Articles and guides
Practical advice, ingredients and stories about solid cosmetics.
In-depth guides
Choose a topic and find practical answers.
Ingredient Atlas
Ingredient origins, textures and practical answers about cosmetic labels.
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Solid Cosmetics School
Practical lessons for using, storing and travelling with solid cosmetics.
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Which One? Comparison Studio
Clear comparisons for the cosmetics you use, the routines you enjoy and the gifts you give.
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Gift & Gifting Encyclopedia
300 articles about thoughtful gifts: people, occasions, traditions, beautiful presentation and words that feel like you.
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Body Cleansing Explained
Does your skin feel tight after the towel? Are you choosing a bar, or wondering where to put it when it’s wet? Start with the part of the shower you’d like to make easier.
Read the guideArticles: 1444
Ingredient Atlas
Phenylpropanol
A faint impression of hyacinth, an ability to help fragrance materials dissolve, and a second job supporting the formula: phenylpropanol is a small ingredient with more than one reason to...
Ingredient Atlas
Mica
Turn a pearly surface towards a window and its glow shifts. Mica's story begins with that changing light, then takes an unexpected turn: an ingredient list may describe the mineral...
Ingredient Atlas
Pentaerythrityl tetra-di-t-butyl hydroxyhydrocinnamate
This may be one of the longest names on a perfume-balm label, yet its main job is refreshingly understandable: helping oxygen-sensitive ingredients keep their character. The name belongs to an...
Ingredient Atlas
CI 61570 · a manufactured green
Green can evoke a garden, a herb or simply a clean-looking object. CI 61570 supplies a different kind of green story: a manufactured dye with a definite identity. In a...
Ingredient Atlas
Menthol
Mint can feel cool even when the room is warm. That familiar little surprise helped scientists uncover how we sense temperature. Menthol connects a sensory pleasure in everyday products with...
Ingredient Atlas
CI 77742 · manganese violet
A violet pigment can begin with heat rather than flowers. Manganese violet is a prepared inorganic colour, made through a reaction that turns starting materials into a distinctive pigment. In...
Ingredient Atlas
Maltodextrin
A botanical-sounding active may catch your eye, while the maltodextrin beside it receives none of the attention. Yet this starch-derived ingredient can help turn another useful material into a manageable...
Ingredient Atlas
Basil essential oil
The windowsill herb has another life: a fragrant material whose character depends on more than the word basil.
Ingredient Atlas
Lactic acid
The name may make you think of milk or a familiar exfoliating serum. In a solid cosmetic, lactic acid can tell a different story: sugar fermentation, a syrup-like raw material...
Ingredient Atlas
Cornmint essential oil
A familiar mint fragrance with a less familiar journey through steam, cooling and carefully prepared grades.
Ingredient Atlas
May chang essential oil
Small fruit, a bright lemon-like fragrance, and a name that takes you well beyond the citrus bowl.
Ingredient Atlas
Gluconolactone
A white powder dissolves, then the story keeps changing. Gluconolactone gradually becomes gluconic acid in water, a transformation useful in foods and cosmetics for quite different reasons. It is a...
