Why Does The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Score Poorly on Yuka?

Yuka reads The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% at 47 out of 100, in the "Poor" band. The reading was taken in the app on 12 October 2026, searching the product by name. Two ingredients come back flagged and nine come back risk-free.

The niacinamide is not one of the two. Neither is the zinc. What holds this serum under 50 is the preservative.

The Two Flags, and What European Law Says About Each

Yuka's flagged list, at the risk levels it assigned:

• Phenoxyethanol, moderate risk. The preservative. It has an entry in Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009: Annex V, entry 29, maximum 1.0% in the finished product.
• Isoceteth-20, low risk. An ethoxylated solubiliser that keeps the formula clear and even. CosIng holds an inventory record for it and no annex entry.

We looked both up in CosIng, the European Commission's database of cosmetic ingredients, on 13 October 2026. "No annex entry" means the substance does not appear in Annexes II to VI, the parts of the law that ban an ingredient, cap its concentration or attach a warning. Niacinamide and zinc PCA came back the same way: inventory records, no restriction.

Yuka's help centre explains why a single moderate-risk ingredient matters so much. The worst ingredient sets the band, and one orange ingredient holds a product between 0 and 49 regardless of everything else in the bottle. The isoceteth-20 then takes two points, which is how 49 becomes 47. On this formula the score is a sentence about phenoxyethanol with a footnote.

Is Yuka Right About Phenoxyethanol?

Partly. Phenoxyethanol has a real regulatory file. In 2012 France's medicines agency asked for a lower limit in products for children under three, and the European Commission sent the question to its Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety. The committee's answer, finalised on 6 October 2016, was that it "considers 2-phenoxyethanol safe for use as a preservative with a maximum concentration of 1.0%", and that its margin of safety also covers children. The 1% cap stayed. Yuka's moderate-risk rating is a stricter reading of the same file, and a defensible one if you would rather avoid preservatives that needed a limit at all.

Where the app looks less consistent is the preservative it does not flag. The current ingredient list for this serum, as published on INCIDecoder, also contains chlorphenesin, which EU law caps more tightly than phenoxyethanol, at 0.3% under Annex V, entry 50. In the other The Ordinary products we read the same day, Yuka passed chlorphenesin as risk-free. The score is following one molecule, not the law.

Which Formula Did Yuka Score?

Possibly not the one on sale now. Yuka's entry lists eleven ingredients and flags isoceteth-20. The current list on INCIDecoder, fetched on 13 October 2026, has twelve and no isoceteth-20; it adds gums and cocoyl proline instead. The Ordinary has reformulated, and Yuka's entry probably predates it.

That changes the detail and not the conclusion. Phenoxyethanol is on both lists, so a current bottle still sits somewhere below 50. We would not promise you 47 exactly. Scan the bottle you own.

Where It Sits in The Ordinary Range

In the middle of the failing half. The Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 reads 49 on phenoxyethanol alone, the Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA reads 43 with three extra flags, and the Retinol 0.5% in Squalane reads 24 for a different reason. The brand's two acid exfoliants, which skip phenoxyethanol, read 93. We set the whole pattern out in why The Ordinary scores so unevenly on Yuka, and every reading is on The Ordinary's brand page.

Who This Is Still Fine For

Most of the people already using it.

• Oily or blemish-prone skin that has responded to it. Ten per cent niacinamide with zinc is a lot of active for the price, and nothing on Yuka's list is about what the actives do.
• Anyone whose concern is irritation rather than ingredient hazards. A 47 says nothing about how your skin reacts; your own experience with the bottle says a great deal.
• People comfortable with phenoxyethanol at the EU's 1% ceiling, which is where the Commission's own safety committee left it in 2016.

The case for moving on is just as simple. If you want every serum in your routine above Yuka's 50 line, this one cannot get there while it is preserved this way, and no amount of good niacinamide changes that.

Higher-Scoring Niacinamide Serums We Have Read

• Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Tone Brightening Capsule Ampoule, 93/100. Niacinamide with centella, aimed at tone more than oil.
• EQQUALBERRY Vitamin Illuminating Serum, 86/100. Niacinamide plus several forms of hyaluronic acid, so it covers the hydrating step as well.

Both carry niacinamide at around 4%, as recorded in our reviews of them, against The Ordinary's 10%. That is the trade. If you bought this serum for oil control and it works, a lower dose may not do the same job, and a better score is not worth a worse result to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Yuka score for The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%?

47/100, "Poor", read in the app on 12 October 2026. Yuka flags phenoxyethanol at moderate risk and isoceteth-20 at low risk; nine other ingredients are risk-free.

Is it the niacinamide that Yuka objects to?

No. Niacinamide and zinc PCA are both risk-free in the app, and neither carries any restriction in EU cosmetics law. The score comes from the preservative and a solubiliser.

Should I stop using it?

Only if avoiding phenoxyethanol is something you want for its own sake. If it is, the swaps above score higher at a lower niacinamide dose. If it is not, and the serum works for you, the number is not a reason to change.

Our Verdict

A strong, cheap niacinamide serum held under 50 by one preservative the EU permits at up to 1%. The number is real and narrow. It tells you phenoxyethanol is in the bottle, which you can now read off the label yourself, and it tells you nothing about the niacinamide you are paying for.