Art & Fact Snake Peptide Complex 3% + Amino Acids 0,3% + Lactic Acid + Arginine Versus The Ordinary Multi Peptides + Copper Peptide 1%

Dimethyl Isosorbide is a low-irritation solvent that helps deliver actives into your skin. It is created from glucose.

Research shows how well this ingredient works depends on the active and formulation rather than the concentration alone. This means adding more Dimethyl Isosorbide does not guarantee better penetration of ingredients into the skin.

This small molecule peptide has similar benefits to Argireline, the "botox" peptide.

According to the manufacturer, this peptide mimics snake venom to freeze muscles. This prevents muscle movement and contractions to prohibit the formation of fine lines and wrinkles.

Ethylhexylglycerin is created from glycerin. It is a multitasker ingredient that:

The CIR Expert Panel found minimal skin absorption or sensitization of any kind in a safety assessment. Though this ingredient is considered well-tolerated, a small number of cases of allergic dermatitis have been published since 2002. Just be sure to patch test if you are unsure.

Glycerin (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:

Glycine is the smallest amino acid and a key building block of collagen. It's part if your skin's Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF), or the water-loving molecules in your outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) that keeps everything hydrated and happy.

A study from 2022 found that an amino acid complex featuring taurine, arginine, and glycine significantly reduced skin irritation, improved redness, and accelerated the skin repair process.

Histidine is a semi-essential amino acid used by our bodies to create protein. It has humectant and skin conditioning properties.

Our bodies use histidine to create filaggrin - filaggrin is a structural protein that the skin uses in maintaining skin barrier.

Isoleucine is an amino acid that helps reinforce our skin barrier. This amino acid plays a role in creating protein for the body.

Fun fact: Isoleucine is found in meat, fish, dairy, legumes, and nuts.

Pentylene glycol is typically used within a product to thicken it. It also adds a smooth, soft, and moisturizing feel to the product. It is naturally found in plants such as sugar beets.

The hydrophilic trait of Pentylene Glycol makes it a humectant. As a humectant, Pentylene Glycol helps draw moisture from the air to your skin. This can help keep your skin hydrated.

Phenoxyethanol is a preservative that has germicide, antimicrobial, and aromatic properties. Studies show that phenoxyethanol can prevent microbial growth. By itself, it has a scent that is similar to that of a rose.

It's often used in formulations along with Caprylyl Glycol to preserve the shelf life of products.

Phenylalanine is an amino acid. It is a skin soothing and hydrating ingredient. Amino acids play a crucial role in wound healing and skin hydration.

This ingredient is also used to help even out skin tone due to its ability to disrupt the melanin production process.

Proline is a non-essential amino acid, meaning your body can make it on its own. In skincare, it is a skin conditioning ingredient that keeps skin soft and hydrated.

It makes up about 23% of the collagen molecule (collagen is the protein responsible for keeping your skin firm) and is involved in your skin's natural hyaluronic acid production. When applied topically, proline can penetrate the skin fairly well due to its small molecular size.

Serine is a non-essential amino acid (your body makes it on its own!). It is a major player in your skin's natural moisturizing factor (NMF), or the water-loving molecules in your outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) that keeps everything hydrated and happy.

Serine is one of your NMF's most abundant components that works as a skin-identical humectant. Its hydroxyl group grabs onto water molecules to boost hydration without any heaviness or occlusion.

Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt form of hyaluronic acid. It is a long sugar chain that is naturally found in your skin, joints, and connective tissue that maintains hydration and elasticity.

In skincare, it works as a humectant. It pulls water from the environment and deeper layers of skin and binds it to the surface.

Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer is a crosslinked version of sodium hyaluronate. This just means it's linked into a 3D mesh network that lets it be more stable and sit on skin as a cohesive, gel-like film rather than sinking into skin.

A 2016 human skin study found crosslinked HA increased epidermal water content by 7.6% over the control group and reduced transepidermal water loss by 27.8%.

Sodium Lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid, an AHA. It is a humectant and sometimes used to adjust the pH of a product.

This ingredient is part of our skin's NMF, or natural moisturizing factor. Our NMF is essential for the hydration of our top skin layers and plasticity of skin. NMF also influences our skin's natural acid mantle and pH, which protects our skin from harmful bacteria.

Sodium PCA is the sodium salt of pyroglutamic acid. It is naturally occurring in our skin's natural moisturizing factors where it works to maintain hydration.

The PCA stands for pyrrolidone carboxylic acid, a natural amino acid derivative.

Threonine is an amino-acid. It helps hydrate the skin and has antioxidant benefits.

Our skin uses threonine for creating collagen and elastin. Humans are not able to create threonine and must get it through eating foods such as fish, lentils, poultry, sesame seeds, and more.

Urea is also called carbamide and is the diamide of carbonic acid. In cosmetics, urea is used to hydrate the skin. It also provides exfoliation in higher concentrations.

As a humectant, urea helps draw moisture from the air and from deep within the skin. This helps hydrate your skin. Studies show urea is an effective moisturizer for dry skin conditions. 40% urea is typical in medications for treating eczema and other skin conditions.

Valine is an essential amino acid. It is used by our bodies for tissue repair and muscle growth.

An essential amino acid is one in which our bodies cannot naturally produce so we must get them through diet. Foods such as eggs, dairy, red meat, and fish contain valine.

Water. 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.

Xanthan gum is used as a stabilizer and thickener within cosmetic products. It helps give products a sticky, thick feeling - preventing them from being too runny.

On the technical side of things, xanthan gum is a polysaccharide - a combination consisting of multiple sugar molecules bonded together.