Foundation, lipstick and mascara
Makeup ingredients, explained.
Decode foundation, lipstick and mascara: the pigments behind each shade, the waxes and oils that give texture, and the fragrance some people avoid.
Common in makeup
Titanium Dioxide
Colours and covers, and filters UV in sunscreen. A white mineral powder made from titanium ore. When it is used as a colorant, EU labels list it as CI 77891.
Read the article 8 sourcesDimethicone
Softens and smooths. A silicone, one of a family of smooth, slippery ingredients made in a lab.
Read the article 8 sourcesCyclopentasiloxane
Softens and smooths. A silicone, one of a family of smooth, slippery ingredients made in a lab. It is a light liquid that evaporates from the skin.
Learn moreSilica
Gives the texture. Silica, the mineral found in sand and quartz, used as a fine powder.
Learn moreTocopherol
Protects the formula. A form of vitamin E, found naturally in vegetable oils such as sunflower and soybean oil.
Learn morePhenoxyethanol
Keeps the formula fresh. An aromatic alcohol made in a lab.
Read the article 5 sourcesCaprylyl Glycol
Softens and smooths. A glycol, which is a type of alcohol.
Learn moreGlycerin
Helps attract water. A clear, odorless liquid that can be made from plant oils or produced synthetically.
Read the article 5 sourcesWhat people often keep an eye on
Added colorants
Colorants named by a Color Index (CI) number, such as CI 77491 or CI 19140, or by a US dye name such as Red 40.
Fragrance
Ingredients added to give a product its scent: the label terms Parfum and Aroma, the fragrance substances EU law requires to be named, and ingredients used only as perfume.
Mineral oil
Oils and waxes refined from petroleum, such as Paraffinum Liquidum, Petrolatum and Microcrystalline Wax.
Silicones
Silicone polymers such as Dimethicone and Cyclopentasiloxane, which give a smooth, slippery feel.
Parabens
A family of preservatives, esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid such as methylparaben and propylparaben, and their salts.
Guides
How to read a cosmetic ingredient list
A cosmetic ingredient list names what is in a product, using standard names, in rough order from most to least. Read it in three passes: find the list and its names, group the names by what they do, and treat the order as a rough guide to amount. It cannot tell you exact amounts, the parts of a fragrance, or how your own skin will respond.
5 min readWhat is INCI? Cosmetic ingredient names explained
INCI names are the standard ingredient names printed on cosmetic labels. They are assigned by the International Cosmetic Ingredient Nomenclature Committee, sponsored by the Personal Care Products Council, and the EU builds its official glossary of label names on them. One ingredient can still appear under more than one name, so Aqua and Water, or CI 77891 and Titanium Dioxide, can be the same substance.
5 min readCosmetic ingredient list order: what position tells you
Cosmetic ingredients are listed from most to least: in the EU by weight at the time each is added, in the US by predominance. Two exceptions blur the picture. Ingredients below 1% may follow in any order, and colourants may go at the end in any order. So the first names are the largest, but a position is never a percentage.
5 min readWhat an ingredient scanner can and cannot tell you
Not from the list alone. An ingredient list tells you what a product contains and roughly in what order, but not how much of each ingredient there is, how pure it is, how the formula is built or how much reaches your skin. Those facts decide whether a hazard becomes a risk, and in the EU a qualified assessor weighs them before a product goes on sale.
5 min readHow to compare skincare ingredient lists
To compare two skincare ingredient lists, match the names first, then compare the first five ingredients, find the active ingredient in each and note where it sits, and compare preservatives, scent and any groups you avoid. Shared names in a similar order point to similar formulas, but without amounts the lists cannot show which product is stronger or which will suit you.
4 min readFragrance free vs unscented: what the labels mean
Fragrance free and unscented are different claims. Unscented describes a smell, and the FDA notes that an unscented product may still contain fragrance added to mask the odour of other ingredients. Fragrance free says no fragrance is present. Neither term is defined in the EU cosmetics regulation or the FDA's labelling rules, so check the list for Parfum or Fragrance, named fragrance substances and scented plant oils.
5 min readEU fragrance allergen labels: what changed in 2023
EU cosmetic labels must name certain fragrance substances individually, in addition to Parfum, when they exceed 0.001% in a leave-on product or 0.01% in a rinse-off one. Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 lengthened that list well beyond the original 24, adding 44 new entries. Products placed on the EU market from 1 August 2026 must follow it, and older stock may be sold until 31 July 2028.
5 min readCI numbers in makeup ingredients, explained
A CI number is a Colour Index number, the code an EU ingredient list uses to name a colourant: CI 77891 is titanium dioxide, CI 77491 a red iron oxide. Colourants may be listed last and in any order, so their position says nothing about amount. A "may contain" or "+/-" list covers a whole shade range, so your shade may contain only some of them.
Have a makeup label in front of you?
Paste its ingredient list into the checker to see each name matched and explained, or scan it with the app.