Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate
Also-called: Cetearyl Octanoate | What-it-does: emollient
A synthetic emollient oil that leaves asoft non-greasy, non-sticky feel on the skin, absorbs fast and can be emulsified (mixed with water) very easily.
PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate
What-it-does: emollient, emulsifying
Aclear pale yellow liquid that works as ahighly effective but mild surfactant. According to the manufacturer, Peg-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate can create microemulsion facial cleansers (microemulsions are a mixture of water, oil, and surfactants) that are crystal clear, gentle to theskin and can easily berinsedoff leaving no oily residue.
If you like oil cleansers but do not like to remove them with a washcloth, look out for this ingredient to find the perfect emulsifiable, water-rinsable oil cleanser.
Ethylhexyl Palmitate
What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2-4
A super common, medium-spreading emollient ester that gives richness to the formulaand a mild feel during rubout. It can be a replacement for mineral oil and is often combined with other emollients to achievedifferent sensorial properties.
Jojoba Esters
What-it-does: soothing, emollient, moisturizer/humectant
Jojoba-derived emollient wax esters (fatty acid + fatty alcohol) that make your skin feel nice and smooth. Chemically speaking, pure jojoba oil is also a wax ester (read our shiny explanation here), however, the ingredients called jojoba esters on the ingredient lists are made from jojoba oil and/or hydrogenated jojoba oil via interesterification.
They have multiple versions withvariable fatty acid chain lengthand the ingredient can have aliquid, a creamy, a soft or firm paste, or even a hard wax consistency. The common thing betweenall versions is, thatunlike most normal triglyceride oils, jojoba estershave superior stability, provide non-greasy emolliency and are readily absorbed into the skin.
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil - goodie
Also-called: Sweet Almond Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1-3
The emollient plant oil that comes from almonds. Similar to other plant oils, it is loaded with skin-nourishing fatty acids (oleic acid - 55-86% and linoleic acid 7-35%) and contains several other skin goodies such as antioxidant vitamin E and vitamin B versions.
It's a nice, basic oil that is often used duetoits greatsmoothing, softening and moisturizing properties. It's alsoparticularly good at treating dry brittle nails (source).
Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate
What-it-does: emollient, emulsifying
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Sorbeth-30 Tetraoleate
What-it-does: emulsifying
Alight yellow, water loving liquid that works as aself-emulsifying surfactant. It's popular in oil cleansersas it allows the oils to interact with water for easy rinsability.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Wax
Also-called: Sunflower Wax | What-it-does: emollient
A hard wax coming from sunflower that has a high melting point and givesexcellent thermal stability to the formulas.Similar to other waxes, it is used to stabilize products and give body to them, or to keep stick type formulas, such as lip balms, solid.
Parfum (Fragrance) - icky
Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum;Parfum/Fragrance | What-it-does: perfuming
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil - goodie
Also-called: Jojoba Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0-2
Jojoba is a drought resistant evergreen shrub native to South-western North America. It's known and grown for jojoba oil, the golden yellow liquid coming from the seeds (about 50% of the weight of the seeds will be oil).
At first glance, it seems like your average emollient plant oil: it looks like an oil and it's nourishing and moisturizing to the skin but if we dig a bit deeper, it turns out that jojoba oil is really special and unique: technically - or rather chemically - it's not an oil but awax ester (and calling it an oil is kind of sloppy).
So what the heck is a wax ester and why is that important anyway? Well, to understand what a wax ester is, you first have to know that oils are chemically triglycerides:one glycerin + three fatty acids attached to it. The fatty acids attached to the glycerin vary and thus we have many kinds of oils, but they are alltriglycerides. Mother Nature created triglycerides to be easily hydrolyzed (bebroken down to a glycerin + 3 fatty acid molecules) and oxidized (the fatty acid is broken down into small parts) - this happens basically when we eat fats or oils and our body generates energy from it.
Mother Nature also created wax esters but for a totally different purpose. Chemically, a wax ester is a fatty acid + a fatty alcohol, one long molecule. Wax esters are on the outer surface of several plant leaves to give them environmental protection. 25-30% of human sebum is also wax esters to give uspeople environmental protection.
So being a wax ester results in a couple of unique properties: First, jojoba oil is extremely stable. Like crazy stable. Even if you heat it to 370 C (698 F) for 96 hours, it does notbudge. (Many plant oils tend to go off pretty quickly). If you have some pure jojoba oil at home, you should be fine using it for years.
