Skin profile
An oily profile in GlowCheck is a setting you choose, not a diagnosis. Once you set it, the same ingredient list is judged more strictly for weight. Combination skin with a pores goal is treated in a similar direction. Dry skin looking at the same jar is not. If you have been buying the rich cream that worked for a friend with dry skin, this is the page that explains why your scan looks harsher.
Occlusive esters, oils, and butters weigh more when the profile is oily. Two of them together can already raise the occlusion note to high on oily skin, or on combination skin when the goal is pores. Three or more do that on any profile. The tag is watch, not a promise that the cream will clog pores.
Niacinamide, zinc PCA, and acids such as salicylic, glycolic, lactic, mandelic, azelaic, and gluconolactone can be marked a fit. Those same acids are a watch on sensitive skin. Humectants still fit, with a smaller credit than on dry skin. Squalane and ceramides stay listed, not praised, when the goal is not hydration.
Occlusive esters, oils, and butters take a larger bite out of the score when the skin type is oily. The full name list is on the comedogenic ingredients page: isopropyl myristate and its cousins, coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea, lanolin, petrolatum, mineral oil, and the rest of that group. Two of them together can already raise the occlusion note to high on oily skin, or on combination skin when the goal is pores. Three or more do that on any profile.
The tag on those lines is watch, with a note written for oily or combination skin. The headline can call the formula heavy when the score is in the caution or not-ideal band and those hits are present. That is a match warning for the profile. It is not a statement that the cream will clog your pores tonight.
On oily skin, or when the goal is pores, the scan can mark these as a fit instead of a worry:
Humectants such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid still count as a fit, with a smaller credit than they get on dry skin. Light barrier lipids such as squalane and ceramides stay listed rather than praised when the profile is oily and the goal is not hydration. The app is trying not to push a rich barrier cream at someone who asked for pores.
Acids are not a fit on a sensitive profile. If you set sensitive, the same salicylic acid toner is a watch. Switch the profile and you switch the reading. Do that on purpose. Do not set oily to force a friendly score on a product that stings.
Fragrance is listed on an oily profile and watched when the profile is sensitive. Alcohol denat is not given the drying-alcohol penalty on a plain oily profile. Both can still matter to you personally. The guides for fragrance and alcohol denat spell out the exact names.
There is a mixed case: oily skin with a hydration goal. The scan still respects the oiliness, and it adds a note so the result does not pretend you asked for a mattifying toner. You can want water and still not want a wax balm.
Brands print “oil-free” while the list still carries isopropyl myristate, ethylhexyl palmitate, or a silicone-heavy base the score does not treat as coconut oil. Read the names in the occlusive group, not the badge. If those names are absent and the fit tags are niacinamide or salicylic acid, the oily profile has less to complain about. If the badge says oil-free and the list still has two of those esters, expect the occlusion note.
Set oily, or combination plus pores, in the INCI checker. Photograph two moisturizers you are choosing between, including a cheaper one. Compare watch tags on the heavy esters, not the marketing words “oil-free” or “non-comedogenic” on the front. If the expensive one and the cheap one share the same heavy tail, the cheaper swap is the point of the product. The first scan is free. Lifetime access is €9.99 once if you want to keep going. It is not medical advice, and it does not look at your face.