How to read an ingredient list
Labels list ingredients by weight, largest first. Here is what that tells you and what it does not.
Every cosmetic sold in the US, Canada and Europe lists its ingredients by their INCI names, the same names in every country. They appear in order of weight, largest first, down to 1 %. Below 1 %, the order is free.
That rule tells you a lot. In our Aloe Calm Gel, aloe juice comes first because it is 60 % of the jar. In a serum that lists “niacinamide” ninth, the niacinamide is probably below 1 %, whatever the front of the box says.
What the order does not tell you
The list does not give amounts. That is why every product page in this shop has a second list, Key ingredients, with the percentages we use. We publish them for the ingredients that do the work; the rest are there to hold the formula together, keep it safe and make it pleasant to use.
Three things worth looking for
- Water, or what replaces it. Aqua first means a water-based product. Rose water or aloe juice first means it took the place of water.
- Fragrance and essential oils. “Parfum” or a named oil near the end, followed by linalool, limonene or citral, means the product is scented. If fragrance bothers your skin, these are the names to look for.
- Preservatives. Any product with water in it needs one. Ours are sodium benzoate with potassium sorbate, or phenoxyethanol with ethylhexylglycerin. Products without water, such as the night oil and the body balm, need none.
Each ingredient in our formulas has its own page in the ingredient glossary.