What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningDecyl Glucoside
Cleansing
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate
CleansingGlycerin
Humectant
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
Skin ConditioningMelaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil
Antioxidant
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract
Emollient
Panthenol
Skin Conditioning
Arnica Montana Flower Extract
Masking
Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract
AntimicrobialSalvia Officinalis Leaf Extract
CleansingPhenoxyethanol
Preservative
Citric Acid
Buffering
Water, Decyl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Panthenol, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract, Salvia Officinalis Leaf Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Citric Acid
Water
Skin ConditioningCocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate
CleansingSodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
Cleansing
Lauryl Glucoside
CleansingGlycerin
Humectant
Panthenol
Skin Conditioning
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Glyceryl Oleate
Emollient
Citrus Aurantifolia Peel Extract
Cleansing
Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract
Emollient
Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract
AntimicrobialSalvia Officinalis Leaf Extract
CleansingChamomilla Recutita Flower Extract
Masking
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract
Emollient
Piroctone Olamine
Preservative
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride
Skin ConditioningAcrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
Emulsion StabilisingTrisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningAminomethyl Propanol
BufferingParfum
Masking
Limonene
Perfuming
Butylphenyl Methylpropional
Perfuming
Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Lauryl Glucoside, Glycerin, Panthenol, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Citrus Aurantifolia Peel Extract, Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract, Salvia Officinalis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Piroctone Olamine, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Aminomethyl Propanol, Parfum, Limonene, Butylphenyl Methylpropional
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract is a botanical extract pulled from the leaves of aloe vera and one of the most studied plant ingredients in cosmetics.
The inner leaf gel it comes from is mostly water (~99-99.5%) and the remaining fraction is made up of pretty good stuff: polysaccharides, vitamins, phenolics, and enzymes.
Its headline job is hydration.
The star polysaccharide in aloe, acemannan, is a humectant that retains moisture and helps reduce trans-epidermal water loss.
Aloe also has real soothing credentials; it contains anti-inflammatory compounds like bradykinase and C-glucosyl chromone that help calm irritation and redness.
On the repair side, lab work shows that acemannan wakes up your skin's repair cells (fibroblasts), prompting them to multiply and speed up healing.
There's some human data for cosmetic benefit too: a cream containing 10% Aloe Barbadensis leaf extract improved skin hydration and elasticity in a real-use study.
Safety-wise, this ingredient is well-regarded with just one rare downside; there have been some case reports of acute eczema, contact urticaria, and dermatitis in people who applied aloe-derived ingredients topically. Those with a known aloe or Liliaceae sensitivity should patch test.
Typical use levels range widely, from under 1% up to 90%+ depending on the format and the effect you are after.
Learn more about Aloe Barbadensis Leaf ExtractCocamidopropyl Betaine is a fatty acid created by mixing similar compounds in coconut oil and dimethylaminopropylamine, a compound with two amino groups.
This ingredient is a surfactant and cleanser. It helps gather the dirt, pollutants, and other impurities in your skin to be washed away. It also helps thicken a product and make the texture more creamy.
Being created from coconut oil means Cocamidopropyl Betaine is hydrating for the skin.
While Cocamidopropyl Betaine was believed to be an allergen, a study from 2012 disproved this. It found two compounds in unpure Cocamidopropyl Betaine to be the irritants: aminoamide and 3-dimethylaminopropylamine. High-grade and pure Cocamidopropyl Betaine did not induce allergic reactions during this study.
Learn more about Cocamidopropyl BetaineGlycerin (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 GlycerinPanthenol is a common ingredient that helps hydrate and soothe the skin. It is found naturally in our skin and hair.
There are two forms of panthenol: D and L.
D-panthenol is also known as dexpanthenol. Most cosmetics use dexpanthenol or a mixture of D and L-panthenol.
Panthenol is famous due to its ability to go deeper into the skin's layers. Using this ingredient has numerous pros (and no cons):
Like hyaluronic acid, panthenol is a humectant. Humectants are able to bind and hold large amounts of water to keep skin hydrated.
This ingredient works well for wound healing. It works by increasing tissue in the wound and helps close open wounds.
Once oxidized, panthenol converts to pantothenic acid. Panthothenic acid is found in all living cells.
This ingredient is also referred to as pro-vitamin B5.
Learn more about PanthenolPhenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).
It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.
On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.
Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).
You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.
Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.
Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.
Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.
Learn more about PhenoxyethanolThis 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 ExtractSage leaf extract is a culinary and medicinal herb with antibacterial, antioxidant, and soothing properties.
This ingredient is made up of 75-90% ursolic acid, a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound.
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.
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
