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Lancome Genifique
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Ozokerite
* A paraffin wax
Functions:
Ozokerite is a naturally-occurring mineral wax or paraffin found and mined in 30 different countries throughout the world. Although it does not have any specific properties that make it more beneficial than other waxes, it has a higher melting point than most petroleum waxes, according to Wikipedia.
It is used in beauty products as a binder, emulsion stabilizer, and viscosity increasing agent. According to research, Ozokerite waxes thicken the oil portion of cosmetics and personal care products, and help to prevent emulsions from separating into their oil and liquid components. They lessen the brittleness of stick products and add strength and stability to lipsticks; they also hold together the ingredients of a compressed cake products, such as eye shadows and pressed powders.
Ozokerite is used in a variety of beauty products, including lipsticks, baby products, eye and facial makeup, as well as nail care, skin care, suntan, sunscreen, fragrance, and noncoloring hair preparations.
Oxybenzone
* An active sunscreen ingredient
* Also known as Benzophenone-3
* Please read TIA’s post on What Is It: Octinoxate Plus Other Sunscreen Ingredients and Are They Safe?
Functions:
Oxybenzone is primarily used as a photostabilizer and sunscreen. As a chemical sunscreen agent, it protects the skin from harmful UV-A rays. By absorbing UV rays, it also helps prevent the integrity of other cosmetic ingredients from deteriorating under the sun. For this reason, Oxybenzone is often used in conjunction with other sunscreen agents. It is seen in a variety of personal care products including sunscreen, nail polish, lotions, creams and lipstick (Wikipedia).
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Ornithine HCL
* An amino acid
Functions:
Ornithine HCL is a hormone stimulator and amino acid often used by body builders and taken as a dietary supplement. Ornithine HCl is an amino acid that is considered an essential part of the diet and is a building block for the proteins used in the growth and repair of muscles. Naturally, Ornithine HCL can be found in small quantities in a variety of foods including meat and seeds.
Amino acids like Ornithine HCL are used in the cells as the building blocks for proteins, which are used to repair and build new muscle tissue, and have also been found to repair and build skin tissue as well. Ornithine HCL metabolizes to Arginine in the body, a chemical necessary for keeping tissue supple and flexible; for this reason, Ornithine HCL is often seen as an ingredient in conjunction with Arginine in skin and beauty products (Source).
Oligopeptides
Induces new collagen
Anti-oxidant
Oleth-10
* An emulsifier and surfactant
Functions:
Oleth-10 is one of many Oleths, an ingredient comprised of the polyethylene glycol ethers of oleyl alcohol in which the number in the name is the average number of ethylene oxide units (Source). Oleth-10, and all of the Oleth ingredients, are versatile compounds used to clean skin and hair by helping water to mix with oil and dirt so that they can be rinsed away. They also help to form emulsions by reducing the surface tension of formulas and help ingredients to dissolve in liquids in which they would not normally dissolve.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
There are many concerns regarding the use of Oleth-10, although it is approved by the CIR for use in cosmetics. The EWG rates it 76% safe and notes a study published in the International Journal of Toxicology in 1999 in which animal studies showed organ effects even at low doses.
Oenothera Biennis
* Evening primrose
Functions:
Oenothera Biennis is a species of Oenothera (a biennial flowering plant) found in North America and Canada, although originally used widely in China. It is also known as Weedy evening-primrose, German rampion, hog weed, King’s cure-all, and fever-plant, according to Wikipedia.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Oenothera Biennis contains an omega-6 essential fatty acid, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which is believed to be the active ingredient, at approximately 7-10%; gamma-linolenic acid is a rare essential fatty acid. Its seed oil has also been known to reduce the pains of premenstrual stress syndrome and is thought to be beneficial to the skin, although there is no documentation found to support this. The poultices of Oenothera Biennis were also used to ease bruises and speed wound healing in ancient China.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate
* A skin conditioning and viscosity increasing agent
Functions:
Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate is made from a naturally occurring fatty acid, stearic acid, found in animal and vegetable fat, and is used in skin care products as a skin conditioning agent and viscosity increasing agent, according to research. It is most often found in eye makeup, blushers, foundations and other skin care and makeup products; it is used in 105 cosmetic products at concentrations from 2% to 15%. Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate slows water loss from the skin by forming a barrier on the skin’s surface and can also “increase the thickness of the lipid (oil) portion of cosmetics and personal care products” CosmeticsInfo.org.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate
* An emollient
Functions:
Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate is an emollient used in skin care products and most often found in sunscreens because of its potential SPF boosting properties, although no scientific data was found to document an explanation for this effect. According to a patent filed by L’Oreal, Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate is an acid ester that “is an excellent agent for compatibilizing silicone-containing compounds with each other and/or silicone-containing compounds with hydrocarbon compounds.” It enables compositions with an oily texture on application to be less slick. “Finally, it has been found that octyldodecyl neopentanoate has noteworthy dispersant properties with respect to powders and makes it possible to obtain a homogeneous dispersion.”
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
There are no adverse side effects or safety measures regarding the use of Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate, and the EWG gives it a 100% safe rating.
Recommended Products w/ Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate:
Octyldodecanol
* An emollient and emulsifier
Functions:
Octyldodecanol is a long-chain fatty alcohol used in a wide variety of beauty products as an emollient and emulsifier, but also rarely as a solvent and fragrance ingredient as well. It is a clear, colorless liquid that is often seen as a thickener in moisturizers because of its lubricating and emollient properties (Source).
