How to read an INCI cosmetic ingredient list

An ingredient list is a useful starting point when choosing a cosmetic. It tells you which ingredients are declared in the formula and helps you check for substances you need to avoid. It does not, by itself, reveal every percentage, predict how your skin will react or give the product an overall safety score.

INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. These shared ingredient names make it easier to identify a substance across products and languages. Labelling rules still depend on the market: the explanation below focuses on cosmetics sold in the European Union.

Recognise the different kinds of name

Botanical ingredients often combine a Latin plant name with an English description of the material or plant part. For example, Prunus armeniaca kernel oil identifies apricot kernel oil. A botanical name does not by itself identify the country of cultivation or prove organic certification. Words such as seed, leaf, flower and kernel should be read carefully rather than treated as interchangeable.

Other traditional names include Mel for honey, Cera alba for beeswax and Lac for milk. Recognising these can help if you are checking a product against a personal ingredient preference, but the whole formula still matters.

Chemical names are not a sign that an ingredient is automatically synthetic or unsafe. Sodium cocoate, for example, names the sodium salts formed when coconut oil is saponified with sodium hydroxide. It describes the soap ingredient, not a bottle of raw caustic soda.

Fragrance compositions may appear as Parfum or Aroma, with certain fragrance allergens declared separately where required. Colourants commonly use a Colour Index name, such as CI 77492. A code is an identifier, not a natural-origin certificate or a hazard rating. The European Commission’s CosIng database helps look up names and functions; an entry is not, on its own, an approval for unrestricted cosmetic use.

Read the order without guessing a formula

Under Article 19 of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, ingredients are generally listed in descending order by weight when added. Ingredients below 1% may follow in any order after those above 1%, and the rules include specific provisions for colourants.

This makes the top of a list informative, but it does not let you reconstruct exact amounts. There is no universal rule that the first five ingredients account for 70% of a cosmetic. Nor can you assume that one ingredient is present at half the concentration of the one above it. An ingredient close to the end can still have an important function at a low concentration.

An INCI list normally provides identities rather than the complete manufacturing recipe. Added percentages elsewhere on the packaging, such as an organic percentage, answer a different question and should be read with their own wording and calculation basis.

Fragrance allergens and asterisks

An asterisk does not universally mean “allergen”. Brands use footnotes for several purposes, including organic origin, processing from organic materials or substances naturally present in fragrance. Always read the legend printed with that particular list.

For the fragrance allergens covered by EU labelling rules, individual declaration is generally required above 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products. The former fixed description of “26 allergens” is outdated: Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 expanded the requirements. Its transitional provisions distinguish placement on the market up to 31 July 2026 from continued availability up to 31 July 2028 for qualifying existing products.

Natural fragrances and essential oils can contain fragrance allergens too. Conversely, the absence of a particular listed fragrance allergen does not prove that a product cannot cause any allergy. If you have a diagnosed allergy, use the exact ingredient names given by your clinician and check the product you are buying, including its current packaging. Do not rely solely on a “natural” description or an app score.

A real Atelier Populaire example

The current catalogue lists the following ingredients for Orangeraie Oubliée cold-process soap, 90 g:

Ingredients: Sodium cocoate**, Aqua, Sodium sunflowerseedate**, Glycerin**, Parfum, Helianthus annuus seed oil*, Limonene***, Linalool***, Citral***, Kaolin, Tocopherol.

*Ingredients from organic farming. **Made from organic ingredients. ***Allergens naturally present in the fragrance.

This list shows a soap base, water, glycerin, fragrance, sunflower oil and the other declared ingredients. The three stars attached to Limonene, Linalool and Citral refer to the fragrance-allergen legend; the single star on Helianthus annuus seed oil refers to organic farming. These marks do not describe the same thing.

The product information separately states 100% natural origin and 71% organic ingredients, with COSMOS ORGANIC certification. Those figures apply to this product. They cannot be inferred merely by counting starred names, and they should not be extended to every product in the catalogue.

