How to Read an INCI List in Ninety Seconds

Short answer: An INCI list is the ingredient list on a cosmetic, written in one standard naming system so each ingredient has the same name everywhere. In the EU, ingredients above 1% appear in descending order of weight; below 1% they may appear in any order. Read the first five, find the 1% line, then check the tail.

• INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients.
• Descending order only applies above 1%. Below that, position tells you nothing about quantity.
• The first few ingredients make up most of the formula and decide its texture.
• The tail is where preservatives, pH adjusters, fragrance and named allergens sit.
• Colourants may be listed after everything else, as CI numbers.

What does INCI actually mean?

It is a shared dictionary for cosmetic ingredients, and it says nothing about quality.

INCI exists so a shopper in Hamburg, Lyon or Kraków sees the same word for the same substance. Water is Aqua. Vitamin E is usually Tocopherol. Plants appear in Latin, often with the part named: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil. Under the EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009, every cosmetic sold in the EU must carry this list, introduced by the word "Ingredients".

That standardisation is why the list is worth reading. A marketing name can be anything. An INCI name cannot.

How do I read the order?

Top to bottom, heaviest first, but only until you reach the 1% line.

Above 1%, ingredients must be listed in descending order of weight at the time they were added to the formula. Below 1%, they may follow in any order. So the bottom part of a list is not a ranking, and a fashionable ingredient placed near the end tells you very little about how much is present.

Position in the list	What it usually is	How much the order tells you
First	The base: water, a plant juice or an oil	A lot
Second to fifth	Humectants, emollients, thickeners	A lot
From there to the 1% line	Supporting actives and functional ingredients	Some
Below the 1% line	Preservatives, chelators, pH adjusters, fragrance	Nothing; any order is allowed
Very end	Colourants, shown as CI plus a number	Nothing

Where is the 1% line?

It is never printed, but you can usually infer it in a few seconds.

Some ingredients are almost always used at well under 1%. When you reach the first of them, assume everything after it is in the sub-1% zone. Useful markers:

• Preservatives such as Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate or Potassium Sorbate
• Chelators such as Disodium EDTA or Sodium Phytate
• pH adjusters such as Citric Acid or Sodium Hydroxide
• Thickeners such as Xanthan Gum
• Parfum, and named fragrance allergens such as Linalool or Limonene

This is where reading pays off. If a product is sold on one hero ingredient and that ingredient appears several places after the preservative, it is present in a small amount. Some ingredients do their job at low levels, so that is not automatically a problem, but the label no longer shows a meaningful dose. When a brand prints a percentage, it is a voluntary disclosure and more informative than position alone.

What should I check, and in what order?

Four checks cover most of what a list can tell you.

1. The base. Aqua first means a water-based product. A plant juice first means the same idea with a different base. An oil first means a product with little or no water, which will feel richer and usually goes on last.
2. What sits above the 1% line. Humectants such as Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate and Sodium PCA hold water in the upper layers. Butters and oils soften. If the ingredients the front of the pack promises sit high in the list, the formula is genuinely built around them.
3. Fragrance. If you avoid scent, look for the word Parfum and for named allergens. Absence matters here, not just position.
4. The preservative. Every water-containing product needs one. A water-based product with no visible preservative system deserves a question.

How does this look on a real product?

Two of ours make a useful practice pair, because one contains fragrance and the other does not.

The Exosome & Niacinamide Serum has no added fragrance, so you will not find Parfum in its list. Its soft pink tint comes from a mineral pigment, which is the kind of ingredient that appears among the colourants near the end. The Ceramide Barrier Night Cream does contain fragrance, a delicate white-flower scent with a hint of lavender, so expect Parfum in its list. Open both product pages, read the first five ingredients of each, and you will know more about their textures than any front-of-pack word could tell you. The rest of the face range is in our skincare collection.

What an INCI list won't tell you

It will not tell you concentrations. EU law requires order, not percentages, so the list alone cannot prove a dose. It will not tell you the grade or purity of an ingredient. It will not tell you the source either: Glycerin can be plant- or animal-derived under the same name, which is why vegan claims are made separately. And it will not tell you whether a formula suits your skin. That depends on you, and a patch test answers it better than any label.

Common mistakes

• Reading position as dose below 1%. Down there, position is arbitrary.
• Assuming Latin means gentle. Plant extracts and essential oils are common sources of reactions. Latin is a naming convention.
• Fearing long chemical names. Tocopherol is vitamin E. Cetearyl Alcohol is a waxy emollient, unrelated to drying alcohol.
• Skipping the allergen tail. Certain fragrance allergens must be named individually once they pass set levels. If one has bothered you before, the tail is where you look.
• Comparing lists across regions. Labelling rules differ outside the EU, so a list copied from a non-EU retailer may not match the EU pack.

Frequently asked questions

What does INCI stand for?

International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. It is a standard naming system used on cosmetic labels in the EU and many other markets, so the same ingredient carries the same name whatever the language or brand.

Are ingredients listed strongest first?

They are listed heaviest first, and only down to 1% of the formula. Below that, any order is allowed. Weight and effect are different things, and some ingredients work at a fraction of a percent.

How can I tell how much of an active is in a product?

From the list alone, usually you cannot. You can tell roughly whether it sits above or below the 1% line. If a brand prints a percentage, that is extra information you can weigh.

Is water as the first ingredient a bad sign?

No. Water is the base of almost every serum, gel and lotion, and it dissolves the humectants and many actives. Being mostly water says nothing about how well the rest is formulated.

Does fragrance-free mean the product has no smell?

It means no fragrance has been added. A product can still smell faintly of its raw materials. Ranges vary, so check each product's list rather than assuming one claim covers a whole brand.

Why are some ingredients shown as CI numbers?

CI stands for Colour Index. EU rules let colourants be listed by these numbers, after the other ingredients and in any order, whatever their quantity.

Last reviewed: October 2026.