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be sonatural, Face masks, read from the back

Sucrose

Table sugar

Well toleratedHumectanthumectantskin conditioning

No meaningful concern for most people; irritation is possible but rare.

Also written as: Saccharose

What it is

Sucrose is table sugar: one glucose unit and one fructose unit joined together. It sits in the same Cosmetic Ingredient Review assessment as glucose, among the 25 sugars and related ingredients the panel found safe in the present practices of use. Its job in a mask is humectancy, holding water in the formula, and the sources here show it doing nothing beyond that.

How it shows up on a label

Usually on a jelly or hydrogel mask, and usually on a Korean one.

What it does well

  • Safe at the levels cosmetics use it

    The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel assessed 25 monosaccharides, disaccharides and related ingredients, sucrose among them, and concluded they are safe in the present practices of use and concentration described in the assessment. The panel noted that many of the group are common dietary sugars whose oral safety is well established.

    Strong evidence

Worth knowing

  • A humectant, and only that

    A safety conclusion is not an efficacy finding: nothing in it says sucrose hydrates or changes skin, and no study here measures that. Where a mask is sold on its sugar content, the sugar is doing a formulation job.

    Matters most toAnyone paying a premium for a sugar-led mask.

Where the EU stands

No specific restriction

No specific EU restriction is recorded for this ingredient. Whatever it appears in must still pass the safety assessment that Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 requires of every cosmetic sold in the EU.

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 - no annex entry · source ↗

Sources (2)

Every link goes to the original: a journal, a PubMed record or an EU document.

  1. [1]
    Safety Assessment of Monosaccharides, Disaccharides, and Related Ingredients as Used in Cosmetics

    International Journal of Toxicology · 2019 · doi:10.1177/1091581818814189

    The Expert Panel assessed 25 monosaccharides, disaccharides and related ingredients - sucrose among them, per the CIR quick reference table - and concluded they are safe in the present practices of use and concentration described in the safety assessment. Checked 6 September 2026.

  2. [2]
    Quick Reference Table: ingredients found safe in the present practices of use and concentration

    Cosmetic Ingredient Review · 2024

    The Cosmetic Ingredient Review's table of conclusions, updated 8 October 2024, lists Sucrose with a safe conclusion, citing International Journal of Toxicology 38(S1):5-38, 2019 - the monosaccharides and disaccharides report. Glucose carries the same row and the same citation. Checked 6 September 2026.

Masks that contain Sucrose