TAHNYC Canvas Active Peptide Mist

TAHNYC Canvas Active Peptide Mist TAHNYC Canvas Active Peptide Mist ingredients explained: Aqua, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-40, Naturally Derived Propanediol, Sodium PCA, Sodium Hyaluronate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Naturally Derived Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate Show all ingredients by function Aqua solvent Acetyl Tetrapeptide-40 Naturally Derived Propanediol solvent, moisturizer/​humectant Sodium PCA skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 goodie Sodium Hyaluronate 1,2-Hexanediol Caprylyl Glycol moisturizer/​humectant, emollient Hydroxyacetophenone antioxidant, preservative Naturally Derived Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate chelating Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product. It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water. Expand to read more Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying. One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time. We don't have description for this ingredient yet. Propanediol is a natural alternative for the often used and often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. It's produced sustainably from corn sugar and it's Ecocert approved. It's quite a multi-tasker: can be used to improve skin moisturization, as a solvent, to boost preservative efficacy or to influence the sensory properties of the end formula. PCA stands for Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid and though it might not sound like it, it is a thing that can be found naturally in our skin. The sodium salt form of PCA is an important skin-identical ingredient and great natural moisturizer that helps the skin to hold onto water and stay nicely hydrated. It’s the - sodium form - cousin of the famous NMF, hyaluronic acid (HA). If HA does not tell you anything we have a super detailed, geeky explanation about it here. The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to hold onto water, being plump and elastic. HA is famous for its crazy water holding capacity as it can bind up to 1000 times its own weight in water. As far as skincare goes, sodium hyaluronate and hyaluronic acid are pretty much the same and the two names are used interchangeably. As cosmetic chemist kindofstephen writes on reddit "sodium hyaluronate disassociates into hyaluronic acid molecule and a sodium atom in solution". In spite of this, if you search for "hyaluronic acid vs sodium hyaluronate" you will find on multiple places that sodium hyaluronate is smaller and can penetrate the skin better. Chemically, this is definitely not true, as the two forms are almost the same, both are polymers and the subunits can be repeated in both forms as much as you like. (We also checked Prospector for sodium hyaluronate versions actually used in cosmetic products and found that the most common molecular weight was 1.5-1.8 million Da that absolutely counts as high molecular weight). What seems to be a true difference, though, is that the salt form is more stable, easier to formulate and cheaper so it pops up more often on the ingredient lists. If you wanna become a real HA-and-the-skin expert you can read way more about the topic at hyaluronic acid (including penetration-questions, differences between high and low mole what‑it‑does solvent | moisturizer/humectant skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant irritancy, com. moisturizer/humectant | emollient antioxidant | preservative