What goes on your skin,
you have the right to know.

In Taiwan, cosmetics are required by law to list every ingredient on the packaging. Ingredients are listed from the highest amount to the lowest; those at 1% or less may follow in any order. That’s why water often comes first, followed by hydrating ingredients, while the actives people are most curious about sometimes sit in the middle or towards the end. That doesn’t make them any less important.

The chemical-sounding names, such as phenoxyethanol, caprylyl glycol and 1,2-hexanediol, are mostly part of the preservation system that keeps a product safe and stable, used within regulatory limits.

Caffeine isn’t only found in coffee; it’s also a regular in skincare. The caffeine in skincare is a purified cosmetic ingredient, not coffee poured on your skin. It often appears in eye creams and body care, helping skin look firmer and more awake. It’s also an antioxidant ingredient that helps skin face everyday environmental stress.

Camellia™ is the Alishan Jin Xuan complex in MIRROR, made from Jin Xuan (Taiwan Tea No. 12) tea extract and the tea polyphenol EGCG. The most studied compounds in tea leaves are catechins, antioxidant ingredients that help skin defend against environmental stress from sunlight and air pollution. This raw material is extracted at low temperature to keep the catechins and remove the caffeine.

Like a good cup of tea, it’s about the lingering sweetness; on the skin, it’s about calm.

At the raw-material level, it has completed the OECD TG439 in vitro skin irritation test and a 50-person human skin patch test, and the raw material is COSMOS Natural certified (supplier certificate).

Malachite is a copper-bearing mineral with dark green bands. Skincare uses its extract, which provides trace elements such as copper. Copper is one of the elements skin needs to maintain its own defences, which is why malachite extract often appears in formulas focused on protection.

Jania rubens is a red alga that grows a calcified skeleton. This raw material is cultivated by a French supplier in bioreactors, so there’s no need to harvest wild algae from the sea, which is kinder to the ocean. In 2013 it won Germany’s BSB Innovation Award as best natural active. In skincare, it’s used to help skin look firmer and fuller.

Fermentation is a bit like cutting food into smaller pieces first. The proteins and sugars in soybeans are broken down by Bacillus subtilis, the bacterium used to make natto, into smaller peptides and amino acids. Ferment extracts like this often appear in hydrating, nourishing skincare.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids. The PeptiCarrier™ active peptide carrier in Decoy’s MIRROR Active Ampoule is a synthetically made decapeptide with a human-identical sequence (sh-Decapeptide-5 SP). In the formula it acts like a guide, helping the skin take up the other active ingredients; it is also a skin-conditioning ingredient in its own right.

It is also the second layer of Tri-Layer Precision™. The first layer, AirMist™, turns the serum into a fine mist. The second is this peptide carrier in the MIRROR Active Ampoule, which helps the skin absorb the actives. The third is a Precision Formula designed for each area.

Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 and one of the most studied ingredients in dermatological research. It helps skin look after its outermost protective layer, so skin is less prone to dryness and its tone looks more even and radiant. You’ll find it in skincare at every price point.

Inositol is part of the B-vitamin family and was once called vitamin B8; in skincare it hydrates and softens. Panthenol (provitamin B5) converts to vitamin B5 on the skin. It hydrates and helps soothe the tightness and discomfort that come with dryness, helping dry skin feel cared for again.

LIGHT contains four members of the vitamin B family: B3 (niacinamide), inositol, B5 (panthenol) and B12.

Hyaluronic acid holds a great deal of water and is one of the most common hydrating ingredients. Larger hyaluronic acid forms a moisture-holding film on the skin’s surface; hydrolysed, low-molecular hyaluronic acid has a lighter texture and is often used to hydrate and help skin look dewy and plump. Studies have also compared how hyaluronic acid of different molecular weights performs on hydration and on the look of lines.

One thing to be clear about: hyaluronic acid in skincare is a hydrating ingredient. It’s a different thing from the injectable hyaluronic acid used in clinics.

Swertia chirata grows in the Himalayas and belongs to the gentian family; traditionally, it’s a herb known for its bitterness. Skincare research has looked at its extract for helping to maintain skin elasticity, hydrate, and delay visible signs of skin ageing.

Allantoin has been used in skincare for decades and appears in many gentle products for dry skin. Its job is simple: to calm the skin and leave it soft to the touch.

Hexapeptide (acetyl hexapeptide-8) is a peptide made of six amino acids, often used around the eyes and on the forehead, where we make the most expressions. In skincare, it’s used to help soften the look of fine lines.

It’s also important to be clear: this is skincare, not an injection, and it can’t replace medical treatment. Research shows it can help with the look of lines, but everyone’s experience is different.

The new batch of the upgraded LIGHT formula adds hydrolysed collagen. It comes from grouper skin from Taiwan’s local fisheries: once a by-product of processing, now put to good use, with a traceable origin. The collagen in the fish skin is hydrolysed into small molecules under 2,000 Da, used in skincare to hydrate, firm and help maintain elasticity.