Brands
July 27th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Water, Pentylene Glycol, Glycerin, Vegetable Collagen, Amla Extract, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-37, Tripeptide-29, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Pichia Ferment Lysate Filtrate, Grape Seed Extract, Kiwi Fruit Water, Coffee Seed Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Jojoba Seed Extract, Epilobium Angustifolium Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Hydroxyacetophenone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Butylene Glycol. No, vegan collagen doesn’t exist. Don’t waste your money on products that sell you what doesn’t exist. Feeling indignant is the right reaction to this kind of stuff. Somebody called this kind of stuff “the bastardization of science”, to what I answer: aren’t scientists cheap? If you can’t be a serious, honest scientist, please find yourself a different profession. Maybe sell used cars? Or bridges?…
July 21st, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Vegan collagen is NOT collagen Ingredients: Collagen (Vegan)*, Water, Propanediol, Isononyl Isononanoate, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Betaine, Pentylene Glycol, Dextrin Palmitate, Collagen Amino Acids (Vegan), Parachlorella Beijerinckii Exopolysaccharides, Chlorella Protothecoides Oil, Helichrysum Stoechas Flower Extract, Cylindrotheca Fusiformis Extract, Niacinamide, Tocopherol, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Adenosine, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Palmitic Acid, Disodium EDTA, Carbomer, Sodium Lactate, Amodimethicone, Homosalate, Polysorbate 20, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Octocrylene, Sodium Hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Limonene, Beta-Carotene (CI 40800). Vegan collagen is a new innovative technology created by binding together corn, soy and wheat protein fibers resulting in vegan amino acids that structurally mimic and provide a function similar…
June 28th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I love L’Occitane. But once I read the ingredient lists, it becomes clear to me that I like the idea of L’Occitania: a romantic part of France, Provence, that I haven’t visited (yet), where a strange language was spoken, it makes me dream of exotic fragrances. But it’s just an idea, crystallized in products that are made of the same ingredients, synthetic fragrances, and colors used by everybody else including Korean and French, and American skincare companies. Artists put together the colors and pictures that make me want to buy a $8.50 soap (3.5oz) or spend $34 in 2.5 oz of water, glycerin, cetearyl alcohol, etc. If I am this…
June 1st, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Water, Alcohol, Dipropylene Glycol, Arbutin, Glycerin, Artemisia Princeps Leaf Extract, Cistus Ladaniferus Extract, Coix Lacryma Jobi Mayuen Seed Extract (Job’s Tears), Licorice extract, Sasa Veitchii Extract, Butyl Alcohol, Butylene Glycol, Carbomer, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Diglycerin, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Glyceryl Stearate, Soybean Sterol, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Isohexadecane, PEG 2 Stearate, PEG 400, PEG 60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Polysorbate 80, Sodium Acrylate Acryoldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Sodium Hydroxide, Sorbitan Oleate, Squalane, Sucrose Stearate, Xanthan Gum, Methylparaben, Fragrance, Caramel, Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492). Don’t tell me that this is a “traditional” or “family” recipe. Still, it could be good. But no, alcohol is the second ingredient, indicating a high concentration and that this product…
May 12th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why am I so anti-advertising? Because I don’t like being manipulated into buying what I don’t want or need. Skincare advertising uses deceptive wording, starting with “Hello” and ending with the ingredient list. If you want to spend your money wisely and protect your skin, you need to understand how to translate their message. How about the “Hello”? The focus changes all the time. Nowadays it is “Clean Beauty”, promising to protect our environment from ingredients to packaging. The message may change next month, though. In the meantime, here they are the key words: sustainable, naturally derived, honest, pure, vegan, organic, green chemistry, free of preservatives, free of whatever. Figure:…
February 26th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Not my answer but still the best: They charge a lot, so you have been hearing about them because they spend money on PR and advertising. Apart from the peptides, the ingredients look good, headlined by X or Y (niacinaide, magnesium ascorbyl phsophate, any of hundreds of ingredients). The peptides are off the shelf synthetic peptides (very cheap now) so there is no new science in the products, just renaming a few peptides that can be purchased by anyone. XXX just puts random peptides into cell lines (in culture) and sees if anything pops out in the test tube. Totally removed from real life. They then put the peptides in…
February 6th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Green, organic, natural, they keep adding empty adjectives to cosmetics. Sustainability, eco-friendly, honest, so many words and more will be added to the advertising dictionary. Why empty? Because they have no legal definition so that advertising people can fill the words with whatever meaning is convenient (or none). Words devoid of meaning are used to cheat. But let’s be clear: behind all that advertising and marketing, there are objectives worth pursuing. Why, then, do these words bother me so much? Because they are used to hide ingredients and packaging that contradicts the “pure sentiment” behind the words. What are the objectives? Effective products. If not effective, why sell them? Safe…
January 7th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Note: another complicated post but one that relates to the popularity of “probiotics” in cosmetics. Why the name, Mother Dirt? I think the idea behind the advertising is to appeal to our nostalgia for a Nature that we never knew. The excuse? That hygiene in modern life kills the bacteria we need to make our skin happy. The solution? Spray bacteria on your skin, not one of the bacteria known to live in our skin as “commensals” but one that happens to prefer wastewater, rich in ammonia which they can oxidize (and use the energy obtained to fix carbon dioxide as plants do) and live on. They can’t use other…
