Let's get this straight: What's the INCO?

The IINCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, Cosmetic ingredient International Naming) list is the list of ingredient that you saw on the back of the skin.

Global harmonization of rules: .ingredient, whether the Chinese national standard or the European-American standard, must be ranked in order of content from high to low (except for .ingredient with 1% content, which can be listed in any order).

This rule determines that the INCI watch is the only place in the skin that can't lie.

10 INCI reading skills

-Technology 1: Top five ingredient decides on the skeleton.

Example: The top five ingredient are the main ingredients of this dish, and the back is the spices.

Usually:

  • Level 1-2: Water/Aqua or base oils - determining whether the product is water or oil sense
  • No. 3-5: Core moisturizing / skin control ingredient (glycerin, hyaluronic acid, emulsification agent, etc.)
  • Efficacy ingredient

✅ Practical advice: If you keep your eye on the top five, you can judge whether the product is "master to moisturizing" or "master to efficacy".

Skills 2: "concentration threshold" judgement for ingredient

The lower the ingredient rank, the lower the concentration. If you see a ingredient that claims the core of efficacy after the 15th, it is likely that:

"Put a sugar in the soup -- it won't taste."

Ingredient for each concentration reference:

⚠️ Red flag signal: a ingredient is written in large length outside packaging, but after 20th place in the INCI watch -- this is a typical operation of "added but insufficient".

Script 3: Distinguishing between bricks and ash ingredient

Skin barrier is the classic brick wall structure: horny cells are bricks and intercellular lipids are ash.

Okay, moisturizing product, three types of ingredient should be found in the INCI table:

Three categories are not possible - only the sealant does not contain moisturizing and the skin is bored; only the moisturizing does not contain the sealant and the water evaporates quickly.

Prof. 4: Smelt/ essential oil rank for irritant risk

Rule: Fragrance or Parfum appears at the top 10 of the ingredient table? sensitive skin direct to PASS.

The perfume itself is not bad ingredient, but the higher the content, the greater the incentive risk. sensitive skin, damaged skin, recommended:

  • " formulation " product
  • Or the fragrance is clearly after the 20th.

Ingredient

There's a bunch of .ingredient on the market, which sounds tall, but it's actually just a small sum in .formulation:

Skill 6: preservative system for safety

Preservatives are necessary — products without preservatives are soon to breed bacteria and are more dangerous. But there is also a choice of preservatives:

Trick 7: pH regulation agent is "invisible ingredient"

The effectiveness of many products depends on the pH of the product, rather than the ingredient itself.

For example:

  • Salicylic acid: Best angle effect between pH 3.5 and 4.0
  • VC (ascorbic acid): pH to stabilize below 3.5
  • Alpha hydroxy acid (AHA): pH 3-4 most effective

If there is only " salicylic acid " in the INCI table, there is no corresponding pH regulator (lactic acid, citric acid, triethanolamine, etc.), be careful — is this product pH well designed?

Skills 8: ingredient.

.ingredient, with 1% content, can be sorted in any way, so .ingredient, at the end of the table, tends to have some surprises:

Good egg.

  • Centella asiatica zirconium, horse larvae extract - low concentration also have soothing effects
  • Astaxanthin, coenzyme Q10 - low concentration antioxidant

We need to be alert.

  • The preservative at the end is usually in compliance, but in the case of high-risk ingredient such as MIT/BIT, it remains to be noted.
  • Too many spices, .ingredient collections at the end -- probably a "set" for split declarations.

Ingredient Table differences

The same efficacy-positioned product has five times the price difference, and where is the ingredient?

Case: 2 "centella asiatica fixes"

Conclusion: The premium for section B is partly a real formulation cost, but not all valuable products are valued — compared with this framework and judged by itself.

Skills 10: OEM looks at cost structures

As a person working in the OEM industry, I can tell you that the cost of raw materials is usually only 5-15% of the sale price.

You're paying $100 for the fine stuff, and the raw materials could cost only $8-15. The rest is:

  • Packaging (15-30%)
  • Marketing (30-50%)
  • Distribution channel (20-30%)
  • Brand premium

It's not that expensive -- good raw materials are expensive, good formulation R&D also cost. But price quality is the basis of the INCI table.

QuickOEM application scene

If you're thinking about making your own skin-care brand, there are several direct applications to understand the INCI reading:

  • Differing positioning: looking at the weaknesses of the ingredient table, targeting your formulation advantage
  • Cost control: Know what ingredient is high cost, optimize MOQ and formulation structures
  • Claim compliance: core efficacy ingredient must be effective concentration in order to sustain propaganda
Would you like to know how OEM formulation based on differences in ingredient table design? Welcome to the QuickOEM formulation team.

Today's interactive topic

"You buy skin protection, you see .ingredient tables? Share an experience you've been saved by an INCO watch or you've been fucked!

I'll wait for you in the message area.

Ingredient Table reading card

* This paper was produced by QuickOEM content factory and is based on the knowledge system of experts in the cosmetics industry. The data and ingredient references are as of April 2026, with reference to regulatory compliance (EU / US FDA) and authoritative literature, if any. ♪ I'm sorry ♪

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Keywords: ingredient tabular ranking rules, INCI table, OEM, EGF, skin protection ingredient , top ten, packaging, essence, emulsification, AHA, cosmetics formulation secret, HA, MOQ, Aol, make-up OEM knowledge, cosmetics regulatory filing guidelines, regulatory compliance (EU / US FDA), ingredient compliance, formulation R&Dz compliance

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