Skinfood Daily Mask Versus Skinfood Acorn Pore Peptide Pad

Skinfood Daily Mask Versus Skinfood Acorn Pore Peptide Pad

This calming sheet mask is formulated around Niacinamide to calm redness.

This pore-care toner pad uses a pre-saturated pad with Niacinamide and Gluconolactone to refine the look of pores and refine skin texture.

What's inside

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

Ingredients Side-by-side

Water

Butylene Glycol

Glycerin

Niacinamide

Dipropylene Glycol

Betaine

Bis-Ethoxydiglycol Cyclohexane 1,4-Dicarboxylate

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate

Hydroxyacetophenone

1,2-Hexanediol

Caprylyl Glycol

Cellulose Gum

Ellagic Acid

Ethylhexylglycerin

Adenosine

Hibiscus Abelmoschus Extract

Arginine

Biosaccharide Gum-1

Hydroxyethylcellulose

Dioscorea Villosa Root Extract

Polyquaternium-51

Salvia Hispanica Seed Extract

Linum Usitatissimum Seed Extract

Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil

Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil

Amyris Balsamifera Bark Oil

Salvia Sclarea Oil

Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil

Hydrolyzed Pea Protein

Eugenol

Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate

Castanea Sativa Seed Extract

Pinus Densiflora Leaf Extract

Oenothera Biennis Flower Extract

Ulmus Davidiana Root Extract

Maranta Arundinacea Root Extract

Vitis Vinifera Fruit Extract

Diospyros Kaki Leaf Extract

Coffea Arabica Seed Extract

Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract

Carthamus Tinctorius Flower Extract

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Castanea Crenata Shell Extract

Chrysanthemum Indicum Extract

Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5

Disodium EDTA

Limonene

Linalool

Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Dipropylene Glycol, Betaine, Bis-Ethoxydiglycol Cyclohexane 1,4-Dicarboxylate, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Hydroxyacetophenone, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Cellulose Gum, Ellagic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine, Hibiscus Abelmoschus Extract, Arginine, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Dioscorea Villosa Root Extract, Polyquaternium-51, Salvia Hispanica Seed Extract, Linum Usitatissimum Seed Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, Amyris Balsamifera Bark Oil, Salvia Sclarea Oil, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil, Hydrolyzed Pea Protein, Eugenol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Castanea Sativa Seed Extract, Pinus Densiflora Leaf Extract, Oenothera Biennis Flower Extract, Ulmus Davidiana Root Extract, Maranta Arundinacea Root Extract, Vitis Vinifera Fruit Extract, Diospyros Kaki Leaf Extract, Coffea Arabica Seed Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Carthamus Tinctorius Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Castanea Crenata Shell Extract, Chrysanthemum Indicum Extract, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Disodium EDTA, Limonene, Linalool

Quercus Acutissima Fruit Extract 10%

Propanediol

Alcohol

Gluconolactone

Sodium Citrate

Tromethamine

PPG-13-Decyltetradeceth-24

Hamamelis Virginiana Extract

Allantoin

Opuntia Ficus-Indica Stem Extract

Diospyros Kaki Fruit Extract

Sodium Hyaluronate

Citric Acid

Enantia Chlorantha Bark Extract

Sodium Phytate

Dextrin

Beta-Glucan

Theobroma Cacao Extract

Hydrolyzed Lupine Protein

Salvia Officinalis Oil

Glyceryl Acrylate/Acrylic Acid Copolymer

Pueraria Lobata Root Extract

Oenothera Biennis Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract

Pinus Palustris Leaf Extract

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil

Oleanolic Acid

Water, Quercus Acutissima Fruit Extract 10%, Propanediol, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Alcohol, Gluconolactone, Sodium Citrate, Tromethamine, Hydroxyacetophenone, PPG-13-Decyltetradeceth-24, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hamamelis Virginiana Extract, Allantoin, Opuntia Ficus-Indica Stem Extract, Adenosine, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Diospyros Kaki Fruit Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Castanea Crenata Shell Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Citric Acid, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Enantia Chlorantha Bark Extract, Sodium Phytate, Dextrin, Beta-Glucan, Theobroma Cacao Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil, Amyris Balsamifera Bark Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, Hydrolyzed Lupine Protein, Salvia Officinalis Oil, Glyceryl Acrylate/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil, Pueraria Lobata Root Extract, Ulmus Davidiana Root Extract, Oenothera Biennis Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract, Pinus Palustris Leaf Extract, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Salvia Sclarea Oil, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Oleanolic Acid

Reviews

Alternatives

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

1,2-Hexanediol is a synthetic liquid and another multi-functional powerhouse.

It is a:

Humectant, drawing moisture into the skin

Emollient, helping to soften skin

Solvent, dispersing and stabilizing formulas

Preservative booster, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of other preservatives

Adenosine is a purine nucleoside that your body already makes in every cell. In skincare, it acts mainly as a skin conditioning and anti-aging agent.

