Cosmetic Chemistry: What are Claims Ingredients in Cosmetics?

Tuesday, February 04, 2020

Cosmetic Chemistry: What are Claims Ingredients in Cosmetics?

A cosmetic formulation is normally composed of:
  • Functional ingredients
  • Aesthetic modifying ingredients
  • Claims ingredients

Functional ingredients refer to ingredients that make the cosmetic products work. These are the ingredients that provide actual benefits to the skin, hair or whichever areas the cosmetic is applied to. Examples of functional ingredients are surfactants, emollients, humectants, etc.

Aesthetic modifying ingredients are added to cosmetic formula to make the final product more aesthetically appealing to the consumers in terms of look, smell and texture. Examples of aesthetic modifying ingredients are colorants, fragrances and thickeners.

On the other hand, claims ingredients (also known as marketing ingredients, story ingredients or featured ingredients) refer to ingredients added to a cosmetic formula in order to support a marketing story and capture the consumer’s interest. For example, the marketing department of the cosmetic company where you are working told you that “hey, it seems consumers nowadays are so crazy about anything with Argan oil, so I want you to formulate a hair product line with Argan oil”. In my example, Argan oil is the claims ingredient. Claims ingredients are usually added in a very tiny amount, like as low as 0.1% or 0.05%. The amount is so small that the ingredient doesn’t have much impact to the cosmetic product’s performance.

Examples of claims ingredients used in cosmetics are: 
  • Vitamins and antioxidants (e.g. vitamin A, C and E)
  • Botanical extracts (also known as herbal extracts) (e.g. cucumber extract)
  • Ingredients that grow from a certain place (e.g. a moisturizer that contains Aloe Vera that grows from Jeju Island)
  • Trending ingredients of the current year (e.g. in 2019, almost every cosmetic companies are including CBD or Cannabidiol in their cosmetic product line) 


How can we identify if a specific cosmetic product ingredient is a claims ingredient? 

Step 1:

Look for key ingredients mentioned in the product packaging. If a certain ingredient is mentioned on the front part of the product packaging, most likely, it is a claims ingredient.

Step 2:

Locate this ingredient in the cosmetic ingredient list. If it is located at the most bottom part of the cosmetic ingredient list (e.g. below 1% line), then it is a claims ingredient.

Let us take a look at the following example.

Product Name: Argan Oil Hair Serum

Product Description: Made with Argan Oil from Morocco

Ingredients: 

1041650 FS6 CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, DIMETHICONOL, PARFUM/FRAGRANCE, ARGANIA SPINOSA KERNEL OIL, LINALOOL, HEXYL CINNAMAL, TOCOPHEROL, CITRONELLOL, LIMONENE, BENZYL ALCOHOL, GERANIOL, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED OIL/SUNFLOWER SEED OIL, CI 75130/ BETA-CAROTENE. F.I.L. D191742/1

Notice that the Argan Oil (indicated in the label as ARGANIA SPINOSA KERNEL OIL) is located after the parfum/fragrance. Normally, the fragrance added to a cosmetic product is about 1% or less. Since Argan Oil comes after the fragrance in cosmetic ingredient list, then it’s obviously added at less than 1%, which makes it a claims ingredient, not a primary ingredient. 

Take note that sometimes there is an exception to the “below 1%” rule. There are some cosmetic ingredients whose recommended usage rate is below 1% for safety or efficiency purposes. For instance, most essential oils are added at less than 1% to avoid skin sensitization issues.

In summary, it’s important to develop a cosmetic formula that
  • Performs well 
  • Looks, smells and feels good (meaning the product is aesthetically appealing) 
  • Is stable (e.g. lotion/cream emulsion doesn’t separate over time) 
However, it is also equally important to develop a cosmetic formula that will sell. In other words, we need to develop a cosmetic product that will pique the interest of the consumers. We need to use ingredients that will make them buy the product. That is the sole reason for adding claims ingredients to a cosmetic product.

Here is the Youtube video I made in relation to this topic. 

SHAMELESS ADVERTISEMENT: please subscribe to my channel Cosmetic Formulation Diary where I  share more info about cosmetic formulation.




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