What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningIsopropyl Myristate
Emollient
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Masking
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Cetearyl Glucoside
Emulsifying
Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil
Emollient
Tocopheryl Acetate
Antioxidant
Cetyl Alcohol
Emollient
Glyceryl Stearate Se
Emulsifying
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
Salicylic Acid
Masking
Glycerin
Humectant
Sorbic Acid
Preservative
Oenothera Biennis Oil
Emollient
Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract
Skin Conditioning
Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract
AntimicrobialSimmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil
Emollient
Squalane
Emollient
Dunaliella Salina Extract
Skin ConditioningNigella Sativa Seed Oil
Emollient
Cucurbita Pepo Seed Oil
Emollient
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Skin Conditioning
Lactic Acid
Buffering
Sodium Hydroxide
BufferingSodium Phytate
Rosa Damascena Flower Extract
Masking
Phenethyl Alcohol
MaskingWater, Isopropyl Myristate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Se, Benzyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Glycerin, Sorbic Acid, Oenothera Biennis Oil, Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil, Squalane, Dunaliella Salina Extract, Nigella Sativa Seed Oil, Cucurbita Pepo Seed Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Lactic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Phytate, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract, Phenethyl Alcohol
Water
Skin ConditioningCetearyl Ethylhexanoate
Emollient
Glycerin
Humectant
Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil
Emollient
C14-22 Alcohols
Emulsion Stabilising
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer
Emulsion StabilisingTocopheryl Acetate
Antioxidant
Myristyl Lactate
Emollient
Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract
Skin ConditioningVitis Vinifera Seed Extract
Antimicrobial
Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract
AntimicrobialC15-19 Alkane
SolventC12-20 Alkyl Glucoside
EmulsifyingPolyglyceryl-6 Laurate
Emulsifying
Polyglycerin-6
HumectantGlucose
Humectant
Chlorphenesin
Antimicrobial
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
Benzoic Acid
Masking
Sorbic Acid
Preservative
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Sodium Benzoate
Masking
Parfum
Masking
Hexyl Cinnamal
Perfuming
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone
Perfuming
Amyl Cinnamal
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
Citronellol
Perfuming
Limonene
Perfuming
Hydroxycitronellal
Perfuming
Water, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Glycerin, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil, C14-22 Alcohols, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Myristyl Lactate, Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract, Vitis Vinifera Seed Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract, C15-19 Alkane, C12-20 Alkyl Glucoside, Polyglyceryl-6 Laurate, Polyglycerin-6, Glucose, Chlorphenesin, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzoic Acid, Sorbic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Parfum, Hexyl Cinnamal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Amyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Citronellol, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Benzyl Alcohol is an aromatic alcohol with several roles: it's a preservative, solvent, and mild fragrance component with a floral scent.
This ingredient has been deemed safe for use in cosmetic formulations at concentrations up to 5%, and up to 10% in hair dyes. You'll typically see 0.5-2% in most rinse-off or leave-on products.
As a preservative, it works by disrupting the membrane of microbial proteins. This helps keep bacteria and fungi from growing in your products.
The sensitization picture is actually quite assuring as well:of nearly 71,000 patients patch tested with benzyl alcohol, only 0.21% showed a positive reaction with most of them being weakly positive.
This led researchers to conclude that benzyl alcohol cannot be regarded as a significant contact allergen.
It is worth noting this ingredient is classified as one of the EU's regulated fragrance allergens and restricted to 1% in finished products.
Labels must also declare it in concentrations above 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products.
At concentrations around 5%, localized redness and itching can appear as a direct irritant response and not as a true allergic reaction.
Learn more about Benzyl AlcoholCetearyl alcohol is a waxy mixture of two fatty alcohols: cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol. It is an emollient and emulsifier.
Despite having "alcohol" in its name, it has nothing to do with drying solvent alcohols; the FDA also allows "alcohol-free" products to contain fatty alcohols like this ingredient.
It plays several roles in a formula:
Typical use levels for this ingredient sit around 1-10% and the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel has affirmed safety at concentrations up to 25% in leave-on products.
Multiple assessments have found it to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing to most people.
However, there have been some cases of allergic contact dermatitis in patients with chronically compromised skin barriers.
Cetearyl alcohol has a comedogenic rating of 2 and irritancy rating of 1. Both of these numbers come from the 1989 study that used rabbit ears; a "2" means mildly comedogenic and a "1" means low irritancy.
Here's the catch: rabbit skin is more sensitive than human skin and throws a lot of false positives. A 1996 reappraisal found that ingredients rated 1-2 in the rabbit ear tests are generally safe for humans.
Remember comedogenic ratings are unable to assess the entire formula of a product or how it will react on your skin. Just be sure to patch test if you are unsure about certain ingredients.
This ingredient is not fungal acne safe. Cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol with chain lengths that fall within the range that Malassezia can metabolize.
A 2019 study has also observed Malassezia growth in the presence of this ingredient, confirming it to be not-fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Cetearyl AlcoholGlycerin (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 GlycerinThis is a botanical extract from the rosemary plant (the same one you cook with). In skincare, it mostly works as a skin conditioning agent.
Its activity comes from a handful of polyphenols, carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmarinic acid. Almost 90% of the antioxidant activity of this ingredient can be attributed to canosol and carnosic acid.
These compounds protect your skin two ways:
1) They fight off free radicals, or the unstable molecules from things like sun and pollution that age and damage skin.
2) They help calm inflammation by switching off the chemical signals that tell skin to get red and irritated.
Lab studies also suggest that rosmarinic acid may help protect collagen and slow sugar-related damage to it.
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review has concluded rosemary-derived ingredients to be safe when formulated to be non-sensitizing.
Rosemary can occasionally cause allergic contact dermatitis (due to carnosol), so be sure to patch test if you have reactive or fragrance-sensitive skin.
Learn more about Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf ExtractJojoba oil is one of the most well-studied plant-derived ingredients in cosmetics. It is an emollient with a special structure.
Because it is made up of 97-98% wax esters, it closely mirrors the linear monoesters found in human sebum. This makes it skin compatible, non-greasy, and lightweight.
Unlike other plant oils, jojoba wax doesn't easily penetrate skin. It mostly works in the uppermost layers as an emollient. This just means it forms a light barrier on the skin to help retain moisture.
Formulations with jojoba esters up to 90% reduced transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and increased barrier recovery by 81% (outperforming bisabolol at 47%).
Besides barrier support, the science also suggests jojoba to have anti-inflammatory effects and potential applications for skin infections, aging, and wound healing.
Fun fact: Indigenous cultures have used jojoba as a moisturizer and to help treat burns for centuries.
Fungal acne: The Malassezia yeast is known to metabolize fatty acids in the C11-24 range and jojoba's dominant fatty acid components fall into this range. This ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Simmondsia Chinensis Seed OilSorbic Acid is a preservative that stops your product from spoiling by stopping microbes from growing.
As a preservative, it's kind of a specialist: it has a broad spectrum of activity against yeast and molds but is weaker against bacteria. That's why it's often paired with another preservative to cover that gap.
This ingredient is also pretty picky about pH; it performs best at pH 6.5 or below.
At the right pH level, sorbic acid is "active" and can slip through the outer wall of a microbe. Once inside, it turns the cell's interior more acidic to shut down the microbe from the inside.
The EU caps this ingredient at 0.6% while the CIR has concluded it's safe at concentrations up to 1%. It's most often used around 0.05-0.2% in cosmetics.
Though this ingredient is considered low-sensitizing and well-tolerated, a very small number of people may have a contact allergy to it. Be sure to patch test if you have a history of allergies towards preservatives.
Learn more about Sorbic AcidTocopheryl 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.
Tocopheryl Acetate is commonly found in both skincare and dietary supplements.
Learn more about Tocopheryl AcetateWater. 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
