Metic, as in meticulous about cosmetics

Metic Beauty

Fungal acne ingredient checker

Paste the ingredient list of any skincare or makeup product to see whether it contains the fats that feed Malassezia, the yeast behind fungal acne.

From the packaging or the brand’s site, any product, any brand. Commas or one per line both work.

Your result shows here.

Each flagged ingredient comes with the reason it was flagged. Nothing you paste is stored.

Fungal acne is driven by Malassezia, a yeast that feeds on certain fats, and a lot of skincare is made of exactly those fats. The checker flags the ingredients the yeast is known to feed on, and we run the same check on the full ingredient list of every product in our catalog.

Products that pass are marked fungal acne safe on their pages and listed below. The rules follow the published lab work on Malassezia and the trigger lists the fungal acne community relies on.

The screen

What we flag, and what we don't

Likely triggers

Ingredients Malassezia is known to feed on in lab studies, flagged whenever they appear in the list.

  • Fatty acids from C11 to C24

    Lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic and oleic acid

  • Their esters, salts and acyl forms

    Glyceryl stearate, isopropyl myristate, cetearyl olivate, sodium cocoyl glutamate

  • Polysorbates

    Polysorbate 20, polysorbate 60, polysorbate 80

  • Plant oils and butters

    Jojoba, sunflower, coconut and shea butter. Essential oils are not flagged

  • Lanolin and its derivatives

    Lanolin, lanolin alcohol

Debated

Ingredients the trigger lists disagree on. A product with only these passes for some people and not others.

  • Ferments and lysates

    Galactomyces ferment filtrate, bifida ferment lysate, saccharomyces ferment

  • Natural waxes

    Beeswax, carnauba wax, candelilla wax

Not flagged

Ingredients that look oily or waxy on a label but are not food for Malassezia.

  • Medium-chain lipids

    Caprylic/capric triglyceride (MCT), C8 and C10 fatty acids

  • Squalane and mineral oil

    Squalane, mineral oil, petrolatum

  • Fatty alcohols

    Cetyl, stearyl and cetearyl alcohol. They are alcohols, not acids

  • Silicones and glucans

    Dimethicone, beta-glucan

By the numbers

The most common triggers in K-beauty

How many of the 552 products we screened contain each one.

  1. 1Stearic AcidFatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on97
  2. 2Glyceryl StearateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on84
  3. 3Sorbitan IsostearateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on68
  4. 4Polyglyceryl-10 LaurateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on61
  5. 5Palmitic AcidFatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on54
  6. 6Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) ButterPlant oil or butter, mostly fatty-acid triglycerides52
  7. 7Sorbitan OlivateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on44
  8. 8Polyglyceryl-2 TriisostearateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on42
  9. 9Ethylhexyl PalmitateBuilt from a fatty acid in the range Malassezia feeds on40
  10. 10Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed OilPlant oil or butter, mostly fatty-acid triglycerides39
  11. 11Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed OilPlant oil or butter, mostly fatty-acid triglycerides37
  12. 12Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit OilPlant oil or butter, mostly fatty-acid triglycerides35

Passes the screen

68 K-beauty products with no known triggers

No likely triggers and none of the debated ingredients either. Patch test anything new; the screen reads ingredients, not your skin.

Toners

Compare all 16

Spot Treatments

Compare all 8

Serums

Compare all 7

Essences

Compare all 6

Moisturizers

Compare all 6

Toner Pads

Compare all 6

Setting Powders

Compare all 4

Sheet Masks

3

Hair Care

2

Body Care

2

Foundations and BB Creams

2

Sunscreens

1

Blushes

1

Eyeliners

1

Primers

1

Cushion Foundations

1

Eyeshadows

1

Questions

Before you switch your routine

What is fungal acne?

Fungal acne, or Malassezia folliculitis, is not acne. It is an overgrowth of Malassezia, a yeast that lives on everyone's skin, inside the hair follicles. It shows up as small, uniform, itchy bumps, usually on the forehead, chest and back, that do not respond to the usual acne treatments.

Why does skincare matter?

Malassezia cannot make its own fats, so it feeds on the ones around it, and many skincare emulsifiers and emollients are exactly those fats. Avoiding them does not treat an infection, but it can stop a routine from feeding one.

Does concentration matter?

Probably, but no study gives a safe threshold, so the screen flags an ingredient wherever it sits in the list. An ester near the end of a long list is a smaller risk than an oil in second place; the full ingredient list on each product page is in order of concentration.

What about cleansers?

Rinse-off products are on skin for a minute, and many people with fungal acne tolerate cleansers with flagged ingredients. Product pages say when a product is rinse-off; leave-on products are the ones to be strict about.

Should I see a doctor?

Yes, if you think you have it. Fungal acne looks like bacterial acne, and a dermatologist can confirm it with a skin scraping and treat it with antifungals. This page is about choosing products that will not make it worse, not about treating it.

This is an ingredient screen, not medical advice. It reads the ingredient list a brand publishes, which can lag a reformulation, and it cannot tell you how your skin will react. Check the packaging and talk to a dermatologist about a diagnosis.