This hydrating serum is formulated around Sodium Hyaluronate to hydrate skin and soften the look of wrinkles.
This anti-aging serum is formulated around Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 and Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 to soften the look of wrinkles and refine skin texture.
What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea Fruit Juice
Skin ConditioningWater
Skin ConditioningPropanediol
Solvent
Butylene Glycol
Humectant
Glycerin
Humectant
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingHydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Chondrus Crispus
Masking
Sodium Gluconate
ChelatingHydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate
Skin Conditioning
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningSodium Hyaluronate
Humectant
Sh-Polypeptide-121
Skin Conditioning
Pentylene Glycol
Skin Conditioning
Biosaccharide Gum-1
Humectant
Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer
Humectant
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea Fruit Juice, Water, Propanediol, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Xanthan Gum, Hydroxyacetophenone, Chondrus Crispus, Sodium Gluconate, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sh-Polypeptide-121, Pentylene Glycol, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Potassium Sorbate
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Pentylene Glycol
Skin Conditioning
Chondrus Crispus
Masking
Acetyl Hexapeptide-8
Humectant
Pentapeptide-18
Skin Conditioning
Acetyl Octapeptide-3
Humectant
Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1
Skin Conditioning
Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7
Skin Conditioning
Butylene Glycol
Humectant
Hydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Sodium Hyaluronate
Humectant
Glycol
HumectantCarbomer
Emulsion StabilisingDipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate
Skin Conditioning
Polysorbate 20
Emulsifying
Water, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Chondrus Crispus, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Acetyl Octapeptide-3, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Butylene Glycol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Sodium Hyaluronate, Glycol, Carbomer, Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate, Polysorbate 20
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:
Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.
Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.
Learn more about Butylene GlycolChondrus Crispus is the red seaweed that grows along the North Atlantic. It's the same alga that gives us carrageenan, the thickener in your oat milk.
In formulas, it's a skin conditioner and masking ingredient that helps cover the scent of other ingredients. It also behaves as a thickener, similar to the extract.
Industry data shows concentrations range from 0.00004-1.4%.
You'll see algae listed as a 5/5 on a lot of pore-clogging charts and that number doesn't come from anywhere; it's not in the original rabbit-ear studies that most comedogenic ratings trace back to.
The reasoning behind the reputation is that seaweed is high in iodine and iodine can trigger acne-like breakouts when eaten. This traces back to a 1976 letter in Archives of Dermatology describing two women whose breakouts cleared after they stopped taking high-dose kelp supplements orally.
And the reaction of these two women wasn't clogged pores at all: it was an iodine-triggered pustular rash. Later research found normal dietary iodine doesn't meaningfully affect acne either and nobody has shown topical algae delivers enough iodine to matter.
What we do have is dozens of brown and red algae ingredients found to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing, and a handful of studies that found algae compounds may actually help acne.
However, plenty of people do report breaking out from algae-containing products. Skin is individual and it's worth avoiding if yours has reacted to algae before.
Learn more about Chondrus CrispusGlycerin (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 HydroxyacetophenonePentylene Glycol (1,2-pentanediol) is a multitasking little diol with three main roles in a formula:
Research on alkanediols (the family pentylene glycol belongs to) show they work by disrupting microbial cell membranes. This disruption helps the primary preservative system in a product work more effectively at lower doses.
On the safety side, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel has concluded this ingredient to be safe as used in current cosmetic practices + concentrations.
Typical use levels in a formula run about 1-5%.
Learn more about Pentylene GlycolSodium Hyaluronate is the salt form of hyaluronic acid. It is a long sugar chain that is naturally found in your skin, joints, and connective tissue that maintains hydration and elasticity.
In skincare, it works as a humectant. It pulls water from the environment and deeper layers of skin and binds it to the surface.
Interestingly, the size of the molecule affects its behavior:
Some clinical evidence links low molecular weight versions to improved wrinkle depth, elasticity, anti-inflammatory effects, and barrier repair.
Many serums use a blend of both weights so you can get surface hydration plus longer-lasting and deeper effects.
You'll typically see concentrations between 0.1-2% for this ingredient.
Learn more about Sodium HyaluronateWater. 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
