Ethylhexyl Palmitate
Emollient ester · INCI: Ethylhexyl Palmitate
Reviewed by Elysiana Aguilar, master esthetician
How we read it
Known to clog pores. If you break out easily, this is the one to skip.
Is Ethylhexyl Palmitate comedogenic?
Yes. Ethylhexyl Palmitate is a known pore-clogging ingredient, and we read it as highly comedogenic. If you're acne-prone, it's worth avoiding, especially when it sits near the top of an ingredient list.
Why we read it this way
Ethylhexyl palmitate, also labeled octyl palmitate, is a light ester used to thin sunscreens down and give makeup a dry, silky finish. Palmitate esters of this kind are among the more consistently flagged ingredients on the references we curate against.
The nuance
It is very common in chemical sunscreens, where it is dissolving the UV filters. If sunscreen is the thing that breaks you out, this is one of the first ingredients worth checking.
Names we read the same way
- Octyl Palmitate
Related ingredients
One ingredient rarely tells the whole story. The acne ingredient checker reads everything in a product at once, the pore-clogging ingredients list has the rest of what we flag, and there is more on what comedogenic means. Also in the guides: What causes acne.