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Skincare ingredient dictionary
28 cosmetic ingredients by their INCI name: what each one is, what it does, how good the evidence is, whether it needs care in pregnancy or sunlight, and how the EU rules treat it. Paste an ingredient list and see which ones you recognise.
This is an ingredient reference, not a diagnosis and not a treatment plan. It describes what substances are and what the published evidence supports; it does not tell you what your skin has or what to put on it. A rash that spreads, hurts, weeps, does not settle, or comes with feeling unwell is a reason to see a doctor or pharmacist, not to change serum.
Paste an ingredient list
Copy the INCI list off a carton or a shop page and paste it in. Every ingredient this dictionary knows will be pulled out and linked, with a flag against the ones that need care in pregnancy or sunlight. Nothing is uploaded — the matching happens in your browser against the table further down this page, which is also why it works only for the 28 ingredients listed here and will simply ignore the rest.
The decoder recognises names, it does not judge products. An ingredient being in this dictionary says nothing about whether a formula is good, and an ingredient being absent from it says nothing at all.
The dictionary
Grouped by the job the ingredient does in a product rather than alphabetically, because that is how a routine is actually assembled. The evidence column grades what is published behind the main claim, not how popular the ingredient is.
Exfoliating acids
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glycolic acid | Glycolic Acid | Exfoliant, keratolytic | Strong | Generally considered fine | More sun-sensitive |
| Lactic acid | Lactic Acid | Exfoliant, humectant | Strong | Generally considered fine | More sun-sensitive |
| Salicylic acid | Salicylic Acid | Exfoliant, comedolytic, preservative | Strong | Needs a conversation | More sun-sensitive |
| Azelaic acid | Azelaic Acid | Anti-inflammatory, comedolytic, tyrosinase inhibitor | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
Retinoids and retinol alternatives
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retinol | Retinol | Cell-turnover regulator, anti-ageing active | Strong | Stopped in pregnancy | More sun-sensitive |
| Bakuchiol | Bakuchiol | Antioxidant, retinol-like active | Limited | Needs a conversation | No change |
Pigment and brightening
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) | Ascorbic Acid | Antioxidant, collagen cofactor, tyrosinase inhibitor | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Niacinamide | Niacinamide | Barrier support, pigment control, sebum control | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Hydroquinone | Hydroquinone | Skin-lightening agent (not a permitted EU cosmetic) | Strong | Stopped in pregnancy | More sun-sensitive |
Hydration, emollients and barrier repair
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyaluronic acid | Sodium Hyaluronate, Hyaluronic Acid, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid | Humectant | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Glycerin | Glycerin | Humectant | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Ceramides | Ceramide NP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP, Ceramide NG, Phytosphingosine | Barrier lipid | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Urea | Urea | Humectant below 10%, keratolytic above | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Panthenol | Panthenol | Humectant, barrier and repair support | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Squalane | Squalane | Emollient | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Petrolatum | Petrolatum | Occlusive | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Mineral oil | Paraffinum Liquidum, Mineral Oil | Emollient, occlusive | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Dimeticona | Dimeticona, Ciclopentasiloxano, Polímero Cruzado de Dimeticona | Emoliente, formador de filme, protetor da pele | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
Soothers, protectants and acne actives
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aveia coloidal | Avena Sativa (Aveia) Farinha de Miolo, Aveia Coloidal | Protetor de pele, anti-coceira | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Óxido de zinco | Óxido de Zinco | Filtro UV, protetor de pele | Strong | Generally considered fine | It is a UV filter |
| Peróxido de benzoíla | Peróxido de benzoíla | Tratamento antibacteriano para acne | Strong | Needs a conversation | More sun-sensitive |
| Óleo de tea tree | Óleo de folha de Melaleuca Alternifolia (árvore do chá) | Óleo essencial antimicrobiano | Limited | Needs a conversation | No change |
Preservatives, surfactants and fragrance
| Ingredient | On the label | What it is for | Evidence | Pregnancy | Sunlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parabenos | Metilparabeno, Etilparabeno, Propilparabeno, Butilparabeno | Conservante | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Fenoxietanol | Fenoxietanol | Conservante | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Metilisotiazolinona | Metilisotiazolinona, Metilcloroisotiazolinona | Conservante | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Lauril sulfacto de sódio | Lauril Sulfacto de Sódio; Lauril Sulfacto de Sódio | Surfactante aniônico, limpador, agente espumante | Strong | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Desnaturacção de álcool. | Álcool Denat., Álcool, Álcool SD 40-B | Solvente, intensificador de penetracção, agente de secagem rápida | Moderate | Generally considered fine | No change |
| Fragrância (perfume) | Parfum, Aroma, além de alérgenos nomeados individualmente | Aroma | Strong | Generally considered fine | More sun-sensitive |
How to read an ingredient list
Four rules get you most of the way. First, the list runs in descending order of weight only down to 1%; below that the order means nothing, so an active at the tail is not necessarily a token amount and one near the middle is not necessarily generous. Second, water is nearly always first and that is not a criticism — most cosmetics are mostly water, and the interesting question is what is dissolved in it. Third, the run of names at the very end — limonene, linalool, citronellol, geraniol and their relatives — are fragrance allergens the EU requires to be named individually above a threshold; they are there because of disclosure rules, not because the product suddenly became more complicated. Fourth, plant ingredients appear under a Latin species name and a plant part, so Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Flour and "soothing oat complex" on the front of the box are the same thing.
