What cosmetic ingredients do
Browse EU glossary ingredients by the roles declared in the European Commission’s CosIngThe European Commission's database of cosmetic ingredients. inventory. Definitions are quoted from official sources. Counts cover ingredients declaring each role and distinct recorded cosmetics listing at least one of them.
Moisturising and softening
- Humectant
Holds and retains moisture.
1,096 ingredients, 21,486 products
- Moisturising
Increases the water content of the skin and helps keep it soft and smooth.
70 ingredients, 3,249 products
- Refatting
Replenishes the lipids of the hair or of the top layers of the skin.
21 ingredients, 3,870 products
- Skin conditioning: emollient
Softens and smooths the skin.
2,654 ingredients, 19,599 products
- Skin conditioning: humectant
Holds and retains moisture.
594 ingredients, 18,454 products
- Skin conditioning: occlusive
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
85 ingredients, 9,508 products
- Smoothing
Seeks to achieve an even skin surface by decreasing roughness or irregularities.
40 ingredients, 2,390 products
Cleansing
- Cleansing
Helps to keep the body surface clean.
1,247 ingredients, 15,108 products
- Foaming
Traps numerous small bubbles of air or other gas within a small volume of liquid by modifying the surface tension of the liquid.
197 ingredients, 7,887 products
- Surfactant
Lowers the surface tension of cosmetics as well as aids the even distribution of the product when used.
17 ingredients, 0 products
- Surfactant: cleansing
Helps to keep the body surface clean.
2,773 ingredients, 21,985 products
- Surfactant: foam boosting
Improves the quality of the foam produced by a system by increasing one or more of the following properties: volume, texture and/or stability.
409 ingredients, 12,931 products
Preserving
- Antimicrobial
Helps control the growth of micro-organisms on the skin.
664 ingredients, 15,233 products
- Antioxidant
Inhibits reactions promoted by oxygen, thus avoiding oxidation and rancidity.
1,588 ingredients, 12,950 products
- Preservative
Inhibits primarily the development of micro-organisms in cosmetics.
176 ingredients, 19,213 products
Sun protection
- UV filter
Filters certain UV rays in order to protect the skin or the hair from harmful effects of these rays.
46 ingredients, 4,444 products
Texture and stability
- Absorbent
Takes up water- and/or oil-soluble dissolved or finely dispersed substances.
156 ingredients, 7,431 products
- Anticaking
Allows free flow of solid particles and thus avoids agglomeration of powdered cosmetics into lumps or hard masses.
122 ingredients, 6,621 products
- Anticorrosive
Prevents corrosion of the packaging.
24 ingredients, 9,292 products
- Antifoaming
Suppresses foam during manufacturing or reduces the tendency of finished products to generate foam.
45 ingredients, 9,802 products
- Binding
Provides cohesion in cosmetics.
382 ingredients, 12,511 products
- Buffering
Stabilises the pH of cosmetics.
197 ingredients, 18,279 products
- Bulking
Reduces bulk density of cosmetics.
185 ingredients, 13,198 products
- Chelating
Reacts and forms complexes with metal ions which could affect the stability and/or appearance of cosmetics.
151 ingredients, 16,112 products
- Dispersing non-surfactant
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
26 ingredients, 338 products
- Emulsion stabilising
Helps the process of emulsification and improves emulsion stability and shelf-life.
535 ingredients, 16,754 products
- Film forming
Produces, upon application, a continuous film on skin, hair or nails.
1,038 ingredients, 12,504 products
- Gel forming
Gives the consistency of a gel (a semi-solid preparation with some elasticity) to a liquid preparation.
23 ingredients, 7,664 products
- Light stabilizer
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
140 ingredients, 7,829 products
- Opacifying
Reduces transparency or translucency of cosmetics.
194 ingredients, 14,422 products
- Plasticiser
Softens and makes supple another substance that otherwise could not be easily deformed, spread or worked out.
147 ingredients, 1,931 products
- Propellant
Generates pressure in an aerosol pack, expelling contents when the valve is opened. Some liquefied propellants can act as solvents.
19 ingredients, 1,027 products
- Slip modifier
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
34 ingredients, 1,007 products
- Solvent
Dissolves other substances.
540 ingredients, 27,482 products
- Surface modifier
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
22 ingredients, 13 products
- Surfactant: dispersing
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
8 ingredients, 80 products
- Surfactant: emulsifying
Promotes the formation of intimate mixtures of non-miscible liquids by altering the interfacial tension.
2,629 ingredients, 21,593 products
- Surfactant: hydrotrope
Enhances the solubility of substance which is only slightly soluble in water.
200 ingredients, 1,354 products
- Surfactant: solubilizing
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
39 ingredients, 1 products
- UV absorber
Protects the cosmetic product from the effects of UV light.
176 ingredients, 5,474 products
- Viscosity controlling
Increases or decreases the viscosity of cosmetics.
1,221 ingredients, 27,302 products
- pH adjusters
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
20 ingredients, 1,891 products
Fragrance and colour
- Colorant
Colours cosmetics and/or imparts colour to the skin and/or its appendages.
266 ingredients, 9,523 products
- Fragrance
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
1,227 ingredients, 28,191 products
- Pearlescent
Imparts a nacreous appearance to cosmetics.
1 ingredients, 0 products
- Perfuming
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
893 ingredients, 27,359 products
Skin care
- Anti-seborrheic
Helps control sebum production.
107 ingredients, 3,247 products
- Anti-sebum
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
126 ingredients, 431 products
- Astringent
Contracts the skin.
439 ingredients, 8,224 products
- Bleaching
Lightens the shade of hair or skin.
188 ingredients, 366 products
- Exfoliating
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
93 ingredients, 14 products
- Keratolytic
Helps eliminate the dead cells of the stratum corneum.
20 ingredients, 2,026 products
- Refreshing
Imparts a pleasant freshness to the skin.
43 ingredients, 1,929 products
- Skin conditioning
Maintains the skin in good condition.
8,301 ingredients, 25,820 products
- Skin conditioning: miscellaneous
Maintains the skin in good condition.
1,656 ingredients, 16,237 products
- Skin protecting
Helps to avoid harmful effects to the skin from external factors.
1,539 ingredients, 20,252 products
- Soothing
Helps lightening discomfort of the skin or of the scalp.
126 ingredients, 5,099 products
- Tanning
Darkens the skin with or without exposure to UV.
3 ingredients, 65 products
- Tonic
Produces a feeling of well-being on skin and hair.
305 ingredients, 8,723 products
Hair care
- Antistatic
Reduces static electricity by neutralising electrical charge on a surface.
1,043 ingredients, 15,301 products
- Detangling
Reduces or eliminates hair intertwining due to hair surface alteration or damage and, thus, helps combing.
6 ingredients, 59 products
- Eyelash conditioning
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
15 ingredients, 0 products
- Hair conditioning
Leaves the hair easy to comb, supple, soft and shiny and/or imparts volume, lightness, gloss, etc.
2,765 ingredients, 22,968 products
- Hair dyeing
Colours hair.
407 ingredients, 4,636 products
- Hair fixing
Permits physical control of hairstyle.
203 ingredients, 1,684 products
- Hair waving or straightening
Modifies the chemical structure of the hair, allowing it to be set in the style required.
78 ingredients, 453 products
Oral care
- Abrasive
Removes materials from various body surfaces or aids mechanical tooth cleaning or improves gloss.
307 ingredients, 7,023 products
- Antiplaque
Helps protect against plaque.
28 ingredients, 1,515 products
- Flavouring
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
128 ingredients, 7,197 products
- Oral care
Provides cosmetic effects to the oral cavity, e.g. cleansing, deodorising, protecting.
187 ingredients, 20,250 products
Other functions
- Adhesive
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
7 ingredients, 0 products
- Antiperspirant
Reduces perspiration.
35 ingredients, 677 products
- Denaturant
Renders cosmetics unpalatable. Mostly added to cosmetics containing ethyl alcohol.
40 ingredients, 20,516 products
- Deodorant
Reduces or masks unpleasant body odours.
178 ingredients, 18,087 products
- Depilatory
Removes unwanted body hair.
45 ingredients, 131 products
- Epilating
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
1 ingredients, 0 products
- Nail conditioning
Improves the cosmetic characteristics of the nail.
93 ingredients, 91 products
- Nail sculpting
Official definition unavailable in the sources read.
13 ingredients, 2 products
- Oxidising
Changes the chemical nature of another substance by adding oxygen or removing hydrogen.
33 ingredients, 244 products
- Reducing
Changes the chemical nature of another substance by adding hydrogen or removing oxygen.
65 ingredients, 576 products