I like to start testing new skincare brands not by trying the heavy hitters, but with something everyone can use: hydrating serums are great for that. I tested The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid and Q10 serums – aaaaaaand? Well. I’ll give you the good – and the bad. Buckle in.
The Inkey List: new and buzzy brand
Two people from Boots launched a ‘premium skincare line without premium prices’ (Get the Gloss), with a simple approach concentrating on one hero ingredient per product in 2018. The name plays on that: we’ve all perused the eponymous ‘inci list’ at the back of products. The Inkey List (TIL) plasters the hero ingredient on the label, thus styling themselves as ‘the beauty translator’, ‘breaking through the jargon’. Products are relatively cheap and the black-and-white plastic bottles instagrammable. The brand is already easily available nearly everywhere in the world.
Accessible skincare for all
We at Twindly dig accessible products and hailed The Ordinary when it first made good skincare available at low pricepoints: The Inkey List goes a step further and simplifies the lingo around skincare ingredients.
The skincare line isn’t as streamlined as when it was at launch: all the different serums can be a bit confusing, but the brand gives you all the buzzy ingredients (bakuchiol! Snow mushroom!) in skincare products from cleanser to serum to moisturiser.
The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid
What it is
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is awesome: It’s not an ‘acid’ as we understand them in skincare (no peeling properties whatsoever), but a substance naturally occurring in your skin (and therefore, easily tolerable for all skintypes). When it’s manufactured, it’s usually animal sourced. Hyaluronic acid is a humectant and draws moisture from its surroundings. It’s able to replenish skin’s moisture levels, because 1gr can hold up to six litres of water. Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt derived from HA that skin absorbs more easily than HA.
What it does
When you think about that the amount of HA in your skin starts to decline when you hit your twenties, thus making skin drier, less elastic and bouncy, it might start to make sense to use a HA serum to replenish that. Lately it has become a trend to use different forms of HA for a better performance. Smaller molecules can penetrate deeper into the layers of your skin to replenish its moisture levels. Bigger molecules are great in the uppermost layer of skin where they prevent moisture loss and make skin look supple and bouncy (for a while).
Formula
The main ingredients of The Inkey List’s Hyaluronic Acid (30ml, around 5€) are water (no surprise) and propanediol. Propanediol is a solvent and moisturising ingredient in its own right, and used to replace the often bad-mouthed propylene glycol. Although touted to be better, a lot of skincare junkies don’t like it: it often has a slightly greasy quality to it. My skin often breaks out in whiteheads after using products with lots of propanediol. Not so with TIL’s Hyaluronic Acid. I like the clear gel-like liquid a lot. My moisture levels (measured with a skin analyser) are quite good these days (due to this little hack), and stay good during the day when I use TIL’s Hyaluronic Acid.
The inci list is very short and includes both Sodium Hyaluronate, Hyaluronic Acid and also some peptides. Including those is great, because some peptides are supposed to enhance penetration of hyaluronic acid molecules into the skin.
Performance
There’s one major setback to the serum: while it goes on easily, sinks in super quick and is generally very pleasant to use, it leaves the skin sticky. That sticky feeling doesn’t go away when I apply moisturiser and sunscreen over it, but didn’t interfere with foundation.
I just want to throw out that TIL claims to use three different molecule sizes, Hada Labo’s Premium Lotion contains five, has a similar prize point and a much more pleasant skin feel.
Q10
What it is
Q10 (ubiquinone/coenzyme Q10) is a well-known antioxidant that fights free radicals and is therefore great for anti-aging purposes. Similar to hyaluronic acid, your body’s own production decreases in your 20s. So it makes sense to use a Q10 product! In your body, it works towards cell renewal.
What it does
TIL’s claim ‘targets fine lines’ goes a bit too far: it won’t make fine lines disappear, but it may prevent new ones (sunscreen is still number one for that purpose). The formula also includes a bit hyaluronic acid that’ll plump the skin immediately. Then there’s squalane for hydration and some peptides that might increase collagen production for firmer skin.
Formula
Its ingredient list is slightly longer, with a LOT of emollients in the first spots – that stuff that makes your skin feels nice and smooth. I can’t spot the culprit, but my skin doesn’t tolerate the Q10 serum: I break out every time I tried it a few days in a row. Which is why it now gets solely used on my décolletage where it doesn’t do anything particularly bad or good.
The serum itself feels quite pleasant and not as silicone-y as I thought, with a slightly milky look. (The yellow tint comes from Q10 itself, which is bright orange on its own.)
Performance
Q10 (30ml, around 5€) is not a bad antioxidant, it’s just not for me. But that’s the great thing with antioxidants: good to have them in your skincare routine, while there’re a LOT of options. It’s also good to use a complex of them, and not only one specific antioxidant. (Compare it to eating healthy: good idea to incorporate a healthy mix of veg and fruit, and not only eat broccoli, for example. It’s also not particularly bad if you can’t stand broccoli, but have a lot of other greens instead.)
The Inkey List: really cheap?!
Yes and no: when it comes to cheap, a bit of a comparison can be good: while 5€/$5 seem cheap for 30ml of a hyaluronic acid serum, that’s actually not the case. My fave hyaluronic acid by Hada Labo comes in a 170ml bottle that’s $18. French pharmacy brands like La Roche-Posey and Vichy both offer hyaluronic acid serums that clock in around the $30 mark for 30ml. They’re comparable, ingredient-wise, to TIL’s, while Paula’s Choice and other high-end skincare brands start around $50 (but offer mostly a mix of active ingredients different to the one-trick-ponies above).
The Inkey List: really good?!
I like the HA serum, but am still unsure if I’ll repurchase. I find Hada Labo’s texture much preferable to TIL’s. It goes without saying that I won’t repurchase Q10, and am also a bit iffy on antioxidant serums that offer only ONE antioxidant – a mix of them is preferable. I like TIL’s approach to accessible, easily understandable skincare products. But still, it’s not absolutely foolproof, you still have to educate yourself and you still have that modular ‘build-your-own’ thing going on. That’s only great if you’re a skincare junkie or want to exclude certain ingredients from your skincare.
Nevertheless, there’s something said about skincare products that offer well-rounded formulas developed for certain issues you want to tackle. Different to what skincare companies want you to believe, there’s not one hero ingredient that does it all. The interplay of different ones might help you more in the long run. (Also, sunscreen.)
Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods or money for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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