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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Silica in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Silica is a cosmetic ingredient that makes the product thicker or thinner. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 1,221 products, most often face makeup.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

What does Silica do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Silica makes the product thicker or thinner, scrubs or polishes and absorbs water or oil. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: viscosity controlling, abrasive, absorbent, anticaking, bulking and opacifying.

viscosity controllingabrasiveabsorbentanticakingbulkingopacifying

What other names and numbers does Silica have?

CAS number
7631-86-9, 112945-52-5, 60676-86-0
EC number
231-545-4, 262-373-8, 310-060-2
CosIng reference
78845

Which products contain Silica?

Open Beauty Facts finds Silica in the ingredient lists of 1,221 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often face makeup, nail polishes and sunscreen.

  • Face makeup78
  • Nail polishes60
  • Sunscreen59

Products with it, by country of sale: France 270 · United States 145 · Germany 133 · Norway 121.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Silica turns up, not how much of the market it is.

Bravoora reads this ingredient for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dermatologists, dietitians and doctors

Sources

The job, the description and the EU annex entry are CosIng’s; the fragrance allergens are the EU Annex III names Bravoora’s label checker reads; the product counts are Open Beauty Facts’.

  1. European Commission: CosIng cosmetic ingredient database (functions, description, EU annex entry)
  2. Open Beauty Facts: product database, 77,506 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL

Contains information from Open Beauty Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this dictionary’s data · How we check

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