Allergens & Cross-Reactivity
Read every label. We already did.
Every allergen and botanical cross-reactivity across the line — named plainly, grouped by what a reactive system tends to share, and traced to the exact product it lives in.
Indiefog products are cosmetics — made to cleanse, soften, and comfort skin, not to treat, cure, or prevent any condition. Where we name a condition below, it's to say who a formula is made for, never something the product acts on. Read this alongside your doctors, never instead — and let your current jar label have the final word.
Left out on purpose
What isn't in here
Exclusion is the formulation method behind Nervous System Skincare™ — fewer things for a reactive system to argue with. A few worth stating plainly:
No soy. No synthetic fragrance. No added gluten ingredient. A lab kept free of peanuts, milk, egg, shellfish, and wheat.
A note on wording we hold ourselves to: fragrance-free is reserved for specific benzyl-alcohol-free SKUs — the Hydrate and Brighten cleansing bars, the unscented Aurea body butter, and our anhydrous facial SKUs. Everywhere else, the honest claim is no synthetic fragrance. Essential-oil-free applies to the facial line only. Soy is never used; where you see Vitamin E (Tocopherol) or Vitamin K2 (MK-7), both are sunflower-derived — never soy.
The ledger
What's in here to know about
A thorough allergen list is long by design. Most entries here matter only if that specific thing is already yours to avoid — a long list is a sign we're reading carefully, not a sign a formula is harsh. If one of these is yours, this is where to look before you buy. We suggest a patch test on the inner forearm, left 24 hours, before facial use.
Legume
Lupin
Lupinus albus · hydrolyzed lupine protein
A plant protein that gives a soft, cushioned feel. We flag it clearly because lupin is a legume.
Cross-reactivity: people with a peanut or legume allergy can react to lupin. If that's you, treat these formulas as ones to skip.
Found in
Elevate Essence, Renew Serum, Plump Elixir, and Defy Facial Butter.
Palm fruit
Coconut
Cocos nucifera · milk powder, oil, cocoyl surfactants
Coconut milk powder, coconut oil, and coconut-derived cleansing agents (Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate) appear across our bars, butters, and powders.
Worth knowing: the FDA classes coconut as a tree nut for labeling. Most people with a true tree-nut allergy tolerate it, but if coconut is yours to avoid, here's where it lives.
Found in
Hydrate and Brighten Cleansing Bars, the Radiance Mask, the Cacao Renewal Polish, and the Gentle Descent, Grounded Descent, Pure Reset, Pure Descent, Cooling Clarity, and Deep Clarity magnesium butters.
Nut & seed butters
Tree-nut & seed oils
Shea, kokum, mango, cacay, tamanu, baobab, cocoa
The buttery base of much of the line comes from nut and seed fats: shea (Butyrospermum), kokum and cocoa seed butter, mango seed butter, plus cacay, tamanu, and baobab seed oils.
Cross-reactivity to name: mango seed butter is in the same botanical family (Anacardiaceae) as cashew and pistachio. If cashew or pistachio is yours to avoid, the six magnesium butters are the ones to check. Shea and cocoa butters are refined seed fats and rarely a problem, but we list them so nothing is a surprise.
Mango seed butter appears in
Gentle Descent, Grounded Descent, Pure Reset, Pure Descent, Cooling Clarity, and Deep Clarity.
Cacay, tamanu, and baobab seed oils in
Defy Facial Butter, Hydrate Cleansing Bar, Brighten Cleansing Bar, and Brighten Elixir.
Shea butter is broad across cleansers, butters, and creams — assume it's present unless a product says otherwise.
Daisy family
Ragweed & Asteraceae
Sunflower, Vitamin E, Vitamin K2, calendula, chamomile
Our Vitamin E (Tocopherol) and Vitamin K2 (MK-7) are both sunflower-derived — never soy — and sunflower seed oil, calendula, and chamomile sit in many formulas. Sunflower, calendula, and chamomile all belong to the daisy family (Asteraceae/Compositae).
This only matters if you already react to the daisy family — ragweed, mugwort, or hay-fever pollens. For everyone else, Vitamin E is simply a nourishing antioxidant. Because it's present in most oil-based formulas, those with a known sunflower or Asteraceae sensitivity should treat it as line-wide rather than product-by-product.
