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
Polyquaternium-7
A clear liquid can help make a cleanser feel more caring. Polyquaternium-7 is one of the ingredients behind that possibility: a conditioning polymer designed to work in surfactant mixtures, where...
Ingredient Atlas
Sea silt extract
The sea leaves more behind than shells and salt. Fine sediment settles into a much quieter material world, one that cosmetic makers can prepare into powders and extracts. Sea silt...
Ingredient Atlas
Polyquaternium-57
Castor oil can take a route far beyond a bottle of oil. In one Polyquaternium-57 preparation it becomes part of a branched conditioning polymer, selected for shine, detangling and a...
Ingredient Atlas
Saw palmetto fruit extract
A low palm with pleated fans of leaves, pale flowers and dark fruit has a surprisingly busy life. Bees visit it, bears eat its berries and people have woven its...
Ingredient Atlas
Polyquaternium-51
Some cosmetic ideas begin by looking at the organisation of living things. Polyquaternium-51 belongs to that story: a polymer inspired by the water-friendly head groups found in cell-membrane phospholipids. Its...
Ingredient Atlas
Sappanwood bark extract
Some plants hide their most surprising colour inside. Sappanwood is one of them: a tree associated with a long history of red dye, yet dressed in green leaflets and yellow...
Ingredient Atlas
Ginkgo leaf extract
A fallen ginkgo leaf looks almost designed: a small fan, a neat stalk and veins branching towards its edge. It is also a link with a remarkably old tree lineage....
Ingredient Atlas
Sage extract
A sage leaf looks as though it has been upholstered in miniature: softly hairy, finely wrinkled and full of scent. Follow that familiar kitchen herb into a cosmetic and another...
Ingredient Atlas
Elderberry fruit extract
In early summer, elder carries flat sprays of creamy flowers; later, dark fruits hang where those flowers once were. The same tree gives us two very different botanical subjects. Elderberry...
Ingredient Atlas
Radish root ferment filtrate
A crisp radish and a carefully prepared cosmetic liquid seem worlds apart. Fermentation is the bridge. The long ingredient name records the partnership, the plant part and the final separation—turning...
Ingredient Atlas
Dunaliella salina extract
The algae behind this ingredient are easy to miss with the naked eye, yet their response to light and salt can change the pigments they make. Dunaliella salina takes us...
Ingredient Atlas
Pomegranate extract
Open a pomegranate and the fruit becomes a collection of tiny translucent parcels, separated by pale walls. Its appeal is visual, tactile and cultural long before it becomes a cosmetic...
