A soothing, mildly brightening plant extract. Its compounds calm redness and slow pigment in the lab; human evidence at cosmetic doses is small.
Licorice root extract contains glabridin, which inhibits tyrosinase and calms inflammation, and liquiritin, which disperses melanin. It is used in brightening and anti-redness products, usually at low levels among other actives, and extract strength varies widely between suppliers.
Licochalcone A, behind many anti-redness claims, comes mainly from a related licorice species; it is not what 'Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract' on a label reliably contains.
Lab studies support anti-pigment and anti-inflammatory activity. Human data are a few small studies, mostly of concentrated purified licorice compounds rather than the low-dose extracts in most products.