Second, jojoba oil is the most similar to human sebum (both being wax esters), and the two are completely miscible. Acne.org has this not fully proven theory that thanks to this, jojoba might be able to "trick" the skin into thinking it has already produced enough sebum, so it might have "skin balancing" properties for oily skin.
Third, jojoba oil moisturizes the skin through a unique dual action:on the one hand, it mixes with sebum and forms a thin, non-greasy, semi-occlusive layer; on the other hand, it absorbs into the skin through pores and hair follicles thendiffuses into the intercellular spaces of the outer layer of the skin to make it soft and supple.
On balance, the point is this: in contrast to real plant oils, wax esters were designed by Mother Nature to stay on the surface and forma protective, moisturizing barrier and jojoba oil being a wax ester is uniquely excellent at doing that.
Squalane - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1
It seems to us that squalane is in fashion and there is a reason for it. Chemically speaking, it is a saturated (no double bonds) hydrocarbon (a molecule consisting only of carbon and hydrogen), meaning that it's a nice and stable oily liquid with a long shelf life.
It occurs naturally in certain fish and plant oils (e.g. olive), and in the sebum (the oily stuff our skin produces) of the human skin. As f.c. puts it in his awesome blog post, squalane's main things are"emolliency, surface occlusion, and TEWL prevention all with extreme cosmetic elegance". In other words, it's a superb moisturizer that makes your skin nice and smooth, withoutbeing heavy or greasy.
Another advantage of squalane is that it is pretty much compatible with all skin types and skin conditions. It isexcellent for acne-prone skin and safe to use even if you have fungi-related skin issues, likeseborrhea or fungal acne.
The unsaturated (with double bonds) and hence less stable version ofSqualane is Squalene, youcan read about it here >>
Canola Oil (Huile De Colza)
What-it-does: emollient
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Tocopherol - goodie
Also-called: Vitamin E | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0-3 | Comedogenicity: 0-3
- Primary fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin
- Significant photoprotection against UVB rays
- Vit C + Vit E work in synergy and provide great photoprotection
- Has emollient properties
- Easy to formulate, stable and relatively inexpensive
Read all the geeky details about Tocopherol here >>
Jojoba Oil/Macadamia Seed Oil Esters - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient
Jojoba Oil/Macadamia Seed Oil Esters is the major component of a skin surface lipid mimetic mixture trade named L22.
So what the heck is a skin surface lipid mimetic mixture? Let's start with skin surface lipids (SLSs): these are the oily substances that your skin produces (mainly the sebaceous glands, a smaller part comes from the epidermis) to keep the skin nice and moisturized. The main components arefatty acids (FAs), triglycerides, cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, wax esters, and squalene. This mixture has a super important role in keeping the skin barrier healthy.
SoJojoba Oil/Macadamia Seed Oil Esters is a jojoba and macadamia oil-derived ingredient that contains fatty acids, triglycerides, and wax esters. It comes to the formula with Squalene,Phytosteryl Macadamiate(botanical sourced version of cholesteryl ester) andPhytosterols(botanical version of cholesterol) in the ratios found in young, healthy adult skin.
So the main skill of L22 is barrier repair and skin hydration and the manufacturer did several double-blind, vehicle-controlled studies to show it really works. It compared 3% of L22 with 3% of olive oil or 3% of caprylic/capric triglyceride alone or combined with Ceramide 2 in a vehicle. 60 minutes after the application, barrier recovery was by far the best by the L22 + Ceramide 2 (0.1%) combination, followed by L22 alone, and then by Olive + Ceramide 2 and Olive alone. Skin hydration was measured 4 hours after application and again, the L22 + Ceramide 2 combination performed the best followed by L22 alone.
Another study compared 3% L22 with 3% petrolatum(the gold standard occlusive agent). After 1 hour, they performed similarly both for barrier repair and skin hydration, but after 2 weeks of use and a 1 week regression period, L22 showed significantly better results.
So the bottom line is: if barrier repair is something that you are interested in, the skin surface lipids of L22 can definitely be worth a try. Even better, if the formula also contains Ceramide 2.
Acacia Decurrens Flower Wax
Also-called: Mimosa wax | What-it-does: emollient
The flower wax coming fromMimosa that has nice skin protecting and film-forming properties. It also has a nice, sweet smellwell known to perfumers.
Mimosa wax often comes to the formula together with sunflower and jojoba waxes as the three of them is trade namedActicire and form a natural texture agent that works both as an emollient bringing softness to the formula as well as an active ingredient with skin-repairing, protecting, and moisturizing properties.
