Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream with Squalane sells three heroes on the jar: 4.5% squalane, a Glacial Glycoprotein, and Pro-Ceramides. Read the label and only one of them holds up by position. Squalane really is the 4th ingredient on the list, and Kiehl’s even prints the percentage — honest placement. But the Glacial Glycoprotein (Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract) is the 29th ingredient, and the Pro-Ceramide (Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine) is the 31st — both sitting well below the preservative line, which means both are almost certainly present in trace amounts. A glacier is on the front of the jar; on the back it is the 29th thing in the tub.
This is the exercise this desk runs on everything: quote the actual ingredient list, then point at where the thing on the front of the bottle really lands. Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream is a good one to run it on because it is one of the most-searched facial creams going — tens of thousands of jars a month move through Amazon alone — and because the jar makes three separate hero claims, which is three chances for the label to agree or disagree with the marketing. Here it does one of each.
What is actually in Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream?
Here is the full ingredient list, quoted verbatim from Kiehl’s listing on Ulta (SKU 2540234, the 0.95 oz size; Ulta notes the larger SKUs share identical ingredient text), read 16 October 2026:
Aqua / Water, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Squalane, Bis-Peg-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Sucrose Stearate, Stearyl Alcohol, Peg-8 Stearate, Myristyl Myristate, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil / Apricot Kernel Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Persea Gratissima Oil / Avocado Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Oryza Sativa Bran Oil / Rice Bran Oil, Olea Europaea Fruit Oil / Olive Fruit Oil, Chlorphenesin, Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Carbomer, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil / Sweet Almond Oil, Xanthan Gum, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopherol, Glycine Soja Oil / Soybean Oil, Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract, Myristic Acid, Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine, Salicylic Acid, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil / Sunflower Seed Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract / Rosemary Leaf Extract, Citric Acid.
Source: Ulta.com, Kiehl’s own retailer listing, read 16 October 2026. That is a list thirty-five entries long. One note on which formula this is: older databases, and the Kiehl’s India site, show Cyclohexasiloxane near the top of this cream. The current US listing does not — it shows Dimethicone at position 3 instead, and that is the version quoted above. If you are checking your own jar, check the panel on it, because formulas get revised.
Where does the 4.5% squalane actually sit?
At position 4 — and credit where it is due, that is honest. Kiehl’s prints “4.5% Squalane” on the front of the jar, and squalane genuinely turns up fourth, above every oil, wax and botanical in the formula. Squalane is a well-liked emollient: a lightweight, highly stable lipid (here derived from olives) that spreads easily and helps skin feel soft and supple. At position 4 with a declared percentage, this is the opposite of the usual story on this desk, where the marketed active hides near the bottom. The squalane claim is the one that survives reading the list. Hold onto that, because the other two heroes do not fare the same way.
The quieter structural point sits one line above the squalane. Position 3 is Dimethicone — a silicone film-former — and position 5 is a second silicone emollient. So the cream contains at least as much synthetic silicone as it does the squalane it is named for. That is not a knock on silicones: dimethicone is well tolerated and genuinely good at slowing water loss from the skin’s surface. It is simply information that appears nowhere on the front of the jar or in the key-ingredient callouts, and it is worth knowing that a chunk of what makes this cream feel the way it does is silicone, not the botanical lipid on the label.
Why does the preservative tell you where the glacier is?
Because of how ingredient lists are legally ordered. Under US labeling rules (21 CFR 701.3), ingredients above 1% must be listed in descending order of weight, but anything present at 1% or less can be listed in any order after them. So you cannot read exact percentages off a label — but you can often find the line where the formula crosses below 1%, and preservatives are the usual marker, because they are typically used at a fraction of a percent and capped low by regulation. Phenoxyethanol, the preservative here, sits at position 11; in the EU it is capped at 1% in cosmetics. Everything from roughly position 11 downward, then, is in that sub-1% tail.
That is the context for the second hero. The Glacial Glycoprotein — listed by its INCI name, Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract — is at position 29. It is a fermentation extract originally traced to bacteria from Antarctic glaciers, and Kiehl’s markets it as helping skin hold onto moisture. Whatever it does, it does it from the 29th slot, far below the preservative line. The position cannot give you an exact number, but it tells you plainly this is at or below 1%, and realistically a trace. A glacier is one of the trio Kiehl’s leads with; on the label it is behind the sweet almond oil, the xanthan gum and the vitamin E. (If you want the raw ingredient profile independent of the brand’s framing, incidecoder keeps a plain entry for Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract.)
