Plant Extracts

It is very common to look at the List Of Ingredients of a cosmetic product and see a wide variety of plant extracts included in the product and the marketing descriptions extoll the benefits of the plant extracts. Plant extracts are generally made by macerating the whole plant and processing the plant materials through steam distillation, solvent extraction, CO2 extraction, cold pressing, oil infusion, alcohol infusion and glycerin extracts. Of these methods CO2 extraction yields the most concentrated plant extracts.

Most plant extracts used in cosmetic skincare products are made by steam distillation or glycerin extraction and are typically comprised of 92% Water + 8% Plant Extract in the best cases, but more typically 98% Water + 2% Plant Extract. There are also a wide variety of extracts that are comprised of a 92% Water/Glycerin (50/50) base + 8% Plant Extract. Plant extracts solutions are typically loaded in a cosmetic product at anywhere from 0.1% to 1.0%.

At a 1% load, the actual amount of plant extract in the product would be only 0.08%. Often, plant extracts are loaded at even smaller amounts such as 0.01% primarily as “Drop Ins” or “Label Ingredients”. This allows the manufacturer to list the plant extract on the product’s List Of Ingredients to make it more attractive to consumers and perhaps even to create a marketing story for the product. Going back to the 1% Rule on the rank ordering of the List Of Ingredients of cosmetic products that allows ingredients included at 1% or less to be listed in any order regardless of percent inclusion, it is legal for a manufacturer to add 0.01% of a plant extract and list it as the very first ingredient demarking the 1% line.

Plant Extracts In The Product’s List Of Ingredients

Let’s take a look at a List Of Ingredients for a Hyaluronic Acid Brightening Serum with the ingredients listed in descending order in the actual amounts incorporated in the formula.

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%)

Applying the 1% Rule (See My Blog: How To Read Cosmetic Labels), you can see that your marker ingredients are Gluconolactone and Phenoxyethanol indicating that the 1% Line starts at Zinc PCA. That means that all ingredients starting with Zinc PCA that are included at less that 1% can be listed in any order on the product’s List Of Ingredients. Also applying the 1% Rule tells you the ingredients that are functionally active in this formula are Niacinaminde, Glycine Betaine, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA and Sodium Hyaluronate. The remaining ingredients are preservatives and plant extracts included as Label Ingredients.

In this particular case, let’s assume that each of the plant extracts are 92% Water + 8% Plant Extract. At the amounts included in the formula the actual amount of actual plant extract, excluding water, included in the formula would be: Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract (0.008%), Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract (0.00008%), Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract (0.00008%).

As you can see, the quantities are miniscule and this paltry quantity of plant extract is not likely to have any appreciable effect on your skin. Since these are whole plant extracts, the amount of the active plant isolate, which is the molecule that does have effect on the skin, is negligible. However, using the 1% Rule of ingredient labeling, the List Of Ingredients of the product label can be presented 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

When what is actually in the product is:

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

And you would not notice the difference in performance between the formula immediately above and this formula:

Water, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA, Gluconolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin

As you can see, the List Of Ingredients is much more attractive employing the 1% Rule with the Hyaluronic Acid and plant extracts listed before the preservatives and the product’s marketing language can highlight the skin brightening and antioxidant effects of Licorice Root Extract, Gotu Kola Extract and Green Tea Extract when there is actually very little of these ingredients actually in the product.

Plant Extracts in the List Of Ingredients of cosmetic products are generally Drop In or Label Ingredients included to make the product more attractive, but are usually included in small percentages and won’t have an appreciable effect on your skin.

Plant Extract Isolates

Plant Extract Isolates are the purified functional molecules in Plant Extracts that actually have an effect on your skin. Some common Plant Extracts/Isolates are:

Plant Extracts >>> Plant Extract Isolates

Glycryyhiiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract >>> Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate

Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract >>> Asiaticoside, Madecassic Acid, Asiatic Acid

Cemellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract >>> Epigallocatechin Gallate

Aesculus Hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut) Extract >>> Escin

Plant Extract Isolates are generally acquired from the plant material by isolating and purifying the specific molecule or it may be made synthetically. Plant Extract Isolates that are made synthetically are identical to the molecule found in Nature and are known as Synthetic Nature Identical. Oftentimes, it is simply too expensive to obtain the plant extract isolate by processing the plant source biomass, so Nature Identical Synthetic molecules are manufactured.

Since Plant Extract Isolates are a single purified molecule they are much more effective skincare ingredients and the use of Plant Extract Isolates allows the formulation chemist to precisely control the dosing of the ingredient in the product. Plant Extract Isolates are much more expensive that Plant Extracts, but will yield superior results in a cosmetic product.

Here’s what the List Of Ingredients would look like if Plant Extract Isolates were used instead of Plant Extracts.

Water, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Glycine Betaine (Beta Vulgaris) Beet Sugar Extract, Saccharide Isomerate, Zinc PCA, Gluconolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Asiaticoside, Madecassic Acid, Asiatic Acid, Epigallocatechin Gallate

This is a much stronger functional formula using Plant Extract Isolates instead of Plant Extracts even if the Plant Extract Isolates are used at the same percentages as the Plant Extracts since they are purified single functional molecules.

To make the List Of Ingredients a bit more consumer-friendly, one might include both the Plant Extracts and Plant Extract Isolates in the formula yielding this List Of Ingredients:

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

Plant Extract Isolates And The 1% Rule

Plant Extract Isolates are highly purified, single molecule, cosmetic ingredients that are typically used in the 0.01% to 0.1% range. These ingredients will appear on the List Of Ingredients below the 1% Line and at the manufacturer’s discretion may be listed at the top of the 1% line. It is important to understand that just because an ingredient is included at less than 1% in a product, that does not imply that the ingredient has no effect on your skin. There are several ingredients that are quite effective below 1% inclusion in a formula such as Retinol, Hyaluronic Acid, Tripeptides and Plant Extract Isolates.

In conclusion, look for products that contain Plant Extract Isolates instead of Plant Extracts and when you do see Plant Extracts on a List Of Ingredients keep in mind that they are most likely included as Drop In or Label Ingredients.