What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Skin Conditioning
Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside
CleansingDecyl Glucoside
Cleansing
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
CleansingGlycerin
Humectant
Cocos Nucifera Shell Powder
Abrasive
Cucumis Sativus Extract
Skin Conditioning
Propanediol
Solvent
Sodium Levulinate
Skin ConditioningSodium Anisate
AntimicrobialXanthan Gum
EmulsifyingCyamopsis Tetragonoloba Gum
Emulsion StabilisingFucus Vesiculosus Extract
Emollient
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Antimicrobial
Levulinic Acid
Perfuming
Bambusa Vulgaris Extract
Skin Conditioning
Salvia Sclarea Oil
Masking
Juniperus Communis Wood Oil
Perfuming
Citrus Aurantium Peel Oil
Tocopherol
Antioxidant
Citric Acid
Buffering
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Glycerin, Cocos Nucifera Shell Powder, Cucumis Sativus Extract, Propanediol, Sodium Levulinate, Sodium Anisate, Xanthan Gum, Cyamopsis Tetragonoloba Gum, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Levulinic Acid, Bambusa Vulgaris Extract, Salvia Sclarea Oil, Juniperus Communis Wood Oil, Citrus Aurantium Peel Oil, Tocopherol, Citric Acid
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Skin Conditioning
Glycerin
Humectant
Pyrus Malus Juice
Skin ConditioningDecyl Glucoside
Cleansing
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingCitrus Limon Juice
Skin Conditioning
Vitis Vinifera Juice
Antioxidant
Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside
CleansingVaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract
Skin ConditioningSaccharum Officinarum Extract
MoisturisingAcer Saccharum Extract
Skin ConditioningTaraxacum Officinale Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningSalvia Officinalis Leaf Extract
CleansingTocopherol
Antioxidant
Lactic Acid
Buffering
Glycolic Acid
Buffering
Sodium Levulinate
Skin ConditioningPotassium Sorbate
Preservative
Sodium Phytate
Citric Acid
Buffering
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Flower Oil
Astringent
Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil
Masking
Cinnamomum Camphora Wood Oil
Masking
Citrus Grandis Peel Oil
Masking
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Pyrus Malus Juice, Decyl Glucoside, Coco-Glucoside, Xanthan Gum, Citrus Limon Juice, Vitis Vinifera Juice, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract, Saccharum Officinarum Extract, Acer Saccharum Extract, Taraxacum Officinale Leaf Extract, Salvia Officinalis Leaf Extract, Tocopherol, Lactic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Sodium Levulinate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Phytate, Citric Acid, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Flower Oil, Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil, Cinnamomum Camphora Wood Oil, Citrus Grandis Peel Oil
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 Juice comes from leaves of the aloe plant. Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice is best known for helping to soothe sunburns. It is also anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, antiseptic, and can help heal wounds.
Aloe is packed with good stuff including Vitamins A, C, and E. These vitamins are antioxidants, which help fight free-radicals and the damage they may cause. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells, such as pollution.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice also contains sugars. These sugars come in the form of monosaccharides and polysaccharides, folic acid, and choline. These sugars are able to help bind moisture to skin.
It also contains minerals such as calcium, 12 anthraquinones, fatty acids, amino acids, and Vitamin B12.
Learn more about Aloe Barbadensis Leaf JuiceThis 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:
Typical use levels range from 10-20% in cleansers and 15-30% in shower products.
Once on your skin, your skin's glucoside hydrolases breaks it down into glucose and the parent fatty alcohols.
This ingredient is considered fungal acne safe because its fatty alcohol portion sits outside the Malassezia yeast's metabolization range.
Learn more about Caprylyl/Capryl GlucosideCitric Acid is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) naturally found in citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and limes.
Like other AHAs, citric acid can exfoliate skin by breaking down the bonds that hold dead skin cells together. This helps reveal smoother and brighter skin underneath.
However, this exfoliating effect only happens at high concentrations (20%) which can be hard to find in cosmetic products.
Due to this, citric acid is usually included in small amounts as a pH adjuster. This helps keep products slightly more acidic and compatible with skin's natural pH.
In skincare formulas, citric acid can:
While it can provide some skin benefits, research shows lactic acid and glycolic acid are generally more effective and less irritating exfoliants.
Most citric acid used in skincare today is made by fermenting sugars (usually from molasses). This synthetic version is identical to the natural citrus form but easier to stabilize and use in formulations.
Read more about some other popular AHA's here:
Learn more about Citric AcidDecyl Glucoside is a plant-derived surfactant and emulsion stabilizer. It is created by reacting glucose with the fatty acids from plants.
Like all surfactants, it works by lowering the surface tension between water and oil. This makes it so that dirt, sebum, and makeup can be lifted off your skin and rinsed away. It also produces a dense and creamy foam.
Because it has a neutral charge, it is compatible with a wide range of ingredients and stays stable across a broad pH range/water hardiness conditions.
Patch testing has shown it to have the lowest irritation potential among common cleansing surfactants (like SLS).
Typical use levels range from 5-20% in rinse-off cleansers.
One thing worth knowing: The American Contact Dermatitis Society named the parent family, alkyl glucosides, "Allergen of the Year" in 2017. The prevalence of allergy is pretty low but be sure to patch test if you've reacted to "gentle" or sulfate-free cleansers before.
This ingredient is fungal acne safe because the fatty alcohol portion of this ingredient is not within the C11-24 chain length that Malassezia can metabolize.
Learn more about Decyl GlucosideGlycerin (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 GlycerinSodium levulinate is the a sodium salt of Levulinic Acid. Oncedissolved in an aqueous solution, the two ingredients become identical. It is usually derived from renewable plant sources like corn starch or sugarcane.
In skincare, it mostly acts as a skin conditioning agent that keeps skin soft and hydrated. It also acts as a preservative booster by inhibiting the growth of mold, yeast, and bacteria.
It's often paired with Sodium Anisate as the two create a broad-spectrum preservative system that is popular in "natural" formulations.
This ingredient is water-soluble.
The CIR Expert Panel for Cosmetic Ingredient Safety has concluded this ingredient to be non-irritated and there are no restrictions for use in EU cosmetics. The FDA also allows this ingredient to be used as a food-grade flavoring agent.
Learn more about Sodium LevulinateTocopherol is a fat-soluble antioxidant known as Vitamin E.
You'll find this ingredient in the vast majority of skincare (for good reason). It works to neutralize free radicals, or unstable molecules generated by UV exposure, pollution, and other environmental stressors, before they can cause oxidative damage to your skin cells.
Topically applied tocopherol has been shown to protect against UV damage by ramping up the skin's own natural defense enzymes.
It also acts as a skin conditioning agent; some studies show that regular topical use can improve the skin's water-binding capacity over 2-4 weeks.
This ingredient is especially loved for being a team player. When combined with Vitamin C, the photoprotective effect of both ingredients roughly doubles and the combo also helps reduce UV-induced DNA damage.
This ingredient has some brightening potential but it's more of a prevention ingredient than spot-fader. Cell studies show it can slow down melanin production but it's worth noting that it's not the most powerful brightener out there.
In formulations, it also serves as a stabilizer that helps protect other oxidation-prone ingredients from degrading.
Concentrations usually range from 0.1-1% in most leave-on products.
Learn more about TocopherolXanthan 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.
Xanthan gum is a pretty common and great ingredient. It is a natural, non-toxic, non-irritating ingredient that is also commonly used in food products.
Learn more about Xanthan Gum
