Frequently asked questions

The Skincare Compare™ Similarity Review Tool

First, you should know that it's really the best thing ever. And it's for all you beauty lovers out there who want to know - where are the product alternatives with very similar ingredient lists?! We know the market is saturated with so many products and with much of the marketing sounding the same, we know you want help to narrow it down.

Originally built to satisfy our own curiousity, this kick-ass ingredient list similarity tracker discovers skincare products based on what we think is the most important first thing to know about a product - its ingredient list. More on our Methodology page if you want to know.

So, go ahead and try it - search any product!

Skincare Compare™ will show you the products that have the most ingredients in common AND show you an ingredient list similarity Match Score for each result. The Match Score tells you the degree of ingredients a result's product has in common to your target product. It's crazy addictive. Our bet is you never buy another skincare product without checking in with SKINSKOOL first.

  • You're dying to get your hands on that new [fill in the blank] but unfortunately, you also have to eat this month. Use SKINSKOOL to discover an affordable product that has a lot of ingredients in common which might work well for you.
  • You really love X product but you don't like that it contains Y ingredient. Find a different alternative that suits your preferences using SKINSKOOL.
  • Your favourite product was discontinued? Say it isn't so! Relax - SKINSKOOL can help you narrow down an alternative that has ingredients in common which might work well for you.
  • Hey, maybe you've been using the same old stuff for years and want a change – but you're totally confused? Use SKINSKOOL as a starting point to see what product has ingredients in common to your old stuff.
  • Things like ingredient concentrations, ingredient quality or formulation processes are not taken into account by SKINSKOOL. Only a manufacturer has privy to this information. These elements may affect product efficacy or price and ultimately whether one product performs as well as another. Do your own research on the reputation of any manufacturer you consider purchasing from.
  • SKINSKOOL helps you narrow down the pool of products by ingredient list only and we recommend you review product information regarding ingredient concentrations, quality, processing and formulation processes information thoroughly before making a purchase. Millions of users have found the SKINSKOOL tool to be an effective starting point in their research journey.

General Questions

A product alternative in skincare is subjective to the user. On the very strict end, some may only consider a product to be an alternative to another product if the ingredient list is identical and the concentration and quality of the ingredients are also the same. For others, they may consider a product alternative when it simply does the same job.

You might be seeing more and more people talking about similar affordable products. This is a result of the huge trend towards finding and buying lesser priced product alternatives as consumers get more savvy about the traditionally big profit margins on beauty products like skincare and haircare. Keep in mind that expensive products often justify their price differences based on ingredient concentrations, quality, processing or formulation processes. These elements may affect product efficacy and ultimately whether one product performs as well as another. Do your research into the reputation of any manufacturer you consider purchasing from.

All kinds of methods exist to assist in the search of a satisfactory alternative for a particular product. From the very basic word of mouth suggestion from a fellow skincare user to an ingredient-list similarity tracker like SKINSKOOL. The search results curated by our SKINSKOOL platform are determined using an algorithm that takes into account the full INCI ingredient list of a product.

Skincare Compare™ looks at products that have distinct brands and distinct formulations and only draws attention to ingredients that products have in common. Therefore, as with any product that you consider buying, the quality of a product featured on SKINSKOOL comes down to the reputation of the manufacturer of the product. It is only the manufacturer of a product that knows the ingredient concentrations, quality, processing and formuation processes. We encourage you to research the reputation of a manufacturer before you buy from them.

Hopefully since you are here, you are already using SKINSKOOL to discover products that fit your taste and budget. Within the context of an ingredient-list similarity query, we curate a list of products that contain some or more ingredients in common to the target product and we encourage you to dig into the description, manufacturer reputation and ingredient lists of the product results to find exactly what you are looking for.

You've come to the right place to start your search for similar haircare products and makeup products, too! We added the haircare and makeup categories last year and we're continuously improving them with more and more products. Notably, haircare is a growing category that is being lux-ified and there is not a better time to use our ingredient-list similarity tracker to find haircare products that meet your taste and budget. Interestingly, it appears that the list of ingredients used in haircare development is shorter than skincare development so early on we are already seeing ingredient lists with high degrees of similarity. With respect to makeup, we've added many categories like foundations, concealers, powders, BB/CC creams, mascara, eybrow and eyelash serums, lip products, setting sprays. (We didn't add the color heavy categories of eyeshadows, blush/bronzers, lip and eye liners). And again, we reiterate, SKINSKOOL does not know ingredient concentrations, quality, processing or formulation processes. These elements may affect product efficacy and ultimately whether one product performs as well as another. Do your research into the reputation of any manufacturer you consider purchasing from.

First off, nothing replaces first-hand trialling of products. If you don't try something yourself, you can't know if it suits you. So we always suggest trying the products in real life that you've discovered via our search results. Certain information such as ingredient concentrations, quality, processing and formulation processes is proprietary to the brand itself. As such, we don't consider them in our search results. These elements may affect product efficacy and ultimately whether one product performs as well as another. Do your research into the reputation of any manufacturer you consider purchasing from.

You should also know that SKINSKOOL considers the full INCI ingredient list when we generate search results. This means that we don't just look at what the brand highlights as "key" ingredients. This to us seems more fulsome. Think about the number of vitamin c products there are or hyaluronic acid serums. A search containing these highlighted ingredients alone would not be specific enough in our eyes. Since we consider a full INCI list, you should drill down into the results further if there is a specific ingredient you are looking for.

Our results are based on publicly available product ingredient list information. If you catch a discrepancy or error, do let us know. We've helped millions of beauty enthusiasts discover new products that suit their tastes and budgets using ingredient lists in common as the contextual cue. We can't think of an easier way to find exactly what you're looking for.

We wanted to make something that solved a super annoying problem; one that we encountered for years, every time we went skincare shopping. We were able to create a really useful tool – and now we've released it into the world. If you appreciate our efforts, and since virtual high-fives are kind of awkward, our only wish is that you share it with all the skincare, haircare and makeup lovers in your life.

If you click through to "Buy Now" on a product listing result, you will be taken to a 3rd party retailer. If you subsequently purchase a product from this retailer, we may make a small affiliate commission. Sometimes we partner with brands on sponsored content or listings marked as such. Brand partnerships do not and will never influence the results shown on our Skincare Compare™ ingredient-list similarity tracker. These are and always will be 100% based on publicly available product ingredient lists.

We have also recently launched our own product under the brand Khyn & Grail. Any results related to our own brand are 100% treated the same as any other product in our database and based solely on product ingredient lists.

No. We apply our algorithm to every product in our database the same way every time. Brands can never affect their standing in the organic rankings. They are, however, able to purchase a sponsored listing to show up ahead of organic results, but these are clearly marked as such.

Just because SKINSKOOL finds that Product B has the most ingredients from Product A of any other product in the database, it doesn't automatically mean that Product A has the most ingredients from Product B out of all the products in the database. Remember that the results are based on the target product search. Product B could have more ingredients than Product A so while B contains many of the ingredients in A, it also contains extra ingredients that are not in A.

Just let us know. Provided we can locate publicly available and credible ingredient information for the product, we will have it added as soon as possible.

Other Questions?

Send us a note!