Our ingredient standard

What we screen against

Every product we rank is checked against the EU Cosmetics RegulationAnnex II (substances banned from cosmetics) and Annex III (substances permitted only under restriction) — the strictest widely-applied regulatory framework, and one anyone can look up. We also check the EU’s 26 declarable fragrance allergens, and common contact sensitizers such as methylisothiazolinone and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives.

Where a formula includes something notable, we say so on the product itself rather than burying it. A flag is not the same as a verdict: it means there is something worth knowing before you buy.

Why we don’t use hazard scores

We deliberately don’t rate products using consumer hazard-score databases. Those tools generally score an ingredient by whether a hazard has ever been associated with it at any dose, rather than by the concentration actually used in a finished cosmetic. That produces alarming scores for ingredients that are well characterised and safe as formulated, and it reliably rewards marketing over chemistry.

Dose matters. An ingredient that is hazardous at industrial concentration can be entirely unremarkable at the fraction of a percent used in a serum. We’d rather tell you what is in a product and what the regulators actually restrict than hand you a number that feels precise and isn’t.

Products we won’t rank

If a brand doesn’t publish a real ingredient list, we don’t rank the product. Some listings put marketing copy where the INCI list belongs — naming four hero actives and nothing else. That formula can’t be screened, so it can’t earn a place here, however good the reviews look.

We also look at how a product is dosed. A formula can list an impressive peptide and disclose a concentration low enough to be meaningless. Where a brand publishes those numbers, we read them, and it has already cost products a spot.

Limits worth stating

We screen published formulas — we don’t run our own laboratory analysis, and we can’t verify that a product matches its stated INCI. Brands also reformulate without changing packaging. If you have a known allergy, always read the current label on the product you receive.