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How to Read a Skincare Ingredient List, and Why Nothing in the Bottle Is Filler
The ingredients you can't pronounce are usually the ones that give results. Once you know how the list is built, an ingredient list stops being intimidating and starts being useful. Here's how to read one.
Aqua is water. Tocopherol is vitamin E. Aloe barbadensis is aloe.
Most of the names that make an ingredient list look intimidating are just the standard name for something ordinary.
The back panel (INCI list) is the one part that can't be exaggerated.
The front can make promises, the back is the real formulation.
Once you know how the list is ordered, you can read it in about ten seconds.
The INCI | A Global System
INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. It gives every ingredient one standard name, so a formula reads the same in Sydney, London or Seoul. That's the only reason it looks technical, and it means a Latin name is neither a warning nor a recommendation.
The order is where it gets interesting. Ingredients are listed by concentration, highest first, down to 1%. Below that, they can appear in any order, which is where a lot of headline actives quietly end up. When an active sits near the top, it's there at a dose that can do something.
Everything in the Rejuvaus bottle is functional
There's a persistent idea that a formula is a few precious ingredients floating in a base of something inactive. In a more considered formula, that's not how it works. Each ingredient on the list is there for a reason.
The base
For our serums we use aloe as the carrier for hydration and soothing properties, rather than plain water.
The actives
The ingredients targeting a specific concern. In our formulas they sit high on the list at clinically tested doses, not a token amount added for the front of the box.
Delivery
Encapsulation and liposomal carriers that move an active past the surface and release it slowly, so it keeps working for hours rather than minutes.
The functional support
Ferments, humectants, barrier lipids and soothing agents that keep skin comfortable and help the actives do their job.
Preservation
The small amounts at the end that keep the formula safe and stable. Tiny on the list, essential in the bottle.
Nothing spare
No silicones for slip, no petrochemical fillers to pad out the formula. If it's in a Rejuvaus bottle, it's has earned its place on the list.
The unfamiliar names, translated
The names that look most alien are usually the actives doing the most specific work. We group every active by the job it does, into eight categories of action. Here are a few people rarely recognise, and what each is for.
Terminalia Ferdinandiana
Kakadu plum, one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C.
Antioxidant
Acetyl Octapeptide-3
A peptide that softens the look of expression lines, better known as SNAP-8.
Growth factors & peptides
Nonapeptide-1
A peptide that helps keep tone even by regulating pigment.
Pigment regulator
Chlorella Vulgaris
A microalgae prebiotic that supports a balanced skin microbiome.
Pre, pro & post biotics
Medicago Sativa
Alfalfa extract, which calms and soothes. Found in every serum & moisturiser in the range.
Anti-inflammatory
Microcitrus Australasica
Native caviar lime, a gentle fruit-acid exfoliant.
Exfoliant
Sodium Hyaluronate
A form of hyaluronic acid that holds water in the skin.
True moisturiser
Zinc Oxide
A mineral that reflects UV light for daily protection.
Mineral protection
That is the logic of the whole range: eight categories of action, over 100 actives, each one there to do a defined job.
Nothing is in the bottle by accident.
Explore i·Active™ formulationHow does the Rejuvaus INCI stack up?
The range is built to survive a close reading of its own ingredient list. Aloe first, with key active ingredients high on the list, some withn encapsulated delivery so they reach the skin deeply, slowly and progressively.
Ferments and barrier support because comfortable skin can tolerate actives better. No silicones or petrochemical fillers.
And the bottles themselves are part of the formulation logic: overfilled to reduce the air gap, airless and lightproof, so what's on the list is still active when it reaches your skin, and to the last drop.
For that, see the companion piece on what "clinically dosed" actually means.
