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Guide

How to read a cosmetic INCI list

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An INCI list — International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients — is the standardised ingredient panel on a cosmetic product. Reading one well is mostly a matter of knowing its limits.

The ordering rule, and where it stops

Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration, but only down to 1%. Below that threshold they may appear in any order.

This matters more than it sounds. Many marketed actives are used below 1%. An ingredient appearing near the end of a panel might be present at 0.9% or at 0.001%, and the panel cannot distinguish them. Position tells you a lot at the top of a list and almost nothing at the bottom.

Trade names are not INCI names

This trips up more people than the ordering rule. A brand markets an ingredient by its supplier trade name; the panel must use the INCI name. They are different systems.

SNAP-8 is a good example, and one that appears in the Amplified Glow range. It is a supplier trade name. It will not appear on an ingredient panel under that name, and a supplier trade name may cover a solution containing the peptide alongside solvents rather than a single substance. Our SNAP-8 page explains why we decline to assert its panel identity without reading the panel.

The habit worth building: when a product markets an ingredient by a name that looks like a product code, expect the panel to say something different.

Category words hide specifics

Some words on a label are categories, not ingredients.

Keratin
Not one INCI entry. Hydrolyzed keratin, keratin amino acids and others differ in form and source. See our keratin page.
Vitamin C
A family. Ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbyl phosphate and several other derivatives behave differently in a formula.
Collagen
Hydrolyzed collagen and soluble collagen are distinct entries.
“…Extract”
A botanical extract's composition depends on the extraction method and solvent, which are not disclosed on a panel.
Fragrance / Parfum
A single panel entry that may cover dozens of individual components.

What an INCI list never tells you

  • Exact percentages of anything.
  • Molecular weight, which matters for ingredients like hyaluronic acid.
  • The composition of any extract or fragrance.
  • Formula pH.
  • Whether an ingredient is present at a level that does anything.

That last one is the point of the whole exercise. An ingredient panel establishes presence. It does not establish function.

A practical note on the Amplified Glow range

None of this can currently be applied to Amplified Glow products, because no Amplified Glow product page publishes a full INCI list as text. The ingredient panel appears only in packaging photography. That is recorded as an outstanding item on every product review on this site, and it means anyone screening for a specific ingredient has to contact the brand directly.

Frequently asked questions

Does an ingredient near the top mean it is the active?

No. The top of a list is usually water, then solvents and structural ingredients. Marketed actives are often used below 1%, where ordering carries no information.

Why can I not find SNAP-8 on an ingredient panel?

Because it is a supplier trade name, not an INCI name. Panels use INCI names.

Can I compare two products using their INCI lists?

Partially. You can compare which ingredients are present and roughly where the major ones sit. You cannot compare concentrations of anything below 1%, which is where most marketed actives are.

Amplified Glow Editorial Team

Product research and editorial standards

This team works for Amplified Glow, the company that makes and sells the products reviewed here. Editorial pay isn’t tied to sales, review sentiment, or customer ratings — so when a product is thinly documented or has a drawback, the review says so.

Related reviews

Skincare · Serum

GHK-Cu + SNAP-8 Peptide Renewal Serum

This is the best-documented serum in the Amplified Glow range. It is the only skincare product in the catalogue that publishes a copper peptide percentage, names three separate peptides, and states a fragrance-free formulation — three things a shopper can actually check before buying. At 30 mL for $21 it is the smallest serum Amplified Glow sells and the most expensive per millilitre. The full ingredient list is not published as text anywhere we could find, so anyone screening for a specific ingredient still cannot do so from the website alone.

Strong documentation$21.00
Skincare · Cleanser

Charcoal and Green Tea Facial Cleanser

This is the only cleanser Amplified Glow sells, and at 177 mL for $20.00 it is by far the cheapest facial product in the range per millilitre — $11.30 per 100 mL. The disclosed ingredient list is unusually long and specific for this catalogue. The significant gap is the surfactant system: for a rinse-off cleanser, what does the cleansing is the single most useful thing to know, and it is not published.

Moderate documentation$20.00

Related comparisons

Product comparison

GHK-Cu + SNAP-8 Peptide Renewal Serum vs Copper Peptide Renewal Serum

They differ on four published attributes: size (30 mL versus 60 mL), disclosed GHK-Cu concentration (0.15% versus 0.1%), the second named peptide (SNAP-8 and Acetyl Hexapeptide-3 versus Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1), and price per millilitre ($70.00 versus $50.00 per 100 mL). Both are fragrance free and neither publishes a full ingredient list. Choose the 30 mL serum if the higher disclosed concentration or the lower total price matters most; choose the 60 mL serum if cost per millilitre matters most.

Compare attributes →

Related ingredients

Peptide (identity unconfirmed for the labels reviewed here)

SNAP-8

SNAP-8 is a trade name suppliers use, not the standardised (INCI) name that appears on an ingredient list. Amplified Glow names it for three products but doesn’t publish the ingredient list, so the exact ingredient behind "SNAP-8" on these labels can’t be confirmed — and a trade name and an ingredient-list name aren’t interchangeable.

Read the ingredient page →Structural protein, or a hydrolysed fraction of one

Keratin

"Keratin" on a label isn’t a single ingredient. Several versions exist — hydrolyzed keratin, keratin amino acids, and others — differing in source and size. Amplified Glow names keratin in four haircare products without saying which form or source, so the exact ingredient isn’t confirmed.

Read the ingredient page →Vitamin C derivative; ascorbic acid salt ester

Sodium ascorbyl phosphate

Sodium ascorbyl phosphate is a vitamin C derivative — a phosphorylated form of ascorbic acid, as a sodium salt. Formulators use it because it is more stable in water-based products than ascorbic acid. It is the vitamin C form Amplified Glow names in its Brightening Vitamin C Serum, and naming the specific derivative is a more informative disclosure than writing "Vitamin C".

Read the ingredient page →Botanical extract

Green tea extract

Green tea extract is a botanical extract derived from Camellia sinensis. Amplified Glow discloses it in four products. Botanical extracts are among the hardest cosmetic ingredients to compare between products, because extraction method, solvent and concentration all vary and are almost never published — including here.

Read the ingredient page →