Two things a list cannot tell you. It cannot tell you concentration, except that everything before the 1% break is above 1%. And it cannot tell you pH, which for an acid product decides how much free acid is available and therefore how strong it actually is. A brand that publishes both is telling you more than a brand with a bigger number on the front.
Pregnancy at a glance
Computed from the same rows: the ingredients in this dictionary that are usually stopped or that need a conversation with the person looking after your pregnancy. Everything not listed here falls into the "generally considered fine" group, which is most of the table.
| Ingredient | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Salicylic acid | Needs a conversation | Low-strength topical use on a limited area, such as a spot treatment, is generally treated as acceptable, while high-strength peels and use over large areas are avoided. Oral salicylates are a different question entirely. This is exactly the kind of decision to put to your midwife or doctor rather than to a website. |
| Retinol | Stopped in pregnancy | Oral retinoid medicines are established causes of birth defects, and although topical absorption is low and harm from cosmetic retinol is not demonstrated, the standard advice from dermatology and maternity services is to stop topical retinoids while pregnant, while trying to conceive and while breastfeeding. Do not resolve this one from a label; ask the clinician looking after your pregnancy. |
| Bakuchiol | Needs a conversation | There is no meaningful safety data on bakuchiol in pregnancy. That is not evidence of harm, but it is not reassurance either, and the plant it is extracted from has medicinal uses of its own. Ask your midwife or clinician rather than assuming that "not a retinoid" means "cleared for pregnancy". |
| Hydroquinone | Stopped in pregnancy | Not used in pregnancy. Pregnancy-related melasma is common and frustrating, and the safe approach is rigorous sun protection plus treatments your clinician approves — not an unlabelled cream from an online marketplace. |
| Peróxido de benzoíla | Needs a conversation | O peróxido de benzoíla é um dos tratamentos para acne mais frequentemente continuados durante a gravidez, mas por ser um medicamento e não um cosmético, essa decisão cabe ao médico ou farmacêutico que sabe o que mais você está tomando. Traga o pacote real para a conversa. |
| Óleo de tea tree | Needs a conversation | Existem poucos dados de segurança sobre o óleo da árvore do chá durante a gravidez, e os óleos essenciais em geral são uma área onde as evidências são escassas. É improvável que o uso tópico ocasional de baixa concentracção seja um problema, mas vale a pena discutir isso com sua parteira, em vez de presumir. |
This table is a prompt for a conversation, not a clearance list. Pregnancy advice depends on what else you use and what stage you are at, and your midwife or doctor is the person who decides. If you have used a retinoid before you knew you were pregnant, that is a question for them and not a reason to panic.
Related on this site: pregnancy nutrition week by week · can I eat that?
What changes how your skin handles sunlight
Some of these make skin burn more easily while you are using them, and a few days after. One of them is a sunscreen filter. The rest do nothing either way. This surface covers what is in the bottle; how much ultraviolet you are getting, and what that means for vitamin D, is a separate subject.
