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Category
Know exactly what's in the bottle and why it matters.
Quick answer
The Ingredients library is the most thorough English-language reference for skincare actives we know how to build. Each entry breaks down what an ingredient is, the mechanism by which it works, the clinical evidence behind it, who should and shouldn't use it, and how to layer it without canceling other actives.
Retinol, retinal, tretinoin, bakuchiol — every option, decoded.
Every form of vitamin C — LAA, SAP, MAP, THD, glucoside.
The all-rounder vitamin B3, properly explained.
Signal, carrier, neuropeptides — and which actually work.
The exfoliant family from gentlest to strongest.
Hyaluronic acid, glycerin, polyglutamic acid, beta-glucan.
Barrier-repair lipids the skin actually uses.
Pre/pro/postbiotics, ferments, and biome-friendly botanicals.
PDRN, exosomes, EGF, snail mucin, propolis, galactomyces.
Mineral, chemical, and what's actually FDA-approved in the US.
Niacinamide blocks melanosome transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes. It does not shut down melanogenesis itself. That mechanism puts a hard ceiling on…
Almost every published clinical trial on topical vitamin C used Fitzpatrick I-II patients. The extrapolation to oily, acne-prone, Fitzpatrick V skin doesn't…
Retinaldehyde is roughly 11× more potent than retinol with comparable irritation. The reason it's underused isn't clinical — it's supply chain economics.
Tretinoin is the gold-standard retinoid for hyperpigmentation, and one of the more common iatrogenic causes of hyperpigmentation in darker skin tones. Both…
TL;DR: A reader pointed at a Korean essence claiming 76% tyndallized lactobacillus ferment and asked if any of that meant anything. The…
TL;DR: A reader asked me whether the GHK-Cu copper peptide products she was using as antiaging actives were doing anything. The honest…
TL;DR: A reader asked why two ceramide creams felt identical on her skin but only one stopped the winter cracking. The answer…
TL;DR: Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD) gets sold as a kinder version of L-ascorbic acid that penetrates better and skips the sting. The lab…
TL;DR: Most layering pairs in skincare are folklore. The niacinamide plus retinoid stack is one of the few combinations with published clinical…
TL;DR: Most ceramide creams on shelves are sold on the ceramide number alone. Man 1996 and Elias 2014 showed that ceramides without…
Modern skincare is an ingredient game. Brand names matter less than the molecules inside the bottle, and the brands that succeed are the ones that explain those molecules honestly. The Ingredients library exists because nobody else is doing this work at the depth and clarity it deserves.
Ten subcategories cover the whole field: Retinoids & Bakuchiol (the cell-turnover family), Vitamin C (every form, from L-ascorbic acid to ascorbyl glucoside), Niacinamide, Peptides, Acids (AHA, BHA, PHA), Hydrators (hyaluronic acid, glycerin, polyglutamic acid), Ceramides & Lipids, Microbiome Ingredients (pre/pro/postbiotics, ferments), Korean & Biotech Actives (PDRN, exosomes, snail mucin), and Sunscreen Filters.
Every entry follows the same structure. A 60–90 word quick-answer up top so you can leave with the key facts in 30 seconds. Then the science, in plain English. Then the clinical evidence, with citations and publication dates so you can verify. Pairing rules, side effects, who should avoid, recommended concentrations, and which forms are FDA-approved in the US.
Elelaf is FDA-approved and manufactured in South Korea — the world's most innovative skincare lab ecosystem. We pay close attention to which ingredients are approved where, and which are still under regulatory review (looking at you, exosomes). Our ingredient pages will always tell you the regulatory status, not just the marketing claim.