Today I’m excited to share a review of a beautiful new book that I am absolutely thrilled to have on my bookshelf and in my studio: Modern Cosmetics: Ingredients of Natural Origin. For years many of you have been asking me where you can easily find clear, reliable, scientific information about natural skin care ingredients, and I haven’t had a great all-in-one answer for you—until now.
Modern Cosmetics: Ingredients of Natural Origin, A Scientific View , Volume 1 was released mid-November 2018 from Modern CosmEthics out of Slovenia (it was originally released in Slovenian in 2015). It is a 482 page textbook written by scientists, focussing on natural ingredients used in skin care and cosmetics. It is divided into 26 chapters, complete with detailed write-ups, illustrations, and extensive sources.
When the book first arrived I was immediately delighted with how beautifully designed it is. It is a hefty hardcover volume with beautiful full colour photographs and clear typography with excellent hierarchy so you can easily scan the text for the information you need. As a graphic designer this sort of thing is likely more important to me than it is for many people, but good information design is so important. I’ve read many the textbook thrown together with little to no thought towards arranging the information in a way that makes it accessible. This book is not only lovely to look at, but it is user friendly.
Modern Cosmetics is broken down into 26 chapters that had me positively vibrating with excitement when I first scanned the table of contents. The largest chapter by far is the one on vegetable butters and oils (125 pages!), but there are so many other wonderful things in here. Other chapters include: Emollients & Occlusives; Emulsifiers & Surfactants for Skin & Hair Cleansing; Thickeners, Moisturizers & Humectants; Vitamins, Cosmetically Active Ingredients with Anti-Inflammatory Activity; Exfoliants; Antioxidants; and more!
I received the book in October and ever since I have really been enjoying having it nearby so I can look up the ingredients I’m working with and writing about. Each ingredient profile includes the common ingredient name, INCI name, CosIng information, sourcing information, and relevant information on composition, usage reasons and rates, function, and mechanisms of action and use. The writing is clear, concise, and easy to understand without being simplistic. The profiles vary in length, but I’d say the average is about a page per ingredient.
Every time I look up an ingredient in Modern Cosmetics I learn something new and am inspired to create (and sometimes to go shopping, ha). Unlike many sources I’m sure we’ve all found, Modern Cosmetics doesn’t just sing the praises of every ingredient: it outlines strengths and weaknesses, and the why behind what works and doesn’t. This specificity is part of what I find so inspiring—when reading about an ingredient I find ideas immediately start flowing when I learn about how the ingredient is particularly suited for some jobs, but not others.
Modern Cosmetics does not include sample formulations, but it does include usage rates where appropriate. Think of it as a book about food rather than a cookbook.
For criticisms, or things I’d change: I saw a comment on a Facebook group about how some of the photography could be more relevant, and I tend to agree. For instance, the photography sandwiched between the entries for cetyl alcohol and cetyl palmitate appears to be a close-up of a dandelion-like flower (there is no caption to clarify), and that doesn’t make much sense to me. I understand the challenge of sourcing such imagery—high quality, interesting imagery of white pellets and amber liquids isn’t plentiful (and even if you shoot your own, white pellets are still just boring white pellets!)—so I’m not sure I can offer a better solution. It would be nice to have herbs included in the book; while they are found mentioned as possible sources for compounds like carotenoids and azulene, it would be helpful to have stand-alone entries for common herbs like chamomile and calendula. I also wish there were more entries in the Semi-Synthetic Cosmetics Ingredients chapter, though that chapter could easily fill an entire book.
All in all, I would highly recommend getting yourself a copy of Modern Cosmetics if you love natural ingredients and have been looking for a solid reference text. The pricing is in line with other textbooks, at 120€ (~$187CAD/$137USD), which is cheaper than most of my university text books were. It’s not an inexpensive volume, but I do think it’s worth it. If you’re anything like me you’ll find yourself reaching for it again and again—for information, for inspiration, or just to peruse and admire the beautiful pages.
At this point in time Modern Cosmetics: Ingredients of Natural Origin, A Scientific View , Volume 1 is only available for purchase directly from Modern CosmEthics. You can click here to purchase it (affiliate link).
Gifting Disclosure
My copy of Modern Cosmetics was gifted by Modern CosmEthics for the purpose of my review. This review is fully representative of my thoughts and opinions, and was in no way pre-screened or pre-approved by Modern CosmEthics. As of February 2022, Humblebee & Me is part of the Modern Cosmethics affiliate program.
Hi Mary
I got myself a copy of the book last month and was probably as excited as you to receive it and start reading through it.
I would like to add to my our review 2 notes on which I’d love your feedback:
1. The Hyaluronic Acid page kind of frustrated me because of the authors right out negative feedback on it whereas there was no scientific findings as to the efficacy of HA in reducing wrinkles. That surprised me b cause I have found other findings reg. This ingredient.
