James asks about Matte moisturisers
Can you please explain how how matte moisturisers work and which ingredients are used for this purpose? Also, are there any negative side-effects of the matte moisturisers such as blocking pores or break outs?
Your blog is a great read so please keep the updates coming.
Cheers
Thanks James, and keep the questions coming!
I must admit that I don’t know much about Matte moisturisers as such. Looking at the various products on sale that have that as part of the name, they seem to be defined by being intended for use on oily skin and containing some kind of powder to absorb oil. They also seem to get rather underwhelming reviews generally too.
If I were going to recommend a product for oily skin I’d probably start by looking at oil based cleansers. But never having worked on Matte moisturisers nor suffering from oily skin I’d be interested to hear what other people think of them.
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I’ve used a matte moisturizer fairly recently (Bioderma Sebium Mat). I agree they’re predominantly for combination/oily skin (I have combo skin — oily t-zone, normal everywhere else), to help give a matte appearance and control oil. Personally, I think the one I used did that. On the other hand, my skin didn’t feel moisturized. Not a bad product, but it could be better, I think. Even worse, I live in the US, and Bioderma products are, generally, expensive here, not to mention harder to access than in other countries.
For reference, the ingredients list (copied-and-pasted from their website)…
WATER (AQUA), GLYCERIN, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, XYLITOL, METHYL METHACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, ISOSTEARYL ALCOHOL, BUTYLENE GLYCOL COCOATE, DI-C12-13 ALKYL MALATE, MANNITOL, RHAMNOSE, FRUCTOOLIGO-SACCHARIDES, LAMINARIA OCHROLEUCA EXTRACT, ZINC GLUCONATE, PYRIDOXINE HCL, GINKGO BILOBA LEAF EXTRACT, CYCLOHEXASILOXANE, POLYACRYLAMIDE, SILICA, C13-14 ISOPARAFFIN, ACRYLATES/C10-30 ALKYL ACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, LAURETH-7, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, ETHYLCELLULOSE, GLYCERYL POLYACRYLATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, DODECYL GALLATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, CHLORPHENESIN, FRAGRANCE (PARFUM).
There’s a fashion for ‘cream-gels’ in moisturisers for oily skin. Not all are advertised as mattifying but some are. See, for example, the one in the Botanics range by No. 7. The trouble is, they feel sticky.
The early mattifying moisturisers had powders in them but I think now they tend to include dimethicones (silicone). The only one I’ve ever known to work is Philosophy’s On A Clear Day. It has a glue-ey texture and you have to wait a few minutes, but it dries matte and is from pre-silicone days.
The purpose of matte products is to control the shine which draws attention to inner areas of your face and distracts from its shape as a whole. That’s why I think the issue of matte and glow is one for make-up; it’s a painterly thing.
as a cosmetic chemist, though you may not work on things such as matte moisturizers, i’m honestly surprised you don’t have a more well rounded knowledge or curiosity for ingredients you don’t know about when a question is posed. maybe i expect a lot from experts but if i ask a question and they don’t know, it’s fine to not know but to not make an effort to find out just for knowledge’s sake kind of surprises me. as just a consumer i go out of my way to find out, such as matte moisturizers tend to use certain forms of silicones, as well as film forming/absorbing agents to give a matte look to the skin…i may not understand the chemistry behind it, but it really only took me a few minutes of looking around and reading different ingredient lists. i apologize for the chastising attitude but i honestly was taken aback….
That’s harsh jc. I am sorry my curiosity isn’t great enough. In my defence, I don’t want to read stuff where people have just googled something and rewritten it and so I don’t feel comfortable doing it myself. I prefer to write about stuff where I can bring something to the table. But thanks for letting me know what you think, feedback is always helpful and always appreciated.