According to CosmeticsInfo.org, Octyldodecanol helps to form emulsions and prevents formulas from separating into its oil and liquid components. It can also reduce the tendency of finished products to generate foam when shaken. Octyldodecanol acts as a lubricant on the skin, giving a soft, silky feel as an ingredient in lotion.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Octyl Palmitate
* A ester derived from palm oil
Functions:
Octyl Palmitate is a derivative of palm oil often used as an organic replacement to silicone. It is an ultra mild, skin-smoothing ester that has a ‘dry-slip’ feel that is very similar to silicone’s texture. It is found in many skin care products as an ingredient used to adjust the consistency. Octyl Palmitate is used in cosmetic formulations as a solvent, carrying agent, pigment wetting agent, fragrance fixative and emollient.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
There are no major side effects associated with Octyl Palmitate, although irritation or allergic reaction can occur from products containing this ingredient. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review expert panel found that in skin tests with the Palmitates and with products containing the Palmitates, one of three products containing 40%-50% Octyl Palmitate produced mild irritation. However, no skin care product contains this high concentration of the ingredient (Source).
Octyl Methoxycinnamate
* An active sunscreen ingredient
* Please see TIA’s post of a related ingredient: Octinoxate
* Please read TIA’s article on Tinosorb: A Sunscreen that Might Actually Work
Functions:
Octyl Methoxycinnamate is an organic ester used in sunscreens (and lip balms) formed from methoxycinnamic acid and 2-ethylhexanol (Source). It is a sun blocking agent that absorbs UVB rays, but not UVA rays. However, when it is exposed to sunlight, it is rendered less effective, although this reaction can be prevented by the addition of other ingredients (as seen in the formula of Tinsorb). It is also used to reduce to appearance of scars (SmartSkinCare.com).
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
According to the Cosmetics Database, which rates Octyl Methoxycinnamate as 70% safe, there are many concerns regarding its use, including: biochemical changes that cause mutation and cell death upon exposure to sunlight (which is likely when used as a sunscreen ingredient); immunotoxicity and photoallergic effects; reproductive toxicity that leads to estrogenic effects; organ system toxicity, especially in the liver; and enhanced skin absorption. It should be used with caution by pregnant women and children.
Octocrylene
* An active sunscreen ingredient
* Please read TIA’s post on What Is It: Octinoxate Plus Other Sunscreen Ingredients and Are They Safe?
Functions:
Octocrylene is an organic compound and ester formed by the condensation of a diphenylcyanoacrylate with 2-ethylhexanol (a fatty alcohol, adding emollient and oil-like, water resistant properties). It is primarily used as an active ingredient in sunscreens because of its ability to absorb UVB and short-wave UVA (ultraviolet) rays and protect the skin from direct DNA damage (Source).
According to research, Octocrylene is a highly stable sunscreen that does not degrade in sunlight and protects other UV blocking agents from UV-induced degradation, but is a relatively weak sunscreen that is inadequate on its own. It is used in conjunction with other active sunscreen agents to increase their effectiveness while protecting skin from UVA and UVB rays.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Octisalate
* An active sunscreen ingredient
* Also known as Ethylhexyl Salicylate
* Please read TIA’s post on What Is It: Octinoxate Plus Other Sunscreen Ingredients and Are They Safe?
Functions:
Octisalate is an organic compound used as an ingredient in sunscreens and cosmetics to absorb the full range of UVB rays from the sun, according to Wikipedia and 3dchem.com. It is a colorless liquid with an oily consistency that often emits a mildly floral fragrance. It is an ester formed by the condensation of a salicylic acid with 2-ethylhexanol. The salicylate component absorbs ultraviolet light and protects the skin from the harmful effects of exposure to sunlight. The ethylhexanol portion serves as a fatty alcohol, adding emollient and oil-like (water resistant) properties.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
Octinoxate
* An active sunscreen ingredient
* Also known as Octyl Methoxycinnamate
* Please read TIA’s post on What Is It: Octinoxate Plus Other Sunscreen Ingredients and Are They Safe?
Functions:
Octinoxate is an ester formed from Methoxycinnamic Acid and 2-Ethylhexanol that is used in sunscreens and other cosmetics to absorb and filter UV-B rays (but not UVA) and protect skin from sun damage. It is also used to reduce to appearance of scars (Wikipedia). Octinoxate is the most widely used UVB blocking agent in the skin care industry.
Studies have also shown that Octinoxate can protect the skin against not only sunburn but also UV light-induced DNA alterations (Source).
However, when Octinoxate is exposed to sunlight, “it is converted into a less UV absorbent form (from E-octyl-p-methoxycinnamate into a Z-octyl-p-methoxycinnamate). This conversion can be partly prevented by certain other UV blockers, particularly bemotrizinol (Tinosorb M),” according to research.
O-Cymen-5-OL
* A preservative
Functions:
O-Cymen-5-OL is an antifungal preservative used in cosmetics and beauty products to prevent harmful bacteria from developing and to prolong the shelf-life of formulas. It is part of the Isopropyl Cresols family and is originally developed synthetically in the form of a crystal. O-Cymen-5-OL is also used as a cosmetic biocide, or ingredient that helps to cleanse the skin or to prevent odor by destroying or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, according to research.
Safety Measures/Side Effects:
O-Cymen-5-OL is approved by the FDA for use as a direct and indirect food additive and has been approved by the CIR for use in cosmetics up to .5% concentration. However, in the European Union, it is only approved for use up to .1%. Studies in Japan, some dating back to 1956, found O-Cymen-5-OL to be neurotoxic in animals and have led to heavier restrictions on its use in cosmetics there.
