About Skincare Check

Where the data comes from

Product names, photos and ingredient lists come from Open Beauty Facts, a community database where people photograph packs and type in the ingredients. It is published under the Open Database License; images are CC BY-SA 3.0. Every product page links back to its Open Beauty Facts record.

Because the lists are typed in by volunteers, they can be old or wrong. Each page shows when we last checked the record, and you can fix the list on Open Beauty Facts or tell us.

What the three answers mean

• Yes: nothing in the ingredient list belongs to the group the check is about.
• No: at least one ingredient does, and we name it.
• Not sure: the list is too short, is not written in standard INCI names, an ingredient can come from plants or animals and the label does not say, or the label and the list disagree. We would rather say so than guess.

The six checks

• Vegan: Vegan means no animal-derived ingredients: no beeswax, honey, lanolin, carmine, collagen, silk or milk. Some ingredients like glycerin can come from plants or animals, so a vegan claim on the label matters.
• Fragrance-free: Fragrance-free means no perfume in the ingredient list. On a label perfume shows up as Parfum or Fragrance, as essential oils, and often as named allergens like Limonene and Linalool that brands have to declare in the EU.
• Paraben-free: Parabens are preservatives. On a label they end in paraben: Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben. Paraben-free means none of them are in the list.
• Sulfate-free: Sulfates are foaming cleansers such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Mineral salts like Magnesium Sulfate are not cleansers and do not count.
• Silicone-free: Silicones give slip and a smooth finish. On a label they end in methicone, siloxane or silanol: Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Amodimethicone.
• Alcohol-free: Alcohol-free means no drying alcohol: Alcohol Denat, Ethanol, SD Alcohol, Isopropyl Alcohol. Fatty alcohols like Cetearyl Alcohol are waxes and never count, and Benzyl Alcohol is a preservative.

What we do not do

We do not rate safety, we do not say whether a product suits pregnancy or a skin condition, and we do not judge whether a brand tests on animals. Those are not things an ingredient list can answer, so we leave them to people who can.

No brand pays for a verdict. If we ever earn from a shop link, the page says so next to the link.

Who runs this

Skincare Check is the sister site of eatcheck.org, which does the same for food. Both are small independent projects. Write to hello@skincarecheck.org.