Polyglycerin-3
What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant
Three glycerin molecules attached together. It is a humectant and moisturizer ingredient just like glycerin, but the largermolecular structure penetrates slower into the skin and gives milder, longer lasting moisture.
Squalene - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, antioxidant, emollient
Squalene is an oily liquid that originally comes from shark liver but luckily it can also be found in a couple of plant oils. Olive (0.6%), peanut (0.1%) and pumpkin (0.35%) oils contain it, though not in huge amounts.
What contains more of it, is the sebum (the oily stuff) that our skin produces. About 13% of human sebum is squalene, which means that it’s an important skin-identical ingredient and NMF (natural moisturizing factor).
Chemically speaking, it is an unsaturated (has double bonds) hydrocarbon (contains only carbon and hydrogen) molecule, that can undergo oxidation. On the pro side,this means that squalene can act as an antioxidant (while its no-double-bond version sister, squalane cannot), but on the con side,squalene is less stable and has a shorter shelf life.
This is probably the main reason why its no-double bond and hence more stable sister, squalane shows up more often on ingredient lists. Read about squalane here >>
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil - goodie
Also-called: Sunflower Oil | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
Sunflower does not need a big intro as you probably use it in the kitchen as cooking oil, or you munch on the seeds as a healthy snack or you adore its big, beautifulyellow flower during the summer - or you do all of these and probably even more. And by even more we mean putting it all overyour face as sunflower oil is one of the most commonly used plant oils in skincare.
It’s a real oldie: expressed directly from the seeds, the oil is used not for hundreds but thousands of years. According to The National Sunflower Association, there is evidencethat both the plant and its oil were used by American Indians in the area of Arizona and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Do the math: it's more than 5000 years – definitely an oldie.
Our intro did get pretty big after all (sorry for that), so let's get to the point finally: sunflower oil - similar to other plant oils - is a great emollient that makes the skin smooth and nice and helps to keep it hydrated. It also protects the surface of the skin and enhances the damaged or irritated skin barrier. Leslie Bauman notes in Cosmetic Dermatology that one application of sunflower oil significantly speeds up the recovery of the skin barrier within an hour and sustains the results 5 hours after using it.
It's also loaded withfatty acids(mostly linoleic (50-74%) and oleic (14-35%)). The unrefined version(be sure to use that on your skin!) is especially high in linoleic acid that is great even for acne-prone skin. Its comedogen index is 0, meaning that it's pretty much an all skin-type oil.
Truth be told, there are many great plant oils and sunflower oil is definitely one of them.
Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil
Also-called: Carrot Seed Oil | What-it-does: emollient
The oil coming from the seeds of the carrot, the orange root vegetable we all know and eat regularly. This oil is a really tricky one, as it can refer to two types of oil that can both be extracted from the carrot seeds: the essential oil (about 0.83% yield) and the fixed oil (about 7.84% yield).
The two seed oils are very different and to make matters even worse these two oils are also very different fromcarrot root oil, or carrot oil, that is basically carrot root extract macerated in a carrier oil such as sunflower or olive oil and is the one that contains the vitamin A precursor, carotene.
Let's start with the fixed oil: it's a nice emollient plant oil that is loaded with moisturizing fatty acids (petroselinic acid - 60% and linoleic acid - 12% are the main ones). Other important components are carotol (30%) and daucol (12%) that give the seed oil antifungal and antioxidant properties. Browsing cosmetic manufacturer info, the oil is also often described as revitalizing, toning and stimulating.
As for the essential oil, it is a light yellow colored oil with arich, spicy and earthy fragrance. Its main component iscarotol (about 65%) but similar to other essential oils, it is a chemically complex mixture with lots of compounds in small amounts. The essential oil also hasantifungal and antioxidant properties but also contains fragrant components that might irritate sensitive skin types.
Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract - goodie
Also-called: Carrot Root Oil | What-it-does: antioxidant, emollient
The oil-soluble extract coming from the edible, orange part of the carrot. It is created bymacerating the carrot root in a carrier oil such as sunflower or olive oil, and the resulting thing (base oil + carrot root extract) is often called carrot oil or carrot root oil. (Not to be confused with carrot seed oil, that can be fixed or essential and comes from the seeds.)
The root extract is known for containing the orange pigmentbeta-carotene, aka provitamin A. It is a famous molecule for being a potent antioxidant, suntan accelerator and having skin-regenerative abilities. Carrot oil also contains vitamin E and some fatty acids that give the oil further antioxidant and barrier repairingproperties.