The way it works is fairly well mapped out:

Your skin has cells called fibroblasts that build collagen (the stuff that keeps skin firm and smooth). Adenosine basically flips a switch on these cells that tells them to get to work making more collagen and other proteins. These cells slow down on their own as skin ages, so Adenosine helps give them a little nudge to keep going.

The clinical backing is pretty solid too.

A blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 126 women aged 45-65 tested a 0.1% cream twice daily and found real improvements in crow's feet and frown lines using a precise 3D skin-mapping technique; these changes showed up by week 3 and held at 2 months.

A later study using Adenosine-loaded dissolving microneedle patches reported gains in wrinkle depth, dermal density, elasticity, and hydration.

On concentrations, South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has set 0.04% as the approved functional anti-wrinkle level. You'll typically see this ingredient used somewhere in the 0.04-0.1% range since it works at low doses.

This ingredient has been found safe for cosmetics with the data showing no irritation or sensitization.

Overall, this is a great ingredient for any anti-aging routine and has no photosensitizing effect, so it suits both AM and PM use.

This ingredient is used as a perfuming ingredient, or to add a fragrance. It is described to have a woody, balsamic, slightly sweet scent.

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.

Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (tea extract) is one of the most well-researched plant extracts in skincare with an impressive resume.

Black tea, green tea, and oolong tea are all harvested from the Camellia Sinensis plant.

Studies show green tea extract and its catechins (like epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)) help your skin cells product energy more efficiently and reducing the number of free-radicals that can damage your skin from the inside.

In lab-grown skin models, this translated to younger, healthier, and stronger skin.

There's also good sun protection data; researchers saw less DNA damage and redness on human skin when green tea was applied before UVB exposure. And the more they applied, the better the protection.

Needless to say, this ingredient shouldn't replace your sunscreen. But it is a great supportive ingredient that you can already find in many sunscreens and antioxidant serums.

A 2009 study found a 2% green tea lotion was effective for mild-to-moderate acne thanks to its anti-inflammatory and mild antimicrobial activity.

The quality of the extract matters a lot here:

Good extracts contain 50-90% catechins while lower quality ones are mostly there for marketing. We recommend reaching out to the brand if you have questions about the quality or source of their ingredients.

Human Repeated Insult Patch Testing showed no irritation or sensitization at use concentrations (0.86% in leave-on products and up to 30% as leaf water).

Caprylyl Glycol is a humectant, skin conditioner, emollient, and preservative booster derived from either caprylic acid or synthetically created.

Typical use levels vary from 0.3-1% as a preservative booster and go up to 2% to condition skin.

Because it is not a free-fatty acid, this ingredient is fungal acne safe (there's nothing for Malassezia to feed on).

Castanea Crenata Shell Extract comes from the shell of the chestnut.

Studies show chestnut shells to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Antioxidants protect your skin against damaging molecules. This may help reduce the signs of aging.

Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil is the oil from the bergamot orange and is primarily used as a fragrance. It has a "fresh" and "bright orange" scent.

The main aroma compounds found in this ingredient are limonene (~27-52%), linalool (~2-22%), and linalyl acetate (~27-40%). These are known EU fragrance allergens.

The term 'fragrance' is not regulated in many countries. In many cases, it is up to the brand to define this term. For instance, many brands choose to label themselves as "fragrance-free" because they are not using synthetic fragrances. However, their products may still contain ingredients such as essential oils that are considered a fragrance.

When used topically, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Fruit Oil is a photosensitizer due to the furanocoumarin content. Furanocoumarins absorb UV-A and cause phytophotodermatitis; this can look like redness, blistering, and lasting brown pigmentation on sun-exposed skin.

Due to this, this ingredient is capped at 0.4% in leave-on products applied to sun exposed skin.

Many modern formulas used a "furanocoumarin-free" version that sidesteps the phototoxicity issue, but still contains the fragrance allergens.

This oil is derived from the leaves of Eucalyptus Globulus, a type of Eucalyptus tree native to Australia.

Though this oil shows antibacterial and antioxidant activity, it is also a known skin-irritant due to its fragrance components.

Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.

Topically, glycerin does several things at once:

Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.

Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.

This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.

Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Hydroxyacetophenone is a small phenolic molecule that earns its place in a formulas as an antioxidant and preservative booster.

As a phenol, it is able to neutralize free radicals to protect both the product and the skin from oxidative stress.

Though it can't kill microbes on its own, it works as a good supporting agent when combined with other preservatives like Phenoxyethanol or 1,2-Hexanediol.

This ingredient naturally occurs as piceol in Norwegian spruce needles (~0.4-1.1% dry weight and in cloudberries). Though the cosmetic-grade material is synthesized for purity and consistency.

You'll usually see it used at low levels and suppliers recommend up to 1% added to a water phase.

Safety testing was done at concentrations like 0.05% in SPF products and 0.5% in a Human Repeated Insult Patch Test. The safety evidence is assuring; this ingredient is safe for cosmetics in current use and also holds safety status as a food flavoring as well.

