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Market statistics · snapshot 2026-09-06
Cosmetics ingredients in numbers
Aggregate statistics computed from the full INCIDB corpus: 18,583 cosmetic and personal-care product labels from Open Beauty Facts, 318,758 ordered ingredient positions resolved to 46,973 canonical INCI names and enriched from the European Commission CosIng inventory. Every figure is free to cite, quote and embed with a link to this page.
- Products18,583
- Brands5,925
- Canonical INCI names46,973
- Ingredient positions318,758
- Median ingredients17
- Snapshot2026-09-06
The most common cosmetic ingredients
61.2% of products list Aqua / Water, 45.8% list PARFUM and 45.4% list GLYCERIN. The catalogue holds 46,973 distinct canonical INCI names across 318,758 ingredient positions.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#top-ingredients"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/top-ingredients.svg" alt="The most common cosmetic ingredients" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| INCI name | Products | Share of products |
|---|---|---|
| Aqua / Water | 11,380 | 61.2% |
| PARFUM | 8,517 | 45.8% |
| GLYCERIN | 8,429 | 45.4% |
| CITRIC ACID | 5,818 | 31.3% |
| SODIUM BENZOATE | 4,682 | 25.2% |
| LIMONENE | 4,603 | 24.8% |
| LINALOOL | 4,541 | 24.4% |
| SODIUM CHLORIDE | 4,090 | 22.0% |
| PHENOXYETHANOL | 3,473 | 18.7% |
| SODIUM HYDROXIDE | 3,256 | 17.5% |
| COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE | 3,038 | 16.3% |
| TOCOPHEROL | 2,765 | 14.9% |
| BENZYL ALCOHOL | 2,646 | 14.2% |
| SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE | 2,528 | 13.6% |
| PROPYLENE GLYCOL | 2,444 | 13.2% |
| XANTHAN GUM | 2,342 | 12.6% |
| POTASSIUM SORBATE | 2,330 | 12.5% |
| CITRONELLOL | 2,296 | 12.4% |
| DIMETHICONE | 2,125 | 11.4% |
| CETEARYL ALCOHOL | 2,102 | 11.3% |
Share of products whose parsed ingredient list contains the canonical INCI name at least once. Aqua and Water are two spellings of the same ingredient and are counted together; every other name is counted as it appears after canonicalisation.
Fragrance, preservatives, surfactants and silicones
51.7% of products contain fragrance and 43.9% contain at least one EU-listed fragrance allergen. Parabens appear in 5.5% of products and phenoxyethanol, the preservative that has largely replaced them, in 18.7%.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#ingredient-groups"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/ingredient-groups.svg" alt="Ingredient groups by share of products" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Group | Products | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fragrance (Parfum / Fragrance / Aroma) | 9,600 | 51.7% |
| EU-listed fragrance allergens | 8,153 | 43.9% |
| PEG compounds | 4,077 | 21.9% |
| Sulfate surfactants (SLS / SLES) | 3,772 | 20.3% |
| Silicones | 3,673 | 19.8% |
| Phenoxyethanol | 3,473 | 18.7% |
| Alcohol / Alcohol denat. | 1,968 | 10.6% |
| Mineral oil / Petrolatum | 1,112 | 6.0% |
| Parabens | 1,019 | 5.5% |
Each group is a plain rule over canonical INCI names (for example, any name ending in PARABEN; any name containing METHICONE or SILOXANE; the EU Annex III fragrance-allergen list for allergens). The rules describe presence on the label, not concentration or safety.
How common the headline skincare actives are
Vitamin E (tocopherol or tocopheryl acetate) is in 22.9% of products. The actives that drive skincare marketing are rare across the whole catalogue: hyaluronic acid appears in 5.5%, niacinamide in 3.4% and retinoids in 1.1%.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#actives"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/actives.svg" alt="Skincare actives by share of products" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Active | Products | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Vitamin E (Tocopherol, Tocopheryl acetate) | 4,249 | 22.9% |
| Vitamin C and derivatives | 1,089 | 5.9% |
| Glycolic / Lactic acid (AHAs) | 1,057 | 5.7% |
| Hyaluronic acid / Sodium hyaluronate | 1,031 | 5.5% |
| Niacinamide | 631 | 3.4% |
| Salicylic acid | 610 | 3.3% |
| Retinoids (Retinol, Retinyl esters) | 208 | 1.1% |
| Ceramides | 199 | 1.1% |
Denominator is every product in the catalogue, not only facial skincare, which is why the shares are low. Products span shampoos, soaps, toothpastes, deodorants and makeup as well as face care.
