yavuzyilmaz/cosmetic-ingredients huggingface dataset:
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Extract
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC)  is the fancy name for common baker’s yeast. Usually different kind of yeast extracts are used in skincare for their great hydrating, and general skin conditioning properties. We could find one research paper to back this up: It has found that SC indeed increases skin moisture and had improved skin microrelief (the small wrinkles and surface irregularities of skin). According to manufacturer info coupled with the Mexican cactus, prickly pear it also helps to reduce neurosensory irritation that might occur from potent retinol or AHA products.
Water
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product. It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water. Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying. One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate
Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate is the fancy name of a liquidy, almost-water-like stuff that you get by fermenting and filtering yeast. According to manufacturer info it’s rich in all kinds of good-for-your-skin things : essential minerals, amino acids, beta-glucan and vitamins. It’s definitely great for skin moisturization and soothing , and might have some skin brightening and wrinkle repair magic activity as well.
Citronellol
Citronellol is a very common fragrance ingredient with a nice rose-like odor . In the UK, it’s actually the third most often listed perfume on the ingredient lists. It can be naturally found in geranium oil (about 30%) or rose oil (about 25%). As with all fragrance ingredients, citronellol can also cause allergic contact dermatitis and should be avoided if you have perfume allergy. In a 2001 worldwide study with 178 people with known sensitization to fragrances citronellol tested positive in 5.6% of the cases. There is no known anti-aging or positive skin benefits of the ingredient. It’s in our products to make it smell nice.
Tocopheryl Acetate
It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. You can read all about the pure form here . This one is the so-called esterified version. According to famous dermatologist, Leslie Baumann while tocopheryl acetate is more stable and has a longer shelf life , it’s also more poorly absorbed by the skin and may not have the same awesome photoprotective effects as pure Vit E.
Bifida Ferment Lysate
Bifida Ferment Lysate is a probiotic ingredient that’s used in one of the most iconic serums in the world, the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair. Based on manufacturer info it potently protects against UV-induced damage in the skin and helps with DNA repair. An Estee Lauder patent from 2009 also talks about DNA repair activity . As far as published research goes we could find one promising one. It showed that applying 10% bacterial extract to sensitive, reactive skin helped with better barrier function and decreased skin sensitivity . Overall, it is definitely a promising ingredient, even for sensitive skin types but not the most proven one (yet).
Acrylates/​C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
Though its long name does not reveal it, this polymer molecule (big molecule from repeated subunits or monomers) is a relative to the super common, water-loving thickener, Carbomer . Both of them are big molecules that contain acrylic acid units, but Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer also contains some other monomers that are hydrophobic, i.e. water-hating. This means that our molecule is part water- and part oil-loving, so it not only works as a thickener but also as an emulsion stabilizer . It is very common in gel-type formulas that also contain an oil-phase as well as in cleansers as it also works with most cleansing agents (unlike a lot of other thickeners).
Sodium Hyaluronate
It’s the - sodium form - cousin of the famous NMF , hyaluronic acid (HA). If HA does not tell you anything we have a super detailed, geeky explanation about it here .  The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to hold onto water, being plump and elastic. HA is famous for its crazy water holding capacity as it can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water. As far as skincare goes, sodium hyaluronate and hyaluronic acid are pretty much the same and the two names are used interchangeably . As cosmetic chemist kindofstephen writes on reddit "sodium hyaluronate disassociates into hyaluronic acid molecule and a sodium atom in solution". In spite of this, if you search for "hyaluronic acid vs sodium hyaluronate" you will find on multiple places that sodium hyaluronate is smaller and can penetrate the skin better. Chemically, this is definitely not true, as the two forms are almost the same, both are polymers and the subunits can be repeated in both forms as much as you like. (We also checked Prospector for sodium hyaluronate versions actually used in cosmetic products and found that the most common molecular weight was 1.5-1.8 million Da that absolutely counts as high molecular weight). What seems to be a true difference, though, is that the salt form is more stable, easier to formulate and cheaper so it pops up more often on the ingredient lists. If you wanna become a real HA-and-the-skin expert you can read way more about the topic at hyaluronic acid (including penetration-questions, differences between high and low molecular weight versions and a bunch of references to scientific literature).
