What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Alcohol
Antimicrobial
Dicaprylyl Carbonate
EmollientGlyceryl Stearate
Emollient
Butyrospermum Parkii Butter
Skin Conditioning
Tapioca Starch
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Masking
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Cocoglycerides
Emollient
Octyldodecanol
Emollient
Isobutylamido Thiazolyl Resorcinol
Bleaching
Tocopherol
Antioxidant
Potassium Cetyl Phosphate
EmulsifyingHydrogenated Palm Glycerides
Emollient
Carrageenan
Trisodium EDTA
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingSodium Hydroxide
BufferingHydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Parfum
Masking
Water, Glycerin, Alcohol, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Glyceryl Stearate, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Tapioca Starch, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cocoglycerides, Octyldodecanol, Isobutylamido Thiazolyl Resorcinol, Tocopherol, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides, Carrageenan, Trisodium EDTA, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydroxyacetophenone, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum
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 GlycerinYou probably know this ingredient as Thiamidol. It is often called the "hydroquinone alternative" because of it's pigment-fighting abilities.
This ingredient is patented by Beiersdorf (the owner of Nivea, Eucerin, and La Prairie).
It works by in inhibiting tyrosinase (the enzyme your melanocytes use to produce melanin) so less pigment ends up deposited in your skin.
Here's something interesting:
Most brightening ingredients you've heard of like kojic acid, arbutin, and even hydroquinone were originally tested on mushroom tyrosinase. And it turns out, mushroom tyrosinase works pretty differently from the human kind.
So Beiersdorf screened 50,000 compounds against actual human tyrosinase, and Thiamidol came out as the strongest. It showed to be more potent than hydroquinone or arbutin at blocking the human enzyme.
It's been shown to fade melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and sun spots at 0.1-0.2% twice daily with visible results in about four weeks. One randomized trial even found 0.2% Thiamidol worked just as well as 4% hydroquinone on melasma but with fewer side effects.
This ingredient is generally well-tolerated and minor irritation has been reported very infrequently.
Be sure to also check out Rucinol, another "hydroquinone alternative".
Learn more about Isobutylamido Thiazolyl ResorcinolWater. 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