January 6th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
No. But our collagen serum will, with epidermal growth factor and everything you need to get your skin “up and running”. Olay Collagen Peptide 24 Moisturizer will keep your skin hydrated, thanks to water and glycerol. Tremella polysaccharide is also a good moisturizer and will help protect your skin from UV. IngredientsWater, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Isohexadecane, Dimethicone, Isopropyl Isostearate, Stearyl Alcohol, Polyacrylamide, Panthenol*, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide 4, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Tapioca Starch, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Caprylyl Glycol, Dimethiconol, Laureth-7, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Cetyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, PEG-100 Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, 1,2-Hexanediol, Phenoxyethanol. If there is anything good about this product, it’s that it took…
January 1st, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
First, what are these “bespoke” skin care products? They are skincare powered by expensive website software and/or packaging. The problem? The products are limited by the ingredients, and gimmicks limit your choice of ingredients even further. Unless you have good, active ingredients to start, your final poduct, “personalized” or not, will be mediocre. Example: An oil based product line offers an oil base” like rosehip, jojoba, etc. and a few essential oils to fix any problematic skin. This approach assumes that essential oils can fix skin care problems when, in reality, they may worsen them. Lavender, an essential oil I love, is allergenic. Many components of essential oisl should not…
December 19th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
ESTEE LAUDER Re-Nutriv Ultimate Diamond Transformative Energy Dual Infusion Serum, 1.0 fl oz Ingredients:Water, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Bis-Peg-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Polysilicone-11, Silica, Glycerin, Lactobionic Acid, Tuber Melanosporum (truffle) Extract, Peach Flower Extract, Hydrolyzed Yeast Protein, Laminaria Digitata Extract, Narcissus Tazetta (daffodil) Bulb Extract, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Algae Extract, Chestnut Seed Extract, Acetyl Glucosamine, Glucosamine HCl, Pea Extract, Bamboo Extract, Gold, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Pearl Powder, Ginger Root Extract, Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate, Laminaria Saccharina Extract, Cucumber Fruit Extract, Apple Fruit Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Yeast Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hypnea Musciformis (Algae) Extract, Sigesbeckia Orientalis (St. Paul’s Wort) Extract, Barley Extract, Wheat…
December 19th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
KIEHL’S Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution Ingredients: Water, Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Denatured alcohol, PEG/PPG/Polybutylene Glycol-8/5/3 Glycerin, Hydroxypropyl Tetrahydropyrantriol, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, PPG-6-Decyltetradeceth-30, Phenoxyethanol, Salicylic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Lavender Oil, Disodium EDTA, Adenosine, Linalool, Butylene Glycol, Tocopherol, Chinipi (Japanese orange) Peel Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa (Mudan or Moutan or tree peony) Root Extract. In this relatively short ingredients list, you will find solvents (denatured alcohol, water, propylene glycol, butylene glycol), pH adjusters (Potassium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate), fragrance(lavender oil, Linalool), thickeners (Xanthan Gum, Hydroxyethylcellulose), emulsifier (PPG-6-Decyltetradeceth-30), humectants (PEG/PPG/Polybutylene Glycol-8/5/3, glycerin), preservatives (Phenoxyethanol), It may help: orange peel extract contains nobiletin. Better? Skin…
December 4th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Surprised? I wasn’t. But the company’s CEO was: XXXX, the CEO said his company “did not realize” that prostaglandin was a prescription-only ingredient in Australia. In the USA there are no restrictions on prostaglandin. The scientific literature has lots of findings like this: Enophthalmos, one of the side effects of prostaglandin analogs, is the “posterior displacement of the eyeball within the orbit due to changes in the volume of the orbit (bone) relative to its contents (the eyeball and orbital fat), or loss of function of the orbitalis muscle. The ingredients in LiLash® are as follows: Water, Glycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Prunus Amygdalus (Sweet Almond) Extract, Hydrolyzed Lupine Protein, Panthenol, Isopropanol Phenylhydroxypentene…
October 14th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
La Mer eye concentrateAlgae (Seaweed) Extract, Water\Aqua\Eau, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Trisiloxane, Caprylic/Capric/Myristic/Stearic Triglyceride, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sea Salt\Maris Sal\Sel Marin, Yeast Extract\Faex\Extrait De Levure, Helichrysum Arenarium (Everlasting) Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Medicago Sativa (Alfalfa) Seed Powder, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seedcake, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Meal, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, Sodium Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Calcium Gluconate, Magnesium Gluconate, Zinc Gluconate, Tocopheryl Succinate, Niacin, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Powder, Asparagopsis Armata Extract, Laminaria Digitata Extract, Molasses Extract\Saccharum Officinarum\Extrait De Melasse, Phytosphingosine, Ecklonia Cava Extract, Corallina Officinalis Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sigesbeckia Orientalis (St. Paul’S Wort) Extract, Polygonum Fagopyrum Seed Extract, Brassica Campestris (Rapeseed)…
July 16th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Consonant skincare serum with just 2 ingredients. Cassia Angustifolia Seed Polysaccharide, Vegetable Glycerine. This combination is unlikely to exist. The polysaccharide (a gum) would not dissolve in glycerine. Probable list? Add water (lots) and preservatives. How do we get to this “impossible ingredient lists”? There are two possibilities: ignorance or fraud. Just make sure you don’t buy (or, more importantly, use) this kind of impossible product.
