CosIng — the European Commission's cosmetic ingredient database. How to use it

Reading the INCI list on a jar of cream and spotting a name that means nothing to you? Before you reach for an app that rates ingredients with a "green light/red light" system, check the source those apps rely on (or should rely on): CosIng — the Cosmetic Ingredient Database, the European Commission's official database.

What exactly is CosIng?

CosIng (short for Cosmetic Ingredients) is a free, publicly available database maintained by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). It contains more than 30,000 entries covering cosmetic ingredients along with their:

• INCI names (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients),
• CAS and EC/EINECS numbers,
• assigned functions (e.g. emollient, surfactant, preservative),
• references to Annexes II–VI of Regulation 1223/2009,
• opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS).

The database is available at ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing and requires no registration or login.

How do you search for ingredients in CosIng?

When you open the CosIng page, you'll see a search form with several fields. The most commonly used ones are:

1. INCI name — enter the ingredient name exactly as it appears on the label, e.g. "Tocopheryl Acetate" or "Cetearyl Alcohol". CosIng does not recognise local trade names.
2. CAS number — if you have the substance's CAS number (e.g. 59-02-9 for alpha-tocopherol), this is the most precise search method.
3. Function — you can filter ingredients by their assigned function, for example to display all permitted preservatives.

The search results show a table with the INCI name, assigned functions, any restrictions (a reference to a specific annex and entry) and links to SCCS opinions where they exist.

Eight function categories — what do they mean?

CosIng assigns each ingredient one or more functions from a fixed catalogue. Here are the categories you'll come across most often and what they mean:

• Emollient — softens and smooths the skin (e.g. squalane, caprylic/capric triglyceride).
• Humectant — attracts and binds water in the skin (e.g. glycerin, hyaluronic acid).
• Surfactant — a surface-active substance responsible for foaming and cleansing (e.g. sodium laureth sulfate).
• Preservative — a preservative that prevents microbial growth (e.g. phenoxyethanol) — must be listed in Annex V.
• UV filter — a sunscreen filter (e.g. ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) — must be listed in Annex VI.
• Colorant — a colourant (e.g. CI 77891 = titanium dioxide used as a pigment) — must be listed in Annex IV.
• Skin conditioning — keeps the skin in good condition (a broad term covering many actives).
• Fragrance — a fragrance substance (e.g. linalool, limonene).

A single ingredient can have several functions at once. For example, zinc oxide can act as a colorant, UV filter and skin protectant depending on the formula.

Information on restrictions and bans

If an ingredient is subject to restrictions (Annex III) or is banned (Annex II), CosIng clearly flags this. With each entry you'll find:

• the entry number in the relevant annex,
• the maximum permitted concentration (where applicable),
• the type of product to which the restriction applies,
• the labelling required on the packaging (e.g. "Contains: Methylisothiazolinone").

This information is especially useful when you want to verify whether a given product meets regulatory requirements. To understand how to read a full INCI list, take a look at our guide to cosmetic ingredient lists.

What CosIng does NOT contain — a common misunderstanding

This is a crucial point that is the source of many misreadings: CosIng is not a safety database. You won't find here:

• safety ratings of individual ingredients along the lines of "safe/unsafe",
• toxic doses (LD50, NOAEL) — that data is found in SCCS opinions, which CosIng merely links to,
• ratings of finished products — CosIng covers ingredients only, not specific cosmetics,
• information about interactions between ingredients within a formula.

The fact that an ingredient is listed in CosIng without any restrictions does not automatically mean it is safe at every concentration and in every use. It only means it is not subject to specific regulation at EU level. Assessing the safety of a finished product is a separate process, required by Article 10 of Regulation 1223/2009.

CosIng and other databases

CosIng is not the only database covering cosmetic ingredients, but it is the only official EU regulatory database. By way of comparison:

• EWG Skin Deep (Environmental Working Group) — an American database with safety ratings, but based on a methodology that European toxicologists criticise for excessive alarmism.
• SCCS Opinions — scientific opinions from the Scientific Committee, more detailed than CosIng but hard for a layperson to interpret.
• PurScore — our database combines regulatory data with a practical assessment of the formulas of finished products available in Polish drugstores.

Practical use of CosIng for consumers

CosIng is a technical tool, but consumers can put it to use in several situations:

1. Verifying an ingredient's function — is "cetearyl alcohol" really a skin-drying alcohol? CosIng will show that it's an emollient and emulsifier, not ethyl alcohol.
2. Checking regulatory status — is a given ingredient restricted or banned in the EU?
3. Comparing against the manufacturer's claims — if a manufacturer claims an ingredient "protects against UV" but CosIng doesn't list it as a UV filter in Annex VI, then the claim is questionable at best.

Start with the PurScore ingredient database — we translate regulatory data into language anyone can understand, without having to wade through European Commission documents.