You’ve been searching for the perfect Niacinamide Serum and have been reviewing dozens of ingredient lists. Finally, you have settled on a product and you’re about to make a purchase and drop $85.00 on a 30 ml bottle of serum. But, before you hit “Pay Now’ a nagging question rattles in your brain – How Do I Know If This Serum Really Works?

In order to really understand how to determine what ingredients are the effective functional actives in a cosmetic product, you first need to understand how cosmetics products are labeled.

The FDA requires that ingredients must be listed in decreasing order of predominance on a percent weight basis. But, all ingredients included at 1% or less may be listed in any order. This is known as the 1% Rule. Both the US and EU allow for ingredients included at 1% or less to be listed in any order on the List Of Ingredients on cosmetic products. And, this is important to your understanding of cosmetic products.

Free-From marketing in which the marketing language can highlight ingredients that are not included in the product is allowed in the US, but Free-From is prohibited in the EU if the ingredient(s) are allowed in cosmetic products. The product that you’re about to buy is Free-From (Made-Without is another commonly used term) parabens, pthallates and formaldehyde releasers, no animal testing and vegan. These product attributes align with your personal values, so that makes the product really attractive to you.

Free-From marketing is controversial in some quarters, but can be quite valuable to consumers, particularly for specialty products such as those that do not contain any of the 180+ cosmetic allergens for consumers with particularly sensitive skin who are highly susceptible to contact dermatitis or allergic reactions to cosmetic products.

Cosmetic products contain four main types of ingredients. Functional Ingredients are those that improve the appearance of your skin. Structural/Aesthetic Ingredients are the necessary building blocks to give the product its form and affect the skin sensorials of the product. Preservatives keep the product from becoming microbially-contaminated during use. Label Ingredients are included to support the marketing story for the product.

Now that you understand how cosmetic products are labeled, let’s take a look at the List Of Ingredients of the Niacinamide Serum you’re about to buy. Here are the ingredients included in the actual amount in descending order of predominance without applying the 1% Rule.

Water, Niacinamide (10%), Pentylene Glycol (3%), Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract (2%), Saccharide Isomerate (2%), Zinc PCA (1%), Gluconolactone (0.7%), Phenoxyethanol (0.6%), Sodium Hyaluronate (0.5%), Sodium Benzoate (0.3%), Ethylhexylglycerin (0.1%), Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract (0.1%), Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract (0.01%), Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract (0.01%)

The List Of Ingredients on the product’s packaging will appear as:

Water, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA, Gluconolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract

How To Analyze A Product’s List Of Ingredients – Find The 1% Line

The first thing you’ll want to look for is where the 1% Line most likely starts. The best indicator is to look for preservative ingredients such as Phenoxyethanol or Phenethyl Alcohol if they are included in the ingredient deck as these ingredients are usually added at 0.6% to 0.8%. You can see that the ingredients that appear in descending order before Phenoxyethanol are the key functional ingredients in the product that will affect the appearance of your skin.

In this product, the key Functional Ingredients are Niacinamide, Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA, Sodium Hyaluronate (Hyaluronic Acid). Not all, but most, key functional ingredients appear before the 1% Line. Functional actives such as Hyaluronic Acid and Retinol are effective when include at less that 1% concentration.

The Preservatives are Gluconolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate and Ethylhexylglycerin.

The Label Ingredients are Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract. These are normally included at 1% or less, and more typically at 0.1% or less.

But, what if the brand had used the 1% Rule in listing the ingredients. The List Of Ingredients could be shown as:

Water, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA, Sodium Hyaluronate, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract Gluconolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin

By listing the Hyaluronic Acid and plant extracts ahead of the preservative ingredients the List Of Ingredients is much more attractive to consumers. What you can decipher from this LOI is that the brand was definitely using the 1% Rule on its label list of ingredients since Phenoxyethanol is near the end of the LOI. But, you also know that the plant extracts are generally added at less than 1%, so you can guesstimate that the 1% Line is Zinc PCA, Sodium Hyaluronate.

With a bit of practice and research you can learn how to read a product’s List Of Ingredients like a professional cosmetic chemist!