Understanding Cosmetic Ingredients Lists
Consumers, quite rightly, are more and more interested in what is in their cosmetics, especially with the rapid rise in the ‘Clean Beauty’ space which forgoes effective but potentially damaging ingredients like parabens for less effective but perhaps more skin safe alternatives. Consumers are increasingly informed and one of the first things people do when picking up a physical product or checking online, is look at the back of the label.
The Ingredients List
Many territories including the USA, most of Europe, China, Japan, and others all subscribe to using something called an INCI list. INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. It is a growing database list of thousands of cosmetic ingredients that has been in use since the 1970s. It is very useful as it allows standard identification of ingredients in products across large parts of the world. Most ingredients in the INCI list are listed under their scientific name which is usually Latin and can appear daunting.
For example, whereas most marketing material around a new green tea exfoliator will specifically refer to the ingredient as ‘Green Tea’ or ‘Green Tea Extract’, the official designation, and the one on the ingredients list will read ‘Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract’. Many brands will include both the INCI name and the common name in the ingredient list for clarification; ‘Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract’.
As a side note, the INCI list is also very important to formulators as the INCI database includes not only the full name of the ingredient but also the associated function of that ingredient. For example, ‘Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract’, has a massive list of proven functional properties that would be included in the eventual technical documents for products that contain it.
Antioxidant : Inhibits reactions favoured by oxygen, thus avoiding oxidation and rancidity
Astringent : Helps tighten skin pores
Emollient : Softens and smooths the skin
Humectant : Maintains water content of a cosmetic both in its packaging and on the skin
Masking : Reduces or inhibits the odour or basic taste of the product
Skin conditioning : Maintains skin in good condition
Reading an INCI
Reading an INCI is quite straightforward. The general rule is that the ingredients included at the HIGHEST percentages in the formula appear first and as their percentage drops, they appear further down the list. So, a descending order of concentration. It is important to note that just because an ingredient is further down the list, it doesn’t mean it is ineffective. It could be that this ingredient is only used at a low concentration in general or it may support the performance of other ingredients in the formula. Typically for water-containing formulas, Aqua (Water) is the primary ingredient as it is a solvent and carrier for everything else in the formula.
A simple example using The Ordinary: 10% Niacinamide + 1% Zinc Serum
Aqua (Water), Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Zinc PCA, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum, Xanthan gum, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.
As expected for a formulation of this type, Aqua (Water) is the leading ingredient followed by Niacinamide at 10%. We know that Zinc PCA is included at 1% so logically, anything after Zinc is included at less than 1% concentration.
Deciphering Troublesome Ingredients
There are numerous online resources that let you search for ingredients and their function either by their common name or by their INCI name.
INCI Beauty is particularly useful.
It has a very large database, provides examples of products with the searched ingredient, a safety score and provides a breakdown of their function. It is also free which doesn’t hurt!
This post was written by our Chief Scientist, Dr. Edward Jones.
