We sometimes buy different beauty products without paying a lot of attention to what the packing says. However, there are certain useful rules that allows you to read the labels on various beauty products, from shampoos to face creams, and therefore be able to choose the one that better works for your skin type. As decoding beauty products labels can be a real challenge, take a look to these next basic tips.


Every woman wants to have a flawless skin, without having to use all types of creams that might only cause damage. What we all long for are effective products that are not noxious for our health. Still, on a market where there is a wide range of products, it is rather difficult to sort out the right product. Therefore, how do we know if a certain product contains alcohol, natural or chemical substances, and different other ingredients or properties. Well, the right thing to do is to just read the ingredients. In fact, when taking a look on the label, all those terms sound a little bit strange and unknown for us. If you have problems with this, take a look to this basic guide on how to read beauty products labels.

First of all, whenever purchasing a beauty product, make sure you read the ingredients. The label should be readable so that you can see if the substances in the product really suit your needs. Moreover, this way you'll be able to avoid those products that contain substances that might cause you allergies. It is more than sure that you want to stay away from rashes, allergies, or other skin diseases that a wrong choice might cause.

When buying a product look for the expiration date, instructions on how to use it, and especially for the ingredients. In a beauty product, ingredients are written based on their quantity. The most important ingredients are written first. This is why your should insist on these ones as they represent the base of the product. Therefore, by decoding these ingredients you can verify if the active principles written on the packing can be found in a high percentage in the composition.

Lately, beauty products made from natural ingredients started to be very famous. Remember that on the list of ingredients the natural ones are written in Latin, which are the botanical name of the plants. This makes them easier to spot. Therefore, the more Latin words on the label, the bigger the list of natural ingredients.

In almost every beauty product, except for makeup, the first ingredient mentioned is water, which represents 60% of the composition. Then, there are the humectants, such as glycerin, sorbitol, glycerol, propylene glycol, which are one of the main ingredient in moisturizers and cleansers where skin moisturizing is needed, and fatty substances, like triglycerides.

Then, there are the oils and silicone waxes. You will recognize them easily as their name usually ends in “one”, like dimethicone, cyclomethicone, phenyl trimethicone, stearyl dimethicone, “ane”, such as cyclohexasiloxane, or “polymer”, acrylates copolymer. After, there are the mineral oils coming from the petrochemical industry, such as petrolatum and paraffinum liquidum.

Mineral oil is used for skin oils, lotions, creams and makeup bases and it creates a barrier between the skin and external factors. Moreover, mineral oil is also found in makeup removal products. They are inoffensive, but they don't bring anything to the skin as the skin cannot assimilate them.

Next on the list are the actives and additives, then preservatives, antioxidants, color additives, and possible fragrance allergens, such as coumarin, citronellol, geraniol, linalool, limonene, eugenol, citral. If the fragrances are mentioned at the bottom of the list, the product is poor in fragrances. However, always look for those products that are fragrance-free as they are a safer choice for your skin, especially for sensitive condition.

Color additives are identified by a Color Index (CI) and are followed by five numbers. It is better for the product not to contain color additives as they bring nothing for the skin. Look instead for products that contain antioxidants as they are great for anti-aging. Besides, they avoid the oils to go rancid.

The famous and controversial parabens, such as methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, seem to be irreplaceable substances that are found in all beauty products, excepting the bio ones. Parabens are chemicals that are used as preservatives in cosmetics. However, the best thing you can do is to look for paraben free alternatives. If you cannot replace them, make sure they are found at the end of the list.