Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate
Olea europaea (Olivem 1000) · INCI Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate
Oil and water do not mix. Every moisturiser ever made is an argument with that fact, and the emulsifier is what wins it. Ours is made from olive, it is in every formula we make, and it is the least discussed and most important ingredient in the bottle.
It is the reason a cream is a cream. It is also olive-derived, and that has invited a great deal of borrowed credit we are not going to accept.
What it is
Cetearyl Olivate and Sorbitan Olivate are two names for one material. They arrive together, they cannot be bought separately, and they work as a pair, so we have written about them as one thing. Both are made by taking the fatty acids of olive oil and rearranging them chemically onto a sugar-derived backbone. The result is an emulsifier: a molecule with one end that likes oil and one end that likes water, which parks itself at the boundary and holds the two together.
There is a second, subtler property. As the cream cools, these molecules organise themselves into stacked, layered sheets, a structure called a liquid crystal. Those layers happen to resemble the way the lipids in the outer layer of your skin are arranged. That similarity is the reason this system is preferred by formulators who care about mildness: the research suggests such emulsions tend to sit alongside the skin's own structure rather than stripping it, and they give a cushioned finish rather than a greasy one.
It is also free of PEGs, non-ionic, and approved under the organic cosmetic standards. We chose it deliberately. But choosing it well is not the same as being able to claim everything that gets claimed for it, and the next section is about that.
What it does in our formulas
Two things, and the first is the reason there is a product at all.
It makes the cream a cream
Oil and water do not mix, and every moisturiser is a truce between them. This pair is what holds that truce: they sit at the boundary between the oil droplets and the water around them and keep the whole thing from separating. Without them you would have a bottle of oil floating on a puddle.
Well characterisedIt builds a structure like the skin's own
As the emulsion cools it self-assembles into stacked, layered sheets, a liquid crystal, and those layers echo the way the lipids in your outer skin are arranged. The research suggests this is why these emulsions feel cushioned rather than greasy, and why they sit with the barrier rather than stripping it. Plausible, and shown for the emulsion system rather than for either ester alone.
Emerging evidenceWhat the research does not show
Here is where a great deal of nonsense attaches to a perfectly good ingredient, and some of it is quite hard to dislodge.
Marketed as It brings the antioxidant power of olive oil
Marketed as Clinically proven to raise hydration by a quarter
Marketed as It is proven not to damage the skin barrier
What is left is more than enough. It is a mild, PEG-free, olive-derived emulsifier that builds a structure resembling the skin's own, and it is the reason every one of our creams holds together and feels the way it does. It does not need to borrow anything from a bottle of olive oil.
On the label and in the range
The two olivates appear in every one of our formulations, sitting high in the ingredient list because there is a fair amount of them: an emulsifier has structural work to do and cannot be sprinkled in. You will see them under their INCI names, Cetearyl Olivate and Sorbitan Olivate. They are one material, listed twice, because the law asks for the parts rather than the trade name. The exact percentage is published on each product page.
Is it suitable for me?
The independent expert panel that reviews cosmetic ingredients has assessed the sorbitan esters, this pair included, and found them safe as used, both in its original report and again on re-review. That is class-level evidence from a neutral body, which is the strongest kind available here. The material is non-ionic and mild, suits a vegan routine, and carries no restrictions under UK or EU cosmetic law. It is also approved as a raw material under the organic cosmetic standards.
One honest note. A worry sometimes raised about sorbitan esters and allergy actually concerns a different member of the family, sorbitan sesquioleate, which is used in fragrances. Carrying that caution across to this ester without naming the culprit would overstate the risk, so we are naming it.
As with anything new, if your skin reacts easily it is worth patch testing first.
The research behind this page
We review the published literature. We do not conduct the studies below.
- Fiume MM, Bergfeld WF, Belsito DV, et al. Safety Assessment of Sorbitan Esters as Used in Cosmetics. Int J Toxicol 2019;38(2 Suppl):60S-80S. →
- Lanigan RS, Yamarik TA. Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Sorbitan Esters, including Sorbitan Olivate. Int J Toxicol 2002;21(Suppl 1):93-112. →
- Teeranachaideekul V, et al. Influence of the emulsifier on nanostructure and clinical application of liquid crystalline emulsions. Sci Rep 2023;13:4185. →
- Amari S, Schubert C (assignee B&T S.r.l.). Use of transesterified olive oil in the cosmetic field. US Patent 8,796,217 B2, granted 2014. Sponsor literature; cited so the source of the hydration figure is visible. →