Phytosteryl Macadamiate - goodie
What-it-does: emollient, skin-identical ingredient
Phytosteryl Macadamiate is the combination of phytosterol and fatty acids coming from Macadamia oil. It is a botanical version of cholesteryl esters found in skin surface lipids. It comes to the ingredient list as part of L22, a skin surface lipid mimetic whose main job is barrier repair and skin hydration.
Beta-Carotene
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Tocopheryl Acetate
Also-called: Vitamin E Acetate | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. You can read all about the pure form here. This one is the so-called esterified version.
According to famous dermatologist, Leslie Baumann while tocopheryl acetate is more stable and has a longer shelf life, it’s also more poorly absorbed by the skin and may not have the same awesome photoprotective effects as pure Vit E.
Phytosterols
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Phenoxyethanol
What-it-does: preservative
It’s pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, but even more importantly, it’s not a feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason paraben.
It’s not something new: it was introduced around 1950 and today it can be used up to 1% worldwide. It can be found in nature - in green tea - but the version used in cosmetics is synthetic.
Other than having a good safety profile and being quite gentle to the skin it has some other advantages too. It can be used in many types of formulations as it has great thermal stability (can be heated up to 85°C) and works on a wide range of pH levels (ph 3-10).
It’s often used together with ethylhexylglycerin as it nicely improves the preservative activity of phenoxyethanol.
Ethylhexylglycerin
What-it-does: preservative, deodorant
If you have spottedethylhexylglycerinon the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative,phenoxyethanol. They are good friends becauseethylhexylglycerincan boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too.
Also,it's an effective deodorant and a medium spreadingemollient.
Beta-Caryophyllene
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Citral - icky
What-it-does: perfuming
It’s a common fragrance ingredient that smells like lemon and has a bittersweet taste. It can be found in many plant oils, e.g. lemon, orange, lime or lemongrass.
It’s one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately (and cannot be simply included in the term “fragrance/perfume” on the label) because of allergen potential. Best to avoid if your skin is sensitive.
Citrus Aurantium Peel Oil - icky
Also-called: Sweet Orange Peel Oil, Citrus Sinensis Oil;Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil | What-it-does: perfuming
The essential oil coming from the rind of the orange (thesweetone). In general, the main component of citrus peel oils is limonene(83-97% for sweet orangepeel), a super common fragrant ingredient that makes everything smell nice (but counts as a frequent skin sensitizer).
Other than that, citrus peelalso contains the problematic compoundcalled furanocoumarin that makes them mildly phototoxic. Orange peel contains less of it than some other citruses (like bergamot or lime), but still, be carefulwith it especially if it is in a product for daytime use.
Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil - icky
Also-called: Lemon Peel Oil | What-it-does: perfuming
The essential oil coming from the rind of the lemon that we make (or should make) lemonade from. In general, there are two problems with citrus peel oils: first, they are essentially the fragrant component, limonene in disguise (they are about 85-98% limonene).
Second, they containthe problematic compounds called furanocoumarins that makethem mildly phototoxic. Lemon peel contains a medium amountof them, more than sweet orangebut less than bergamot. Be carefulwith it especially if it is in a product for daytime use.
Juniperus Virginiana Oil
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Limonene - icky
What-it-does: perfuming, solvent, deodorant
A supercommon and cheap fragrance ingredient. It's in many plants, e.g. rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint and it's the main component (about 50-90%) of the peel oil of citrus fruits.
It does smellnice but the problemis that it oxidizes on air exposure and the resulting stuff is not good for the skin. Oxidizedlimonene cancause allergic contact dermatitis and counts asa frequent skin sensitizer.
Limonene's nr1 function is definitely being a fragrance component, but there are several studies showing that it's also a penetration enhancer, mainly for oil-loving components.
All in all, limonene has some pros and cons, but - especially if your skin is sensitive -the cons probably outweigh the pros.
Linalool - icky
What-it-does: perfuming, deodorant
Linalool is a super common fragrance ingredient. It’s kind of everywhere - both in plants and in cosmetic products. It’s part of 200 natural oils including lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot, jasmine, geranium and it can be found in 90-95% of prestige perfumes on the market.
The problem with linalool is, that just like limoneneit oxidises on air exposure and becomes allergenic. That’s why a product containing linalool that has been opened for several months is more likely to be allergenic than a fresh one.
A study made in the UK with 483 people tested the allergic reaction to 3% oxidised linalool and 2.3% had positive test results.
Pinene
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Tetramethyl Acetyloctahydronaphthalenes
What-it-does: perfuming
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.