Versus

The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Versus Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution

Serum
Facial Treatment
British Brand United Kingdom
American Brand United States

Updated on June 26, 2024

Overview

What they are

These products are both reef safe . They have a total of 3 ingredients in common

Cool Features

They both contain Vitamin E

Suited For

They're both likely to be good for anti aging, dry skin, oily skin and scar healing

Free From

They both do not contain any parabens, silicones or sulfates

What's Inside

They both contain harsh alcohols, common allergens, fragrances and oils

We independently verify ingredients, and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Spot a product that needs an update? Let us know.

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and see relevant ingredients

About this product

About this product

At a glance

Click on any of the items below to learn more

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

Ingredients Side-by-side

found in both products

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Skin Conditioning, Solvent

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. Stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water
Antimicrobial, Astringent, Masking

Alcohol Denat. is an alcohol with a denaturant property. It is created by mixing ethanol with other additives.

This ingredient gets a bad rep because it is irritating and drying - mostly due to its astringent property. Astringents draw out natural oils in tissue, constricting pores and leaving your skin dried out.

However, alcohol denat. is not all that bad.

Due to its low molecular weight, alcohol denat. tends to evaporate quickly. One study on pig skin found half of applied alcohol evaporated in 10 seconds and less than 3% stayed on skin.

This also helps other ingredients become better absorbed upon application.

Studies are conflicted about whether this ingredient causes skin dehydration. One study from 2005 found adding emollients to propanol-based sanitizer decreased skin dryness and irritation. Another study found irritation only occurs if your skin is already damaged.

Small amounts of alcohol are generally tolerated by oily skin or people who live in humid environments.

The rule of thumb is if this alcohol is near the end of an ingredients list, it will probably not affect your skin much.

Also...

This ingredient has antimicrobial and solvent properties.

The antimicrobial property helps preserve products and increase their shelf life. As a solvent, it helps dissolve other ingredients.

Other types of astringent alcohols include:

Learn more about Alcohol Denat.
Antioxidant, Masking, Skin Conditioning

Tocopherol (also known as Vitamin E) is a common antioxidant used to help protect the skin from free-radicals and strengthen the skin barrier. It's also fat soluble - this means our skin is great at absorbing it.

Vitamin E also helps keep your natural skin lipids healthy. Your lipid skin barrier naturally consists of lipids, ceramides, and fatty acids. Vitamin E offers extra protection for your skin’s lipid barrier, keeping your skin healthy and nourished.

Another benefit is a bit of UV protection. Vitamin E helps reduce the damage caused by UVB rays. (It should not replace your sunscreen). Combining it with Vitamin C can decrease sunburned cells and hyperpigmentation after UV exposure.

You might have noticed Vitamin E + C often paired together. This is because it is great at stabilizing Vitamin C. Using the two together helps increase the effectiveness of both ingredients.

There are often claims that Vitamin E can reduce/prevent scarring, but these claims haven't been confirmed by scientific research.

Learn more about Tocopherol

When to use

150 Routines
33% use in am
67% use in pm
77% use every day
When to use See routines that use it ->
251 Routines
54% use in am
46% use in pm
90% use every day
When to use See routines that use it ->

Reviews

Here's what our community thinks

The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil 10 ingredients

2.3 /5
from 4 ratings
Irritating (3) Doesn't Work (1) Drying (1)
ChienYun_CY's avatar

Chien Yun Ang

8 months ago
Review

This helped me cleared up some small spots during the initial stages. But after a few more use, it gave me more red acne bumps.. the smell of tea tree is so strong, it is pretty off-putting as well.

#broke me out
#irritating
#sticky
#oily
bubblechaz's avatar

Farah Tiffani

7 months ago
Review

tricky method of using this one. only use it as needed on clean, dry, bare skin, and only on new pimple, let it stay for few hours or overnight. and when using it, I don't layer it with anything. using it too much would irritate the skin and as the other reviewer said, would give more bumps.

#irritating
#works well

Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution 24 ingredients

4.0 /5
from 3 ratings
Expensive (2) Light (2) Absorbs Well (1)
ButterflyDreams's avatar

ButterflyDreams

4 months ago
Review

Normally I avoid products with alcohol, but it’s not an issue with this one. It’s well formulated so that it’s balanced out with other more hydrating ingredients. It absorbed nearly immediately and doesn’t dry out the skin. The results aren’t massive. But I just love the apothecary aesthetic and it works about as well as any other dark spot corrector.

#expensive
#light
#absorbs well
#works well
MSP's avatar

MSP

2 years ago
Review

Works as said
I have dark skin and lots of PIH. It lightens them. You can see quicker results with new PIH spots. Holygrail in my routine