Ingredient lists on cosmetics sold in Europe use a shared naming system. The Latin and technical English names can be difficult to interpret. This tool explains them: paste the list from the packaging to see each ingredient’s role in the formula and, where applicable, its European regulatory reference.
Discover what is in the products you use
1 Choose how to add the ingredients
2 Paste the product page link
2 Paste the ingredient list
Have the packaging to hand? Your phone can already read label text. Here is where to tap.
iPhone and iPad. Open the camera and point it at the label; you do not need to take a photo. When the phone recognises text, the Live Text button appears, usually in the bottom-right corner. Tap it, then choose ‘Select All’ and ‘Copy’. If you have already taken a photo, the same button appears when you open it in Photos.
Android. Open Google Lens, or your camera if it includes a Lens button, and point it at the label. Tap the text button, labelled ‘Text’ or ‘Select text’ depending on the version, then ‘Select all’ and ‘Copy text’.
If the list wraps around a tube and will not fit in one view, copy it in two sections and paste them one after the other above.
What happens inside your phone’s app depends on that app: Live Text reads on the device, while Google Lens may send the image to Google. We receive only the text you paste.
We read the text you paste without storing it. This tool does not receive a photograph of the label: your phone app reads it, and you paste the resulting text here. When you paste a link, our server opens the page. The shop sees a request from eligendaroma.com, not your IP address. If a shop refuses the request, a button lets you look for a copy at web.archive.org. We contact the public archive only when you press that button, sending it the address you pasted.
Our ingredient guides
We have written separate guides for some of the most searched-for ingredients, covering their roles, the European regulatory framework and sources.
- Alcohol Denat. Alcohol Denat. is ethyl alcohol with an added substance that makes it undrinkable. In Europe, it does not appear in the annexes...
- Benzyl Alcohol Benzyl Alcohol is an aromatic alcohol. In cosmetics, it acts as a preservative, solvent, viscosity-controlling ingredient and fragrance. Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009...
- Carbomer Carbomer is the name used on European labels for a family of acrylic acid polymers. It adds texture by thickening water...
- Cera alba Cera alba is the name for beeswax on European labels. The European Commission’s CosIng database lists it...
- Cetearyl Alcohol Cetearyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol. The European CosIng database records it as a mixture of alcohols with chains from sixteen to...
- Dimethicone Dimethicone is a silicone polymer. In cosmetics, it acts as an emollient, softening the skin’s surface and leaving it smooth to the touch...
- Glyceryl stearate Glyceryl stearate is an emulsifier made from glycerine and stearic acid. It keeps the water and oil parts of a formula together...
- PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil is a surfactant. The European CosIng database lists two functions: emulsifying and cleansing. In practice...
- Phenoxyethanol Phenoxyethanol is a preservative. It helps prevent bacteria and mould growing in a cosmetic after opening. In Europe, it is...
- Sodium Laureth Sulfate Sodium Laureth Sulfate is a cleansing surfactant. It does not appear among the prohibited or restricted substances in the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009...
- Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a cleansing surfactant. The European CosIng database lists four functions: cleansing, denaturing, foaming and surfactant...
- Titanium Dioxide Titanium Dioxide is the INCI name for the white powder that gives a formula coverage and absorbs some...
- Tocopherol Tocopherol is the INCI name for vitamin E on a label. Its regulatory position can be summarised simply...
Functions and regulatory references come from CosIng, the European Commission’s cosmetic ingredient database. To understand ingredient order and what each position tells you, see our guide to reading an INCI list.
Where these data come from
The data come from CosIng, the European Commission’s database. The tool recognises more than twenty-one thousand ingredients, handles the [+/-] section for colourants that may vary between shades, and flags the term (nano) where it appears on the label.
What this tool does not do
Two points matter. First, an ingredient list does not state the amount of each ingredient, and without that information it cannot establish whether an active ingredient is used effectively. Second, you will not find scores, traffic lights or danger rankings here. An ingredient is not inherently good or bad in isolation. Scoring a molecule without knowing its concentration or the formula containing it would be misleading.