Produced from the roots and rhizomes of the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant, the extract of licorice root (also known as liquirice or liquorice) has a long history of use as an anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory agent. It's been used extensively in Europe and the US as a soothing ingredient in cough suppressants and is often used in traditional Chinese medicine as an herbal healing agent. In Western herbalism it is known as an adaptogen that helps regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

Licorice root is a multi-functional botanical, whose chief components include the glycosides glycyrrhizin and glycyrrizinic acid, triterpene saponins and flavonoids. Clinical research indicates licorice root extract is a soothing ingredient for the relief of eczema. Studies have shown it can also be of benefit for pigment lightening as it contains liquiritin and isoliquertin (flavonoids containing glycosides that induce skin lightening by dispersing melanin pigment and enhancing more even pigment distribution). It also has demonstrated the ability to reduce hyperpigmentation by blocking tyrosinase acitivity, which is the skin enzyme responsible for the pigmentation process.