Ingredient checker apps
Yuka, Think Dirty, EWG Skin Deep, SkinSAFE, SkinSort, INKEEDecoder and the rest, read on the makers' own method pages and checked against each other on the same products. The claims that matter here are what a score measures, which rule turns ingredients into a verdict, and who pays the app.
Five lines we check on every ingredient app
Every guide here reads these lines on the maker's own page and dates what it found. The full method is on how we check.
- 01
What it scores
Hazard, allergens, pore-clogging or "clean": the question behind the number.
- 02
The rule
Whether the worst ingredient caps the product, or shares are counted.
- 03
Dose
Whether how much of an ingredient is in the product counts at all.
- 04
Sources
Which regulators, panels and studies it names, and whether it names its reviewers.
- 05
Who pays it
Subscriptions, ads, affiliate links, and brand verification fees.
Every ingredient app guide
Each one prints the date its figures were read and the date they will be read again.
Do ingredient apps agree?
Twenty best sellers on five databases: where the verdicts split, and why.
Best ingredient checker app
Ten apps by the question each one answers, and what every score is built on.
Ingredient files
Sixty-six ingredients against the California statute, the EU regulation, FDA’s list and EWG, each with its sources.
EU bans vs FDA’s list
The EU’s Annex II against FDA’s eleven named entries: which overlap, and what the gap does and does not mean.
Banned ingredients: California, EU, FDA and EWG
What each regulator bans, how the lists nest, and how EWG scores the banned ingredients it lists.
Yuka vs Think Dirty vs EWG
Three rules for one question, drawn on the same ingredient list, and who pays each.
Who pays the ingredient apps?
Subscriptions, brand fees, ads and affiliate links, app by app, and what a brand can and cannot buy.
Think Dirty price: web vs App Store
Every plan on both price lists, and the month when monthly billing overtakes the rest.
SkinSort vs INKEEDecoder
The same ingredient numbers, different product verdicts, on twenty real products.
Where the law stands. FDA says cosmetic ingredients, other than colour additives, need no approval before sale (FDA’s ingredient page); California bans a named list of 24 chemicals when intentionally added (Health and Safety Code section 108980); and the EU prohibits 1,736 entries in Annex II (Regulation 1223/2009 on EUR-Lex), read 23 October 2026. Look any ingredient up in our ingredient files.