Why More Ingredients Don’t Automatically Make a Better Formula

Why More Ingredients Don’t Automatically Make a Better Formula

Turn over almost any premium skincare package today and you may see a long list of impressive-sounding ingredients: peptides, botanical extracts, vitamins, antioxidants, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, stem-cell ingredients, ferments, amino acids, and many more.

It is easy to assume:

The longer the ingredient list, the better the product.

But formulation does not work that way.

A sophisticated skincare formula is not a competition to see how many active ingredients can fit into one bottle.

The real question is whether the ingredients were selected for a reason—and whether they can work together effectively, safely, stably, and comfortably.

At Lord & Lily, that question is central to how we develop a product.

The Formulation Question

When developing skincare, a formulator has two very different approaches available.

The first is:

What popular ingredients can we put into this product?

The second is:

What does this product need to accomplish, and what is the most intelligent combination of ingredients to accomplish it?

Lord & Lily follows the second approach.

Before choosing ingredients, we first define the purpose of the formula.

Is it primarily intended to hydrate?

Support the appearance of firmness?

Improve the look of uneven tone?

Condition the skin barrier?

Provide antioxidant support?

Deliver a richer overnight experience?

Or perhaps achieve several of these goals together?

Once the objective is clear, ingredients can be selected according to their function.

This sounds simple, but it makes an enormous difference.

If five ingredients all perform essentially the same job, adding all five may not meaningfully improve the formula.

On the other hand, a carefully selected group of ingredients that address complementary needs may create a far more complete product.

What the Science Tells Us

Every cosmetic formula is a system.

Water, oils, humectants, emulsifiers, thickeners, active ingredients, botanical materials, preservatives, antioxidants, and pH-adjusting materials all influence one another.

An ingredient that looks excellent on paper still has to work inside that system.

For example, an active ingredient may require a particular pH range.

Another ingredient may be sensitive to heat.

An antioxidant may oxidize if handled improperly.

A botanical extract may add unnecessary color or odor.

A peptide may have special processing requirements.

A large amount of one humectant may make a serum sticky.

Adding additional oils may change the stability of an emulsion.

Increasing the active load may require changes to the preservative system.

This means that every time a formulator says, “Let’s add one more ingredient,” several other questions follow:

Will it remain stable?

Will the texture change?

Does the ingredient contribute something meaningful?

Is it compatible with the other materials?

Will the pH still be appropriate?

Will the product remain pleasant to use?

Can it be preserved properly?

And perhaps most importantly:

Does the skin actually need it?

The strongest formula is therefore not necessarily the one with the most ingredients.

It is the one in which the ingredients make sense together.

The Trade-Offs a Formulator Considers

Performance versus complexity

Adding more active ingredients can sound impressive, but increasing complexity also increases the number of interactions that must be considered.

A simpler, carefully constructed formula may sometimes perform better than an overcrowded one.

Concentration versus skin comfort

Consumers often assume that a higher percentage is always superior.

But higher is not always better.

The appropriate concentration depends on the ingredient, the intended function, the rest of the formula, and the product’s overall tolerability.

Our goal is not maximum concentration.

Our goal is an effective and balanced concentration within the total formula.

Natural ingredients versus necessity

Lord & Lily appreciates botanical ingredients, but we do not believe every botanical extract available needs to appear in every product.

A plant extract should have a reason for being there.

If it does not meaningfully support the formula, sometimes the better formulation decision is to leave it out.

Innovation versus hype

The skincare industry continually introduces new technologies.

Some are genuinely interesting.

Others become popular largely because of marketing.

A responsible formulator needs to ask more than, “Is everyone talking about this ingredient?”

We need to ask:

What is the technology?

What evidence supports its use?

Does it fit our formulation philosophy?

Can we formulate with it properly?

Does it improve the product we are developing?

Performance versus elegance

A formula can contain excellent ingredients and still fail as a product if it feels unpleasant.

Skincare is used repeatedly.

A serum that pills, a cream that feels excessively greasy, or a lotion that remains sticky may discourage regular use.

Texture, absorption, spreadability, odor, packaging, and finish therefore matter.

They are part of good formulation—not merely cosmetic details.

From the Formulator’s Bench

One of the lessons I have learned repeatedly in formulation is that sometimes improving a formula means removing something rather than adding something.

As an engineer, I naturally look at skincare as a system.

Every material should serve a purpose. Every addition affects something else.

That is why, at Lord & Lily, we do not want an ingredient list that is impressive simply because it is long.

We want a formula that is thoughtful.

For example, when we use hyaluronic acid, we consider which form and molecular weight will support the product.

When we use vitamin C, we consider stability and the particular form of vitamin C.

When we use peptides, we consider whether they serve different purposes rather than treating every peptide as interchangeable.

When we combine humectants, ceramides, lipids, amino acids, antioxidants, or botanical ingredients, we think about how they support one another.

And when an ingredient no longer improves the formula, we should be willing to remove it.

This is one of the principles behind what I call Formulation Intelligence:

Good skincare is not defined by how many ingredients are inside the bottle. It is defined by how intelligently those ingredients were chosen, balanced, processed, and brought together.

That philosophy guides Lord & Lily from the first prototype to the finished product.

— Lily Yang, Founder & Formulator, Lord & Lily