Reading an INCI list in three minutes
A cosmetic’s composition is read in a precise order. Once you know the rule, it goes fast.
The INCI list is mandatory and standardised: ingredients appear in decreasing order of quantity down to 1 %. Below that, the order is free. This rule alone decodes most of it.
The first five ingredients
They often make up 80 % of the product. If an active advertised on the packaging appears only in fifteenth place, it is present as a trace. That does not make it a bad product, but the marketing claim needs qualifying.
Spotting the base
- Aqua first: a water-based product, light texture.
- A plant oil first: an oily, richer product.
- Alcohol denat. in the first five: drying on sensitive skin.
The 1 % threshold
It is usually marked by the first preservative or the first fragrance. Everything after it is present in very small quantity, whatever the displayed order.
A short list is not always better
A product with nine well-chosen ingredients beats one with thirty redundant ones — but an emulsifier and a preservative remain necessary as soon as there is water in the formula. A water-based product without preservative is a product that spoils.
The right question is not “how many ingredients?” but “what are the first five?”.
This advice comes from the marketplace
Browse products from the shops our guides talk about.