How long ingredient lists are
The median product lists 17 ingredients (mean 17.2, longest 154). facial creams have the longest lists at a median of 26, cleansers the shortest at 13.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#ingredient-count"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/ingredient-count.svg" alt="How many ingredients a product lists" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>Embed this chart
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#ingredients-by-category"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/ingredients-by-category.svg" alt="Median ingredient count by product type" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Ingredient count | Products | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | 3,174 | 17.1% |
| 6 to 10 | 1,869 | 10.1% |
| 11 to 15 | 3,430 | 18.5% |
| 16 to 20 | 3,732 | 20.1% |
| 21 to 30 | 4,519 | 24.3% |
| 31 to 50 | 1,654 | 8.9% |
| 51 or more | 205 | 1.1% |
By product type
| Product type | Category tag | Products | Median ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facial creams | en:facial-creams | 294 | 26 |
| Sunscreens | en:sunscreen | 312 | 26 |
| Shampoos | en:shampoos | 1,047 | 23 |
| Hair conditioners | en:hair-conditioners | 152 | 22 |
| Body creams | en:body-creams | 234 | 21 |
| Hand creams | en:hand-creams | 210 | 21 |
| Makeup | en:makeup | 444 | 20 |
| Shower gels | en:shower-gels | 543 | 19 |
| Toothpastes | en:toothpastes | 538 | 16 |
| Deodorants | en:deodorants | 681 | 15 |
| Perfumes | en:perfumes | 187 | 15 |
| Soaps | en:soaps | 610 | 14 |
| Cleansers | en:cleansers | 168 | 13 |
Ingredient count is the number of parsed positions on the label. Product types use the Open Beauty Facts category tags verbatim (12,860 of 18,583 products carry a tag); a product can carry several tags, so the types overlap. Only tags with at least 100 products are shown.
What comes first on the label
Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration, so the first name is the bulk of the product. AQUA leads 39.3% of labels and WATER another 7.9%; ALCOHOL DENAT. tops 2.2%, BUTANE (aerosol propellant) 1.7%.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#first-ingredient"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/first-ingredient.svg" alt="What is listed first on the label" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| First-listed ingredient | Products | Share |
|---|---|---|
| AQUA | 7,505 | 39.3% |
| WATER | 1,512 | 7.9% |
| ALCOHOL DENAT. | 419 | 2.2% |
| BUTANE | 319 | 1.7% |
| SODIUM PALMATE | 224 | 1.2% |
| GLYCERIN | 157 | 0.8% |
| SORBITOL | 147 | 0.8% |
| ALCOHOL | 120 | 0.6% |
| TALC | 86 | 0.5% |
| CALCIUM CARBONATE | 84 | 0.4% |
| PETROLATUM | 67 | 0.4% |
| CYCLOPENTASILOXANE | 63 | 0.3% |
Position 1 of the parsed ingredient list. EU and US labelling rules require descending order of concentration for ingredients above 1%, so the first position is the dominant ingredient by weight.
Regulated ingredients
63.9% of products contain at least one ingredient listed in Annex III of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, the list of substances permitted only under conditions such as a maximum concentration or a mandatory warning. A high share is expected, because Annex III covers everyday preservatives and fragrance components, led here by LIMONENE (24.8%) and LINALOOL (24.4%).
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#annex-iii"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/annex-iii.svg" alt="Most common EU Annex III restricted ingredients" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| INCI name | Products | Share |
|---|---|---|
| LIMONENE | 4,603 | 24.8% |
| LINALOOL | 4,541 | 24.4% |
| SODIUM HYDROXIDE | 3,256 | 17.5% |
| BENZYL ALCOHOL | 2,646 | 14.2% |
| CITRONELLOL | 2,296 | 12.4% |
| HEXYL CINNAMAL | 2,071 | 11.1% |
| GERANIOL | 2,067 | 11.1% |
| BENZYL SALICYLATE | 1,463 | 7.9% |
| COUMARIN | 1,445 | 7.8% |
| CITRAL | 1,262 | 6.8% |
Annex III membership comes from the European Commission CosIng inventory, joined on exact canonical name. It records that a substance is regulated, not whether a given product complies, which depends on concentration and use that labels do not state. Annex II (prohibited substances) is deliberately not summarised here: exact-name joins on that list produce matches that need case-by-case review before they mean anything.
