INCI list builder: put your ingredients in legal label order
Enter your formula and get the ingredient list in correct descending order, with the one percent line applied, colourants placed last and fragrance allergens flagged.
An ingredient list is not a recipe written out in words. It is a regulated field with its own naming system, its own ordering rule, and a threshold at one percent where the ordering stops mattering. This tool takes your formula and produces the list in the order a label needs, then tells you which lines a regulator will look at twice.
Ingredients go in descending order of weight at the time they are added. Below one percent they may be listed in any order, but only after every ingredient above one percent. Colourants go last, outside that order. Names come from the INCI system, not from the supplier's marketing name.
Build your ingredient list
The tool runs in your browser and keeps nothing. It orders and checks a list; it does not decide whether your product is a cosmetic, and it is not a substitute for the safety assessment your market requires.
The ordering rule, in full
Both the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation (1223/2009, Article 19) and the US Fair Packaging and Labeling Act rules in 21 CFR 701.3 use the same skeleton, with different wording and a different name for the list.
| Point | European Union and UK | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | The word "Ingredients" | "Ingredients" or "Ingredients:" |
| Order | Descending weight at the time of addition | Descending predominance |
| Threshold | Below 1%, any order after those above 1% | Below 1%, any order after those above 1% |
| Colourants | Listed last, in any order, using CI numbers | Listed last, using the FDA colour additive name |
| Fragrance | "Parfum" or "Aroma", with the 26 declarable allergens named separately | "Fragrance" or "Flavor", allergen naming not generally required |
| Names | The common ingredient nomenclature (INCI) in the EU glossary | INCI as adopted by the Personal Care Products Council dictionary |
Three consequences follow, and they are where most homemade labels go wrong. Weight is measured when the ingredient goes into the batch, so a wax that is 12 percent of the melt is 12 percent on the label even though nothing evaporates. An ingredient at exactly 1.0 percent belongs in the ordered part of the list, not the free part. And a colourant is not just a pigment you can see: any material whose function is to colour the product goes in the colourant block at the end.
Where the names come from
INCI names are not translations of the common name. Sweet almond oil is Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil, shea butter is Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, beeswax is Cera Alba in the EU and Beeswax in the US. The authoritative source in Europe is the European Commission's CosIng database and the common ingredient glossary; in the United States it is the International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary. Supplier names such as "cosmetic grade refined shea" are trade descriptions and never belong on a label.
Three naming traps repeat on small-batch labels. Infused oils are declared as both the carrier and the botanical, for example Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil and Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, not as "calendula oil". Essential oils are declared by their own INCI names, and any of the 26 EU declarable fragrance components they contain must be named once they exceed 0.001 percent in a leave-on product. Vitamin E is Tocopherol if it is the pure form and Tocopheryl Acetate if it is the ester, which behave differently on the shelf, as the page on antioxidants in balms explains.
A supplier's "vitamin E oil" is often tocopherol diluted in a carrier oil. If it is 50 percent sunflower oil, both names go on your list at their real weights, not one name at the bottle's weight.
The one percent line in practice
The free ordering below one percent exists so that formulators do not have to publish the exact rank of their trace materials. It is not permission to hide an ingredient: everything present still has to be named. In a balm the line usually falls between the actives and the antioxidants, which is why a typical lip balm's list runs waxes, butters, oils, then the tocopherol, flavour and any preservative in whatever order suits.
Two habits keep labels defensible. Keep the percentages you actually weighed, in a batch record, so the order on the label can be reconstructed later; the batch scaling page covers the arithmetic and the record. And rebuild the list whenever the formula moves by more than a fraction of a percent near the boundary, because a change from 1.1 to 0.9 percent moves an ingredient out of the ordered block.
What this tool does not decide
It orders and formats. It does not know whether your product is a cosmetic in your market, whether a claim you make turns it into a drug (see cosmetic versus drug claims), whether your fragrance dose is within sensible limits (the essential oil dilution calculator handles that), or whether a material is permitted at your level in your jurisdiction. Those are safety assessment questions, and in the EU and UK they belong to a qualified assessor.
Frequently asked questions
Does an ingredient list have to be in English?
It has to be in the language required by the market. In the EU the ingredient list itself is INCI, which is a single international nomenclature and is not translated, but the word "Ingredients" and the rest of the label follow the language rules of each member state where the product is sold.
Can I write "shea butter" instead of Butyrospermum Parkii Butter?
Not as the ingredient list. Common names may appear elsewhere on the pack or in marketing copy, but the declared list uses INCI names. Many small brands print both, with the INCI list as the formal declaration and a plain English list alongside it.
Where does an infused oil go in the list?
As two entries, the carrier oil and the botanical extract, each at its real weight. A calendula infusion made at 20 percent herb in sunflower oil is not "calendula oil", and declaring it that way overstates the botanical and understates the carrier.
What counts as a colourant for ordering purposes?
Anything present to colour the product, including micas and iron oxides. They go at the end of the list in any order. A material that colours incidentally, such as unrefined cocoa butter, is not a colourant.
Do I need to declare fragrance allergens on a lip balm?
In the EU and UK, yes, if any of the 26 declarable components exceeds 0.001 percent in a leave-on product, which a lip balm is. Essential oils are the usual source, and a supplier certificate will state the component percentages you need.
Is the one percent rule about the finished product or the batch?
The finished product. Percentages are taken at the time of addition, so a wax weighed at 12 percent of the melt is 12 percent on the label. Nothing evaporates from an anhydrous balm, so the two figures coincide.
Sources and further reading
- European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, Article 19 and Annex III.
- European Commission, CosIng cosmetic ingredient database and the common ingredient glossary.
- US Food and Drug Administration, 21 CFR 701.3 Designation of ingredients, eCFR.
- Personal Care Products Council, International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook, Washington DC.
- Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, Opinion on fragrance allergens in cosmetic products, European Commission.
Reviewed and updated 6 September 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix and log it.