ChapStick Total Hydration Soothing Vanilla Versus Lip Smacker Cup Lip Balm

Here is the official definition from the The International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook:

“Aroma is a term for ingredient labeling used to identify that a product contains a material or combination of materials normally added to a cosmetic to produce or to mask a particular flavor.”

INCI shows the only purpose of aroma to be "flavouring".

However, due to regulation differences, some companies may use aroma in place of parfum.

In Canada, this ingredient only has to be listed in concentrations above 1%.

In comedogenic testing, Beeswax scored a 0-2, which is on the low end. Whether or not a product clogs your pores really comes down to the formula as a whole (not any single ingredient on its own) and your skin.

Cera Alba is the white, bleached form of this ingredient.

Just so you know, beeswax is not vegan since it is animal-derived. It cannot be removed with water, but can be taken off with an oil cleanser.

People with a known Propolis allergy also report to have reactions from beeswax.

Beeswax's wax esters are derived primarily from palmitic and oleic acid (C16 and C18:1). Both of these fall within the C11-C24 feeding window.

The Malassezia yeast can potentially cleave these esters and release usable fatty acids, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe. However, not everyone will react to this ingredient.

In formulas, it acts as a skin conditioning agent, emollient, and humectant that helps slow moisture loss from skin.

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel has evaluated it and concluded it safe as used in cosmetics, citing low systemic toxicity, a long history of safe use, and low irritation/sensitization potential.

There's no mandatory maximum-use concentration and concentrations range from low single digits to 100%.

Soy is a common food allergen but cosmetic-grade Hydrogenated Soybean Oil is heavily refined. This means the proteins responsible for most soy allergic reactions are largely removed during that processing.

However, people with a known soy allergy should still patch test before use since trace protein residues can vary by manufacturing source.

Regular soybean oil (the non-hydrogenated version) has been rated as moderately comedogenic on the Fulton rabbit-ear scale; this rabbit-ear model is increasingly seen as a poor predictor of real-world human pore-clogging since it uses undiluted ingredients on rabbit ear skin rather than realistic concentrations on human skin.

Later studies also revealed inconsistent results when the rabbit ear model was applied to human skin.

This ingredient shows up on a lot of "pore-clogging" lists but there's no real evidence behind that. It doesn't even have a comedogenic rating from an actual study; the numbers you'll find online come from blogs citing other blogs.

Some people still find it breaks them out. So if that's you, definitely trust your skin.

Because this ingredient is a saturated triglyceride, it may not be fungal acne safe. This is because Malassezia breaks down sebum triglycerides into fatty acids it can consume, making this ingredient a possible source for the yeast.