Today, more and more consumers are using apps like Yuka or INCI Beauty to analyze cosmetic products. A simple scan, a rating, and the product is deemed “good” or “bad.” It’s convenient but often oversimplified. That’s why it’s worth going a step further in understanding how to analyze an INCI list.

How are cosmetics analyzed?

Apps like Yuka rely on a product’s INCI list. This list includes all the ingredients present in a cosmetic formula, listed in order of concentration.

The app then assigns a rating based on the presence of ingredients considered controversial or potentially risky: endocrine disruptors, allergens, irritants, or certain petrochemical-derived ingredients.

This analysis provides an initial overview of the composition. But it remains incomplete.

The INCI is a useful but incomplete tool

The INCI list is an excellent starting point for understanding a cosmetic product, but it has its limitations. It lists the ingredients present, but not their exact quantities. Only ingredients present in concentrations of more than 1% are required to be listed in descending order, which means that the first ingredients make up the bulk of the formula and that ingredients at the end of the list may sometimes be present in very small amounts.

This point is crucial, as it can easily be misleading. An active ingredient highlighted on the packaging may actually be present in only trace amounts, while the base ingredients of the formula often overlooked from a marketing perspective make up the bulk of the product.

This does not necessarily mean that a product is misleading, but it does encourage a more nuanced look at the ingredients list.

The quality of raw materials

One of the weaknesses of these tools is their inability to assess the origin and quality of raw materials. Two products may have very similar INCI lists, yet be made with ingredients of vastly different quality.

For example, a vegetable oil may be refined or derived from a first cold press and certified organic. In the first case, it will have lost much of its natural properties beneficial to the skin, whereas in the second, it will retain all of its active ingredients. However, this difference does not appear in the INCI list or in the rating assigned by the apps, and these two oils will therefore be perceived in the same way.

Yet this is a crucial point, since the quality of a cosmetic product depends not only on its composition but also on the quality of its raw materials.

Allergens and essential oils: a nuanced topic

Apps also tend to penalize the presence of allergens. However, certain molecules are de facto considered allergens, even though their natural or synthetic origin can make them more or less irritating.

These molecules are not dangerous in and of themselves, and their mere presence is therefore not enough to disqualify a product—especially when they are present in low doses (which is the case for certain molecules found in essential oils) and used under controlled conditions.

Keep a Critical Eye

Here is some information that we hope will help you better understand how ingredient analysis apps work. They are good tools for getting started with understanding product ingredients, but they should not replace your own critical analysis and understanding.