What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Kaolin
AbrasiveStearic Acid
CleansingBentonite
AbsorbentCetearyl Alcohol
EmollientCetyl Ethylhexanoate
EmollientGlycerin
HumectantCaprylic/Capric Triglyceride
MaskingGlyceryl Stearate
EmollientPolysorbate 20
EmulsifyingRice Ferment Filtrate
Skin ConditioningPEG-100 Stearate
SurfactantHydroxyacetophenone
AntioxidantCellulose Gum
Emulsion StabilisingXanthan Gum
EmulsifyingAllantoin
Skin ConditioningEthylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningMonarda Didyma Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningDipropylene Glycol
HumectantDisodium EDTA
Ocimum Basilicum Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningPentylene Glycol
Skin ConditioningSalvia Officinalis Leaf Extract
CleansingButylene Glycol
Humectant10-Hydroxydecanoic Acid
Skin ConditioningSebacic Acid
Buffering1,10-Decanediol
SolventKaolin, Stearic Acid, Bentonite, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate, Polysorbate 20, Rice Ferment Filtrate, PEG-100 Stearate, Hydroxyacetophenone, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Allantoin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Monarda Didyma Leaf Extract, Dipropylene Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Ocimum Basilicum Leaf Extract, Pentylene Glycol, Salvia Officinalis Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, 10-Hydroxydecanoic Acid, Sebacic Acid, 1,10-Decanediol
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
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:
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 GlycerinHydroxyacetophenone is a small phenolic molecule that earns its place in a formulas as an antioxidant and preservative booster.
As a phenol, it is able to neutralize free radicals to protect both the product and the skin from oxidative stress.
Though it can't kill microbes on its own, it works as a good supporting agent when combined with other preservatives like Phenoxyethanol or 1,2-Hexanediol.
This ingredient naturally occurs as piceol in Norwegian spruce needles (~0.4-1.1% dry weight and in cloudberries). Though the cosmetic-grade material is synthesized for purity and consistency.
You'll usually see it used at low levels and suppliers recommend up to 1% added to a water phase.
Safety testing was done at concentrations like 0.05% in SPF products and 0.5% in a Human Repeated Insult Patch Test. The safety evidence is assuring; this ingredient is safe for cosmetics in current use and also holds safety status as a food flavoring as well.
An honest caveat: the "soothing" and "anti-inflammatory" claims come mostly from supplier marketing rather than published clinical trials. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review's own literature search found no useful efficacy studies on this ingredient.
So the antioxidant and preservative-boosting roles are the well supported ones while the calming benefit is plausible but thinly evidenced.
Overall, this is a well-tolerated, low-irritation multitasker that quietly helps a formula stay fresh and stable.
Learn more about Hydroxyacetophenone