Water is a great solvent. It’s neutral and doesn’t provide any strong positive or negative effects. It just helps components to mix better and to transport active components.
2
Glycolic Acid (20%)AHA
Roles: Buffering, Exfoliant
Cleansing
Exfoliating
Anti-aging
Lightening
Good for oily skin
Glycolic Acid is the most researched AHA with proven efficiency and it’s a super powerful component. It’s a great exfoliator, meaning it helps to remove dead skin cells preventing bacterial growth, and make your skin look fresh and smooth. It helps to remove dark spots and areas, making skin tone even. But the most serious reason for using this component is that it helps to produce collagen, which is very important for keeping your skin healthy. This is what makes Glycolic Acid so special. Pay attention, that using any AHA makes your skin more UV sensitive. It’s very important to use good sunscreen after applying AHA.
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate is mostly used as formulation component. It gives the product a soft and silky but non-greasy feeling. As for the skin benefits, it's an emollient – it makes the skin softer and more hydrated. It also helps to kill bacteria and increase the product’s shelf life.
Cyclopentasiloxane is a fluid silicone. It’s non-greasy and doesn’t have any scent or color. It evaporates pretty fast which makes this ingredient essential when it comes to making products that have to dry quickly. It also gives a nice silky feeling when you apply the product to the skin and hair. It leaves a thin film that protects the skin after evaporation.
Cyclopentasiloxane is chemically neutral, meaning it doesn’t react with other components.
Stearyl Alcohol creates a barrier on the skin's surface lowering the evaporation of water and making it hydrated for a longer time. This barrier helps the skin to recover after deep cleansing. It also makes the skin look smooth. Though it belongs to alcohols, it's a fatty alcohol and it doesn't make your skin dry.
7
Glyceryl Stearate SE
Roles: Emulsifying, Surfactant
Moisturizing
Softening
Comedogenic rating [ 3 ]
Bad for oily skin
Glyceryl Stearate SE is a nice moisturizing ingredient. It hydrates the upper layers of the skin and fills small wrinkles. In haircare products, it's used for making hair softer.
Cetearyl Alcohol is used mostly for formulation purposes. It’s a very good emulsifier and emulsion stabilizer. It helps the ingredients mix better and it makes the product spread on your skin evenly. It also makes the product thicker. It doesn’t belong to harmful alcohols and it will not dry your skin.
9
Polyacrylamide
Roles: Antistatic, Binding, Film former, Hair fixative
Antistatic
Protection
10
C13-14 Isoparaffin
Roles: Emollient, Solvent
11
Dimethicone
Roles: Skin conditioning, Antifoaming, Emollient
Silicones
Dimethicone is the most popular silicone. It makes the skin softer and forms a film adding smooth and silky feeling. This film not only improves how the skin feels but also works as a protective barrier. It also improves the visual appearance of your skin by filling small wrinkles. That's why some people think dimethicone removes wrinkles. Actually, it does not. It's just a visual effect.
One of the most important characteristics of this component is that it helps to spread other ingredients evenly on the surface to provide good coverage. It's very important because you want all your skin cells to receive an equal proportion of the components.
Dimethicone is considered as safe, but remember that it is rather difficult to wash off! This may lead to clogged pores and acne if you use it too often and don't wash off quite well.
Squalane is a more stable equivalent of Squalene. It is a very important component of our skin. It’s a major part of natural sebum that forms a protection barrier on the skin's surface. If the barrier isn’t strong enough, your skin will become more sensitive. Squalanehelps to keep skin hydrated, protects it from the negative impact of the environment, lowers irritation, stimulates regeneration, and removes dryness. It is accepted by our skin very well and will not cause allergic reactions.
13
Tocopheryl AcetateVitaminsAntioxidant
Roles: Skin conditioning
Softening
Nutrifying
Tocopheryl Acetate is a form of Vitamine E. It’s used as an alternative to Tocopherol because it is more stable in the formulation. It has all the positive effects of Tocopherol plus better stability. It’s a brilliant component. It conditions and nourishes the skin helping it to resist aging. It also helps to protect the skin from the sun. High concentrations of Tocopheryl Acetate can lead to irritation and allergic reactions.
Green Tea Leaf Extract is a great antioxidant often used in Korean skincare products. It contains EGCG - the most effective flavonoid. It makes the skin look fresh, fills it with vitamines, and helps to prevent aging. It also helps to lower inflammation.
Phospholipids help to hydrate the skin and recover the lipid balance. If the skin lacks this component it can become dry. The component makes cell membranes more difficult to damage and this affects the overall health of the skin.
18
Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A Palmitate)Vitamins
Roles: Skin conditioning
Softening
Anti-aging
Regeneration
Hair structure improvement
Malassezia unsafe
Comedogenic rating [ 3 ]
Good for dry skin
19
Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vitamin C Palmitate)VitaminsAntioxidant
Roles: Fragrance, Masking
Lightening
Nutrifying
Malassezia unsafe
Comedogenic rating [ 2 ]
Ascorbyl Palmitate is a derivative of ascorbic and palmitic acids. It's a fat-soluble form of Vitamin C. It penetrates into the skin through cell membranes. Acts as an antioxidant. Due to its antioxidant properties, it is considered a rejuvenating vitamin. Controls the production of collagen in cells. Non-irritant at neutral pH.
20
Cetearyl Glucoside
Roles: Emulsifying, Surfactant
Moisturizing
Softening
21
PEG-100 Stearate
Roles: Cleansing, Surfactant
Moisturizing
Softening
Malassezia unsafe
PEG
Peg-100 Stearate is a good emulsifier that makes the ingredients mix nicely. It also makes the skin soft and moisturized. Peg-100 Stearate is also known for its cleansing effect. CIR Expert Panel marked this ingredient as safe.
22
Laureth-7
Roles: Emulsifying, Surfactant
Cleansing
23
Disodium EDTA
Roles: Chelating, Viscosity controlling
Disodium EDTA is an emulsion stabilizer and chelating agent. It deactivates the metal ions preventing them from reacting with other active ingredients. It improves the stability of a cosmetic formula and keeps the product’s consistency, texture, and pH unchanged. It doesn’t have any skincare effects and is used for formulation purposes only.
24
Methylparaben
Roles: Fragrance, Preservative
Parabens
Methylparaben is an effective preservative. It is a controversial ingredient in terms of safety. In 2006 there was a laboratory test showed that this component can increase the sun sensitivity of the skin cells. That’s why it’s a good idea to use sunscreen after you use this component.
AHA