Azelaic Acid
Azelaic acid is a superstar acid with some serious magic properties. Before we list them out here's just a short intro. Azelaic acid is a so-called carboxylic acid. It’s not an AHA or BHA but a distant relative to them (all being carboxylic acids). It can be found naturally in wheat, rye, and barley. Magic property no.1: Antibacterial effect → Anti-Acne A very cool property of azelaic acid is that it has a great antibacterial effect. It works against multiple bacteria including the evil, acne-causing Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes). Very few ingredient are proven to work against P. acnes, so this alone makes azelaic acid an awesome choice for acne-prone skin. For acne treatment, 20% is the standard prescription strength choice. Comparing 20% azelaic acid to other acne treatments like 0.05% retinoic acid cream, 5% benzoyl peroxide cream or 2% erythromycin ointment azelaic acid had nothing to be ashamed for as it showed similar effectiveness. There is also a study that showed that 5% azelaic acid is also somewhat effective (about 32% improvement) and it can be made much more effective by combining it with 2% clindamycin (about 64% improvement.) Magic property no. 2: Regulate the production of skin cells → Anti-Acne One of our favourite beauty blogs, xoVain cites dermatologist, Dr. David Lortscher, who gives a great explanation:  “Azelaic acid also works on the cells that line hair follicles by changing the way they mature and proliferate, which decreases follicular ‘plugging’ and helps prevent blackheads, whiteheads, and inflamed acne lesions.” So basically it helps with healthy skin cell production in the pores that is often problematic in acne and blackhead prone skin, which is nice! Magic property no. 3: Anti-inflammatory effect → Anti-rosacea, anti-acne The third magic property of azelaic acid is that it is proven to have an e anti-inflammatory effect. This is cool not only for treating acne, but also for treating rosacea. 15% is the standard prescription strength dose for rosacea treatment. Magic property no. 4: Skin lightening effect → Anti-PIH, anti-melasma Last but not least azelaic acid also shows skin lightening properties. It seems to be especially effective for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (that often comes with acne) and melasma. Studies have compared 20% azelaic acid to 2% and 4% Hydroquinone and here again, it has nothing to be ashamed of, azelaic acid showed similar skin lightening properties. (Though interestingly azelaic acid did not seem to be effective for lightening age spots that are called solar lentigines.) So the bottom line is that azelaic acid can be a game changer (or rather skin changer) especially for acne-prone or rosacea skin types. It’s antibacterial, can regulate problematic skin cell production in pores, it’s anti-inflammatory and even helps with PIH and melasma. It really can do a lot.
Propylene Glycol
Propylene Glycol (PG) is a colorless liquid, whose main job, usually, is to improve the so-called freeze-thaw stability of the products. This means that it makes sure that a product doesn’t freeze or melt in low or high temperatures. To achieve this, small amounts - usually less than 2% - is used. Other functions of PG include being a humectant (helps skin attract water), being a solvent for other ingredients and being a penetration enhancer . If you google PG or you like to read around on sites advocating natural cosmetics you might have read some really scary info about this ingredient. The two most common accusations are that it’s a strong skin irritant and that it modifies the skin to allow toxins to penetrate it. As for the first one, yes PG can be a skin irritant if used 100% on your skin, but so can many things in their pure, 100% form. Think about salt. It’s not the same if you try to eat it in itself or if you put a pinch of it on your food. So PG used in small amounts in cosmetics is just fine according to every credible scientist and toxicology expert. As for the second thing (that PG allows toxins to get through our skin) it is somewhat true that PG might help some ingredients to penetrate the skin better. But it does not work so that a tiny amount of PG allows all the bad stuff to go right into our blood. English cosmetic chemist, Colin wrote a very good post about this . He writes that the skin is very good at keeping things out and getting some good ingredients into it is actually not easy. According to his experience PG is not a very good penetration enhancer and fairly large (10-25%) amount is needed for this function. But more than 10% can be irritating, so it’s very rare that a cosmetic product contains this large amount. The scientists at the Beauty Brains are even more accepting of PG. They write that PG is safe for ingestion  (it can be a food additive!) AND safe for use in injected drugs, so it’s unlikely to cause any problems in a topical cosmetic product applied on intact skin. All in all, PG is a helper ingredient and is not especially good for your skin. But used in small (<5%) amounts it’s absolutely fine, not poisonous and there is no reason to be afraid of it. If you would like to read some more about PG here is the opinion of skin care expert, Paula Begoun , cosmetic chemists Colin and the Beauty Brains - all really good info on the topic.