What the ingredients are for
Weighted by how often they appear on labels, 27.8% of ingredient positions carry the CosIng function Fragrance, 23.9% Skin Conditioning and 21.7% Viscosity Controlling.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#functions"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/functions.svg" alt="What ingredients are for" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| CosIng function | Ingredient positions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fragrance | 72,227 | 27.8% |
| Skin Conditioning | 61,995 | 23.9% |
| Viscosity Controlling | 56,307 | 21.7% |
| Perfuming | 55,575 | 21.4% |
| Solvent | 43,742 | 16.8% |
| Skin Conditioning - Emollient | 34,038 | 13.1% |
| Surfactant - Cleansing | 33,804 | 13.0% |
| Surfactant - Emulsifying | 31,709 | 12.2% |
| Hair Conditioning | 30,326 | 11.7% |
| Humectant | 22,246 | 8.6% |
| Preservative | 20,852 | 8.0% |
| Cleansing | 17,897 | 6.9% |
CosIng assigns one or more functions to each inventory entry. Each ingredient position on a label counts once per function of its ingredient, so shares sum to more than 100%. Denominator: the 259,803 of 318,758 positions whose ingredient has a CosIng function.
How much of the catalogue is enriched, stated two ways
Only 11.0% of the 46,973 distinct canonical names match the CosIng inventory, yet those names fill 82.5% of all 318,758 ingredient positions on labels. The long tail of unmatched strings (botanical variants, multilingual spellings, marketing tokens) is real but rare on any given label.
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<a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/#coverage"><img src="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/coverage.svg" alt="How raw label tokens were resolved" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/">INCIDB cosmetics ingredient statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Resolution method | Name-map rows | Share |
|---|---|---|
| unresolved | 42,387 | 76.5% |
| exact | 4,816 | 8.7% |
| split | 4,161 | 7.5% |
| paren_stripped | 2,705 | 4.9% |
| cleaned | 1,066 | 1.9% |
| percent_stripped | 121 | 0.2% |
| slash_variant | 99 | 0.2% |
| typo_map | 45 | 0.1% |
| synonym_map | 26 | 0.0% |
Every raw label token is mapped to a canonical name with the method recorded per row and shipped with the data. Quoting only the link-weighted figure would flatter the coverage; quoting only the name-level figure would understate it, so both are published.
Method, reuse and citation
- Source. The full INCIDB snapshot of 2026-09-06: 18,583 product labels from Open Beauty Facts (product data © Open Beauty Facts contributors, ODbL v1.0), ingredient lists parsed into ordered positions and resolved to canonical INCI names, with functions, CAS numbers and Annex membership joined from the European Commission CosIng inventory (contains data from the European Commission CosIng database).
- Nothing is inferred. A figure counts what labels state. Concentrations are not on labels and are never estimated; where a source has no value the field is NULL and excluded from that figure's denominator, which every section states.
- The corpus is what contributors scanned. Open Beauty Facts over-represents European mass-market products and the categories its contributors photograph. Shares describe this corpus, not the world market.
- Refresh. INCIDB ships editions; this page and its charts are regenerated with each edition, so figures move. Cite the snapshot date.
- Reuse. The figures and charts on this page are published under CC BY 4.0: use them in articles, slides and posts with a link to https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/ and the Open Beauty Facts attribution above. The machine-readable version is data.json. The row-level tables are INCIDB Complete; a free 200-product sample is in the public repository.
- Suggested citation. INCIDB (2026). Cosmetics ingredients in numbers, snapshot 2026-09-06. DataEngineered. https://incidb.dataengineered.io/stats/
- Questions or corrections: contact form or incidb@dataengineered.io.
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Every product with its ordered ingredient positions, canonical names, CosIng functions, CAS numbers and Annex flags, plus the name map that shows how each label token was resolved. CSV and Parquet.
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