After about a year of trying to figure out what exactly causes the skin around my eyes to swell up and get itchy and rashy every so often, I'm finally 99% certain the culprit is Phenoxyethanol.
However, I don't seem to react to it every single time I'm in contact with it, and when I do react it's only the skin around my eyes that takes notice. I have read that its potency increases when combined with parabens, which would make a lot of sense looking back at my past reactions... but my normal body moisturiser contains both Phenoxyethanol and parabens, and I've definitely touched my face and eyes with freshly moisturised hands which surely would set off a reaction?!
I suppose I'm just posting to see if anyone has the same weird intermittent reactions with anything? What's the deciding factor?
It's really not bad enough to pay for definitive allergy testing or anything but I'm still curious 🤷🏻♀️