What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningDipropylene Glycol
HumectantPolysorbate 80
Emulsifying
PEG-150 Distearate
Emulsifying
Agave Americana Stem Extract
Skin Conditioning1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Niacinamide
Smoothing
Hydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Arginine
Masking
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningCarbomer
Emulsion StabilisingGlycerin
Humectant
Betaine
Humectant
Sodium Hyaluronate
Humectant
Adenosine
Skin Conditioning
Eclipta Prostrata Extract
Skin Conditioning
Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningMelia Azadirachta Flower Extract
Skin ConditioningDisodium EDTA
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract
Antioxidant
Amino Esters-1
Skin ConditioningLawsonia Inermis Flower/Fruit/Leaf Extract
MaskingOcimum Sanctum Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningPhenoxyethanol
Preservative
Corallina Officinalis Extract
Skin Conditioning
Water, Dipropylene Glycol, Polysorbate 80, PEG-150 Distearate, Agave Americana Stem Extract, 1,2-Hexanediol, Niacinamide, Hydroxyacetophenone, Arginine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Carbomer, Glycerin, Betaine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Adenosine, Eclipta Prostrata Extract, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract, Disodium EDTA, Potassium Sorbate, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Amino Esters-1, Lawsonia Inermis Flower/Fruit/Leaf Extract, Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Corallina Officinalis Extract
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
1,2-Hexanediol is a synthetic liquid and another multi-functional powerhouse.
It is a:
- Humectant, drawing moisture into the skin
- Emollient, helping to soften skin
- Solvent, dispersing and stabilizing formulas
- Preservative booster, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of other preservatives
Dipropylene Glycol is a synthetically created humectant, stabilizer, and solvent.
This ingredient helps:
Dipropylene glycol is technically an alcohol, but it belongs to the glycol family (often considered part of the ‘good’ alcohols). This means it is hydrating and gentle on skin unlike drying solvent alcohols like denatured alcohol.
As a masking agent, Dipropylene Glycol can be used to cover the smell of other ingredients. However, it does not have a scent.
Studies show Dipropylene Glycol is considered safe to use in skincare.
Learn more about Dipropylene GlycolGlycerin (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 HydroxyacetophenonePEG-150 Distearate is a hardworking ingredient that is usually found at the end of a lot of cleansers whose main job is to act as a micellar thickening agent for surfactant-based cleansers.
It works by physically linking up surfactant micelles already in a formula to bump up viscosity and gives products a pourable-but-not-runny body.
Safety-wise, it's been found safe in cosmetics with minimal skin irritation and no evidence of toxicity.
This ingredient may not be fungal acne safe; it's a diester of stearic acid (C18) that falls into the C11-24 range that the Malassezia yeast feeds on. In vitro studies have also shown the Malassezia can metabolize PEG stearates by cleaving the ester bond to release the fatty acid.
Learn more about PEG-150 DistearatePolysorbate 80 is a synthetic surfactant and emulsifier derived from sorbitol and oleic acid.
It reduces the surface tension between oil and water phases to help them stay mixed and stable in a formulation. In other words, it prevents your formulas from separating into an oily mess.
The CIR Expert Panel has evaluated the scientific data and found this ingredient to be safe, non-irritating, and non-sensitizing at concentrations up to 5% (it's even approved by the FDA as an OTC eye drop ingredient).
Learn more about Polysorbate 80Water. 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
