Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation Versus Max Factor X Miracle Second Skin Foundation

Cocos Nucifera Fruit Extract comes from the meat of the coconut fruit. It is an emollient and skin conditioner with antioxidant properties.

Coconut fruit is naturally rich in amino acids, sugars, and nutrients including Vitamin C and small amounts of vitamin B. Malic acid can also be found in coconut fruit extract.

Disteardimonium Hectorite comes from the clay mineral named hectorite. It is used to add thickness to a product.

It can also help stabilize a product by helping to disperse other ingredients.

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:

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide. It is derived from starch such as rice, corn, wheat, or potato starch.

In food, Maltodextrin is used to improve the texture and thicken a product. Due to its structure, it can help create a gel texture. As an emulsion stabilizer, it helps keep the ingredients in a product together.

Mica is a naturally occurring mineral used to add shimmer and color in cosmetics. It can also help improve the texture of a product or give it an opaque, white/silver color.

Serecite is the name for very fine but ragged grains of mica.

Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate (long name, huh?) is a synthetic antioxidant.

It is used to help stabilize other antioxidants or prevent the color from changing in a product.

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.

Chances are, you eat sodium chloride every day. Sodium Chloride is also known as table salt. This ingredient has many purposes in skincare: thickener, emulsifier, and exfoliator.

You'll most likely find this ingredient in cleansers where it is used to create a gel-like texture. As an emulsifier, it also prevents ingredients from separating.

Sodium Dehydroacetate is a synthetic preservative and sodium salt form of dehydroacetic acid. It stops bacteria, mold, and yeast from growing in your products at low concentrations.

Clinical testing found it to be non-irritating, non-sensitizing, and non-photosensitizing. It's also not significantly absorbed through skin.

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.

Tocopheryl Acetate is AKA Vitamin E. It is an antioxidant and protects your skin from free radicals. Free radicals damage the skin by breaking down collagen.

One study found using Tocopheryl Acetate with Vitamin C decreased the number of sunburned cells.

Triethoxycaprylylsilane is a silicon-based surface modifier that makes sunscreens feel silky and makeup stay put.

Its main job is to coat mineral particles like titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and color pigments in a thin, oily layer so they spread smoothly, don't clump, and stick to skin better.

This silicone is an emollient. Emollients create a thin film on the skin to prevent moisture from escaping.

It is not soluble in water and helps increase water-resistance in products.

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.