July 2nd, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Not good for you ingredients Osmosis Catalyst AC-11 Ingredients: Water, Sodium Bicarbonate, Ketoglutaric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Glycine, Propanediol, Proline, Lysine HCI, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Alanine, Zinc Gluconate, Dimethicone, Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate, Grapefruit Peel Oil, Alcohol Denat., Glycerin, Cat’s Claw Extract, Copper Gluconate, Acetyl Cysteine, Phospholipids, Tocopheryl Acetate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Magnesium Chloride, Butylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Xanthan Gum, Benzyl Alcohol, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Fragrance/Parfum. Yucky ingredients: NeoGenesis growth factor. Ingredients: Human Fibroblast Conditioned Media, Human Stem Cell Conditioned Media, Water, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Dehydroacetic Acid, Benzyl Alcohol, Sodium Hydroxide, Lactic Acid. Remember: bad ingredients do not necessarily means NO activity. If you don’t know why these…
May 7th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What will you find in Pyunkang Yul Moisture Ampoule? Incidentally, it is not an ampoule, just a drop bottle, but ampoule sounds more “medical”, right? Water (as plant extract) Polysorbate 80, Peg-150 Distearate, Polysorbate 20 (surfactants) 1,2-Hexanediol (solvent) Peg-150 Distearate (thickener), Glyceryl Caprylate (emollient). What will you find in the plant extract? Besides water (and maybe other solvents, not listed), an alkaloid called berberine and, if you spend money in a lab analysis, some unlisted preservatives. A rubbish product with a fancy name. Korea deserves better.
February 5th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
University of Leipzig and a celebrity in one package. Then you look under the rug, i.e. the ingredient list. Nothing there. An emulsion of oil and fat with some thickeners, cheap peptides and some preservatives. Nothing to keep the ascorbic acid in its antioxidant form, and they don’t even bother to use “proper” vitamin E. A good example of a cheap product sold as gold. Ingredients: Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (fat), Pentylene Glycol (solvent), Propylene Glycol (solvent), Hydrogenated Phosphatidylcholine (lipid), Glycerin, Sorbitol, Shea Butter (fat), Tocopheryl Acetate, Butylene Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Panthenol, Sodium Carbomer, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Retinyl Palmitate, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Squalane, Sunflower Seed Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Lecithin,…
January 25th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Figure: Portulaca oleracea, common name purslane. I don’t know much about Pliny the Elder, but he said something to the effects that :Nature distributed medicine everywhere”. This is true, but what it means is that many plants contain chemicals that have medicinal effects on humans. This does not mean that every plant contains chemicals that are beneficial chemicals, in fact many have poisonous chemicals and others have no medical effects at all. And certainly, some plants may have beneficial effects for one or another human organ, but not for our skin. Pliny the Elder said that purslane, Portulaca oleraceae, could be used as an amulet to expel all evil. This…
December 22nd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Nobody likes to talk about money (“it is so crass!”) but the question arises once and again. What are the relative contributions to the price of a skin care product? There can be a huge difference in the price of ingredients, even when the INCI name is the same or very similar. For example, a tea extract can be just what you make when you have a cup of tea, a tea bag left in very hot water for a few minutes. But this term can also refer to an extract that has been repeatedly purified to enrich it in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol responsible for many of the…