Welcome to SkinClassHub, where skincare meets science (and a little common sense). If you've ever stared at an ingredient list, wondering if your new moisturizer is a holy grail or just overpriced goop, you're in the right place.
Who Am I?
I have an engineering background and work experience in data science and machine learning. My field has nothing to do with skincare, but cosmetics have always been a passion of mine. During the pandemic, that interest grew into something more analytical—I started digging into ingredients, formulations, and what actually makes a product effective beyond the marketing claims.
That said, I’m not a chemist, and I won’t pretend I can break down the finer points of formulation interactions. What I can do is separate science from marketing, fact from fluff—by taking a data-driven approach and relying on established data and ingredient efficacy studies to cut through the noise. I built an algorithm that analyzes ingredient lists and rates the quality of skincare products based on published research rather than opinions - which I don't mean to fully discredit, but one should always trust medical journals over lifestyle magazines and morning shows.
I also like algorithms. A lot. So, this project is a natural fusion of two of my biggest interests—cutting through marketing nonsense with data and making skincare information actually useful.
What’s This Tool?
The Skincare Classifier is here to analyze your product and provide a direct assessment: good, bad, or somewhere in between. Paste in the ingredients, and it’ll break down what’s good and what might be questionable.
Its biggest advantage is that it provides an objective, comparable rating. You might look at an ingredient list and have a general sense of whether it has good stuff or not—but how much better is it than another comparable product? And if it contains a problematic ingredient, do the rest compensate for it? Is it still good? Worth purchasing?
The foundation of this tool is the CosIng list, a database of cosmetic ingredients maintained by the European Commission (EU CosIng) and referenced by other global regulatory entities. The algorithm assesses how good or bad each ingredient is, factoring in known interactions—especially those that have been widely researched or discussed in scientific literature. While there is some subjectivity involved (for instance, should niacinamide be rated as great or really great?), I have aimed for the broadest scientific consensus available on each ingredient.
Since research is always evolving, this algorithm will likely be frequently updated.
The original purpose of creating this tool? Well, to make my life easier. And everyone else's who is trying to sift through the marketing fluff and find something that's actually good. Parsing through an ingredient list—especially a long one—is a daunting task, even for someone familiar with formulations. The position of ingredients matters, too. I often found myself trying to recall whether a key active appears early or late in the list, if it’s balanced with soothing components, or if potential irritants are too prominent. Instead of trying to estimate all of this in my head every time, I built the
Skincare Classifier: reliable, more comprehensive than I could ever be just trying to think off the top of my head when quickly scanning a product’s packaging in a store, and consistent.
Why This Website?
Having this tool in website form made it easier to take the algorithm with you to Sephora, Ulta, pharmacies—wherever you shop—so you (and I) can use it on the go.
It also gives me a platform to host my own skincare reviews in the Editor's Review section. I used to write them in blog form in a past life, and I still like documenting my experiences whenever I try something new so I remember if it's worth repurchasing. This way, I can share those insights with anyone else who might find them useful.
Last but not least, this site is another platform to spread scientifically based information. On my skincare learning journey, alongside scientific articles and dermatologist-led YouTube videos, two websites were crucial to my education: Paula’s Choice and INCIDecoder. There are plenty of skincare websites out there, and too many rely on fear-mongering and meaningless trend cycles—clean beauty, toxic-free formulations, paraben panic, silicone scaremongering, you name it. Those two sites, however, were different: consistent, evidence-based, and focused on facts over hysteria. They were a safe haven in a marketing-heavy industry.
I intend to be an extra voice in that same space, which is why I created The Knowledge Hub—a section where every post is backed by multiple medical references, making reliable, evidence-based skincare information accessible to all.
Because skincare should be about understanding, not guesswork.
So, go ahead, put your favorite (or least favorite) product to the test. You might be pleasantly surprised—or you might discover your “hydrating” serum is basically fancy water. Either way, at least you’ll know the truth.