The Case of the Mystery INCI Ingredients

This is about a glitch, and glitches do happen. I was all ready to yell at this cosmetics company for making up ingredient names and not listing their ingredients properly, but as it turned out, there was no need for yelling.

Quite the contrary.

The Published INCI List

The company Beneco came to my attention through a blog post. The author was reviewing one of their products and included an INCI list in the post. Two ingredients caught my eye immediately: 'Glyzerylfettsäureester' and 'Magacamianussöl'.

Hmm. Not INCI, but 'looks like'. My thoughts immediately flew to a marketing department trying to create cult-like names with no meaning (you know, like 'Hägen Daz').

Then I started examining more closely.

German?

Glyzerylfettsäureester... glycerol fatty acid esters?
Magacamianussöl.. that's awfully close to macadamia nut oil

Ask The Source

I found Beneco's contact info and sent them an email - not really expecting to hear back (my questions often get ignored by cosmetics manufacturers, government advisory agencies and the like). To my surprise, a week later, a reply came from marketing director Silke Becker.

Mystery Solved

In her reply, Ms. Becker included these descriptions of the 2 ingredients:

"Macadamia oil (or Macadamia nut oil) is the non-volatile oil expressed from the nut meat of the macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) tree, a native Australian nut. Macadamia oil is sometimes used in food as a frying or salad oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient or fragrance fixative.

Glycerylfettsäureester in INCI is Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides. Capric/caprylic triglycerid is a combined triester, a blend of capric and caprylic acids. It is also known as fractionated coconut oil. Its most popular use is as an emollient (for calming, and softening out the skin), due to the fact that it is capable of rapid penetration. It is also very commonly found in vitamins, as it is an effective dispersing agent. It is a very popular ingredient in many skin products and soaps."

And here I was, all ready for a fight.

Hats off to Beneco for:

• replying
• explaining
• fixing the glitch
• being polite and not even remotely condescending

Find Beneco here.