The front of the box sells. The ingredient list tells the truth. How lists are ordered, the 1% trick, Korean label terms, and marketing words that mean nothing.
Here's a habit that will save you more money than any sale: turn the box around before you buy.
The front of skincare packaging is advertising. "Cica." "PDRN." "Collagen." "Hyaluronic." The back, where the full ingredient list lives, is where you find out what's actually inside and roughly how much.
Most countries, including Canada, require cosmetic ingredients to be listed with standardised INCI names (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). That's why the same ingredient has the same name worldwide:
On Korean packaging, the full list is labelled 전성분 (jeonseongbun, literally "all ingredients"). If you shop on Korean sites, that's the section to find.
Ingredients above 1% are listed in descending order of concentration. Ingredients at 1% or less can appear in any order after that.
So:
You usually can't see where the 1% line falls. But common preservatives like phenoxyethanol are typically used at 1% or less. Anything listed after it is often present in small amounts too. It's not a perfect rule, but it's a useful clue.
A few examples of what an opening line can reveal:
If the box says "with PDRN" or "collagen," find that word on the back. Listed after the fragrance and preservatives? Then it's mostly there for the label. That doesn't make the product bad (some ingredients work at low levels), but you shouldn't pay a premium for it.
Products that print a percentage on the front, like "niacinamide 5%," make your life easier.
Generally helpful: glycerin, butylene glycol and sodium hyaluronate (humectants); ceramide NP, cholesterol and fatty acids (barrier); panthenol, allantoin and madecassoside (soothing); niacinamide (all-rounder).
Worth noticing if you're sensitive: fragrance / parfum (one word can cover many substances); essential oils such as lavender or citrus oils; fragrance components like limonene and linalool; alcohol denat. high on the list.
Not the scary kind of alcohol: cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol are fatty alcohols. They soften and thicken, and most skin tolerates them well.
If two products share very similar first ingredients and the same key actives at similar positions, they'll often perform similarly, even if one costs three times more. This is the single most useful thing ingredient lists are good for.
Online ingredient databases are great for looking up unfamiliar names. Be cautious with "safety scores," though. They often rate ingredients without considering concentration or formulation, and that can make perfectly fine products look alarming.
How your skin will react. Patch test new products and introduce one at a time.
You don't need to memorise chemistry. Look at the first five ingredients, find where the advertised ingredient sits, check for fragrance if you're sensitive, and ignore buzzwords. After a few tries, it takes less than a minute, and you'll start noticing how often the front of the box oversells.
Aran is Korean, lives in Canada, and reads Korean labels and research so you don't have to. About Aran · How I write these guides