Snow mushroom

Snow mushroom is Tremella fuciformis, a white fungus eaten in China long before it was put in skincare. What the formula takes from it is the polysaccharide — a large sugar molecule that holds water against the skin.

It is usually introduced as a plant alternative to hyaluronic acid, which is the convenient shorthand and, as usual, not quite right. It is a different molecule with a smaller particle size, and both are in the night mask rather than one standing in for the other.