What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate
Cleansing
Lauryl Hydroxysultaine
CleansingCoco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Propanediol
Solvent
Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
Cleansing
1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Salicylic Acid
Masking
Sodium Chloride
MaskingHydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Citric Acid
Buffering
O-Cymen-5-Ol
Antimicrobial
Sodium Phytate
Sodium Lactate
Buffering
Sodium Gluconate
Skin ConditioningZinc PCA
Humectant
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid
Humectant
Myristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide Mea
Skin ConditioningWater, Glycerin, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Lauryl Hydroxysultaine, Coco-Glucoside, Propanediol, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Salicylic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Hydroxyacetophenone, Citric Acid, O-Cymen-5-Ol, Sodium Phytate, Sodium Lactate, Sodium Gluconate, Zinc PCA, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Myristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide Mea
Water
Skin ConditioningDisodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate
CleansingSodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate
CleansingDisodium Cocoamphodiacetate
CleansingCoco-Glucoside
Cleansing
1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Betaine
Humectant
Sodium Chloride
MaskingHydroxyethyl Urea
Humectant
Citric Acid
Buffering
Hydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Disodium EDTA
Hexylene Glycol
EmulsifyingSodium PCA
Humectant
Sodium Hyaluronate
Humectant
Myristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide Mea
Skin ConditioningWater, Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Coco-Glucoside, 1,2-Hexanediol, Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Citric Acid, Hydroxyacetophenone, Disodium EDTA, Hexylene Glycol, Sodium PCA, Sodium Hyaluronate, Myristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide Mea
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
1,2-Hexanediol is a synthetic liquid and another multi-functional powerhouse.
It is a:
- Humectant, drawing moisture into the skin
- Emollient, helping to soften skin
- Solvent, dispersing and stabilizing formulas
- Preservative booster, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of other preservatives
Citric 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 AcidCoco-Glucoside is a surfactant, or a cleansing ingredient. It is made from glucose and coconut oil.
Surfactants help gather dirt, oil, and other pollutants from your skin to be rinsed away.
This ingredient is considered gentle and non-comedogenic. However, it may still be irritating for some.
Learn more about Coco-GlucosideHydroxyacetophenone is antioxidant with skin conditioning and soothing properties. It also boosts the efficiency of preservatives.
Though naturally occuring in Norwegian spruce needles, this ingredient is usually synthetically created.
This ingredient is not irritating or sensitizing. Recent research also suggests it may have skin-brightening effects through tyrosinase inhibition.
Learn more about HydroxyacetophenoneMyristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide Mea (M/PO/AM) is a synthetic pseudoceramide; it's basically a lab-made ingredient designed to mimic the ceramides that your skin naturally produces.
What makes this ingredient special? It is connected to something called multi-lamellar emulsion (MLE) technology.
Your skin's outermost layer (stratum corneum) is often described as a "brick wall" where skin cells are bricks and lipids hold everything together. Your lipids are Ceramides, Cholesterol, and free fatty acids.
These fatty acids are not just randomly squished together. They're arranged in very specific layered (lamellar) structures. Your barrier suffers when the layer structure gets disrupted from things like eczema, harsh weather, or over-exfoliating.
M/PO/AM is formulated within MLE technology to closely replicate your skin's natural layers, setting it apart from other ceramides.
The research behind M/PO/AM is pretty solid for eczema, aka atopic dermatitis. A 2003 study on children with eczema found that an MLE cream containing M/PO/AM outperformed a standard urea-based moisturizer. The study also found a 31-35% decrease in severity index compared to smaller improvements from the control cream.
Recently, a 2024 trial found that combining M/PO/AM with topical corticosteroid led to better outcomes than using the steroid alone. The trial noted improvements in skin hydration, dryness, itching, and quality of life scores.
Research has also shown that M/PO/AM can help reduce barrier-damaging side effects of long term topical steroid use.
This ingredient also goes by the trade name PC-9S. No notable allergy concerns have been flagged for this ingredient in the published literature.
Learn more about Myristoyl/Palmitoyl Oxostearamide/Arachamide MeaChances are, you eat sodium chloride every day. Sodium Chloride is also known as table salt. This ingredient has many purposes in skincare: thickener, emulsifier, and exfoliator.
You'll most likely find this ingredient in cleansers where it is used to create a gel-like texture. As an emulsifier, it also prevents ingredients from separating.
You might see people debate whether Sodium Chloride is comedogenic, but there actually haven't been any comedogenic tests done on it. Either way, the overall formulation of a product matters a lot more than any single ingredient.
You might see this ingredient used in scrubs as a primary exfoliating ingredient.
Learn more about Sodium ChlorideWater. 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
