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Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate and Dimethyl Isosorbide order in INCI
Hello everyone, I was just wondering something that maybe someone knows about. Where a serum states/advertises the percent of retinoid it contains, e.g. “2% Retinoid”, “5% Retinoid”, does that mean 2%/5% of a solution of 10% Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate and 90% solvent. And is that solvent most likely only Dimethyl Isosorbide?
I ask because the INCI I have seen of some “%”-stating retinoid serums list Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate higher than Dimethyl Isosorbide, but if they are at least “2% Retinoid”, wouldn’t the Dimethyl Isosorbide be higher as it would be over the 1% line and Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate below? Or are they using a solution where the solvent is not only Dimethyl Isosorbide? Or just some other ingredient listing strategy to make the % of Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate look impressive?
A couple of INCI examples:
Pacifica Clean Shot Granactive Retinoid 5% in Seawateraqua, sea water, propanediol, caprylic/capric triglyceride, hydroxypinacolone retinoate, glycerin, picea abies extract, silica, xanthan gum, sclerotium gum, lecithin, pullulan, sodium phytate, caprylyl glycol, ethanol, dimethyl isosorbide, parfum
The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion
Aqua (Water), Ethyl Linoleate, Propanediol, Glycerin, Cetearyl Isononanoate, Bisabolol, Retinol, Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, Tasmannia Lanceolata Fruit/Leaf Extract, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Inulin Lauryl Carbamate, Glyceryl Stearate, Ceteareth-12, Ceteareth-20, Cetearyl Alcohol, Carrageenan, Acacia Senegal Gum, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetyl Palmitate, Sucrose Laurate, Polysorbate 20, Behentrimonium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Dehydroacetic Acid, Benzoic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.
(I use the Pacifica serum and I like it…)
Thanks
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4 Replies
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They are both specifying the Granactive Retinoid from Grant Industries which is 90% Isosorbide / 10% Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, so in both cases the Isosorbide should preceed Retinoate in the LOI. In both cases they are probably referring to using 5% and 2% of the retinoid blend, not 5% Retinoate. Both of these would appear to be improperly labeled.
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@MarkBroussard Thank you. I thought that might be the case… but it just seemed odd that so many products have the same improper labelling.
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If you want an accurate LOI, you have to get it from the actual label, I either buy the products if I want to test them or just snap a picture when I go shopping.
Or you can search online for something like this.
or check it on Sephora
https://www.sephora.com/product/the-ordinary-deciem-granactive-retinoid-2-emulsion-P427418
Or some companies might just intentionally mislabeled. -
@Pattsi Thanks. Interesting that the order of ingredients is different on the physical packaging for that serum.
I had a quick look at the Pacifica packaging and it’s the same order as listed online.
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