| Ingredient | Effect | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Glycolic acid | More sun-sensitive | AHA use increases sensitivity to ultraviolet light and that sensitivity persists for about a week after you stop. Daily sunscreen is not an upsell here, it is part of the treatment: without it you undo the pigment benefit you were exfoliating for. |
| Lactic acid | More sun-sensitive | Same as the other AHAs — increased ultraviolet sensitivity during use and for roughly a week after. On the body this matters less in winter but it matters a great deal on a summer holiday. |
| Salicylic acid | More sun-sensitive | Less photosensitising than the alpha hydroxy acids, but you are still thinning the outer layer and treating skin that is often also on a retinoid. Daily sunscreen prevents the dark marks that outlast the spots themselves. |
| Retinol | More sun-sensitive | Retinol degrades in light and air, which is why it belongs in an opaque, airtight package and on your face at night. It also thins the outer dead layer early on, so skin sunburns more easily during the adjustment period. Daily sunscreen is part of using it. |
| Hydroquinone | More sun-sensitive | Skin with suppressed pigment production burns more easily, and any pigmentation treatment fails without sun protection because ultraviolet exposure is what drives the pigment in the first place. |
| Óxido de zinco | It is a UV filter | Este é um ingrediente do protetor solar. Atenua a luz visível e também a ultravioleta, que é a causa do tom branco e também a razão pela qual os filtros solares minerais coloridos contendo óxidos de ferro são recomendados para o melasma, onde a luz visível contribui para a pigmentacção. |
| Peróxido de benzoíla | More sun-sensitive | Torna a pele irritada mais reativa ao sol e é degradada pelo calor e pela luz. Use-o à noite, mantenha-o longe do carro quente e da prateleira ensolarada do banheiro e use protetor solar pela manhã. |
| Fragrância (perfume) | More sun-sensitive | Alguns materiais de fragrância são fotossensibilizantes: óleos cítricos expressos, em particular bergamota, podem causar uma reacção semelhante a queimadura à luz solar, e as marcas marrons listradas resultantes podem durar meses. O perfume vai para as roupas e não para a pele que ficará exposta ao sol. |
Condition guides
Four longer pages where skin and hair meet what you eat, each written to the same rule as the dictionary: what the evidence supports, what it does not, and the point at which a website is the wrong place to be looking.
Acne
Which actives target which part of acne, what the diet evidence actually shows, and the signs that mean you should stop treating it yourself.
Eczema
Why emollients come first, which ingredients to keep and drop, and why cutting foods out without a diagnosis can make things worse.
Hair loss
The three-month lag that explains most shedding, the blood tests that matter, and the supplements that help only if you are deficient.
Mole self-check
The ABCDE rule, the ugly-duckling sign, the nodular melanoma pattern ABCDE misses, and the places people forget to check.
Where this comes from
Every statement about what is permitted, restricted or banned is the EU Cosmetics Regulation and its annexes — the same annexes the Commission publishes through the CosIng database, which is also where the INCI names themselves come from. Concentration positions attributed to a committee are those of the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety or of the Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Mechanisms, tolerability and contact-allergy patterns come from standard dermatology reference material.
Where a figure could not be confirmed it is absent rather than approximated, and where a source could not be linked to a URL that was certain to exist, it is named in words instead. Percentages that appear are either the published regulatory limit or the concentration range in normal use, and each item page says which.
Sources: EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and its annexes, as published in the European Commission's CosIng database, for every statement about what is permitted, restricted or banned · opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) and safety assessments of the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) for the concentration positions · standard dermatology reference material for mechanism, tolerability and contact-allergy patterns · checked 2026-09-06. Deep links are deliberately omitted where a stable public URL could not be confirmed.
Perguntas frequentes
What does INCI mean on a cosmetic label?
International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients — the standardised naming system used on cosmetic packaging in the EU and most other markets. It is why the same substance carries the same name on a bottle sold in Tallinn, Helsinki and Lisbon, even when everything else on the box is in a different language. Plant ingredients appear under their Latin species name, and colourants appear as CI numbers.
In what order are the ingredients listed?
In descending order of weight, down to a concentration of 1%. Below 1% they may be listed in any order, which is why an active present at 0.5% can appear after one present at 0.9%. Colourants may be listed at the end regardless of amount. So the top of the list is informative and the tail of the list is not a ranking.
Which skincare ingredients need care in pregnancy?
Retinoids are the clear one: the standard advice is to stop topical vitamin A products while pregnant, trying to conceive and breastfeeding. Several others sit in a "discuss it" category rather than a ban, including salicylic acid at higher strengths and anything that is really a medicine. Nothing on this site replaces the advice of the midwife or doctor looking after your pregnancy.
Does a long ingredient list mean a worse product?
No. Ingredient lists have got visibly longer partly because the EU expanded the list of fragrance allergens that must be named individually, which is more disclosure rather than more chemicals. A short list is easier to read but is not automatically gentler — a two-ingredient product can contain the exact substance you react to.
Is "chemical-free" or "clean" a meaningful claim?
No. Everything in a cosmetic is a chemical, water included, and neither term has a legal definition. EU rules on cosmetic claims specifically require claims to be truthful and evidenced, and discourage claims that imply a legally permitted ingredient is unsafe. "Free from" marketing has a track record of replacing a well-tolerated ingredient with a worse one — the preservative story on this site is the clearest example.
Your skin keeps a log whether you do or not
Breakouts, flares and shedding follow sleep, stress, food and cycles far more reliably than they follow a new serum. TempoLife tracks all of those in one place, so the pattern is visible instead of guessed at.