It has ingredients that are good for fighting acne, dry skin, brightening skin, oily skin, reducing pores, scar healing and dark spots

Free From

It doesn't contain any common allergens, fragrances, oils, parabens, silicones or sulfates

Fun facts

Boots is from United Kingdom. This product is used in 2 routines created by our community.

We independently verify ingredients and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Does this product need an update? Let us know.

Ingredient List (16)

Alcohol, Water, Calamine, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Butylene Glycol, Fomes Officinalis Extract, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Hydrolyzed Linseed Extract, Alpha-Glucan Oligosaccharide, Acacia Senegal Gum, Salicylic Acid, Hexylene Glycol, Polymnia Sonchifolia Root Juice, Maltodextrin, Lactobacillus

You should know

Here's our breakdown of the notable ingredients, benefits, and concerns we determined from the ingredients in this product. Click any item to learn more.

Notable Ingredients

BHA

Niacinamide

Benefits

Hydrating

Good For Oily Skin (2)

Redness Reducing

Reduces Large Pores (2)

Dark Spots

Scar Healing

Acne Fighting (2)

Brightening (3)

Concerns

Drying (2)

May Worsen Oily Skin

Irritating (2)

Rosacea (2)

Eczema (2)

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and view relevant ingredients.

alcohol-free

silicon-free

fragrance-free

sulfate-free

paraben-free

oil-free

fungal-acne safe

reef-safe

eu-allergen-free

vegan

cruelty-free

Ingredients Overview

Here's our quick-to-read summary of the ingredients in this product. Keep scrolling if you'd like to learn more about what each ingredient does!

Ingredient

Com. / Irr. Rating

Features

Antimicrobial, Astringent, Masking, Solvent

Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Absorbent, Skin Protecting

Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting, Solvent

0 / 0

Smoothing

Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

1 / 0

Skin Protecting

Skin Conditioning

Skin Conditioning

Cleansing, Skin Conditioning, Smoothing

Masking

Masking, Preservative, Skin Conditioning

Emulsifying, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

0-2 / 0-1

Skin Conditioning

Absorbent, Emulsion Stabilising, Skin Conditioning

Skin Conditioning

Ingredients Explained

This product contains 16 ingredients. Click on any ingredient to learn more about it

Alcohol

What it does: Antimicrobial, Astringent, Masking, Solvent

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Alcohol comes in many different forms. Different types of alcohol will have different effects on skin. This ingredient is usually an astringent alcohol.

These alcohols are drying on the skin. They may strip away your skin's natural oils and even damage your skin barrier. Astringent alcohols may also irritate skin.

Other types of astringent alcohols include:

According to the National Rosacea Society based in the US, you should be mindful of products with these alcohols in the top half of ingredients.

Any type of sanitizing product will have high amounts of alcohol to help kill bacteria and viruses.

Fatty alcohols come from plant oils such as coconut oil. These can help hydrate the skin and are non-irritating. Some fatty alcohols include cetyl and stearyl alcohol.

Learn more about Alcohol

Water

What it does: Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Community Rating: Loved

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. Talk about multi-purpose! If you see this, drink a glass of water. Stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water

Calamine

What it does: Absorbent, Skin Protecting

Community Rating: Liked

We don't have a description for Calamine.

Glycerin

What it does: Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting, Solvent

Community Rating: Loved

Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin. It helps moisturize and protect your skin.

A study from 2016 found glycerin to be more effective as a humectant than AHAs and hyaluronic acid.

As a humectant, it helps the skin stay hydrated by pulling moisture to your skin. The low molecular weight of glycerin allows it to pull moisture into the deeper layers of your skin.

Hydrated skin improves your skin barrier; Your skin barrier helps protect against irritants and bacteria.

Glycerin has also been found to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Due to these properties, glycerin is often used in wound and burn treatments.

In cosmetics, glycerin is usually derived from plants such as soybean or palm. However, it can also be sourced from animals, such as tallow or animal fat.

This ingredient is organic, colorless, odorless, and non-toxic.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Learn more about Glycerin

Niacinamide

What it does: Smoothing

Community Rating: Loved

Niacinamide has emerged as an all-star ingredient due to its many benefits.

It is known to treat acne by reducing inflammation. It also helps fade dark-spots and strengthen the skin by promoting the growth of the ceramide barrier.

Other benefits include smoothing wrinkles and minimizing redness.

The cherry on top? Niacinamide can also help build keratin, a protein that keeps skin firm.

When incorporating niacinamide into your routine, look out for concentration amounts. Typically, 5% niacinamide provides benefits such as fading dark spots. However, if you have sensitive skin, it is better to begin with a smaller concentration.

Niacinamide can be mixed with other ingredients to boost benefits. For instance, it has shown to be effective when used with copper, folic acid, and zinc to treat acne.

