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Ice's Secret Oligopeptide Activating Essence

Name: Oligopeptide Activating Essence
Brand: Ice's Secret

This anti-aging toner is formulated around Sodium Hyaluronate to soften the look of wrinkles and hydrate skin.

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What's inside

Ingredients List

Water

Skin Conditioning

Sodium Hyaluronate

Humectant

0 / 0 Hyaluronic Acid Icon

Oligopeptide-1

Skin Conditioning

Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract

Skin Conditioning

Water, Sodium Hyaluronate, Oligopeptide-1, Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract

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Key Ingredients

Benefits

Ingredients Explained

Water

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. Remember to stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water

Sodium Hyaluronate

Humectant, Skin Conditioning

Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt form of hyaluronic acid. It is a long sugar chain that is naturally found in your skin, joints, and connective tissue that maintains hydration and elasticity.

In skincare, it works as a humectant. It pulls water from the environment and deeper layers of skin and binds it to the surface.

Interestingly, the size of the molecule affects its behavior:

Some clinical evidence links low molecular weight versions to improved wrinkle depth, elasticity, anti-inflammatory effects, and barrier repair.

Many serums use a blend of both weights so you can get surface hydration plus longer-lasting and deeper effects.

You'll typically see concentrations between 0.1-2% for this ingredient.

Learn more about Sodium Hyaluronate

Oligopeptide-1

Skin Conditioning

Oligopeptide-1 is another name for Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). In a formula, EGF works as a signaling ingredient.

EGF binds to receptors on your skin cells and tells keratinocytes/fibroblasts to divide, move, and rebuild the skin's support structure.

A 2012 open-label study on a barley-derived EGF serum reported statistically significant improvements in fine-lines, skin texture, pore size, and uneven skin tone, with changes showing up within the first month of 2x/daily use.

And a 2023 review found generally positive but modest results for growth factor products while pointing out that most trials are small, often industry-funded, and rarely test EGF on its own.

So, a fair summary of this ingredient would be "promising with real mechanistic backing, but not yet large-scale proof".

Concentration-wise, EGF is biologically active at very tiny amounts so finished products use it at low levels (think parts per million).

Raw material supplies usually sell a pre-diluted EGF solution and recommend adding roughly 1-5% of that solution to a formula.

Another practical catch: EGF is a fragile protein so it reacts badly to heat and the wrong pH. This just means it relies heavily on good packaging and a solid delivery system to stay active in a bottle.

Oligopeptide-1 and Sh-Oligopeptide-1. The "sh-" prefix just means "synthetic human" and it tells you that it's the lab grown version.

Learn more about Oligopeptide-1

Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract

Skin Conditioning

Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract is extract from Apples. Apples are rich in Vitamin C, sugars, and antioxidants.

The sugar in Apples are humectants and help hydrate the skin. On top of that, apples also contain some acids, such as malic acid. These acids may have a mild exfoliating effect.

Last, the phytochemicals found in apples are strong antioxidants. These antioxidants help with anti-aging as they protect your skin cells against oxidative damage.

Learn more about Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract