Certificates of analysis, ingredient explainers and summaries of the studies we rely on. Written to be checked, not to be shared.
Depth is the easy half. Undertone is the half that decides whether it looks like skin. Plus oxidation, why the wrist test is useless, and what to do...
Read How to choose a foundation shade without seeing itNeither term is defined in EU cosmetics law, and an unscented product can contain a fragrance whose only job is to hide a smell. The one line on...
Read Fragrance free, unscented, and the difference nobody explainsAlmost every published clinical result for topical niacinamide sits between 2% and 5%. Here is what was measured at each level, how long it took, and why a...
Read Niacinamide: what the percentage on the bottle buys youBaby cosmetics carry a heavier legal burden than adult ones, and almost none of it appears on the front of the pack. What the law actually requires, which...
Read How to read a baby product labelThe same ingredient hydrates at one concentration and dissolves the surface of the skin at another. Here are the ranges, what each one is for, and why a...
Read Urea in skincare: why the percentage changes what it doesThere is no legal definition of "vegan" in EU cosmetics law. Here is what the word is actually resting on, which INCI names give the game away, and...
Read Is it vegan? What a cosmetic label can and cannot tell youThe rule everyone repeats is thinnest to thickest, and it is a decent approximation of something more useful: each step has to be able to reach the skin...
Read The order of a routine: why serum goes before creamThe back of a cosmetic is a regulated document, and almost all of it is readable once you know four conventions: where the descending order stops, why colourants...
Read How to read an INCI list: the first five ingredients, and everything afterThe white cast is an optical problem with an optical cause, and “mineral” is not the whole of it. How the two filter families work, why particle size...
Read Mineral or organic filter: what actually causes a white castThe same word is used for two materials that European law treats completely differently — one of them cannot legally be in a cosmetic sold here at all....
Read Exosomes in skincare: what the word covers, and what a label may sayA capsule needs a shell and a powder that flows. A tablet needs a binder and a disintegrant, which are opposite jobs. An oil needs an oil. Those...
Read Drops, capsules and tablets: what each format needs to existTwo vitamins in one bottle is a formulation decision with chemistry behind it. The mechanism, the difference between MK-4 and MK-7, what "all-trans" on a label is declaring...
Read Why vitamin D and vitamin K2 are sold together