The core group of ingredients used for creating skin care formulas has been steadily improving, as traditional sources of ingredients are slowly being replaced with more efficient and readily bio-available alternatives, such as biotechnology. Preservative systems are predominately becoming paraben-free as formulators move toward newer alternatives, albeit occasionally engendering a new set of problems, due to limited presence on the market and a lack of long-term testing. The world of actives has exploded in the past decade with new peptides, powerful antioxidants, and most recently, stem cell activators and growth factors that are currently dominating the high performance product market. For the first time in history, our industry, both scientific discovery and consumer demand, are equally driving innovation in product formulation. It is more important than ever before to be keenly aware of what goes into product formulation, as well as understand the many complexities of ingredient selection.

25%, 25%, 50%
There are three elements that drive skin care product results. Vehicle ingredients contribute to 25 percent of a product’s perceived effectiveness, while placebo contributes to 25 percent of the client’s overall satisfaction with the product. The remaining 50 percent of a product’s performance is derived from the performance or action ingredients, often referred to as the actives.
Vehicle ingredients are surfactants, solvents, emulsifiers, thickeners, conditioning agents and preservatives. Placebo is determined by the client’s ability to believe that they can achieve optimal beauty results with expectations evoked by marketing messages, packaging, price, sampling programs, test results, before and after pictures, and their own desire to see the product work.
The vehicle and placebo are both important, as they drive product performance and motivate the client to continue using the product while they await the results delivered by its performance ingredients, which can take weeks, even months, to show the full effect on the skin. Vehicle ingredients are also responsible for the product’s initial payoff, as they can greatly impact the product’s absorption, ability to spread, and the feel it leaves immediately upon application.

Vehicle versus Performance Ingredients
It is no secret that many of the ingredients found in the average skin care product are not meant to have a profound effect on the skin. However, these vehicle ingredients provide the integrity, stability, texture and physical form of the product itself and can often become vital to that product’s success. Emollients and humectants, often used as conditioning agents, play a dual role in skin care formulations. Many emollient oils, fats and humectant sugars are needed to achieve a pleasing product texture, but they can also contribute significantly to the placebo effect. Humectants are also necessary for maintaining water levels in the product, preventing evaporation, and moisture loss from both the product and the skin.
Vehicle ingredients almost always contribute to the bulk of the formula, while performance ingredients represent a very small percentage of the overall chemistry of the product. Surprisingly, when it comes to performance ingredients, a higher percentage is not necessarily better, as it is actually much more important to include them at dose dependent levels.
The term dose dependent level refers to the percentage of an ingredient used in studies proving that ingredient’s efficacy. For example, if wrinkle reduction was measured using a specific peptide at two percent, the formula should contain two percent of the peptide in order to achieve the same results as those observed during the study. Using less than a dose dependent level of the peptide would most likely result in a much lower rate of wrinkle reduction compared to those observed in the study. Conversely, using over-dose dependent levels will not necessarily achieve a higher rate of efficacy, although potential problems, such as irritation and an unnecessary increase in formula cost, should be expected.

Ingredients Are Like People
Think of an ingredient like a person, each having its own country of origin, family traits, and a role they play in life; mother, teacher, wife, business owner. Just like people, each ingredient has its own distinct aspects – the source, from which an ingredient is derived; the class, a chemical group to which an ingredient belongs; and the function, the role it plays in a product.
The main ingredient sources are plant, animal, mineral, petroleum and/or biotechnology. An ingredient can often be derived from more than one source, plant and petroleum or plant and biotechnology, being the most common. There is no way of knowing which source an ingredient is derived from by reading an ingredient list, as the FDA prohibits the listing of sources. Due to the recent increase of chemophobia in our society, we often find ourselves confronted with consumers making purchasing decisions based on the source an ingredient, rather than its proven action on the skin, despite the fact that skin cells cannot differentiate between a plant, mineral or petroleum sourced ingredient.
Ingredient classes include ingredients with similar chemistry that have various chemical components in common, such as alcohols, acids, esters and polymers. It is important to understand that, while the ingredient class provides some clues about its performance, ingredients belonging to the same chemical class can have a very different behavior on the skin. Just as you may share some traits with your family, there are many things that make you very different from them. Some alcohols, for example, can serve as solvents and penetration enhancers that can be drying to the skin, while others, like some fatty alcohols, may be very hydrating or even emollient and softening, providing a luxurious, cushiony feel to the skin.
The function of an ingredient is what makes the product developer’s world exciting and brimming with possibilities. Vehicle ingredients like surfactants, emulsifiers, thickeners, stabilizers and preservatives or performance ingredients that act as humectants, barrier repair agents, delivery vehicles, exfoliators, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, brighteners, age-fighters, and sebum absorbers all have a very specific function in the product. Ingredient function is what drives the creative process of product development and the creation of formulas targeting every sensorial preference and skin imperfection conceivable.

The One Percent Rule
Many of us in the industry are familiar with the one percent rule, which states that all ingredients exceeding a concentration of one percent must be listed on the label panel in descending order of predominance, while ingredients not exceeding a concentration of one percent can be listed in any order, regardless of predominance. Preservatives, colors and fragrances are usually found amongst the last few ingredients on the label. There is a widespread belief that any ingredient that falls under one percent in the formula is worthless to the skin and is only used to preserve the product’s integrity and stability, yet many new performance ingredients on the market defy this common belief. While the basic concept behind the one percent labeling rule remains the same, it is important to recognize that today we have a significant number of performance ingredients with dose dependent levels that fall well below one percent. Astaxanthin, a powerful carotenoid antioxidant and cell membrane protector, does its job at clinically tested levels of 0.035 percent, meaning it will most likely be found amongst the last few ingredients on the ingredient list.
The only way for skin care professionals to know whether a performance ingredient is present in a product at a dose dependent level is to obtain the ingredient’s trade name from the product’s manufacturers. Many brands and manufacturers are already sharing ingredient trade names with their clients and, although some companies might still be reluctant to follow suit, transparency is one of the most important services a manufacturer can offer their clients, as it is the foundation of a good manufacturer-client relationship. This will become more important as skin care ingredients continue to come under scrutiny due to the many environmental and toxicological concerns our industry has experienced in recent years.

As skin care professionals, we are living in a very exciting time in which new technology is becoming available at an incredible rate. We are also dealing with serious science where constant interaction between product chemistry and the skin’s biochemistry is occurring. It is in our best interest to gain a thorough understanding of the powerful tools product manufacturers are putting in our hands. Then, and only then, will we be able to truly appreciate and apply the vast possibilities in the treatment of skin’s imperfections through innovative product development.

Irena James, director of custom product development and education for YG Laboratories, has educated generations of students and industry peers on skin care ingredients, treatment protocols and brand development. James’ versatile experience in the skin care industry spans over 20 years, during which she worked as an aesthetician, educator, territory sales manager and director of business development in the EU. She is an assistant instructor at the UCLA Extension Cosmetic Sciences Program and a member of BIW and the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.