Learn more about Niacinamide

Butylene Glycol

What it does: Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Community Rating: Mixed

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

It is a solvent, meaning that it helps to dissolve other ingredients. This also enhances the absorption of the product into one's skin.
It is a humectant, which means that it helps attract moisture into the skin.
It helps improve product application.

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient. It is unlikely to irritate skin, and works well with pretty much all other ingredients.

Fomes Officinalis Extract

What it does: Skin Protecting

We don't have a description for Fomes Officinalis Extract.

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate

What it does: Skin Conditioning

Community Rating: Very Disliked

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate is an ester of lauric acid and Polyglycerin-10.

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate is a cleansing agent and emulsifier. It helps gather dirt, oil, and other pollutants to be rinsed away. As an emulsifier, it helps prevent ingredients from separating, such as oil and water.

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate may not be fungal acne safe.

Learn more about Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate

Hydrolyzed Linseed Extract

What it does: Skin Conditioning

We don't have a description for Hydrolyzed Linseed Extract.

Alpha-Glucan Oligosaccharide

What it does: Cleansing, Skin Conditioning, Smoothing

Community Rating: Loved

Alpha-Glucan Oligosaccharide is a prebiotic. It prevents harmful bacteria from growing on skin by keeping the skin's microbiome in balance.

Alpha-Glucan Oligosaccharide also has antioxidant properties. Antioxidants help fight free-radicals. Free-radicals are molecules that may damage your skin cells.

Acacia Senegal Gum

What it does: Masking

Community Rating: Disliked

We don't have a description for Acacia Senegal Gum.

Salicylic Acid

What it does: Masking, Preservative, Skin Conditioning

Community Rating: Liked

Salicylic Acid (also known as beta hydroxy acid or BHA) is one of the most well-known ingredients for treating skin that struggles with blackheads and acne. It helps to exfoliate both the skin's surface and pores, and also acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.

This multitasking property makes it a great ingredient for cleaning out pores, controlling oil production, and reducing inflammation.

Unlike AHAs which are water soluble, Salicylic Acid is oil soluble. This means that it's able to exfoliate the inside of pores and reduce blackheads.

Concentrations of 0.5-2% are recognized by the U.S. FDA as an over-the-counter topical acne product.

It can cause irritation and/or dryness if one's skin already has a compromised moisture barrier, so it's best to focus on repairing that before introducing a Salicylic Acid into your routine.

In general, Salicylic Acid is a great ingredient for oily acne-prone skin.

While salicylic acid does not increase sun-sensitivity, we still recommend wearing SPF.

If you are looking for the ingredient called BHA or Butylated Hydroxyanisole, click here.

Learn more about Salicylic Acid

Hexylene Glycol

What it does: Emulsifying, Skin Conditioning, Solvent

Community Rating: Disliked

Hexylene Glycol is a surfactant. Glycols are a class of alcohols. Hexylene Glycol is a surfactant and emulsifier.

As a surfactant, Hexylene Glycol helps gather dirt and oil on your skin to be washed away.

As an emulsifier, Hexylene Glycol helps keep water and oil together. This prevents them from separating in a product. Hexylene Glycol also thins out the texture of a product by lessening viscosity.

Hexylene Glycol has a small molecular weight.

Learn more about Hexylene Glycol

Polymnia Sonchifolia Root Juice

What it does: Skin Conditioning

We don't have a description for Polymnia Sonchifolia Root Juice.

Maltodextrin

What it does: Absorbent, Emulsion Stabilising, Skin Conditioning

Community Rating: Liked

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide. It is derived from starch such as rice, corn, wheat, or potato starch.

In food, Maltodextrin is used to improve the texture and thicken a product. Due to its structure, it can help create a gel texture. As an emulsion stabilizer, it helps keep the ingredients in a product together.

As a polysaccharide, Maltodextrin has moisturizing properties. Polysaccharides are a type of carbohydrate. The top layer of skin uses polysaccharides to retain water, keeping the skin hydrated.

Maltodextrin is water soluble and has a sweet taste.

Learn more about Maltodextrin

Lactobacillus

What it does: Skin Conditioning

Community Rating: Liked

Lactobacillus is a type of bacteria. It makes up most of the food fermenting lactic acid bacteria. It is used to create wine, yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, pickles, beer, cider, kimchi, cocoa, kefir.

Lactobacillus has antibacterial and antifungal properties (that's why we can eat the fermented foods above).

Lactobacillus is also skin conditioning and helps soothe the skin.

Read about lactobacillus ferment here.

Learn more about Lactobacillus

Embed Ingredients

Here's what our community thinks of the 16 ingredients in this product ✨

50% are loved or liked

6% have mixed ratings

25% are disliked or very disliked

19% have no rating yet

When to use

Here's some more info on how this product is used by our community.

Directions

Use in the evening on freshly cleansed and toned face. Dip a cotton swab into the bottle and into the pink layer at the bottom of the bottle. Then carefully apply directly to areas with outbreaks of impurities. Should not be rubbed into the skin.