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From harvest to the material that ends up on an ingredient list.
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Ingredient
Botanical Extracts
Concentrated plant materials obtained by pressing, soaking or distilling parts of a plant.
What is it?
A botanical extract is what remains after the useful fraction of a plant has been separated from the rest of the plant material.
The method — cold pressing, maceration in oil, alcohol extraction, CO2 extraction — shapes what ends up in the final material.
Why we use it
Extracts let a formulator include a plant in a stable, measurable and repeatable form.
They also make a product easier to describe honestly, because the input material is defined.
Where it is found
Extracts are listed under the INCI name of the plant plus the part used and the method, for example Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract.
Continue learning
Ingredients
Understanding botanical ingredients
The pillar guide to plant ingredients in body care: what an extract is, and how to make sense of an INCI list.
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Quality
Quality and transparency in botanical body care
The pillar guide to what quality means in practice — sourcing, formulation, testing, packaging and what a brand should be willing to tell you.
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