Removes makeup from eyes and skin, even waterproof makeup.
Uploaded by: gopicklego on
Ingredients overview
Water (Aqua), Isohexadecane, Isododecane, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Squalane, Sodium Hyaluronate, Niacinamide, Panthenol, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Phosphate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Disodium EDTA, Hexyldecanol, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Fragrance (Parfum)
May Contain: Blue 1 (Ci 42090)
Read more on how to read an ingredient list >>
Highlights
#alcohol-free
Alcohol Free
Key Ingredients
Anti-acne: Niacinamide
Cell-communicating ingredient: Niacinamide
Skin brightening: Niacinamide
Skin-identical ingredient: Squalane, Sodium Hyaluronate
Soothing: Panthenol
Other Ingredients
Buffering: Potassium Phosphate, Dipotassium Phosphate
Chelating: Disodium EDTA
Colorant: Blue 1 (Ci 42090)
Emollient: Isohexadecane, Isododecane, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Squalane, Hexyldecanol
Moisturizer/humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate, Niacinamide, Panthenol
Perfuming: Fragrance (Parfum)
Preservative: Polyaminopropyl Biguanide
Solvent: Water (Aqua), Isohexadecane, Isododecane
Surfactant/cleansing: Decyl Glucoside
Viscosity controlling: Sodium Chloride
Skim through
| Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water (Aqua) | solvent | ||
| Isohexadecane | emollient, solvent | ||
| Isododecane | emollient, solvent | ||
| Cetyl Ethylhexanoate | emollient | ||
| Squalane | skin-identical ingredient, emollient | 0, 1 | goodie |
| Sodium Hyaluronate | skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | 0, 0 | goodie |
| Niacinamide | cell-communicating ingredient, skin brightening, anti-acne, moisturizer/humectant | superstar | |
| Panthenol | soothing, moisturizer/humectant | 0, 0 | goodie |
| Decyl Glucoside | surfactant/cleansing | ||
| Sodium Chloride | viscosity controlling | ||
| Potassium Phosphate | buffering | ||
| Dipotassium Phosphate | buffering | ||
| Disodium EDTA | chelating | ||
| Hexyldecanol | emollient | ||
| Polyaminopropyl Biguanide | preservative | ||
| Fragrance (Parfum) | perfuming | icky | |
| Blue 1 (Ci 42090) | colorant |
elf Off Makeup Remover
Ingredients explainedWater (Aqua)
Also-called: Aqua | What-it-does: solvent
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Isohexadecane
What-it-does: emollient, solvent
A light, velvety, unique skin feel liquid that is a good solvent and also makes the skin feel nice and smooth (aka emollient). It's often used in makeup products mixed with silicones to give shine and slip to the product. It's also great forcleansing dirt and oil from the skin as well as for taking off make-up.
Isododecane
What-it-does: emollient, solvent
Aclear, colorless and odorless, highly volatile (meaning it does not absorb into the skin but evaporates from it) liquid that's used as an emollient. It gives a nicenon-oily light skin feeland it can improvethe slip of the formula without leaving a tacky residue behind.
It's also popular in make-up products as its volatility makes mascarasand foundations last longer. If that would not be enough, it's also an excellent solvent, and it's a regular not only on the ingredients lists of make-ups but also on makeup removers.
Cetyl Ethylhexanoate
What-it-does: emollient
An odorless and colorless emollient ester (cetylalcohol + ethylhexanoicacid) that gives a velvety and silky feel to the skin. It has great spreadability and a non-oily feel. It's a popular ingredient in makeup removers.
Squalane - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 1
It seems to us that squalane is in fashion and there is a reason for it. Chemically speaking, it is a saturated (no double bonds) hydrocarbon (a molecule consisting only of carbon and hydrogen), meaning that it's a nice and stable oily liquid with a long shelf life.
