INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, the standardised naming system every cosmetic product sold legally has to use on its label. Once you know how to read one, you can tell more about a product from its ingredient list than from any marketing claim on the front of the bottle
The order actually means something
Ingredients are listed in descending order by concentration. The first few ingredients make up the bulk of the formula, usually water (listed as "Aqua"), followed by the main functional ingredients, then a long tail of ingredients under 1% each: preservatives, pH adjusters, texture agents, and any fragrance
That means a serum with water and glycerin at the top and your favourite "hero ingredient" buried near the bottom probably contains very little of it, no matter how big that ingredient's name is on the box
Latin names aren't a red flag
"Butyrospermum Parkii Butter" looks alarming until you know it's shea butter. "Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil" is jojoba oil. INCI names are Latin or scientific botanical names, not a sign something is synthetic or harsh. Plenty of gentle, familiar ingredients just have unfamiliar-looking names on the label
If you can't pronounce it, it's not automatically bad. It might just be the Latin name for shea butter
What actually matters
A few things worth actually checking: whether "Fragrance" or "Parfum" appears (a common trigger for reactive skin), whether the specific actives you're looking for (niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, a named vitamin C form) appear high enough in the list to matter, and whether any known allergens are called out, in the EU, ingredients like limonene and linalool have to be listed separately when present, even though they usually come from natural fragrance oils
See it for yourself
Every product on this site lists its full INCI on its own product page, including the ones we'd rather you skip if your skin is reactive. We've also built a full ingredient glossary, every INCI name we use, across every product, explained in plain language, alphabetically. No marketing names, no vague "proprietary blend." Just what's actually in the bottle