Salicylic Acid
If you have ever struggled with let’s just call it “problem skin” (you know, acne, blackheads, whiteheads, large pores) then most probably you are familiar with salicylic acid (SA). Even if the name does not ring a bell, you have probably used it. Next to benzoyl peroxide, it’s the gold standard ingredient for treating problem skin . There are two reasons for this: Reason #1: It can exfoliate skin both on the surface and in the pores AHAs are very cool, but they are water soluble and cannot go into the pores. SA is lipid soluble and it can go right into the pores and shed the stuck, dead skin cells out from there. That’s really good for treating blackheads as well as preventing acne formation. This was confirmed also by a study that compared 8% AHA and 2% BHA for treating blackheads. AHA did not decrease the blackhead density statistically significantly, but BHA did. Reason #2: SA is a potent anti-inflammatory The chemical structure of SA is very similar to aspirin, and it does have similar anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory effect. That is helpful both for acne and rosacea. So SA is definitely an ingredient to try if you have oily or problem skin, but all in all, it’s more effective against blackheads than inflamed zits. For the latter one,  it’s only moderately effective, and benzoyl peroxide outperforms it by leaps and bounds. But they work in different ways, so a combination therapy is a great way to fight (and win) against acne. (In fact, it’s a good idea to combine SA not only with BP, but with any other antibacterial agent such as azelaic acid or mandelic acid .) What else to know? For at home use 0.5-2% SA is effective and these products are usually gentle enough for daily use. In fact, in the EU 2% is the maximum strength allowed in at home products. There are also professional BHA peels that go in the 20-30% range . Those can fade pigmentation, decrease surface roughness, reduce fine lines and of course, treat acne. Regarding pH requirements for BHA, unlike for AHAs where an acidic pH is super important for efficacy , it might be less relevant for BHA. Oh, and one more things: studies show that SA (at 2%) does not increase skin’s sun sensitivity , but it has photoprotective effects. Not that we want to tell you not to use sunscreen, because please do! Bottom line : SA is a great exfoliant and anti-inflammatory and you should definitely try it if you have oily skin, large pores, blackheads or whiteheads. If you have acne, it is a useful adjacent treatment combined with an antibacterial agent such as benzoyl peroxide or azelaic acid.
Parfum/​Fragrance
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!). If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it. Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Palmitoyl Grapevine Shoot Extract
It’s a grape-derived ingredient that’s exclusive to French grape-centered skincare brand, Caudalie. Because of this there is not much independent info on it, but the brand claims that this is a very effective ingredient for fading brown spots . The Radiance Serum that contains it (and it does not contain any other skin-lightening ingredients!) is one of the brand’s best-sellers so there might be something to Caudalie’s claims.
Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract
Cucumber is a nice, non-irritating plant extract that’s known for it’s soothing and emollient properties. It’s not something new to put it on our face: even Cleopatra used it to “preserve her skin”. It’s commonly believed that cucumber is the answer to puffy eyes, but there is no research confirming this. What research does confirm is that it contains amino acids and organic acids that’s helpful for the skin’s acid mantle . There is also an enzyme (called shikimate dehydrigenase) in the pulp that’s shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.
Citric Acid
Citric acid comes from citrus fruits and is an AHA. If these magic three letters don’t tell you anything, click here and read our detailed description on glycolic acid, the most famous AHA. So citric acid is an exfoliant , that can - just like other AHAs - gently lift off the dead skin cells of your skin and make it more smooth and fresh. There is also some research showing that citric acid with regular use (think three months and 20% concentration) can help sun-damaged skin, increase skin thickness and some nice hydrating things called glycosaminoglycans in the skin. But according to a comparative study done in 1995, citric acid has less skin improving magic properties than glycolic or lactic acid . Probably that’s why citric acid is usually not used as an exfoliant but more as a helper ingredient in small amounts to adjust the pH of a formulation.
Rubus Idaeus Fruit Extract
Raspberry is one of the colorful berries that’s not only delicious but contains many biologically active, healthy compounds. It has polyphenols including anthocyanins and ellagitannins that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. According to skin care expert Paula Begoun , it’s antibacterial as well but due to its tannin content it can cause also irritation to the very sensitive skinned.
Sclerocarya Birrea  Seed Oil
If you have an interest in elephants and Africa, you have probably heard of elephants getting drunk from the fruit of the Marula tree. Though this seems to be only a legend , what is true is that the Marula fruit is really nice (and elephants do love to eat it) and there is a stone in it with several oil-rich kernels inside. So the Marula oil - similar to many other plant oils - is a really nice nourishing and moisturizing oil that can improve skin hydration and smoothness and it can even reduce skin redness . It's traditionally used in South Africa to massage babies with and as a body lotion for face, feet, and hands. As for its composition, it's loaded with skin goodies: it's very rich in fatty acids , including oleic (73%), palmitic (15%), and linoleic (9%) acids. It also contains some natural antioxidants , including Vitamin E and the oil shows an outstanding oxidative stability. If you have dry skin that needs some pampering, Marula oil is a good choice.
