Rating: Good
Categories: Occlusive-Opacifying-Agent, Texture-Enhancer
Plays various roles depending on the formula, including opacifying agent, skin-conditioning occlusive, and viscosity-increasing agent (texture enhancer).

Rating: Best
Categories: Humectant, Antioxidant
The more bio-available, salt form of hyaluronic acid. I’s considered an excellent moisturizer, helping skin retain water so it looks and feels smoother.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
This type of ceramide helps improve the look and feel of skin thanks to its water retention properties.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
This ceramide helps restore skin’s hydration, texture, and suppleness.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
This type of ceramide helps strengthen skin’s barrier against external stimuli.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
This fatty acid is found naturally in the upper layers of skin and helps it retain its natural moisturizing factor (NMF), which benefits skin health. It also has calming properties.

Rating: Best
Categories: Humectant, Emollient, Antioxidant
A type of fat found naturally in skin, these ingredients have value in skin care for their ability to both attract water and deliver it to areas that need increased hydration. They also have antioxidant properties.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
Long chain lipids that replenish and condition skin, helping to prevent water loss and maintain barrier function. They’re also precursors to skin’s ceramides.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient, Emulsifier, Cleansing-Agent
Beneficial properties include emolliency (think skin softening), water-binding (to boost hydration), and emulsifying (to help water + oil ingredients mesh in a formula). Can also be used to encapsulate ingredients for improved dermal delivery.

Rating: Best
Categories: Peptides
A highly targeted multi-peptide that helps skin's supportive elements resist further damage while working to repair visible signs of aging.

Rating: Best
Categories: Emollient
Plays a key role in maintaining skin's health, softness, and hydration.

Rating: Best
Categories: Humectant, Antioxidant, Plant-Extracts
Extract derived from the aloe vera plant. Offers skin-soothing/hydration benefits + antioxidant properties.

Rating: Good
Categories: Chelating-Agent
One of the salt forms of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, it improves the stability of other cosmetics ingredients, helping them last longer. It’s been deemed safe as used in cosmetics and is even used as an additive in some foods.

Rating: Average
Categories: Texture-Enhancer
Better known as salt, this ingredient is primarily used to thicken skin and hair care formulations. It also functions as a binding agent and sometimes a scrub particle in physical exfoliants.

Rating: Average
Categories: Ph-Adjuster-Stabilizer
Also known as lye, this ingredient is highly alkaline, meaning it is on the basic side of the pH range (its pH is naturally 13). It is used in small amounts in cosmetics (such as cleansers and exfoliants) adjust their pH.

Rating: Good
Categories: Texture-Enhancer, Emulsifier
Naturally derived ingredient which functions as an emulsifier, thickener, and surfactant in skin care products. It has been ruled safe as used in cosmetics.

Rating: Good
Categories: Texture-Enhancer, Emollient
Beneficial skin softening ingredient for skin (completely different from damaging/drying forms of alcohol). Also influences the foaming effects of a cleanser.

Rating: Good
Categories: Texture-Enhancer, Film-Forming-Agent, Emollient
Synthetic polymer commonly used as a film-forming agent and/or thickener. Can improve water-resistance, depending on the formula. Contributes to soft after feel.

Rating: Good
Categories: Texture-Enhancer, Cleansing-Agent, Emulsifier
This naturally derived ingredient is produced from the fermentation of simple sugars, and acts as a thickening agent, texture enhancer, and emulsion stabilizer in cosmetics.

Rating: Good
Categories: Texture-Enhancer, Polymer, Ph-Adjuster-Stabilizer
Often used to create gel-textured formulas or to influence the product’s thickness. Research also shows carbomers can enhance the penetration effectiveness of key actives.

Rating: Good
Categories: Preservative, Plant-Extracts
Conditions skin and hair and is a moisturizing ingredient in many skin care products. Because of its antibacterial action, it also is an effective cosmetics preservative.

Rating: Good
Categories: Solvent, Texture-Enhancer
Solvent that is well-known for producing smooth spreadability and more pleasing textures in skin care formulas. Also used to enhance the efficacy of cosmetic preservative phenoxyethanol so it works better in lower amounts.

Rating: Good
Categories: Preservative
Safe preservative known to be well-tolerated by skin; offers wide spectrum protection against unwanted microbials in a formula.