Unrestricted, and not always calm
The botanicals, entry by entry
No entry in this class is reached by any annex of the Regulation, and a substantial share of it is graded above the site's calmest level all the same. Those grades rest on contact sensitisation, and on how much a plant extract varies from batch to batch - not on any cap. Read as a group, these entries are the clearest illustration on the site that a regulatory status and a safety grade are two different axes rather than two steps along one.
- Entries in this class
- 25of 329
- Masks printing one
- 12457% of 219
- Reached by the Regulation
- 00 capped
- Typical place on a label
- 50%of the way down
Botanicals are plant extracts, juices and waters, carrying whatever the species and the extraction happen to deliver rather than one defined substance.
That is the job this class does in a formula, which is not the same as what it does to skin. The second question is answered entry by entry, against a source we read - the grading rubric sets out how.
The short read
Licorice root, aloe, centella, chamomile, witch hazel, ginger and propolis are all here, and the class is printed on a great many of the masks here. The entries are not interchangeable and their grades say so, which is the argument for opening one rather than trusting the category it sits in.
An absence of restriction is not a verdict. Nothing in this class carries a cap because nothing in it has been given one, and the grades above calm here rest on sensitisation and on variability - properties of the material rather than of any rule about it.
Read beside the preservatives, this class makes the site's central point from the other end. A capped substance on a positive list can be the steadiest thing on a label, and a plant extract no annex has ever mentioned can be the entry most worth reading before you put it on your face.
All 25 botanical entries
Widest reach first. The grade and the EU status are separate columns because they are separate questions: a capped Annex V preservative can be the calmest thing on a label, and an unrestricted plant extract can be the entry most worth reading. Every one of these entries has its own page, with the sources behind it.
- Well tolerated
- No meaningful concern for most people; irritation is possible but rare.
- Depends on you
- Genuinely relevant for some people, or depends on dose and pH.
- Worth knowing
- EU-restricted, a common contact allergen, or subject to live debate.
| Entry | EU status | Masks | Sources | Place on a label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Well tolerated: Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root ExtractLicorice | No specific restriction | 55 | 1 | 56% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf JuiceAloe vera | No specific restriction | 35 | 2 | 48% down |
| Well tolerated: Centella Asiatica ExtractCica (gotu kola) | No specific restriction | 28 | 2 | 58% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Coptis Japonica Root ExtractJapanese goldthread | No specific restriction | 16 | 0 | 52% downusually below ≈1% |
| Depends on you: Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower ExtractGerman chamomile | No specific restriction | 13 | 0 | 48% down |
| Depends on you: Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root ExtractGinger root extract | No specific restriction | 11 | 2 | 48% downusually below ≈1% |
| Depends on you: Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) ExtractWitch hazel | No specific restriction | 10 | 3 | 43% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Portulaca Oleracea ExtractPurslane | No specific restriction | 9 | 0 | 53% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Scutellaria Baicalensis Root ExtractBaikal skullcap | No specific restriction | 9 | 2 | 48% down |
| Well tolerated: Rosa Damascena Flower WaterRose water | No specific restriction | 8 | 0 | 52% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Houttuynia Cordata ExtractHeartleaf | No specific restriction | 7 | 0 | 42% down |
| Well tolerated: Oryza Sativa (Rice) ExtractRice extract | No specific restriction | 6 | 0 | 59% downusually below ≈1% |
| Depends on you: Artemisia Vulgaris ExtractMugwort | No specific restriction | 4 | 0 | 16% down |
| Depends on you: Calendula Officinalis Flower ExtractCalendula | No specific restriction | 3 | 0 | 64% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Laminaria Japonica ExtractKombu kelp | No specific restriction | 3 | 0 | 70% downusually below ≈1% |
| Depends on you: Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf ExtractPeppermint extract | No specific restriction | 3 | 0 | 24% down |
| Well tolerated: Phaseolus Angularis Seed PowderAdzuki bean powder | No specific restriction | 3 | 0 | 43% down |
| Worth knowing: Propolis ExtractPropolis | No specific restriction | 3 | 2 | 33% down |
| Depends on you: Cinnamomum Cassia Bark ExtractCassia cinnamon | No specific restriction | 2 | 0 | 55% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Eclipta Prostrata Leaf ExtractFalse daisy | No specific restriction | 2 | 0 | 48% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Hamamelis Virginiana Leaf WaterWitch hazel water | No specific restriction | 2 | 1 | 18% down |
| Well tolerated: Angelica Keiskei Leaf/Stem ExtractAshitaba | No specific restriction | 1 | 0 | 48% downusually below ≈1% |
| Well tolerated: Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Fruit WaterGrape water | No specific restriction | 1 | 0 | 6% down |
| Well tolerated: Vitis Vinifera (Grape) JuiceGrape juice | No specific restriction | 1 | 0 | 56% down |
| Well tolerated: Ziziphus Jujuba Fruit ExtractJujube | No specific restriction | 1 | 0 | 54% downusually below ≈1% |
Where this class sits on a pack
An ingredient list is not in a random order. Article 19(1)(g) of Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 requires it to run “in descending order of weight of the ingredients at the time they are added”, and then allows everything under 1% to be listed “in any order” after the rest. So the top of a list is a statement about quantity and the bottom of it is not - which is the ≈1% line the Panel draws on every product page.
