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Reading an INCI list: what mineral oil and silicone are, why they serve as fillers, and how a complete, readable label reflects confidence.
Every piece of packaging carries an ingredient list, or INCI list. Most are designed to be difficult enough that people stop reading. Learn to read one, and it reveals something clearly: what the maker has chosen to put in the formula’s “empty space.”
Nearly every skincare formula contains active ingredients and a base that carries them to the skin, helps the product spread, and gives it its feel. This second part is the “empty space,” and it often accounts for more of the formula than people expect.
The ingredient list reveals what the maker has chosen to use as that base.
Mineral oil may appear on a label as Mineral Oil, Paraffinum Liquidum, or Petrolatum. A byproduct of petroleum refining, it is inexpensive, inert, long-lasting, and effective at coating the skin. It has served as a formula base for many years.
Silicone can be recognised by names ending in -cone or -siloxane, such as Dimethicone or Cyclopentasiloxane. It provides immediate slip on contact with skin, making a cream feel smooth from the first second.
Neither is dangerous, and there are technical reasons for using them. Both fill out a formula easily and inexpensively, while offering the skin little beyond texture.
The appeal is economic. Mineral oil and silicone cost far less than cold-pressed seed oils, remain stable, do not turn rancid, and provide a texture that sells from the first application. They are the quickest route to a formula that feels good.
Using them is neither illegal nor unethical. It is a formulation choice, made visible on the label.
Their absence does not automatically mean a better formula. It means the maker has chosen something else to fill that space — usually something more expensive, harder to formulate with, and in need of more explanation.
Our formula fills that space with several cold-pressed seed oils, layered together. They turn rancid more easily, are harder to control, and cost more than synthetic fillers. They also offer the skin more than slip.
We therefore print every ingredient for readers to examine as a formulation specification, rather than advertising copy. A complete, legible label conveys confidence. A formula with something to conceal often begins with a label that is difficult to read.
Start with the first three to five names. These ingredients appear in the largest amounts and form the true body of the formula.
Look for Mineral Oil, Paraffinum Liquidum, and Petrolatum, alongside names ending in -cone or -siloxane.
If they appear near the beginning, fillers occupy most of the empty space.
Ask yourself one question: does what fills this formula offer something to the skin, or simply give it a pleasant feel?
Understanding a label does not require you to stop using mineral oil or silicone. It lets you know what you are paying for. That choice should belong to you, rather than be shaped by a label deliberately written to resist understanding.
References
Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 19 — cosmetic ingredient labelling
EU CosIng database — Paraffinum Liquidum (mineral oil)
“Dimethicone,” CosmeticsInfo.org (Personal Care Products Council)
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