What about the Pro-Ceramides?
The third hero, the Pro-Ceramide, is Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine at position 31 — two slots further down than the glacier, and firmly in the same sub-1% tail. It is a synthetic ceramide precursor rather than one of the ceramides (NP, AP, EOS and so on) that make up the skin’s own barrier, and ingredient references tend to list it as an emollient and skin-conditioning agent. The honest read is the same as for the glycoprotein: its position tells you it is a trace addition, and I am not going to claim more about what it does or does not do at that level than the position supports. If you want the neutral ingredient write-up, incidecoder has an entry for Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine.
One aside for anyone who reads the full list and gets a jolt from seeing “Salicylic Acid” at position 32 — that is not an added BHA exfoliant. According to the independent review at squalaneclub.com, which cross-checked this list against two additional ingredient registries, the salicylic acid comes in as the preservative for the glacial glycoprotein raw material, listed by the supplier as water, pseudoalteromonas ferment extract, salicylic acid and sodium hydroxide. In other words, it rode in with ingredient 29; it is not there to resurface your skin. At that depth it would be a trace in any case.
- Squalane (#4)
- The marketed 4.5% hero, genuinely near the top with its percentage printed on the jar. The honest claim.
- Dimethicone (#3) + silicone (#5)
- At least as much synthetic silicone as squalane; mentioned nowhere on the front.
- Phenoxyethanol (#11)
- The preservative, marking roughly where the formula drops below 1%.
- Glacial Glycoprotein (#29)
- Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract — a front-of-jar hero, sitting at or below 1%.
- Pro-Ceramide (#31)
- Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine — the third hero, also a trace addition in the sub-1% tail.
So is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream a bad moisturizer?
No — and that is not the point of reading the label. This is a competently built cream. Squalane high up, glycerin second doing the real humectant work, silicones to seal the surface, a spread of plant oils and a bit of vitamin E: that combination will leave most people’s skin feeling soft, and the squalane claim is more honest than a lot of the jars that pass this desk. The thing worth knowing is narrower. Of the three heroes Kiehl’s puts on the front, one (squalane) is where the marketing says it is, and two (the glacier and the pro-ceramide) are trace additions near the bottom of a list thirty-five entries long. If you are buying this cream for the Antarctic glacial glycoprotein, you are buying a cream whose main moisturizing work is being done by glycerin, silicone and squalane, with the glacier along for the story.
If what you actually want is a moisturizer where the ingredients doing the work are the short list of things you can read on the front, that is a different kind of formula — fewer ingredients, no sub-1% tail of trace heroes to decode. That is the whole idea behind our own tallow moisturizer at Evil Goods (Ingredient Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods, and I point to it here because this entire piece is about which ingredients are actually present in a meaningful amount). It is not a verdict on Kiehl’s; it is the other end of the same label-reading exercise. Whatever you choose, the ingredient panel on the back is the honest document, and the front of the jar is the advertisement.
FAQ
What is the first ingredient in Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream with Squalane?
Water, followed by glycerin, dimethicone and then squalane at position 4 of 35. Kiehl’s prints “4.5% Squalane” on the jar, and the squalane’s placement at number 4 is consistent with that.
Where does the Glacial Glycoprotein sit in the ingredient list?
At position 29 of 35, listed by its INCI name Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract. It sits well below the preservative (phenoxyethanol, #11), which means it is present at or below 1% — almost certainly a trace amount, despite being one of the three heroes on the front of the jar.
Where is the Pro-Ceramide?
Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine is at position 31, in the same sub-1% tail as the glycoprotein. It is a synthetic ceramide precursor, generally listed as an emollient, and its position indicates a trace addition.
Why is salicylic acid in the list?
At position 32 it is not an added exfoliant. An independent cross-check of the list reports it comes in as the preservative for the glacial glycoprotein raw material (supplied as water, pseudoalteromonas ferment extract, salicylic acid and sodium hydroxide), not as a BHA added by Kiehl’s.
Is squalane the same as squalene?
They are related but not identical. Squalene is a naturally occurring lipid that oxidizes easily; squalane is its hydrogenated, shelf-stable form. The cream uses squalane, here derived from olives, which is why it stays stable in the jar.
