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Modern "natural" skincare - an Ai analysis
80% water & only 10% ACTIVE INGREDIENTS
Water: ~70-80 %
Natural: ~15-20 %
Synthetic/Ultra Processed: ~10-15 %
Meaningful Actives: ~10-20%
Retail $72.00/60ml - $144.00/120ml Equivalent
Water:
Water (aqua) - ~70%
Natural:
Shea (Butyrospermum parkii) butter - ~6-8%
Avocado pear (Persea gratissima) oil - ~2-4%
Macadamia (Macadamia ternifolia) seed oil - ~2-3%
Squalane (olive) - ~1-3% if truly olive-derived
Coconut (Cocos nucifera) oil - ~1-2%
Soybean (Glycine soja) oil - ~1-2%
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed oil - ~0.5-1%
Mel (NZ Manuka honey) - ~0.5-1%
Grape (Vitis vinifera) seed extract - ~0.1-0.3%
Calendula/marigold (Calendula officinalis) flower extract - ~0.1-0.3%
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) leaf extract - ~0.05-0.1%
Tocopherol (Vitamin E) - ~0.1-0.3% if naturally sourced
Lecithin - ~0.3-0.5% if naturally sourced
Synthetic or Ultra Processed:
Glycerin - ~2-3% likely synthetic
Cetearyl alcohol - ~2-3% synthetic emulsifier
Glyceryl stearate - ~1-2% synthetic emulsifier
Cetearyl glucoside - ~0.5-1% synthetic emulsifier
Potassium sorbate - ~0.1-0.15% synthetic preservative
Benzyl alcohol - ~0.3-0.5% synthetic preservative
Dehydroacetic acid - ~0.05-0.1% synthetic preservative
Bisabolol - ~0.1-0.3% likely synthetic version
Parfum (limonene, linalool, benzyl benzoate) - ~0.3-0.5% synthetic fragrance
THE all too common misleading practices used in the skincare industry:
Fairy Dusting
"Fairy dusting" is an industry term used in skincare formulation that refers to the practice of including trendy, "natural", marketable ingredients in a product at concentrations that are too low to provide any real benefit.
If your premium "natural" serum or moisturiser has more than 3 or 4 actives listed low on the label .... it's likely fairy dusted!
"Natural" Washing
Natural-washing is when products are falsely marketed as "natural" while containing synthetic preservatives, artificial fragrances, and chemical additives. Companies mislead you by emphasizing minimal natural ingredients while hiding the synthetic components and the water that make up most of the product's formulation.
The list goes on ...
Beyond fairy dusting and natural washing, here are some more common misleading practices used in the skincare industry:
Ingredient Manipulation
Botanical confusion - using Latin names to make common ingredients sound more impressive
"Free-from" fearmongering - highlighting the absence of ingredients that would never be included anyway
Proprietary complexes - giving fancy names to simple ingredient combinations to appear exclusive
Formula Presentation
Concentration deception - highlighting active ingredients first in marketing but finding them near the end of the actual ingredient list on the label
Fragrance masking - hiding dozens of chemicals under the single term "fragrance" or "parfum"
Claim Exaggeration
Clinically proven claims based on studies with tiny sample sizes or without proper controls
Immediate results claims for ingredients that physiologically take weeks to show effects
"Up to X% improvement" citing the best single result rather than the average
Science Distortion
Cherry-picked studies citing only favorable research while ignoring contradictory evidence
Borrowed science featuring ingredients that have research backing but at concentrations higher than what's in the product
Correlation presentation showing before/after photos where lighting, angle, and makeup differ
Media Manipulation
Paid reviews presented as unbiased expert panels
Influencer seeding without disclosure of payment