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How to read an ingredient list in ten minutes
Every product we sell prints its full ingredient list on the page. Most people scroll past it, which is fair, because it looks like this: Aqua, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate. That is not a language anyone speaks. It is worth ten minutes of your life to learn, because it is the only part of a beauty product that cannot lie to you. The order is the whole story Ingredients are listed by weight, highest first, down to one percent. After that they can be in any order. This single rule tells you more than any marketing claim. If a serum shouts about vitamin C and ascorbate appears second to last, next to the fragrance, you are buying water with a rumour of vitamin C in it. If it appears in the first five, you are buying an actual vitamin C serum. Six ingredients worth recognising Aqua is water. It is first in almost everything and that is normal, not a scandal. Glycerin pulls water into the skin. Cheap, ancient, works. Sodium hyaluronate is hyaluronic acid in a form that actually penetrates. Holds water in the upper layers. Squalane is a lightweight oil, usually from olives or sugarcane, that most skin tolerates including oily skin. Niacinamide is vitamin B3. Good evidence for barrier repair, redness and oil control. One of the few actives almost nobody reacts badly to. Phenoxyethanol is a preservative. Yes it is synthetic. It is also the reason your moisturiser is not growing a colony of bacteria in a warm bathroom. Parfum is the one that hides things The word parfum or fragrance can legally cover dozens of individual compounds that never have to be listed. If you have reactive skin and you cannot work out what is setting it off, this is the first place to look, and it is why fragrance free is a genuinely useful thing to look for rather than a marketing pose. What the list will not tell you Concentration, beyond the ordering rule. Formulation quality. Whether two actives cancel each other out. An ingredient list is evidence, not a verdict. But it will instantly tell you whether the star ingredient on the front of the bottle is actually in the bottle. That is a low bar, and a surprising number of products fail it. See the skincare range, ingredient lists and all.
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What vegan actually means on a beauty label
Vegan is one of the most used words in beauty and one of the least explained. It is worth knowing exactly what it does and does not tell you, because two of the things people assume it means are simply not true. What vegan actually means A vegan formula contains no animal derived ingredients. That is the whole definition. In practice it rules out a specific and fairly short list: Carmine, a red pigment made from crushed cochineal insects, which is extremely common in red lipstick and blush Beeswax, in balms, mascaras and cream products Lanolin, from sheep wool, in lip and hand products Collagen and keratin, when they come from animal sources Squalene with an e, historically from shark liver, as opposed to squalane with an a, which is usually olive or sugarcane derived What it does not mean Vegan does not mean cruelty free. These are two entirely separate claims. A formula can contain zero animal ingredients and still have been tested on animals somewhere in the supply chain. Conversely a cruelty free brand can happily use beeswax. If both matter to you, both need to be stated, and on our product pages they are. Vegan does not mean natural or organic. Petroleum is vegan. So are silicones and synthetic preservatives. A vegan label tells you what a formula avoids, not what it is made of. Vegan does not mean gentler. Plenty of plant extracts are more sensitising than the synthetic ingredients they replace. Essential oils are the obvious example. Why red lipstick is the hard one Carmine has been the beauty industry's default red for centuries because it is genuinely brilliant. It is vivid, stable and does not stain the way synthetic reds can. Making a red that performs as well without it takes real formulation work, which is why plenty of otherwise vegan ranges quietly have a gap where the reds should be. How to check anything, anywhere Read the ingredient list and look for four words: carmine or CI 75470, cera alba or beeswax, lanolin, and shellac. If none of them are there, you are almost certainly fine. That is a thirty second check that works on any brand, not just ours. The full ingredient list is printed on every one of our product pages for exactly this reason. Browse the vegan range or see everything that is cruelty free.
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How to find your foundation shade without buying five bottles
Foundation is the only makeup product people routinely buy wrong, and then blame themselves for. It is not you. Shade names are marketing, undertones are invisible under shop lighting, and the swatch on the back of your hand is nowhere near the colour of your face. Here is how to get it right without buying five bottles. Test on your jaw, never on your hand The skin on the back of your hand is usually a shade or two darker than your face and a completely different undertone. Swatch along the jawline instead, three stripes side by side, and walk to a window. The one that disappears is yours. If you cannot tell which disappeared, that is the answer: it is the one you cannot see. Work out your undertone in ten seconds Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in daylight. Blue or purple, you are cool. Look for shades described as rose, porcelain, or anything with pink in the name. Green or olive, you are warm. Golden, sand, honey, beige. You genuinely cannot tell, you are neutral, and you have the easiest job of anyone reading this. Undertone matters more than depth. A foundation that is slightly too light but the right undertone looks like skin. One that is the perfect depth and the wrong undertone looks like a mask, and no amount of blending fixes it. Buy for the season you are in now Most people are one to two shades darker in August than in February. If you own one foundation, buy it for your winter face and warm it up in summer with bronzer. If you own two, you already know this. Coverage is a choice, not a quality rating Full coverage is not better foundation, it is a different product for a different day. Tinted moisturizer when you want to look like you slept well Regular foundation for most days Full cover when there is a camera, a wedding, or a bad week The two minute rule Foundation oxidises. Whatever shade it looks in the first thirty seconds, wait two minutes and look again. Many foundations pull darker or more orange as they set, and a shade that matched perfectly on application can be visibly wrong by the time you leave the house. Apply, wait, then judge. It is the single easiest way to avoid a bottle you never finish. See the full face range, or start with the ones people buy most.
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5 makeup mistakes everyone makes, and the thirty second fixes
From skipping primer to applying blush wrong - here are 5 common makeup mistakes and easy fixes.
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How to choose a lip colour that actually suits you
Find your perfect lip shade based on your skin undertone. From everyday nudes to bold evening looks.
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The Korean routine, minus the ten steps
Discover the Korean beauty philosophy and learn how to build a simple, effective skincare routine with just 5 essential steps.
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