What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Rice Ferment Filtrate
Skin Conditioning
Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate
Skin Conditioning
Rosa Rugosa Flower Extract
Skin ConditioningCreatine
Skin Conditioning1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Papain
Skin Conditioning
Panthenol
Skin Conditioning
Hydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Propanediol
Solvent
Allantoin
Skin Conditioning
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Sodium Hyaluronate
Humectant
Hydroxyethylcellulose
Emulsion StabilisingPolysorbate 20
Emulsifying
Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Butylene Glycol
Humectant
PPG-15 Stearyl Ether
EmollientC12-15 Alkyl Benzoate
AntimicrobialColloidal Oatmeal
Absorbent
Tremella Fuciformis Extract
Humectant
Polysorbate 60
Emulsifying
Trehalose
Humectant
Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate
Skin Conditioning
Polyglyceryl-3 Oleate
Emulsifying
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Hydroxyethylcellulose
Emulsion StabilisingSodium PCA
Humectant
Hydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Jojoba Wax PEG-120 Esters
Surfactant
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingCaprylyl Glycol
Emollient
Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, PPG-15 Stearyl Ether, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Colloidal Oatmeal, Tremella Fuciformis Extract, Polysorbate 60, Trehalose, Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate, Polyglyceryl-3 Oleate, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium PCA, Hydroxyacetophenone, Jojoba Wax PEG-120 Esters, Xanthan Gum, Caprylyl Glycol
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 HydroxyacetophenoneHydroxyethylcellulose is used to improve the texture of products. It is created from a chemical reaction involving ethylene oxide and alkali-cellulose. Cellulose is a sugar found in plant cell walls and help give plants structure.
This ingredient helps stabilize products by preventing ingredients from separating. It can also help thicken the texture of a product.
This ingredient can also be found in pill medicines to help our bodies digest other ingredients.
Learn more about HydroxyethylcellulosePhenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).
It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.
On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.
Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).
You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.
Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.
Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.
Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.
Learn more about PhenoxyethanolWater. 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
