Ingredient Spotlight

As new buzzworthy skin care ingredients come and go, it’s easy to get lured in by the next “best” thing… but that can sometimes lead to disappointing results. We’ve made it our mission to dig into the research and sort through the hype for ingredients that actually deliver tried-and-true results.

Top Skin Care Ingredients

A bottle of Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant lays next to a bottle of 25% Vitamin C + Glutathione Serum with swatches of each product spilling out onto the pink background.Some ingredients are so extraordinary for skin that they deserve special attention. Here’s a glimpse of some of the top “hero” ingredients to be on the lookout for—all backed by a long history of research proving they really work:

By no means is this a comprehensive list; there are many other brilliant ingredients to consider. These just happen to be some of the great ones that have rightfully earned a place in the skin care hall of fame.

New Skin “Actives” to Keep on Your Radar

As skin care research evolves, new ingredients continue to come to light for their efficacy and real-life results. While these may not yet have the longstanding skin care research history as the ingredients listed above, there’s solid evidence backing up their significant benefits. Where other hyped up ingredients fail, these skin “actives” pass the test:

What about the not-so-great ingredient trends that make their rounds in the skin care realm? There are plenty of those, too. From sensitizing essential oils to astringent witch hazel, use our cosmetic ingredient dictionary to get the science-backed analysis of today's most popular ingredients (31,32).

Take a deeper dive with the articles below to learn more about the pros and cons of ingredients and how they may or may not benefit your skin.

Skin care ingredient references:
1. Archives of Dermatological Research, January 2017, pages 275-283
2. Archives of Dermatology, May 2007, pages 606-612
3. Cosmetics, May 2017, pages 1-14
4. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, April 2013, pages 1–8
5. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, October 2014, pages 2473-2483
6. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, November 2001, pages 1126-1136
7. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, March 2017, pages 35-42
8. Archives of Dermatology, August 2006, pages 1,047-1,052
9. Molecules, April 2018, pages 23(4), pages 1-12
10. Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, October 2015, issue 8, pages 21-26
11. Journal of Evidence-Based, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, October 2017, pages 816-823
12. Experimental Dermatology, July 2019, pages 786-794
13. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, August 2015, pages 455-461
14. Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, March 2009, pages 38–43
15. Chemik, 2014, pages 103-110
16. Clinics in Dermatology, July-August 2010, pages 440-451
17. Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, March 2018, pages 367-378
18. Cosmeceuticals and Cosmetic Practice, November 2013, pages 103-111
19. Clinical, Cosmetic, and Investigational Dermatology, September 2015, pages 463-470
20. Skin Research and Technology, August 2008, pages 376-380
21. British Journal of Dermatology, February 2019, pages 289-296
22. Dermatology, 2019, pages 287-294
23. International Journal of Women’s Dermatology, February 2019, pages 30-36
24. Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery, January 2019, pages 63-67
25. Mayo Clinic, September 2019, pages 1,840-1,851
26. Cells, August 2019, e-Publication
27. Fermentation, May 2019, pages 1-17
28. Trends in Food & Science & Technology, May 2018 pages 105-114
29. Journal of Controlled Release, 2019, pages 190-201
30. Nutrient, June 2017, ePublication
31. Essential Oil Safety, 2014, pages 69-98
32. International Journal of Trichology, July-September 2014, pages 100-103

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