Counted across every appearance of this class in the catalogue, and measured as a fraction of each list’s own length so a 4-entry pack and an 81-entry pack count equally, the botanical entries sit a median 50% of the way down a list, and 61% of those appearances fall below the ≈1% line. Where that share is high, position has stopped telling a reader anything about how much is in the pack.
Every class in the encyclopaedia, side by side
The encyclopaedia sorts its entries into 24 classes and 10 have a page: a class needs 15 entries to carry one, below which a landing page is a re-headed filter view. “Other” is excluded whatever its size, because a bucket cannot be a landing page. Every figure here is counted across all 24, so any comparison in the copy above is scoped against a set you can see rather than against the ones that happened to ship.
| Class | Entries | Masks | Grades | EU-reached | Place on a label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humectant | 42 | 21598% | 41graded well tolerated1graded depends on you | 0 | 33% |
| Emollient | 41 | 12959% | 40graded well tolerated1graded depends on you | 1 | 36% |
| Preservative | 28 | 17881% | 14graded well tolerated2graded depends on you8graded worth knowing4graded avoid | 234 banned | 78% |
| Botanical | 25 | 12457% | 17graded well tolerated7graded depends on you1graded worth knowing | 0 | 50% |
| Emulsifier | 22 | 15671% | 22graded well tolerated | 0 | 51% |
| Thickener | 22 | 19790% | 22graded well tolerated | 1 | 55% |
| Essential oil | 21 | 2913% | 18graded depends on you3graded worth knowing | 8 | 79% |
| Fragrance | 19 | 13260% | 11graded depends on you6graded worth knowing2graded avoid | 192 banned | 88% |
| Antioxidant | 17 | 16073% | 15graded well tolerated2graded depends on you | 0 | 61% |
| Active | 16 | 12155% | 9graded well tolerated1graded depends on you5graded worth knowing1graded avoid | 71 banned | 46% |
| Exfoliantno page | 9 | 3616% | 3graded well tolerated6graded depends on you | 3 | 53% |
| pH adjusterno page | 9 | 14868% | 9graded well tolerated | 3 | 72% |
| Othernever a page | 9 | 7333% | 8graded well tolerated1graded avoid | 21 banned | 72% |
| Clay / mineralno page | 8 | 4621% | 7graded well tolerated1graded worth knowing | 7 | 17% |
| Fermentno page | 7 | 2612% | 7graded well tolerated | 0 | 38% |
| Film formerno page | 7 | 5927% | 7graded well tolerated | 0 | 64% |
| Solventno page | 6 | 21498% | 3graded well tolerated3graded depends on you | 0 | 6% |
| Colourantno page | 5 | 3817% | 4graded well tolerated1graded depends on you | 3 | 96% |
| Peptide / proteinno page | 5 | 3014% | 5graded well tolerated | 0 | 67% |
| Chelatorno page | 4 | 9845% | 4graded well tolerated | 0 | 77% |
| Siliconeno page | 4 | 157% | 3graded well tolerated1graded worth knowing | 1 | 25% |
| Surfactantno page | 2 | 52% | 2graded depends on you | 0 | 26% |
| UV filterno page | 1 | 42% | 1graded well tolerated | 1 | 35% |
| Occlusiveno page | 0 | 00% | — | 0 | — |
An entry has exactly one class, so the entries column sums to 329. The masks column does not sum to 219 and is not meant to - a single list prints entries from a great many classes at once.
Read another class
The other classes with a page
The class a mask mostly is
The humectants, entry by entry
42 entries · on 215 masks
Where the label names a plant
The emollients, entry by entry
41 entries · on 129 masks
Where a list means permission
The preservatives, entry by entry
28 entries · on 178 masks
The invisible class
The emulsifiers, entry by entry
22 entries · on 156 masks
Texture, and nobody reads it
The thickeners, entry by entry
22 entries · on 197 masks
Small class, long list of cautions
The essential oils, entry by entry
21 entries · on 29 masks
The class the law knows entirely
The fragrance materials, entry by entry
19 entries · on 132 masks
Where a cap signals purpose
The actives, entry by entry
16 entries · on 121 masks
Mostly working for the formula
The antioxidants, entry by entry
17 entries · on 160 masks
Every entry in this class has a page of its own in the ingredient encyclopaedia, where you can search any name off the back of a pack. To see the masks that print these names, and narrow them by price, format or what you want kept out, filter the full catalogue.
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