Decode any ingredient list.
Copy the INCI list off any box, bottle, or retailer page — even for products we've never reviewed — or just upload a photo of the label and let the decoder read it. You get a plain-English readout: what every ingredient is doing there, which ones are allergens or pore-cloggers, and whether the formula clears fragrance-free, fungal-acne, and pregnancy checks.
Recognized actives
Matched to our ingredient guidesThe full list, decoded
In label orderThe first five positions are marked — ingredients are listed in descending concentration (down to the 1% line), so those opening names are most of what's in the bottle.
Automated read of a pasted label — educational, not medical advice. Flags are heuristics; confirm anything pregnancy-related with your OB or dermatologist.
Paste a list above (it decodes the moment you paste), drop or paste in a photo of the label, or hit “Try an example.” Nothing leaves your device — photo reading and the whole analysis run in your browser.
Your last decoded list — saved on this device, and to your free account when you're signed in. See or clear it in Your data.
- Viral & TikTok TrendsExosomes Are Being Sold Faster Than They Are Being StudiedThe FDA's position is one sentence: there are currently no FDA-approved exosome products. Aesthetic plastic surgeons reviewing their own field reached a verdict almost as blunt.
- C-BeautyChinese Skincare Marketing Runs on Ingredient Literacy. That Has a Downside.The standard product post opens with a percentage rather than a lifestyle photo, and the regulator makes brands publish their evidence. Both of those are ahead of the West. The metric they created is the problem.
- Natural & BotanicalYour Witch Hazel Is 14% Alcohol and Almost No Witch HazelThe supplier specification for standard witch hazel water caps the tannin content — the fraction all the research is about — at a level indistinguishable from none. The tightness you feel is the solvent.
- C-BeautyA Chinese Brand Built Its Whole Company on Sensitive Skin. The Thesis Is Better Than the Marketing.Picking one skin state and selling through hospital dermatology departments is a genuinely smart strategy. Whether the house botanical earns its billing is a separate question, and the answer is not the one either side wants.
How the decoder works
The decoder runs your pasted list against the same ingredient knowledge base that powers the Dermington product database: a 270-entry active-ingredient encyclopedia with evidence gradings, a pattern map that recognizes an active under its many INCI aliases, a plain-English function dictionary for the supporting cast (solvents, emulsifiers, thickeners, preservatives), and curated hazard lists — the EU's individually-labeled fragrance allergens, preservatives with real sensitization records, classic comedogenic ratings, and pregnancy-relevant actives. Photo reading works the same way: an open-source OCR engine (Tesseract) runs inside your browser to lift the text off the label, so the image itself is never uploaded anywhere.
Every ingredient is checked in its original label position, because position is information: an ingredient list is ordered by concentration down to 1%, so a drying alcohol in slot three means something very different from the same alcohol in slot twenty-three. The verdict chips — fragrance-free, fungal-acne safe, pregnancy flags, comedogenic hits — summarize the whole formula at a glance, and any active we've written a full guide for links straight to it.
Common questions
What does INCI mean, and why does the order of ingredients matter?
INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients — the standardized naming system every cosmetic label worldwide has to use, which is why water becomes "Aqua" and vitamin E becomes "Tocopherol". Order is the useful part: ingredients must be listed in descending concentration down to 1%, so the first five or so names are the bulk of what you are actually buying. Anything after the preservatives is usually present at a fraction of a percent.
Can the decoder read a photo or screenshot of the label?
Yes — hit "Read from a photo" (or drag, drop, or paste an image straight onto the box) and an open-source OCR engine reads the text right on your device; the photo never leaves your browser. Flat, well-lit shots and retailer screenshots come out nearly perfect, while curved bottles, foil pouches, and glare are harder. Obvious misreads get auto-corrected against a dictionary of six-thousand-plus real INCI names from our product database — "Shez Putter" becomes Shea Butter — and every auto-fix is labeled on its row, with the recognized text left in the box so you can overrule any guess by hand.
Are chemical-sounding ingredient names something to worry about?
No — everything in the bottle is a chemical, including the Aqua at the top of the list, and some of the scariest-sounding names (sodium hyaluronate, tocopheryl acetate) are among the gentlest things in skincare. Safety is a question of dose and data, not syllable count; poison ivy is perfectly natural and pronounceable. What matters is whether an ingredient has a sensitization record or sits unusually high on the list, which is exactly what this decoder checks.
How seriously should I take comedogenic ratings?
As a starting point, not a verdict. The classic 0–5 ratings come from decades-old lab assays — pure ingredients applied to rabbit ears, later human backs, at far higher concentrations than any finished formula uses. A rating-4 ester diluted to 2% in a well-built moisturizer may never trouble your pores. If you are acne-prone, treat a flagged ingredient as a reason to patch test on your jawline for a week, not a reason to bin the product.
What does "fungal-acne safe" actually mean?
Fungal acne is an overgrowth of Malassezia yeast that lives on everyone's skin and feeds on fatty acids with carbon chains roughly 11–24 long — which covers most plant oils, butters, fatty-acid esters, and polysorbates. A "safe" formula simply avoids feeding it. Our check is a heuristic built on those chain-length rules, so read a flag as "worth knowing if you suspect Malassezia", not as a diagnosis; plenty of people use flagged products with zero issues.
Why does fragrance get flagged so often?
Because fragrance is the single most common cause of cosmetic contact allergy — dermatology patch-test clinics see it constantly. The EU requires the two dozen most allergenic fragrance components, like limonene and linalool, to be named individually on the label, which is why they keep showing up at the end of INCI lists. If your skin is resilient and you love a scented cream, carry on; if your barrier is compromised or you react easily, fragrance is the first thing dermatologists advise cutting.