What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
No concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningHexylene Glycol
EmulsifyingGlycerin
Humectant
Niacinamide
Smoothing
Rosa Gallica Flower Extract
AstringentRosa Damascena Flower Oil
Masking
Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate
Antioxidant
Panthenol
Skin Conditioning
Retinyl Propionate
Skin Conditioning
Paeonia Lactiflora Root Extract
Skin ConditioningTocopheryl Acetate
Antioxidant
Hydroxyethyl Urea
Humectant
Urea
Buffering
PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides
EmulsifyingPropylene Glycol
Humectant
Sodium Chloride
MaskingPotassium Chloride
Parfum
Masking
Trideceth-9
EmulsifyingPEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Emulsifying
Ammonium Lactate
Buffering
Cetrimonium Chloride
Antimicrobial
Cetylpyridinium Chloride
AntimicrobialCitric Acid
Buffering
Ethanolamine
BufferingBenzophenone-4
UV Absorber
Tetrasodium EDTA
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
CI 14700
Cosmetic ColorantCI 17200
Cosmetic ColorantWater, Hexylene Glycol, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Rosa Gallica Flower Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Oil, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Panthenol, Retinyl Propionate, Paeonia Lactiflora Root Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Urea, PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Parfum, Trideceth-9, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ammonium Lactate, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cetylpyridinium Chloride, Citric Acid, Ethanolamine, Benzophenone-4, Tetrasodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, CI 14700, CI 17200
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 GlycerinHexylene Glycol is a multitasker ingredient that works as a solvent, humectant, emulsifier, viscosity reducer, and preservative booster.
It is able to dissolve both water and oil-soluble ingredients to stabilize tricky actives and make products spread more easily.
As a humectant, it pulls water into the skin. But it's a pretty minor moisturizing ingredient compared to other humectants, like glycerin.
Interestingly, it can act as a mild penetration enhancer. One in vitro study on human skin found a 12% concentration upped the absorption of mometasone furoate (a medicinal ingredient used to treat inflammatory skin conditions) up to 7%.
This ingredient is typically used at levels of 0.1-10% depending on the role it's playing.
A patch test study on eczema patients didn't find a significant increase in irritation versus the control group, but the potential for irritation rises at higher concentrations.
Learn more about Hexylene GlycolWater. 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
