Is The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Safe? What Yuka Flags

Yuka reads The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 at 49 out of 100, "Poor". The reading was taken in the app on 12 October 2026, searching the product by name. Exactly one ingredient is flagged. Everything else on the list is risk-free.

Yuka lists this serum as "Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 and Ceramides", which is the reformulated version The Ordinary sells now. The older formula, without the ceramide claim, is not the one we read.

The Only Flag Is the Preservative

• Phenoxyethanol, moderate risk. Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Annex V, entry 29: permitted as a preservative up to 1.0% of the finished product.

That single line is the whole score. Yuka's published rule is that the worst ingredient sets the band, and a moderate-risk ingredient holds a product between 0 and 49. Nothing else in this formula is flagged, so nothing else takes a point off, and the serum lands on 49: the best result available to any product that contains phenoxyethanol.

Put the other way round, the hyaluronic acid, the panthenol (that is the B5), the lipids added for the ceramide claim and everything else Yuka lists all pass. If you scanned this bottle and saw orange, you were looking at a verdict on one preservative.

What European Law Says, and What Yuka Skips

The EU's position on phenoxyethanol was last reviewed by its Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, which concluded in its opinion finalised on 6 October 2016 that it "considers 2-phenoxyethanol safe for use as a preservative with a maximum concentration of 1.0%". The limit stayed at 1%.

The current ingredient list, as published on INCIDecoder and fetched on 13 October 2026, also contains chlorphenesin, a second preservative. EU law caps chlorphenesin at 0.3% under Annex V, entry 50, a tighter limit than phenoxyethanol's. Yuka did not flag it. We checked both preservatives in CosIng, the Commission's ingredient database, on 13 October 2026, and panthenol with them, which has an inventory record and no annex entry.

So the app is not counting preservatives, and it is not reading the law. It is applying its own view of one molecule. That view is defensible. It is just much narrower than a "Poor" label suggests.

Where It Sits in The Ordinary Range

At the top of the failing half. The Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% carries the same preservative plus one more flag and reads 47; the Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA carries three more and reads 43. The brand's acid exfoliants, which skip phenoxyethanol, read 93, and the Retinol 0.5% in Squalane reads 24 on a different ingredient entirely. The whole pattern is 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

Almost everyone who likes it. A serum whose only flag is a preservative at a level the EU's safety committee has signed off is not a product to throw away on the strength of a colour.

It suits dehydrated skin of any type, it layers under almost anything, and there is nothing on its flag list about irritation. If you have used it for months without trouble, that is better evidence about your skin than the app has.

Move on if you have decided to keep phenoxyethanol out of your routine. Then this formula cannot work for you, and the products below do the hydrating job without it.

Higher-Scoring Hydrating Products We Have Read

• Byoma Hydrating Milky Toner, 93/100. Hyaluronic acid and panthenol in a milky toner, so the closest match on ingredients, in a lighter format.
• Beauty of Joseon Ginseng Essence Water, 93/100. A watery essence for the same step in a routine.
• EQQUALBERRY Vitamin Illuminating Serum, 86/100. The only true serum of the three, with several forms of hyaluronic acid plus niacinamide.

None of them is a like-for-like copy of a 2% hyaluronic acid serum, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise. If the texture of this one is what you like, the swap costs you something.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Yuka score for The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5?

49/100, "Poor", read in the app on 12 October 2026 under the name "Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 and Ceramides". Phenoxyethanol is flagged at moderate risk; every other ingredient is risk-free.

Does Yuka flag the hyaluronic acid?

No. Hyaluronic acid, panthenol and the added lipids are all risk-free in the app. The score comes from the preservative alone.

Does the older formula score the same?

We have not read it. Its published ingredient list also contained phenoxyethanol, which on Yuka's rules would keep it below 50, but we do not publish a score we have not read.

Our Verdict

A 49 that is entirely about phenoxyethanol. If that preservative does not bother you, nothing else on this label should, and the serum is as good a cheap hydrator as it was before you scanned it. If it does bother you, the 93-rated toner above is the easiest swap we have read.