What’s in your formula? The only five ingredient categories you need in your melanin skincare.

In this five-part series, we’ll be breaking down the five key categories; water, functional ingredients, conservation systems, active ingredients, and fragrances. This will give you a broad insight into not only identifying what’s on the back of your skincare bottles, but also how each ingredient has a specific purpose that relates to building an effective formulation. But in the name of education and transparency, we want to dig deeper than that. We’ll also be taking a look at how we formulate directly for melanin-rich skin.

It’s important to note that not all ingredients are there to address your skin concerns, some are merely there to ensure a smooth, well-balanced formulation with a longer shelf-life. But with recent technological advancements, our formulators have been able to discard harmful, single-use ingredients for safer multifunctional ones to better address the needs of both the formulation and your complexion.

De-mystify your ingredient list with our all-encompassing skincare guide below, including the next four blogs within the series. And if you’d like to delve even deeper, our handy Ingredient Glossary has all the answers you need.

You may have spotted water or ‘aqua’ at the top of skincare ingredient lists, and wondered—why? The role of water varies between acting as a solvent and overall formulation enhancer, which explains the reason behind the high volumes used throughout the beauty industry. Let’s take a closer look at the array of beneficial properties that ‘aqua’ presents for both formulation and complexion.

The vital role of water in your skincare.

There are a few key roles for water within our skincare; firstly, it makes an excellent emulsifier to improve textural smoothness, ease of application, and formulation consistency. The ability to blend and bind otherwise opposing ingredients, such as oils, without interfering with the formulation integrity, makes water a crucial component in the effectiveness of a product. Secondly, water is an essential solvent that allows for natural antioxidant extracts to seep into the rest of the formulation through dissolving and dispersion. This is wonderful news for formulators who want to make the most out of their beneficial antioxidants and minerals, but how can they make it even better?

Why do 4.5.6 Skin super-charged ‘Vitalised’ Water?

When looking for ways to improve our formulations to better address the needs of your melanin-rich skin, we’ve found that ‘Vitalised’ Water was one of the best ways to do so. With a volume of 50-70% of Vitalised Water stored in our products, we’ve tested the key benefits of this bio-informed h2O through rigorous research and development—here’s what we found.

Compared to regular tap or demineralised water, Vitalised Water still contains essential minerals and nutrients, while remaining clean, pure, and without harmful antibodies that may seek to cause irritation or infection. As this water is scientifically ‘alive,’ it actively stimulates the skin cell metabolism to treat dullness, dehydration, and improve skin barrier function using an energetic charge. Better still, by using Vitalised Water within our formulations, it allows for ingredients to penetrate deeper into your skin, and even improves the efficacy of accompanying ingredients for an overall higher level of treatment. Your melanin-rich skin will be feeling a sense of sublime hydration due to the binding of these supercharged water molecules to freshly oxygenated skin cells.

Demineralised water has been the industry standard over the years due to its reassuringly safe and sanitary quality when incorporated into cosmetics and skincare. In recent years however, there have been more companies stepping out of the distilled water-box in favour of mineral-rich h2O.

Infusing our skincare with water that is alive and energised has been a no-brainer from the get-go, as we believe every ingredient counts. So why not get the very best out of each one? Vitalised Water has been proven to boost formulations to work even more effectively, while having the ability to sink deeper into the naturally thicker epidermis of deeper skin tones.