2. The preservatives chapter was rather disappointing in as such as it doesn’t provide any complete product analysis and effectiveness but rather single ingredients which make some of the modern natural preservatives which is less than ideal b cause the interaction between various ingredients is crucial and I feel this was completely overlooked.
What is your take on these 2 points?
Thanks.
I’m not really the right person to give feedback on this sort of thing as I didn’t write the book.
From my understand HA can reduce the appearance of wrinkles by plumping the skin. It does not eliminate them, though.
The book is all about raw ingredients, as such it makes sense that they did not include information about composite preservatives. Remember, this is a book about ingredients, not a book about formulation, and it sounds like what you’re looking for is much more about formulating with the ingredient(s). Harry’s Cosmeticology has a very detailed chapter about preservatives that might be more what you’re looking for 🙂
Is Harry’s Cosmeticology useful? Would you recommend the book?
I am finding it to be very useful, if not a bit dense (in a good way!). I do recommend it, but it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth $1k to you.
Am I correct in understanding that, if we use the code HUMBLE, we can get the book for FREE? When I tried the code, it applied successfully, but nothing was deducted as far as I could tell (it actually said -0.00). So, I thought maybe I had misunderstood? Thanks! 🙂
No, you’re not correct—that would be a pretty insane offer! If you purchase your copy of Modern Cosmetics: Ingredients of Natural Origin, A Scientific View , Volume 1 before January 31st, 2019 at 23:59CET (5:59pm ET/3:59PM MT) and enter the code HUMBLE at checkout you’ll have a chance to get your copy for free! The generous folks over at Modern CosmEthics will refund two copies that are purchased before the deadline using the code
So, you must buy it first, and you might get a refund at the end of the month 🙂
Ah, I see. Thank you!
Dear Marie, i know this is an odd place to comment this, but i wasn’t sure where else to say this! My heart is so full! i’m so grateful to your country for taking in the young Saudi woman in her time of extremity! i just had to share this with the only & the best Canadian i presently am acquainted with! Because when they said that Canada got its shit together quick enough to actually help her, i was like,’way to go, Marie! i knew you could do it!’..i’m sorry, i’m weeping as i write this, i just had to reach out & thank you & your good-hearted, & effective(which is just as essential) country, who i believe have saved her life & given her a future.
Muchlove, as always, suki-san
I am so proud to be Canadian! Our current leadership isn’t perfect, but I am so glad that they made this happen <3 Hopefully you can visit Canada one day!
Hi I just joined the beginners class. I haven’t received the shopping list for the class. I didn’t know where else to ask about it.
I can see in the back end you were sent the shopping list about two minutes after you left this comment, and then you opened it shortly later 🙂
Hello Marie,
Will Modern CosmEthics announce the winners that will be refunded for the two copies of Modern Cosmetics: Ingredients of Natural Origin, A Scientific View , Volume 1 ?
I can’t speak for them, but I announced the winners (they sent me the names) on the Humblebee & Me Facebook page over the weekend. They said they would contact the winners as well 🙂
Thank you !
I’m one of the lucky ones who won the book, so glad I saw your post! 🙂 I don’t usually win giveaway so I was very glad when I received the info by mail 🙂 Thanks for all your beautiful recipes and articles. Luv your channel and your blog. I’m french canadian so I don’t usually write or respond very much but I felt I had to do it to thank you 😀 luv Mariejo
Woohooo, I am so glad! Congratulations 🙂 Enjoy it—it’s such a lovely resource!
Thank you for the book review. I was fortunate enough to get this book from my Library system (in Colorado) and loved it so much I had to have my own copy, which I purchased 2 weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon and it arrived at my house (from Ireland) on Tuesday morning. Wow!!
I used this code that gave me an 8% discount: forbot2020 – but I would have paid the full price (it worked 2 weeks ago, if you want to share with others.)
I hope they come out with a Volume 2 someday!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! And FYI, you posted this three times 🙂 From what I can tell you did it on purpose because you thought it didn’t work this (the first) time, but it did 🙂
Hi Marie:
I’m SO Sorry for the duplicate posting – thank you for removing them. I submitted the comment and it didn’t show. I refreshed the page several times, then left the page, then pulled it up later, but it wasn’t there, hence the re-posting. (I wanted to give others the opportunity to use the discount, if the price was holding them back.)
Thanks for putting up with us “fumble butts!”
Have a great day!
No worries at all! I’m betting it was a caching issue 🙂 I just let you know so you wouldn’t worry in the future if a comment took a day or so to appear.
Besides Harry’s Cosmeticology, are there any other books you recommend on natural cosmetics formulation?
Hello dear humble bee and me how can I access this book am in Uganda, could you please share it via my email.
Thank you .