What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningParaffinum Liquidum
Emollient
Glycerin
Humectant
Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate
Emollient
Urea
Buffering
Isopropyl Isostearate
Emollient
Cera Alba
Emollient
Palmitic Acid
Emollient
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Glyceryl Stearate
Emollient
PEG-100 Stearate
Isopropyl Myristate
Emollient
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Polyacrylamide
Polysorbate 60
Emulsifying
C13-14 Isoparaffin
Emollient
Carbomer
Emulsion StabilisingChlorphenesin
Antimicrobial
Sodium Hydroxide
BufferingLaureth-7
EmulsifyingParfum
Masking
Limonene
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
Benzyl Benzoate
Antimicrobial
Benzyl Salicylate
Perfuming
Hexyl Cinnamal
Perfuming
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde
Masking
Butylphenyl Methylpropional
Perfuming
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone
Perfuming
Hydroxycitronellal
Perfuming
Water, Paraffinum Liquidum, Glycerin, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Urea, Isopropyl Isostearate, Cera Alba, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Isopropyl Myristate, Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Polysorbate 60, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Carbomer, Chlorphenesin, Sodium Hydroxide, Laureth-7, Parfum, Limonene, Linalool, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Hydroxycitronellal
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Carbomer is a high-molecular weight polymer of acrylic acid. It is used to form gels and thicken formulas.
Due to its large molecular size, carbomer has minimal skin penetration and is considered an inert ingredient.
A high amount of carbomer can cause pilling or balling up of products. Don't worry, most products contain 1% or less of carbomer.
Learn more about CarbomerGlycerin (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 GlycerinParaffinum Liquidum is a highly-refined cosmetic-grade mineral oil. It is also known as liquid paraffin.
Despite its controversial reputation, the science is pretty clear: it's one of the most well-studied and effective moisturizing ingredients out there.
As an occlusive, it forms a protective layer on the skin that locks in moisture and prevents transepidermal water loss (TEWL). This makes it especially great for compromised skin barriers.
The "it clogs your pores" myth has been around for decades; a study found that industrial-grade mineral oil may be comedogenic but cosmetic-grade mineral oil is not (these two are very, very different).
A 2017 review concluded that cosmetic use of mineral oils and waxes does not present a risk to consumers due to absorption.
Mineral oil got a bad rap from the old rabbit ear studies. When tested on actual human skin, cosmetic-grade mineral oil showed no comedogenic activity. The rating of 0 is a correction of outdated science.
Mineral oil is an inert substance with no fatty acids so there's nothing to feed Malassezia. This ingredient is fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Paraffinum LiquidumStearic Acid is a fatty acid that is already found in your skin. It's one of the free fatty acids that works alongside ceramides and cholesterols to maintain your barrier.
In cosmetics, it is a multitasker:
Safety-wise, the CIR Expert Panel has concluded it to be safe in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.
Free stearic acid is a C18 fatty acid that the Malassezia yeast can substrate, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Stearic AcidWater. 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