An honest caveat: the "soothing" and "anti-inflammatory" claims come mostly from supplier marketing rather than published clinical trials. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review's own literature search found no useful efficacy studies on this ingredient.

So the antioxidant and preservative-boosting roles are the well supported ones while the calming benefit is plausible but thinly evidenced.

Overall, this is a well-tolerated, low-irritation multitasker that quietly helps a formula stay fresh and stable.

Hydroxyethylcellulose is used to improve the texture of products. It is created from a chemical reaction involving ethylene oxide and alkali-cellulose. Cellulose is a sugar found in plant cell walls and help give plants structure.

This ingredient helps stabilize products by preventing ingredients from separating. It can also help thicken the texture of a product.

This ingredient can also be found in pill medicines to help our bodies digest other ingredients.

Niacinamide is a multitasking form of vitamin B3 that strengthens the skin barrier, reduces pores and dark spots, regulates oil, and improves signs of aging.

And the best part? It's gentle and well-tolerated by most skin types, including sensitive and reactive skin.

You might have heard of "niacin flush", or the reddening of skin that causes itchiness. Niacinamide has not been found to cause this.

In very rare cases, some individuals may not be able to tolerate niacinamide at all or experience an allergic reaction to it.

If you are experiencing flaking, irritation, and dryness with this ingredient, be sure to double check all your products as this ingredient can be found in all categories of skincare.

When incorporating niacinamide into your routine, look out for concentration amounts. Typically, 5% niacinamide provides benefits such as fading dark spots. However, if you have sensitive skin, it is better to begin with a smaller concentration.

When you apply niacinamide to your skin, your body converts it into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). NAD is an essential coenzyme that is already found in your cells as "fuel" and powers countless biological processes.

In your skin, NAD helps repair cell damage, produce new healthy cells, support collagen production, strengthen the skin barrier, and fight environmental stressors (like UV and pollution).

Our natural NAD levels start to decline with age, leading to slower skin repair, visible aging, and a weaker skin barrier. By providing your skin niacinamide, you're recharging your skin's NAD levels. This leads to stronger, healthier, and younger looking skin.

Another name for vitamin B3 is nicotinamide. This vitamin is water-soluble and our bodies don't store it. We obtain Vitamin B3 from either food or skincare. Meat, fish, wheat, yeast, and leafy greens contain vitamin B3.

The type of niacinamide used in skincare is synthetically created.

Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5 is a synthetic signal lipopeptide. This just means it is a three amino acid chain bolted onto a palmitic acid tail so it can slip through the skin's lipid barrier.

This peptide has a "build more, lose less" approach.

It's designed to mimic the collagen-stimulating activity in your skin by copying a snippet of one of your skin's own matrix proteins. This nudges fibroblasts into making more collagen while inhibiting the enzyme that breaks down skin protein.

The manufacturer's in vivo study of 45 volunteers found 1% and 2.5% reduced the appearance of wrinkles by 7% and 12% respectively, after using it twice daily for 84 days.

This is in the expected range for peptides; they're slow and cumulative actives and not overnight fixers.

Typical use levels range from 1-3% and this ingredient gets along with pretty much everything.

On the fungal acne front: Although palmitic acid sits in the chain length that Malassezia can feed on, this ingredient has it locked in an amine bond. This makes it hard for Malassezia to access as a source of food, and therefore fungal acne safe.

Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate is a cleansing agent and emulsifier.

It rounds up dirt, oil, and grime, so they can be rinsed off easily as a cleanser.

On the emulsifier side, it keeps your formula smooth and well-mixed by playing peacekeeper for ingredients that don't naturally get along (like oil and water).

Because it has a C12 (lauric acid) fatty acid chain, this ingredient can potentially feed the Malassezia yeast that causes fungal acne. The Malassezia yeast prefers esters with C11-C24 fatty acids.

This ingredient is an ester of lauric acid and Polyglycerin-10.

Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil is an essential oil also known as rosemary essential oil. In skincare, it is a skin conditioning agent and also acts as a natural fragrance that gives products a fresh/herby smell.

The oil is a mix of over 100 volatile compounds with 1,8-cineole, α-pinene, camphor, and verbenone usually leading the pack.

Lab studies credit this oil with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activity. Some research even show rosemary compounds calming acne-related inflammation.

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) has concluded rosemary-derived ingredients to be safe when formulated to be nonsensitizing.

Since this is a fragrant essential oil, the main concern is for fragrance-sensitive folks.

This ingredient is more commonly known as clary sage essential oil.

The two main active components in clary sage essential oil are linalool and linalyl acetate.

A patch test is recommended before use, especially for sensitive skin. This ingredient should be diluted as part of a formulation and not applied directly.

This tree is also known as the David Elm. It contains the ingredient bakuchiol.

Other great compounds found in this ingredient include galactose, glucose, and phenolics. The sugar content gives it great skin hydrating properties. Phenolics are potent antioxidants commonly found in fruits and veggies.

A 2020 study found the phenolics of this root to have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Fun fact: This ingredient is used in traditional Asian medicine.

Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.

So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.

You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!

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