This lip moisturizer is formulated around Olea Europaea Fruit Oil and Cocos Nucifera Oil to hydrate lips.
This calming lip moisturizer is formulated around Olea Europaea Fruit Oil and Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice to calm redness and hydrate lips.
What's inside
What's inside
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
This ingredient is also known as olive oil. It has been used in skincare for centuries and science largely backs up its reputation as a nourishing emollient.
The main components of olive oil are oleic acid (55-83%), linoleic acid (3.5-20%), and palmitic acid (7-20%). Oleic acid promotes skin regeneration and helps regulate inflammatory responses.
Squalene is also naturally present in olive oil and exhibits moisturizing and antioxidant properties.
The polyphenols in olive oil also show anti-aging promise; one clinical study found a measurable improvement in skin appearance after 30 days of topical serum use.
Just be aware that applying olive oil directly to skin can weaken the barrier and cause redness. One study with volunteers found even people without sensitive skin experienced a significant reduction in stratum corneum integrity and induced mild erythema.
It's best to use this ingredient as part of a carefully crafted formula (instead of putting it on skin directly from the bottle).
Because it has a 0-2 on the comedogenic scale, it is low risk for acne-prone skin. Just remember the overall formulation of a product matters more than a few ingredients with comedogenic ratings.
This ingredient may not be fungal acne safe because of the oleic and palmitic acid content. These fall within the C11-24 fatty acid range that the Malassezia yeast can metabolize to grow.
Overall, olive oil is a well-studied and nourishing skincare ingredient.
Learn more about Olea Europaea Fruit OilThis 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 ExtractThis ingredient is also known as Cocoa butter; it's the fat pressed out of roasted cocoa beans.
Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature and melts right around body temperature, which is why it feels waxy in the jar and slippery on skin.
It has a very saturated profile (stearic acid ~34 to 36%, oleic acid ~30 to 40%, and palmitic acid ~24 to 29%) that makes it a strong occlusive: it sits on top and slows water escaping from skin.
Concentration data shows that it can show up anywhere from a few percent in lotions up to 100% in balms, and the FDA lists cocoa butter as an OTC skin protectant active at 50-100%.
The CIR has reviewed it and concluded it to be safe as used in cosmetics.
This is one of the ingredients with a comedogenic score of 4/5 from the rabbit ear test. Just know that a later human study did find that finished products containing high-comedogenic ingredients like cocoa butter did not increase microcomedone formation.
The fair call here is that this ingredient is most likely fine on body or low-percentage formulas, but can potentially be riskier as a heavy leave-on facial product if you break out easily.
Cocoa butter may not be fungal acne safe; it is a triglyceride of C16-18 fatty acids that the Malassezia yeast can metabolize.
Allergies to cocoa butter are rare and uncommon, but a few cases have been documented (mostly in cases where the person ate chocolate). So if you have a tree nut allergy, be sure to patch test or avoid.
Learn more about Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter
