Best health and beauty products compared

In cosmetics almost everything decisive is on the packaging — just not in the part written for the buyer. The INCI list is ordered by content down to one percent, so the position of an active ingredient says more than the sentence on the front of the box.

We read that list first: which actives are present, roughly at what concentration they sit, and whether the formula contains anything with a known irritation profile at that level. Where a brand declares a concentration, we look for the study behind it — ideally on the finished product rather than on the raw ingredient, because a well-documented active in a badly built formula does not deliver what the raw-material dossier promises.

For sun protection the rules are stricter and easier to check: the SPF number, the UVA mark in a circle that certifies protection at least a third of the declared SPF, and the tested application quantity, which is considerably higher than what most people apply. For devices we ask about the certification behind the claim and what the maintenance costs — heads, filters and cartridges frequently exceed the price of the device within two years.

Tolerance is scored as its own component. A formula that works but is abandoned after a fortnight because it stings has, in practice, not worked.