Ingredients with a documented concern, from official datasets and our reviewed database.
Sensitive skin: High cautionDry skin: High cautionBabies & kids: Use with cautionEczema-prone: Best avoided
- Irritation:Drying and barrier-disrupting in high-alcohol formulas with regular use.
Denatured ethanol gives products a fast-drying, weightless feel, but as a leading ingredient it degrades the skin barrier with repeated use — a poor match for dry, sensitive or eczema-prone skin.
Sensitive skin: Best avoidedPregnancy: Use with cautionBabies & kids: Best avoidedEczema-prone: Best avoided
- Allergy risk:Fragrance is the single most common cause of cosmetic contact allergy.
- Irritation:Frequent trigger of stinging and redness on reactive skin.
Caredermis curated dermatological review
An umbrella term that can hide dozens of undisclosed scent chemicals. Fragrance is the leading cause of allergic contact dermatitis from cosmetics, and dermatologists routinely advise fragrance-free products for eczema, babies and sensitive skin.
Sensitive skin: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable allergen; oxidation products are potent sensitizers.
The citrus-peel scent molecule. Like linalool, it becomes allergenic mainly after oxidizing in opened products.
Sensitive skin: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable allergen; oxidized linalool is a common patch-test positive.
A floral scent molecule found in lavender and many essential oils. It oxidizes on air exposure into strongly sensitizing compounds, which is why it must be declared on EU labels.
Sensitive skin: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable allergen; lemon-scented sensitizer.
The lemon-scent molecule in lemongrass and citrus oils, a recognized contact allergen requiring EU label declaration.
Sensitive skin: High cautionBabies & kids: Use with caution
- Irritation:Phototoxic; increases sunburn risk on exposed skin.
- Allergy risk:High limonene content oxidizes into sensitizers.
A citrus oil that is both phototoxic in sunlight and increasingly allergenic as its limonene oxidizes.
cooling agent · fragrance
Severity 4/10EditorialSensitive skin: Use with cautionPregnancy: Use with cautionBabies & kids: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Irritation:Sensory irritant; toxic to young children if ingested or over-applied.
A penetrating cooling agent that regulators warn against using on infants and toddlers; systemic toxicity is possible in small children.
Sensitive skin: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable allergen with well-documented sensitization.
A rose/geranium scent molecule and one of the more frequently positive fragrance allergens in patch testing.
Sensitive skin: Use with cautionEczema-prone: High caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable allergen; use concentrations limited by industry standards.
A synthetic lily-of-the-valley scent and well-documented contact allergen.
Sensitive skin: Use with caution
- Allergy risk:EU-declarable fragrance allergen.
A common jasmine-scented ingredient in fine fragrance and skincare, declared as an allergen on EU labels.
- Allergy risk:Rare hypersensitivity reactions, better documented in food than cosmetics.
Tartrazine yellow dye; approved for cosmetics with rare sensitivity reactions reported.
LINALYL ACETATERegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)PINENERegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)GERANYL ACETATERegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS OILRegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)TERPINEOLRegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)CARVONERegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)BETA-CARYOPHYLLENERegulatory dataAllergy riskEU CosIng Annex III (declarable / restricted)