Named botanicals in this family appear in
Enzyme Cleansing Oil, The Gentle Balm, Clear Elixir, Brighten Elixir, Firm Elixir, Plump Elixir, Brighten Eye Elixir, Aurea Body Butter, and the Gentle, Grounded, Pure, Cooling, and Deep butters.
Fruit
Latex-fruit group
Persea gratissima · Carica papaya
Avocado and papaya show up as fruit extracts, oils, and enzyme powders.
Cross-reactivity: avocado and papaya are part of latex–fruit syndrome. If you have a latex allergy, or react to banana, kiwi, or chestnut, these are worth flagging with your care team.
Found in
Elevate Essence, Renew Serum, Enzyme Cleansing Oil, and Brighten Cleansing Bar.
Grain
Oat & gluten cross-contact
Avena sativa · colloidal oatmeal
Oat kernel flour and colloidal oatmeal appear in two bars and one mask for their softening, comforting feel.
For celiac and gluten-free skin: oats are naturally gluten-free but carry a real risk of cross-contact with wheat upstream. We can't call these celiac-safe. Our own lab is wheat-free, but we can't verify every supplier's field, so we name oat plainly. Celiac is permanent — we treat it that way, not as something that passes.
Found in
Hydrate Cleansing Bar, Brighten Cleansing Bar, and the Radiance Mask.
Ferments
Fermented & fungal-derived actives
Snow mushroom, Saccharomyces & Lactobacillus ferments, Aureobasidium
These are deliberate, purified fermentation actives and snow mushroom (Tremella) — chosen for a soft, cushioned feel and among the gentlest ingredients we carry. To be plain about a word that can unsettle people: this is intentional fermentation, the same craft behind yoghurt or a good ferment — not anything growing in your jar.
This one is narrow. It's worth noting only if you already track yeast or mould exposure — something some guests navigating MCAS choose to do. If that isn't you, there's nothing here to avoid. If it is, the yeast and Aureobasidium ferments are the specific ones to know.
Fermented actives appear in
Harmony Essence, Shield Serum, Renew Serum, Balance Serum, and Ceramide Barrier Cream.
Snow mushroom is line-wide — one of our most-loved, best-tolerated ingredients.
Nightshade
Goji
Lycium barbarum · goji berry seed oil
Goji berry seed oil is a single-product ingredient here, listed for the nightshade-reactive.
Cross-reactivity: goji is in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). If you avoid tomato, pepper, or eggplant on your skin, this is the one to know.
Found in
Defy Facial Butter.
Salicylate
Wintergreen & clove
Methyl salicylate · Syzygium aromaticum
Two of the cooling magnesium butters carry an aromatic blend that includes wintergreen and clove.
Our standing disclosure, carried here in full: contains wintergreen (a natural source of methyl salicylate) and clove essential oils — not suited for salicylate-sensitive or aspirin-allergic individuals.
Found in
Cooling Clarity and Deep Clarity.
Also worth knowing
Smaller notes, still named
Not classic allergens, but things a careful, reactive system might want a heads-up on.
Histamine
Strawberry fruit extract
Strawberry is a natural histamine liberator — a note for histamine-aware and MCAS guests. Found in the Radiance Mask.
Caffeine-adjacent
Green & roasted coffee seed oils
Coffee-derived oils sit in a couple of elixirs. Worth flagging for highly reactive skin. Found in the Brighten Eye Elixir and Clear Elixir.
Castor
Ricinus communis seed oil
Castor bean oil is well tolerated topically but occasionally sensitizing. Found in the Brighten Eye Elixir, Defy, and Soothe facial butters.
Our lab
Where these are made, said out loud
Everything is made in a dedicated production lab.
Present in the lab
Tree nuts and seed butters, and coconut.
Never in the lab
Peanuts, soy, milk, egg, shellfish, and wheat.
The tree nuts and coconut in the lab are the ingredients themselves — shea, coconut, kokum, mango, cacay, and the seed oils.
A reactive system isn't a broken one. It's paying attention. So are we.