Peptide Skincare & BeautySkin science and ingredient guides

Skin science article

Epicutis Oil Cleanser Versus Paula's Choice Perfect Cleansing Oil

Epicutis Oil Cleanser Versus Paula's Choice Perfect Cleansing Oil This oil-based makeup remover is made to dissolve makeup, sunscreen, and daily buildup. What's inside Key Ingredients Benefits Concerns Ingredients Side-by-side Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil Limnan

Epicutis Oil Cleanser Versus Paula's Choice Perfect Cleansing Oil

This oil-based makeup remover is made to dissolve makeup, sunscreen, and daily buildup.

What's inside

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

Ingredients Side-by-side

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil

Limnanthes Alba Seed Oil

Polyglyceryl-2 Sesquioleate

Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil

Polyglyceryl-2 Caprate

Chamaecyparis Obtusa Wood Oil

Salvia Hispanica Seed Oil

Tocopherol

Oryza Sativa Bran Oil

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Limnanthes Alba Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-2 Sesquioleate, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-2 Caprate, Chamaecyparis Obtusa Wood Oil, Salvia Hispanica Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Oryza Sativa Bran Oil

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride

Mipa-Laureth Sulfate

Laureth-4

Laureth-7

Triethylhexanoin

Cocos Nucifera Fruit Extract

Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil

Vitis Vinifera

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter Unsaponifiables

Phenoxyethanol

Ethylhexylglycerin

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Mipa-Laureth Sulfate, Laureth-4, Laureth-7, Triethylhexanoin, Cocos Nucifera Fruit Extract, Limnanthes Alba Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter Unsaponifiables, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin

Reviews

Be the first to review

Alternatives

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil is a plant oil derived from the seeds of a sunflower.

It is rich in fatty acids, primarily linoleic acid and oleic acid. This gives it emollient and skin conditioning properties.

The reason this ingredient is so effective is because it forms a thin film on the skin that reduces transepidermal water loss (TEWL) while supplying linoleic acid to the stratum corneum to improve barrier strength.

The high linoleic acid content is particularly noteworthy for acne-prone skin.

Research suggests that acne-prone skin tends to be deficient in linoleic acid in sebum. Topical application may help replenish this to support a healthier follicular environment and less comedone-promoting sebum.

One randomized study found sunflower seed oil preserved skin barrier integrity in adult volunteers with and without atopic dermatitis (outperforming olive oil).

This ingredient is well-studied, gentle, and an effective emollient suitable for most skin types.

On fungal acne: This ingredient may not be Fungal acne (Malassezia folliculitis) safe. This is because it contains fatty acids with carbon chain lengths in the C11-C24 range.

Limnanthes Alba Seed Oil is from the seeds of the meadowfoam plant. It is a skin conditioning agent and emollient that sits on top of skin to soften and hydrate it.

Over 98% of the oil is made up of long-chain fatty acids, mostly aachidic acid (61%), docosenoic acid (~16%), and docosadienoic acid (~18%).

This combination is not really found in any other plant oil and is the reason this is one of the most stable botanical oils available.

Some studies show it to be more stable than jojoba oil, helps a product resist going rancid, and can help extend the shelf life of a formula.

It also naturally contains vitamin E and phytosterols that give it a mild antioxidant benefit.

This ingredient is typically used from around 1% to fairly high levels since it's gentle; it's well-tolerated and low on the irritation scale.

Tocopherol is a fat-soluble antioxidant known as Vitamin E.

You'll find this ingredient in the vast majority of skincare (for good reason). It works to neutralize free radicals, or unstable molecules generated by UV exposure, pollution, and other environmental stressors, before they can cause oxidative damage to your skin cells.

Topically applied tocopherol has been shown to protect against UV damage by ramping up the skin's own natural defense enzymes.

It also acts as a skin conditioning agent; some studies show that regular topical use can improve the skin's water-binding capacity over 2-4 weeks.

This ingredient is especially loved for being a team player. When combined with Vitamin C, the photoprotective effect of both ingredients roughly doubles and the combo also helps reduce UV-induced DNA damage.

This ingredient has some brightening potential but it's more of a prevention ingredient than spot-fader. Cell studies show it can slow down melanin production but it's worth noting that it's not the most powerful brightener out there.

In formulations, it also serves as a stabilizer that helps protect other oxidation-prone ingredients from degrading.

Concentrations usually range from 0.1-1% in most leave-on products.

Similar Comparisons

The reference edit

Ingredients, questions
& further reading.

Connected source records selected through this article’s public topic index.

01

Formula cabinet

Ingredients & structured notes

Ingredient index

Paula's Choice Rescue & Repair Intensive MoisturizerIngredients explained

  1. 01Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
  2. 02It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
  3. 03Expand to read more
  4. 04Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
  5. 05One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
  6. 06A biodegradable emollient that gives a fresh gliding sensation and a powdery after feel. It works well with all kinds of oils including natural and silicone oils.
  7. 07A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
  8. 08A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
  9. 09Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
  10. 10Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits for dry skin at higher concentrations up to 20-40%
  11. 11High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin
  12. 12Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often used and often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved.
  13. 13It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula.
  14. 14Sunflower does not need a big intro as you probably use it in the kitchen as cooking oil, or you munch on the seeds as a healthy snack or you adore its big, beautiful yellow flower during the summer - or you do all of these and probably even more. A…
  15. 15It’s a real oldie: expressed directly from the seeds, the oil is used not for hundreds but thousands of years. According to The National Sunflower Association, there is evidence that both the plant and its oil were used by American Indians in the ar…
  16. 16Our intro did get pretty big after all (sorry for that), so let's get to the point finally: sunflower oil - similar to other plant oils - is a great emollient that makes the skin smooth and nice and helps to keep it hydrated. It also protects the su…
  17. 17It's also loaded with fatty acids (mostly linoleic (50-74%) and oleic (14-35%)). The unrefined version (be sure to use that on your skin!) is especially high in linoleic acid that is great even for acne-prone skin. Its comedogen index is 0, meaning …
  18. 18Truth be told, there are many great plant oils and sunflower oil is definitely one of them.
  19. 19An extremely common multitasker ingredient that gives your skin a nice soft feel (emollient) and gives body to creams and lotions. It also helps to stabilize oil-water mixes (emulsions), though it does not function as an emulsifier in itself. Its ty…
  20. 20It’s a so-called fatty alcohol, a mix of cetyl and stearyl alcohol, other two emollient fatty alcohols. Though chemically speaking, it is alcohol (as in, it has an -OH group in its molecule), its properties are totally different from the properties …
Source · incidecoder.com
02

Product index

Related product references

Product

Paula's Choice: PC 4 Men Body Wash

Paula's Choice: PC 4 Men Body Wash Paula's Choice: PC 4 Men Body Wash ingredients explained: Water (Aqua), Ammonium Laureth Sulfate (Cleansing), Sodium Laureth Sulfate (Cleansing), Sodium C…

Source: incidecoder.comView reference →
03

Comparison edit

Read side by side