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
Tonka seed extract
A dark seed can suggest almonds, hay, vanilla and tobacco without being any of them. That is tonka's particular pleasure: a fragrance material with several familiar echoes and a botanical...
Ingredient Atlas
Nori seaweed extract
One cell thick, yet able to make a tough, pleated sheet: this small seaweed is full of surprises. Its name may sound familiar from food, but its cosmetic story takes...
Ingredient Atlas
Coconut milk
Crack open a coconut and the liquid inside is coconut water. Coconut milk comes later, when the white flesh is prepared and pressed. That small distinction unlocks a surprisingly rich...
Ingredient Atlas
Marshmallow root extract
The word marshmallow may suggest something soft and sweet. On a cosmetic label, it takes us to a tall flowering plant—and then underground. The root contains mucilage, a plant material...
Ingredient Atlas
Chamomile extract
A chamomile flower looks simple from a distance: white around the edge, gold in the middle. Look closer and that centre is a gathering of tiny florets. The familiar tea-time...
Ingredient Atlas
Magnolia bark extract
Magnolia is easy to picture as a magnificent flower. This ingredient asks you to look at the tree’s surface instead. Bark can curl into strips, yield a concentrated powder and...
Ingredient Atlas
Calendula flower extract
Calendula is a familiar flash of orange in a window box. Look closer and there is more to enjoy: what seems to be one flower is a gathering of tiny...
Ingredient Atlas
Flaxseed extract
The plant behind a linen dress can also supply oil and a slippery, water-loving seed material. Flax is a small lesson in getting different things from different places. For this...
Ingredient Atlas
Cabbage-rose flower extract
Cabbage rose is a wonderfully unglamorous name for a flower with such a generous appearance. Its many petals make a full, folded bloom, while its cosmetic name takes a more...
Ingredient Atlas
American linden flower extract
An American linden in flower can be heard as well as seen: bees crowd its fragrant blossoms. The tree also gives shade, soft carving wood and useful bark fibre. Its...
Ingredient Atlas
Lentil seed extract
The lentil in a kitchen jar is a seed from a small, pod-bearing plant. In cosmetics, a carefully selected extract can take a different route from the same starting material....
Ingredient Atlas
Baikal skullcap root extract
Above ground, Baikal skullcap has blue, two-lipped flowers arranged along its stems. Below ground, its roots make a different collection of plant compounds. That contrast is the heart of this...