Vitis Vinifera Juice Extract
It's a liquid extract coming from grape. According to manufacturer info , it's a skin peeling agent, aka exfoliant , that contains a nice mix of AHA acids (if those magic three letters do not tell you anything, you must click here now .) About 40% of the extract is a mix of tartaric, malic , lactic , citric and gluconic acid and they work to gently lift off dead skin cells to reveal nicer fresher skin underneath. The manufacturer also claims that the exfoliation with grape juice extract is very well tolerated and depending on the concentration the result can be soft or even strong exfoliation.
Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer
It's a special "cross-linked" from of IT-moisturizer, hyaluronic acid (HA). Cross-linked means that "normal" HA pieces (1-2 million Da molecular weight) are chemically bound togeather to create a big, "infinite" mesh. The special HA mesh has a remarkable water-binding capacity, 5 times more than the already crazy water-binding capacity of "normal" HA . This water filled crosslinked HA gel forms a smooth film on the skin and continuously delivers the bound water, so it gives long-term moisturizing benefits . Btw, crosslinking HA was developed for dermal fillers (as crosslinking helps their longevity), and this guy is the topical version of FDA approved dermal filler called Hylan B gel . Smearing crosslinked version all over ourselves is a newish thing, and incoming evidence so far suggests that it's a great idea, even better than normal HA. A very recent, 2016 research article compared the topical moisturizing effect of crosslinked HA (not Hylan B gel specifically, but something called Resilient HA or RHA), HMW-HA and LMW-HA and found that "TEWL (that is trans-epidermal water loss, the water that evaporates from the skin) was reduced by 27.8% with RHA, and by 15.6% with HMW HA, but increased by 55.5% with LMW HA." (You can read much more about HMW and LMW HA here in the geeky details section.) All in all, we think Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer is an awesome version of HA , probably superior to traditional versions, so be happy to spot it on the ingredient list.
Propanediol
Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often used and often bad-mouthed propylene glycol . It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved. It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization , as a solvent , to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Aloe Vera is one of today’s magic plants. It does have some very nice properties indeed, though famous dermatologist Leslie Baumann warns us in her book that most of the evidence is anecdotal and the plant might be a bit overhyped. What research does confirm about Aloe is that it’s a great moisturizer and has several anti-inflammatory (among others contains salicylates, polysaccharides, magnesium lactate and C-glucosyl chromone) as well as some antibacterial components. It also helps wound healing and skin regeneration in general. All in all definitely a goodie.
Aesculus Hippocastanum Seed Extract
Horse Chestnut is an often-used ingredient thanks to a couple of nice magic properties. It contains the active ingredient called escin that helps to maintain healthy blood circulation and strengthen capillaries . This makes horse chestnut useful for rosacea-prone skin and it’s also often used in toners for a fresh skin feeling. It also has some anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties , so all in all, a nice one to spot on the ingredient list.
Allantoin
Super common soothing ingredient . It can be found naturally in the roots & leaves of the comfrey plant, but more often than not what's in the cosmetic products is produced synthetically. It's not only soothing but it' also skin-softening and protecting and can promote wound healing .
Hydroxyethylcellulose
A nice little helper ingredient that can thicken up cosmetic products and create beautiful gel formulas. It's derived from cellulose, the major component of the cell wall of green plants. It is compatible with most co-ingredients and gives a very good slip to the formulas.
Buddleja Davidii Meristem Cell Culture
The extract of summer lilac or  butterfly-bush in itself is a nice ingredient with some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and the manufacturer claims that the meristem cell culture is even better. It contains among others verbascoside and isoverbascoside that have not only antioxidant and anti-inflammatory but also photoprotective activity . What’s more, it has phytosterols, amino acids and polysaccharides, all useful for skin moisture .
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi Leaf Extract
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi is a little plant with nice red berries that lives in the North and is also called bearberry or kinnikinnick. According to Wikipedia the uva-ursi part means “grape of the bear”. As for skincare bearberry is interesting because it contains the well-known skin lightening agent arbutin . The leaves contain 5-15% percent of it and might be able to help fading brown spots on the skin. Also, kinnikinnick (such a cool name :)) is an antioxidant and has some antibacterial activity .
Polysorbate 20
It's a common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together. Also, it can help to increase the solubility of some other ingredients in the formula.
Ethylhexylglycerin
If you have spotted ethylhexylglycerin on the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative, phenoxyethanol . They are good friends because ethylhexylglycerin can boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too. Also, it's an effective deodorant and a medium spreading emollient .
Saccharomyces Ferment
There is not much info out there about this ingredient but the little we can know is the following: it comes from the fermentation of saccharomyces, that is a type of yeast and according to the manufacturer it's a natural deodorant . It contains a number of enzymes, which bio-converts several malodorous substances, so most often you will spot this ingredient in natural, aluminum- free deodorants.
Glycereth-26
It's a nice glycerin-based humectant and emollient that gives skin a smooth and luxurious feel.