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Arginine is a semi-essential amino acid. This just means our bodies can product a bit on its own, but sometimes needs a little boost from food sources.

It is a part of your skin's natural moisturizing factor (NMF), or the water-loving molecules in your outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) that keeps everything hydrated and happy.

Aspartic Acid is an amino acid that our bodies produce naturally. It is an antioxidant.

Our body uses Aspartic Acid to help build collagen and elastin. It also plays a role in hydrating skin.

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.

This ingredient is a mild surfactant made by sticking glucose onto a blend of fatty acids.

It does two jobs because it has a sugar head that loves water and a fatty tail that loves oil:

Cysteine is an amino acid found in our bodies. It becomes an antioxidant when converted into gluthatione.

Once it becomes gluthatione, it prevents oxidative damage to parts of our cell. Gluthatione has also been shown to protect our skin from UV-B induced damage.

Dipropylene Glycol is a synthetically created humectant, stabilizer, and solvent.

This ingredient helps:

Ethylhexylglycerin is created from glycerin. It is a multitasker ingredient that:

The CIR Expert Panel found minimal skin absorption or sensitization of any kind in a safety assessment. Though this ingredient is considered well-tolerated, a small number of cases of allergic dermatitis have been published since 2002. Just be sure to patch test if you are unsure.

Glutamic Acid is an amino acid that is found in all living organisms. Our bodies use this to help nerve cells in the brain communicate with other cells.

In cosmetics, glutamic acid is a famous humectant. It draws water from the air to your skin, keeping your skin hydrated (like hyaluronic acid).

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:

Glycine is the smallest amino acid and a key building block of collagen. It's part if your skin's Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF), or the water-loving molecules in your outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) that keeps everything hydrated and happy.

A study from 2022 found that an amino acid complex featuring taurine, arginine, and glycine significantly reduced skin irritation, improved redness, and accelerated the skin repair process.

Histidine is a semi-essential amino acid used by our bodies to create protein. It has humectant and skin conditioning properties.

Our bodies use histidine to create filaggrin - filaggrin is a structural protein that the skin uses in maintaining skin barrier.

Hydrolyzed sponge comes from marine or freshwater sponges. This is the main ingredient for "spicules".

In some products, tiny microneedles called spicules are made from silica or hydrolyzed sponge. They help push active ingredients into the skin to enhance the penetration and efficacy of these ingredients.

Isoleucine is an amino acid that helps reinforce our skin barrier. This amino acid plays a role in creating protein for the body.

Fun fact: Isoleucine is found in meat, fish, dairy, legumes, and nuts.

We don't have a description for Leucine yet.

Lysine is an essential amino acid (your body cannot make it on its own). It has skin conditioning properties and one of the key players in collagen synthesis.

When your body creates collagen, lysine is basically the glue that holds everything together. It helps collagen fibers lock into each other and stay strong, with vitamin C being its trusty sidekick. Without enough lysine, this glue gets flimsy and less firm, resulting in less bouncy skin.

Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil is the fixed oil obtained from Macadamia nut native to Australia. Due to its similarity with our skin's natural oils, macadamia oil absorbs easily without feeling greasy.

Macadamia seed oil is rich in fatty acids, including oleic acid (45-75%), palmitoleic acid (7-33%), and palmitic acid (6-12%). They also contain various B vitamins, iron, and magnesium.

Methionine is an essential amino acid. It is a conditioning agent and commonly found in both skin and hair products.

This amino acid is a precursor to glutathione, a powerful antioxidant.

Niacinamide is a multitasking form of vitamin B3 that strengthens the skin barrier, reduces pores and dark spots, regulates oil, and improves signs of aging.

And the best part? It's gentle and well-tolerated by most skin types, including sensitive and reactive skin.

Phenylalanine is an amino acid. It is a skin soothing and hydrating ingredient. Amino acids play a crucial role in wound healing and skin hydration.

This ingredient is also used to help even out skin tone due to its ability to disrupt the melanin production process.

Polyisobutene is a synthetic polymer made from isobutene.

It is a film-forming agent and helps bind ingredients together.

Proline is a non-essential amino acid, meaning your body can make it on its own. In skincare, it is a skin conditioning ingredient that keeps skin soft and hydrated.

It makes up about 23% of the collagen molecule (collagen is the protein responsible for keeping your skin firm) and is involved in your skin's natural hyaluronic acid production. When applied topically, proline can penetrate the skin fairly well due to its small molecular size.

Serine is a non-essential amino acid (your body makes it on its own!). It is a major player in your skin's natural moisturizing factor (NMF), or the water-loving molecules in your outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) that keeps everything hydrated and happy.

Serine is one of your NMF's most abundant components that works as a skin-identical humectant. Its hydroxyl group grabs onto water molecules to boost hydration without any heaviness or occlusion.

This long ingredient is a copolymer of sodium acrylate and sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate monomers.

It is used to help stabilize other ingredients and create a thicker gel-like texture.

Sodium Polyacrylate is the sodium salt of polyacrylic acid. It is used as an absorber, emollient, and stabilizer.

This ingredient is a super-absorbent polymer - meaning it can absorb 100 to 1000 times its mass in water. As an emollient, Sodium Polyacrylate helps soften and soothe skin. Emollients work by creating a barrier to trap moisture in. This helps keep your skin hydrated.

Sorbitan Oleate is created from compounds in oleic acid and sorbitol.

It is used to stabilize a product by preventing ingredients from separating. Emulsifiers help keep ingredients together, such as oils and water.

Threonine is an amino-acid. It helps hydrate the skin and has antioxidant benefits.

Our skin uses threonine for creating collagen and elastin. Humans are not able to create threonine and must get it through eating foods such as fish, lentils, poultry, sesame seeds, and more.

Tyrosine is one of the amino acids used to create protein. It plays a role in melanin production.

A study from 2012 found tyrosine to show promising results in restoring skin volume.

Valine is an essential amino acid. It is used by our bodies for tissue repair and muscle growth.

An essential amino acid is one in which our bodies cannot naturally produce so we must get them through diet. Foods such as eggs, dairy, red meat, and fish contain valine.

Water. 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.

Xanthan gum is used as a stabilizer and thickener within cosmetic products. It helps give products a sticky, thick feeling - preventing them from being too runny.

On the technical side of things, xanthan gum is a polysaccharide - a combination consisting of multiple sugar molecules bonded together.