Understand ingredient families without blanket verdicts

The original archive discussed many ingredients presented as controversial. A more useful approach is to identify their function, the exact substance and its applicable restrictions. A chemical family can contain different substances, and evidence about one material, concentration or route of exposure does not establish the risk of every finished cosmetic containing a related name.

Examples mentioned in the original archive and what to check
Family or ingredient	Useful reading approach
Mineral oils and waxes	Names include Mineral Oil, Paraffinum Liquidum, Petrolatum and Cera Microcristallina. Identity, cosmetic-grade purity and the finished formula matter; an industrial-use comparison is not a safety assessment.
Silicones	Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane and Cyclohexasiloxane are not interchangeable substances. Do not turn a name ending into a diagnosis or a blanket cancer claim.
PEG and PPG ingredients	These families include materials with different functions. Read the complete INCI name and the function in the product rather than treating a prefix as a score.
Sulphate surfactants	Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate are examples of cleansing ingredients. A finished cleanser’s formula and directions also influence how it is used.
Parabens	Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben and Butylparaben are distinct preservatives. Check the exact entry and current restrictions rather than assigning one verdict to the whole family.
Phenoxyethanol	A preservative with an EU maximum concentration of 1%. Its appearance on a label is not proof that the product causes the illnesses attributed to it in the old archive.
Triclosan, Methylisothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone	These have substance-specific permitted uses and restrictions. Avoid relying on an old date or one percentage as a universal authorisation.
Aluminium salts	Read the exact name, such as Aluminum Chlorohydrate or Potassium Alum. A natural origin does not replace a safety assessment, and neither does a broad claim about a chemical family.
UV filters	Different filter molecules have different conditions of use. Benzophenone-related names and Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate must not be treated as one chemical family.
BHA and BHT	These are antioxidant ingredients. Check the current individual entry; the old statement that no restrictions exist must not be used as current advice.

The SCCS, the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, evaluated phenoxyethanol and concluded that it was safe as a preservative at a maximum of 1% under the conditions assessed. That is a different claim from saying every product suits every person. Nor can percentages in separate products simply be added together to show that a concentration limit has been exceeded. See the SCCS opinion.

Preservatives have a practical role in limiting microbial growth in suitable formulations. Removing them does not automatically improve a cosmetic. Personal allergy, concentration, product type and intended use remain relevant. Environmental preferences and organic-production criteria may also influence a purchase, but they should be stated separately from an unsupported medical claim.

Read organic and natural claims alongside the list

COSMOS is a standard; a certification body such as Ecocert assesses compliance. COSMOS ORGANIC and COSMOS NATURAL are product signatures with different organic-content requirements. COSMOS CERTIFIED and COSMOS APPROVED concern raw materials under their respective conditions. Water and minerals cannot be counted as organically farmed ingredients.

Look for the exact signature, certifier and percentages on the product. The COSMOS explanation distinguishes these scopes. A label is not a guarantee that no one can react to a fragrance, and an organic percentage is not an efficacy score. The guide to cosmetic labels explains the roles without applying one simplified percentage rule to every product type.

Use ingredient-scoring apps as one tool

Apps can make unfamiliar names easier to find. Before relying on a score, check which criteria it uses: allergy, environmental concerns, natural origin, regulatory restrictions or something else. Different tools may weight these questions differently and may use a different product version from the one you have.

A red symbol next to a fragrance allergen can be useful to someone allergic to that substance. It does not establish that the whole formula is unsuitable for everyone. Equally, a high score cannot guarantee personal tolerance or cover every possible allergy. Read the current list even when an app gives a reassuring result, and check the publication date of any explanation.

Where to find the information

Look on the product packaging and the ingredient section of its product page. For small or unpackaged products, the EU regulation provides specific practical labelling arrangements. Do not assume that an online list automatically removes all physical labelling duties. When information is missing or unclear, ask the seller for the list before choosing.

Atelier Populaire’s ingredient tabs reproduce the declared compositions and explain their footnotes. Compare the exact product and size rather than borrowing the composition of a similarly named item. The list is a way to identify ingredients and ask better questions; it is not a formula calculator, an allergy test or a replacement for personalised medical advice.