When we introduced this beautiful face oil into our range in 2016, we were not surprised when it quickly became one of our best-sellers. As one of the cornerstones of our multi-purpose range, it has three potential functions that make it valuable to the care of your precious skin: (i) it is a stand-alone moisturiser formulated for normal and dry skin as a light alternative to our Face Creams; (ii) it can be layered under a Face Cream for a nutrient boost when the skin is particularly dry and stressed; and (iii) it is also light enough to feed and protect the extremely delicate skin of the eye and neck, making it the perfect eye and neck serum.
Adapting your skin care routine
In the same way that we are naturally drawn to warming foods in winter and cooling foods during summer, it is important to adapt our skin care according to our skin’s changing character. Learning to read the changes in our skin both by its appearance and by how it feels - for example whether it feels congested or irritable, flakey or oily, dehydrated or plump, will help us to determine what our skin needs, restore balance and keep it healthy and resilient. It can be tempting to stick to a routine that has worked well for a while. However, during the cooler days of winter our skin is drier, needing more protection, whereas during the warmer, humid days of summer our skin needs more lightness, without compromising nutrition. As this seasonal transition occurs, it might be time for some to consider switching from a Face Cream to a lighter alternative. The important thing is to pay attention and adjust accordingly, in the same way you listen to your body, and adjust your food choices with the changing seasons.
Choosing the right product
For some, our Face Creams will be your friend all year round - those with dry skin will need the nutritious richness found in the shea butter that makes our creams so protective. Others will benefit from one of our Serums during the day, and a Face Cream at night as the warmer weather comes along. Others will stick with our Serums all the time, maybe keeping one of the creams on stand-by in case your skin experiences a dry patch. For oily skins, it’s most likely that the Elderberry & Chia Seed Beauty Serum will be with you all year round until later in life when oil production slows. At this time, the gradual introduction of a Face Cream will be beneficial.
What’s in the Raspberry & Pomegranate Beauty Serum?
We did a lot of research to find the nine super-nutritious oils we’ve brought together to create a concentrated dose of the most beneficial nutrients to your skin. The aim was to deliver a product that nourishes and protects normal and dry skin types, that is also light enough to sink into the skin rapidly. Here are the main nutrients we aimed to deliver:
Antioxidants:
We selected oils containing a wide range of antioxidants. These are extremely important as they protect our collagen and elastin from being damaged by free radicals, thereby slowing down the ageing process. The antioxidant-rich oils we have included are raspberry, pomegranate, sea buckthorn, rosehip, avocado, macadamia and camellia, predominantly in the form of vitamin E, the carotenoids (pro-vitamin A) and phenolic compounds. Raspberry and pomegranate seed oils are particularly high in the antioxidant ellagic acid, which can prevent the proliferative action of some carcinogens. By providing a range of these antioxidant-rich oils, each with a different antioxidant profile, your skin receives a potent dose of free radical-fighting molecules.
Essential fatty acids:
We have also selected oils that are rich in the essential fatty acids, including the all-important gamma linolenic acid, which is is abundant in borage oil, hemp and sea buckthorn oil. The essential fatty acids, found in high levels in hemp, raspberry, pomegranate, sea buckthorn, rosehip and baobab can rebuild and maintain the skin’s barrier function, locking in the skin’s moisture and reducing the risk of inflammatory skin conditions like eczema by keeping irritants and pollutants at bay. We have also included oils which are rich in the monounsaturated fatty acids, to provide the extra protection required by drier skin types. These include avocado, macadamia and camellia oils.
Carotenoids:
Carotenoid-rich oils like sea buckthorn, rosehip, raspberry and avocado are extremely valuable, because carotenoids can be converted to vitamin A following topical application to the skin. In addition to its antioxidant effects, vitamin A can reduce the appearance of fine wrinkles by promoting the production of glycosaminoglycans and collagen, helping to plump the skin.
Anti-inflammatories:
The anti-inflammatory effects of these oils are also incredibly valuable. Anti-inflammatory properties come from both the essential fatty acids and the broad range of phytosterols, which are abundant in all nine oils. Soothing inflammation is extremely important to skin health: it reduces congestion and redness, and slows down the skin’s production of collagen-damaging inflammatory molecules.
Special properties:
Many of the plant oils we now have access to are still virtually unstudied, and could hide potential benefits we are only beginning to appreciate. For example, raspberry seed oil is unusual in that it is able to absorb UV-B and UV-C light, resulting in broad spectrum UV protection, although it cannot substitute for sunscreen in our products. In a recent study, pomegranate seed oil was used after skin laser treatment and was shown to reduce the amount of swelling and increase the healing rate, resulting in more rapid improvement of wrinkles (1). This may be partly due to its previously proven ability to promote the proliferation of epidermal cells and speed the healing response.
What’s not in the Raspberry & Pomegranate Beauty Serum?
Possibly a question of almost equal importance! Like all our products, it is free of all synthetic ingredients, including preservatives and emulsifiers, as well as palm oil and palm oil derivatives. We have also left essential oils out of the formula, so that it is suitable to moisturise and protect the delicate skin of the eye and neck, and also for the benefit of those with essential oil sensitivities.
Like all our skin care, it’s made with 100% certified organic ingredients, and is packaged in glass. We hope you enjoy using this beautiful product as much as we do!
(1) Wu, D.C , and Goldman, M.P. (2017) A Topical Anti-inflammatory Healing Regimen Utilizing Conjugated Linolenic Acid for Use Post-ablative Laser Resurfacing of the Face: A Randomized, Controlled Trial J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 10: 12–17.
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