It occurs naturally in certain fish and plant oils (e.g. olive), and in the sebum (the oily stuff our skin produces) of the human skin. As f.c. puts it in his awesome blog post, squalane's main things are"emolliency, surface occlusion, and TEWL prevention all with extreme cosmetic elegance". In other words, it's a superb moisturizer that makes your skin nice and smooth, withoutbeing heavy or greasy.
Another advantage of squalane is that it is pretty much compatible with all skin types and skin conditions. It isexcellent for acne-prone skin and safe to use even if you have fungi-related skin issues, likeseborrhea or fungal acne.
The unsaturated (with double bonds) and hence less stable version ofSqualane is Squalene, youcan read about it here >>
Sodium Hyaluronate - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
It’s the - sodium form - cousin of the famous NMF,hyaluronic acid(HA). If HA does not tell you anything we have a super detailed, geeky explanation about it here. The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to hold onto water, being plump and elastic. HA is famous for its crazy water holding capacity as it can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water.
As far as skincare goes, sodium hyaluronate and hyaluronic acid are pretty much the same and the two names are used interchangeably. As cosmetic chemist kindofstephenwrites on reddit "sodium hyaluronate disassociates into hyaluronic acid molecule and a sodium atom in solution".
In spite of this, if you search for "hyaluronic acid vs sodium hyaluronate" you will find on multiple places that sodium hyaluronate is smaller and can penetrate the skin better. Chemically, this is definitely not true, as the two forms are almost the same, both are polymers and the subunits can be repeated in both forms as much as you like. (We also checkedProspector for sodium hyaluronate versions actually used in cosmetic products and found that the most common molecular weight was 1.5-1.8 million Da that absolutely counts as high molecular weight).
What seems to be a true difference, though, is that the salt form is more stable, easier to formulate andcheaper so it pops up more often on the ingredient lists.
If you wanna become a real HA-and-the-skin expert you can read way more about the topic at hyaluronic acid(including penetration-questions, differences between high and low molecular weight versions and a bunch of references to scientific literature).
Niacinamide - superstar
Also-called: vitamin B3, nicotinamide | What-it-does: cell-communicating ingredient, skin brightening, anti-acne, moisturizer/humectant
- A multi-functional skincare superstar with several proven benefits for the skin
- Great anti-aging, wrinkle smoothing ingredient used at 4-5% concentration
- Fades brown spots alone or in combination with amino sugar, acetyl glucosamine
- Increases ceramide synthesis that results in a stronger, healthier skin barrier and better skin hydration
- Can help to improve several skin conditions including acne, rosacea, and atopic dermatitis
Read all the geeky details about Niacinamide here >>
Panthenol - goodie
Also-called: Pro-Vitamin B5 | What-it-does: soothing, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
An easy-to-formulate, commonly used, nice to have ingredient that’s also called pro-vitamin B5. As you might guess from the “pro” part, it’s a precursor to vitamin B5 (whose fancy name is pantothenic acid).
Its main job in skincare products is to moisturise the skin. It’s a humectant meaning that it can help the skin to attract water and then hold onto it. There is also research showing that panthenol can help our skin to produce more lovely lipids that are important for a strong and healthy skin barrier.
Another great thing about panthenol is that it has anti-inflammatory and skin protecting abilities. A study shows that it can reduce the irritation caused by less-nice other ingredients (e.g. fragrance, preservatives or chemical sunscreens) in the product.
Research also shows that it might be useful for wound healing as it promotes fibroblast (nice type of cells in our skin that produce skin-firming collagen) proliferation.
If that wasn’t enough panthenol is also useful in nail and hair care products. A study shows that a nail treatment liquide with 2% panthenol could effectively get into the nail and significantly increase the hydration of it.
As for the hair the hydration effect is also true there. Panthenol might make your hair softer, more elastic and helps to comb your hair more easily.
Decyl Glucoside
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emulsion stabilising
A vegetable origin (coconut or palm kernel oil and glucose) cleansing agent with great foaming abilities. It's also mild to the skin and readily biodegradable.
Sodium Chloride
Also-called: Salt | What-it-does: viscosity controlling
Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.
