Who hasn't tried to read the list of ingredients on the back of their cosmetics, only to give up because of the complexity of the task? Between the size of the font, which requires the vision of a fighter pilot, and the barbaric names of the ingredients (basically, understandable if you have a master's degree in chemistry), one quickly feels lost when one is a neophyte. And the expiry date? Admit it: you skip it, 95% of the time.
Good news: Bastille has a few tips to help you decipher all this without too much effort!
The legendary INCI list
You may have heard of it: the INCI [pronounced INKI] list is simply a list of all the ingredients that make up a product. It is usually found on the back of the packaging and is preceded by the word "ingredients" in capital letters. Cosmetic brands are subject to very strict regulations regarding product labelling: ingredients are listed in descending order - well, only for products with a concentration of more than 1%. Those below 1% are listed at the end of the list, in any order. This is why most of the time you will find water first - or alcohol for perfumes - and then, at the very end, some allergens.
Really? Does it get old?
You have creams that have been lying around in your drawers for 3 years, and you have never asked yourself if they are still usable? You are not alone. Many people don't know this, but it's not just food that can expire - your cosmetics also have an expiry date. There are two ways to indicate this:
Or, with a clear expiry date in mm/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy. In this case, for safe use, you can keep the product until this maximum date.
Or, you do not have a date on your product. This option is more misleading as your product will still expire - the date is just shown in a different form! Most often it is on the back of your bottle in the form of a small logo of an open box and a number, followed by the letter M. This number is the number of months you should not exceed once you have opened your product. In the industry, this is called the AOP - After Opening Period. So if you have 6M, you can keep your product for a maximum of 6 months after opening it... even if you open it in 3 years.
The special case of perfume : as it is mainly made of alcohol, it keeps very well and in general, no expiry or OAP date is indicated. You can consider that for 2 years, the perfume will not move, and that beyond that you can continue to use it, but a bit like a great wine, its aroma will evolve with time. There are some techniques to keep it well, and as we are nice, we indicate them all here .
Natural or synthetic?
Did you also skip Latin in high school? Too bad, it can be useful in cosmetics. Fortunately, you don't need to understand Latin: you just need to be able to spot it. And if we're telling you this, it's because it's an infallible way to differentiate natural and synthetic ingredients in your cosmetics!
On the INCI lists, all natural ingredients are listed in Latin, while the chemicals are listed in English. For example, the Latin name for the natural bergamot in our Hors-Piste fragrance is citrus aurantium bergamia. And, on the other hand, a synthetic violet note will be named in English: alpha isomethyl ionone. And now you're ready for the surprise test!
In fact, if you want to know more about this topic, we suggest you read our article on the difference between natural and synthetic ingredients. A good way to shine at your next dinner party!
Hunt down the unwanted
It is difficult to know what is good or not in these lists where few names speak to us. We give you some technical means to detect the most harmful products and especially to avoid them:
- Sulphates: you will easily find them because they often include the word "sulphate". They are used as foaming agents in shower gels or shampoos and can be irritating. Example: sodium lauryl sulfates (SLS)
- Silicones, harder to find, they often end with "-methicone" or "-siloxane" and are used to artificially coat the hair. In addition, they are not very biodegradable.... Example : cyclopentasiloxane
- Phthalates, for the most part banned, except for one in Europe: diethyl phthalate. It is still used as a fixative in nail polish and perfumes.
- Parabens: quite easy to spot, they end with "-paraben" or"-zoate". Examples: parahydroxybenzoate or propylparaben
-
The dyes: a 5-digit code, which is sometimes followed by the corresponding colour. Example: CI 19140/YELLOW 5
Finally, there are still some other substances that are controversial for their long-term effect on health (ranging from a simple headache to irritation or more serious health problems). This is the case of antioxidant additives (BHA, BHT), anti-UV filters such as benzophenone (widely used in perfumery), kerosenes that clog the pores of the skin, formaldehyde, or triclosan - an antibacterial often present in toothpastes and deodorants.
Some cosmetic brands are committed to what they ban: Seasonly, Oden, Cozie etc. And this is also the case with CreamKrème, a brand of French, organic, vegan and cruelty-free products whose compositions contain nocontroversial ingredients (no parabens, no aluminium, no phthalates etc.), no allergens and no preservatives .
And for perfume, what does it mean?
This is where it gets complicated: from a legal point of view, fragrance formulas are still a trade secret . This is why you often find the word "Fragrance" in the INCI lists of your products (your perfume of course, but also your shower gel, deodorant, etc.).
In fact, this word is a "word-value" that contains an indeterminate number of other ingredients. Not very transparent, all that... In reality, the law only obliges brands to indicate allergens on the bottle: in general, these are substances naturally present in the essential oils used in perfume and which can, in very rare cases, be allergenic. Of course they are highly regulated and limited, which is why they are noted in the INCI list - often at the end, because of the small quantities. There are 26 of them, including linalool, citronellol, geraniol, coumarin, citral...
At Bastille, we've chosen to be totally transparent about what you put on your skin. On our product sheets, you'll find details of all our ingredients, whether they're natural or synthetic, and even a little word about what they smell like. For example, we tell you that Schinus Terebinthifolia Seed Extract is actually the pet name for pink pepper.
Lastly, don't look for noon to fourteen hours: you won't find any parabens, phthalates or endocrine disruptors in our formulas! This is the meaning of our approach: to offer you the best, in complete transparency.
And now you're a pro at reading labels and making informed choices about your cosmetics! You can now analyse what you put on your skin yourself, without having to open a dictionary. And if, like us, you have a health-conscious mother, don't hesitate to send her this article to reassure her that you know how to take care of yourself!
--------
Photo credit: Barely There Beauty Blog | Unknown
For a list of the 26 allergens, click here.
Leave a comment