This ingredient helps stabilize products by preventing ingredients from separating. It can also help thicken the texture of a product.
This ingredient can also be found in pill medicines to help our bodies digest other ingredients.
Learn more about HydroxyethylcelluloseThis essential oil is steam-distilled from peppermint leaves, also known as peppermint oil. It's mainly used for scent in skincare but also provides that signature "cooling" sensation.
Peppermint oil is a "feels amazing" ingredient until it doesn't.
At higher doses or for those with sensitive skin, methol-type cooling can quickly turn into burning/irritation. It can also trigger irritant dermatitis or even allergic contact dermatitis. In a large patch-test dataset, peppermint oil had a low but positive rate for this.
In cosmetics, Cosmetic Safety Reviews (CIR) concludes that peppermint oil is safe to use when formulated to be non-sensitizing with some restrictions; for instance, pulegone, a naturally occurring component of peppermint oil, should not exceed 1%.
Since peppermint oil contains fragrance allergens such as limonene, linalool, and menthol, it can be sensitizing for those with rosacea, eczema, a broken skin barrier, or just sensitive skin in general.
In Japan, this ingredient is known as Hakka Yu.
Learn more about Mentha Piperita OilWater. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.
So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.
You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!
Learn more about Water
