Natural on the front, phenoxyethanol on the back

Walk down any beauty aisle and you'll see the word “natural” everywhere — on serums, cleansers, moisturisers and body washes. Now turn the bottle around and read towards the end of the ingredient list. Very often, you'll find one word sitting there: phenoxyethanol.

As cosmetic chemists, it's one of the first things we look for. And it's one of the clearest examples of how the front of a pack and the formula inside can tell two very different stories.

Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative. You may hear it described as “nature-identical” because a similar compound occurs in green tea, but the phenoxyethanol used in skincare is made in a lab from petrochemical starting materials.

Preservatives themselves are essential. Any product that contains water needs protection from bacteria, yeast and mould, or it simply isn't safe to use. Phenoxyethanol is popular because it works across a broad range of microbes, it's easy to formulate with, and it's inexpensive. It's permitted in cosmetics at up to 1% in Europe, and regulators consider it safe at those levels.

COSMOS is the leading international standard for natural and organic cosmetics. It allows only a short list of preservatives — and phenoxyethanol isn't on it. A product that contains phenoxyethanol can't be COSMOS certified as natural or organic.

There's no single legal definition of “natural” skincare, so the word can appear on a label with very little behind it. That gap is exactly where customers get misled.

The honest answer is usually cost and convenience. Alternative preservative systems tend to cost more, take more formulation work and need careful stability testing to get right. Phenoxyethanol is the quick, cheap fix — and the “natural” claim still goes on the front.

We understand the commercial pressure. What we don't accept is telling customers a product is natural when the formula says otherwise. People choose natural skincare for a reason, and they deserve to get what they're paying for.

None of the HER range contains phenoxyethanol — not one formula. The same goes for our face and body skincare across the range. We use alternative preservative systems instead. They cost more and take more work to stabilise, and we think that's worth it.

Look for the “No Phenoxyethanol” mark on each product page — and, as always, the full ingredient list is there for you to read.

Skip the front of the pack and go straight to the ingredient list. Look for phenoxyethanol, usually near the end. If a product calls itself natural, look for a recognised certification logo rather than just the word. And if you're unsure, ask the brand directly — a brand that's proud of its formula will happily tell you what's in it.