If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. The reason for this is that salt acts as a fantastic thickener in cleansing formulas created with ionic cleansing agents(aka surfactants) such as Sodium Laureth Sulfate. A couple of percents (typically 1-3%) turns a runny surfactant solution into a nice gel texture.
If you are into chemistry (if not, we understand, just skip this paragraph), the reason is that electrolytes (you know, the Na+ and Cl- ions) screen the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups of ionic surfactants and thus support the formation of long shaped micelles (instead of spherical ones) that entangle like spaghetti, and viola, a gel is formed. However, too much of it causes the phenomenon called "salting out", and the surfactant solution goes runny again.
Other than that, salt also works as an emulsion stabilizer inwater-in-oil emulsions, that is when water droplets are dispersed in the outer oil (or silicone) phase. And last but not least, when salt is right at the first spot of the ingredient list (and is not dissolved), the product is usually a body scrub where salt is thephysical exfoliating agent.
Potassium Phosphate
What-it-does: buffering
It’s a little helper ingredient that helps toset the pH of a cosmeticformulation to be just right.
Dipotassium Phosphate
What-it-does: buffering
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Disodium EDTA
What-it-does: chelating
Super common little helper ingredient thathelps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.
It is typically used in tiny amounts, around 0.1% or less.
Hexyldecanol
What-it-does: emollient
A yellowishoily liquid that works as amedium spreading emollientand is suitable for a wide pH range.
Polyaminopropyl Biguanide
What-it-does: preservative
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Fragrance (Parfum) - icky
Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum;Parfum/Fragrance | What-it-does: perfuming
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Blue 1 (Ci 42090)
Also-called: Ci 42090 | What-it-does: colorant
CI 42090 or Blue 1 is a super common synthetic colorant in beauty & food. Used alone, it adds a brilliant smurf-like blue color, combined with Tartrazine, it gives the fifty shades of green.
You may also want to take a look at...
Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more] A light, velvety, unique skin feel liquid that is a good solvent and also makes the skin feel nice and smooth. [more] Aclear, colorless and odorless, highly volatile (meaning it does not absorb into the skin but evaporates from it) liquid that's used as an emollient and gives a nice, non-oily light skin-feel. [more] An odorless and colorless emollient ester that gives a velvety and silky feel to the skin. [more] An emollient and natural moisturizer that can be found also in the sebum (oily stuff our skin produces). It leaves a nice non-greasy, non-heavy feeling on the skin. [more] It's the salt form of famous humectant and natural moisturizing factor, hyaluronic acid. It can bind huge amounts of water and it's pretty much the current IT-moisturizer. [more] A multi-functional skincare superstar that has clinically proven anti-aging, skin lightening, anti-inflammatory and barrier repair properties. [more] Pro-Vitamin B5 is a goodie that moisturises the skin, has anti-inflammatory, skin protecting and wound healing properties. [more] A vegetable origin (coconut or palm kernel oil and glucose) cleansing agent with great foaming abilities. It's also mild to the skin and readily biodegradable. Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. [more] It’s a little helper ingredient that helps toset the pH of a cosmeticformulation to be just right. [more] Super common little helper ingredient thathelps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes. [more] A yellowishoily liquid that works as amedium spreading emollientand is suitable for a wide pH range. [more] The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average. [more] Synthetic colorant with smurf-like blue color. [more] what‑it‑does solvent what‑it‑does emollient | solvent what‑it‑does emollient | solvent what‑it‑does emollient what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | emollient irritancy,com. 0, 1 what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant irritancy,com. 0, 0 what‑it‑does cell-communicating ingredient | skin brightening | anti-acne | moisturizer/humectant what‑it‑does soothing | moisturizer/humectant irritancy,com. 0, 0 what‑it‑does surfactant/cleansing what‑it‑does viscosity controlling what‑it‑does buffering what‑it‑does buffering what‑it‑does chelating what‑it‑does emollient what‑it‑does preservative what‑it‑does perfuming what‑it‑does colorant
