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
Lemon myrtle leaf oil
A rainforest leaf can smell startlingly lemony without belonging to a lemon tree. Lemon myrtle is one of the loveliest examples: glossy foliage, fluffy white flowers and an aromatic oil...
Ingredient Atlas
Glyceryl laurate
A lauric-acid ingredient can have a caring role in a wash rather than being its main detergent. Glyceryl Laurate is a glycerin ester whose story includes molecular distillation, cream-coloured powder...
Ingredient Atlas
Roman chamomile flower oil
A soft cushion of tiny leaves releases an apple-like scent beneath your feet. Roman chamomile has even been grown for scented seats and lawns. Its flower oil follows another route:...
Ingredient Atlas
Glyceryl caprylate/caprate
A cosmetic ingredient can sit on the boundary between liquid and soft solid. Glyceryl Caprylate/Caprate is a useful example: a mixed fatty-acid glycerin ester whose texture and surface activity can...
Ingredient Atlas
Amyris bark oil
Amyris has a name that can lead you down the wrong scented path: “West Indian sandalwood.” Its woody character helps explain the comparison, but the tree has an identity of...
Ingredient Atlas
Glyceryl caprylate
A small supporting ingredient can change how water spreads and how tiny oil droplets behave. Glyceryl Caprylate is one of those quiet organisers: a glycerin ester selected for wetting, emollient...
Ingredient Atlas
Cyclodextrin
A powder can have a hiding place far too small to see. Cyclodextrin is built as a ring, with a central cavity that can accommodate a suitably shaped molecule. This...
Ingredient Atlas
Long-leaf buchu oil
A leaf can suggest a fruit that never grew on the plant. Buchu is a wonderful example: a South African shrub whose aromatic oil can bring blackcurrant-like, minty and green...
Ingredient Atlas
Xanthan gum
The satisfying pause before a gel starts to flow can be designed with a powder. Xanthan gum is made by fermentation, then purified into a dry ingredient. Add water and...
Ingredient Atlas
Arachidyl glucoside
A spoonful of cream looks effortless. Getting its oil and water to stay together takes rather more organisation. Arachidyl glucoside brings a sugar connection into that work, often arriving alongside...
Ingredient Atlas
Tara gum
The useful part of a tara seed is easily overlooked: its inner storage tissue. Ground and prepared, that tissue supplies a gum that helps shape watery textures. Its story connects...
Ingredient Atlas
Algin
Brown seaweed has its own way of holding a structure together. Algin draws on that material story, turning a marine carbohydrate into a useful cosmetic texture ingredient. The most fascinating...
