On November 27th, we started this review of cosmeceuticals by looking at different definitions. On Sunday, December 3rd we established different categories for these ingredients. Let's continue this discussion...

Here's the problem with these categories: They can be a bit vague.

What does anti-aging mean" It means that something might treat the signs of aging, like age spots, hyperpigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, or roughness of our skin. In this category, you'll find so many things, so it might be a better idea to break this down into smaller categories, like photo-aging and so on. One of the terms you'll see a lot is "brightening", which means the skin looks less rough and reflects more light, or "illuminating", which means the same thing, really.
But I think it's the best we can do for now...

So can we find a definition for the word "cosmeceutical" or the word "active"" I think it's a hard thing to do as something as simple as olive oil might be considered an active as it can plump your skin by preventing transepidermal water loss and reducing inflammation thanks to all those lovely phytosterols.

After all of this defining and re-defining, I think it's safe to say that cosmeceuticals and actives are things we think may have some kind of effect on our skin. They're ingredients we use for some kind of effect beyond "moisturizing" or "hydrating" or "smelling pretty". They'...