10 Beauty Buzzwords Everyone With Great Skin Knows
Raise your hand if you’re baffled by BHAs. Fess up if you’ve no idea what free radicals are. Well, you don’t need a doctorate in dermatology to help care for your skin, but knowing a few important terms is vital when it comes to nailing your skincare routine. Here are ten beauty buzzwords you really should know…
1. AHAs
AHAs stands for alpha hydroxy acids: otherwise known as the darlings of chemical exfoliation. AHAs are water-soluble acids extracted primarily from fruit or milk sugars and formulated within skincare to dissolve the bonds between dead skin cells so they naturally slough away from the surface of your skin. They’re the chemical equivalent to face scrubs or cleansing brushes, helping increase cellular turnover to keep your skin feeling soft and looking radiant and more youthful. The most commonly used AHAs in skincare are glycolic and lactic acids, but citric, tartaric, malic, mandelic are also good examples.
2. Antioxidants
An effective skincare routine is nothing unless it contains some kind of antioxidant. But what are antioxidants? Well, they’re basically molecules that prevent oxidative damage to your skin caused by free radicals (see below). They work by stopping free radicals from reacting with and damaging vital molecules like collagen, elastin and DNA which are essential for the health, strength and structure of your skin. When included in a balanced skincare routine, antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, niacinamide and retinol hinder oxidative stress and help reduce unwanted skin concerns like inflammation, sun damage, dullness, sagging, lines and wrinkles. They’re up there with cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen as the most important weapons in your skincare arsenal.
Not sure where to start with antioxidants? Then go for a vitamin C serum. Vitamin C is not only the most highly researched antioxidant, but it’s a great all-rounder for brightening, protecting, strengthening and improving the quality of your skin. Just remember to always patch test topical antioxidants first as they can be pretty potent – especially if you have sensitive skin.
3. BHAs
Just like AHAs, BHAs (beta hydroxy acids) are chemical compounds used in skincare to boost cell regeneration and help exfoliate your skin. However, while AHAs are water-soluble, BHAs are oil-soluble which means they can penetrate beneath the skin’s surface to get deeper into your pores and clear out excess sebum. If you have oily skin or are prone to breakouts, BHAs should be right up there on your list of must-haves. And more good news, there’s really only one BHA you need to know: salicylic acid. Can we have a high-five for that?
4. Ceramides
Ceramides are lipids that make up around 50 percent of your skin’s composition and play a major role in the efficiency of your barrier function. Derms tend to explain ceramides as being the mortar that holds your skin cells (the bricks) together, helping to prevent water loss while protecting your skin from environmental pollution at the same time. Sounds simple enough, right?
The problem is that with age and environmental damage your skin’s natural level of ceramides drops dramatically, resulting in dryness, redness, irritation and dehydration. This is why as far as anti-aging ingredients go, ceramides are up there with the best. Look out for ceramide AP, ceramide EOP and ceramide NP written on your product labels.
5. Cruelty-Free
These days, there are so many misleading terms around clean, green beauty products it’s hard to know what you’re buying into. Are organic products always 100 percent natural? And does ‘vegan beauty’ mean the same as ‘cruelty-free’? Sadly not. In fact, the only way to guarantee you’re buying cruelty-free is to look for the Leaping Bunny logo. This internationally recognized symbol is an absolute promise to you that no animal tests were carried out in the development of any product that shows it on its packaging. We're super proud to be Leaping Bunny approved.
6. Free Radicals
Your skin is constantly exposed to environmental and lifestyle damage that work hard to cause what’s known as extrinsic aging – the term used to describe anything that contributes to how your skin ages other than, well, your age.
Why is extrinsic aging so powerful? Because free radicals. Free radicals are produced by the skin when it’s exposed to light, heat, pollution, stress and the like. They’re highly reactive, unstable atoms that like to snatch electrons from other atoms or molecules (think DNA, collagen and elastin) in a bid to stabilize themselves. This causes damage to all that good stuff in your skin and is one of the main reasons your skin becomes patchy, lined, wrinkly, saggy and so on.
Thankfully, for every skincare villain, there’s an even mightier superhero and in this case, it’s antioxidants. Unlike other skin components that become damaged when they lose electrons to free radicals, antioxidants have the special ability to donate them without losing stability. As we said before, antioxidants are the best.
7. Glycation
Speaking of extrinsic aging, glycation is another beast that works to ruin the look and feel of your skin. Glycation is when excess sugar molecules bind themselves to fat and protein molecules in the skin including collagen and elastin. These combine to form nasty little molecules called advanced glycation end products – or AGEs as they’re so aptly known. AGEs weaken and stiffen your collagen and elastin resulting in dullness, loss of elasticity and all the other visible signs of aging you know and hate. They also make your skin less able to defend itself from bad things like UV damage and cigarette smoke. Not good.
Obviously cutting down on refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup are great ways to lessen the effects of glycation on your skin, but know that all carbs get converted into sugar by the body so watch what you eat. Everything in moderation and all that.
8. MSM
Otherwise known as methylsulfonylmethane, MSM is a naturally-occurring form of sulfur, one of the most important elements in the human body. Sulfur is often touted as the ‘beauty’ or ‘healing’ mineral because it promotes circulation, fights inflammation and plays a key role in the production and composition of collagen and keratin.
MSM is a sulfur compound that’s used in skincare to not only boost collagen and keratin, but to increase the production of glutathione – one of the body’s essential antioxidants. This makes it awesome for improving wrinkles, firmness, elasticity and dark spots and why we use it in all of our vitamin C products, including the fabulous new Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream. Not tried this yet? You really must.
9. Noncomedogenic
Comedones is the fancy word for blocked pores. Blackheads, for example, are open comedones that have formed bumps and turned dark from oxidization, whereas whiteheads are those that remain closed and the same color as your skin. Once you get a grasp of this, the term noncomedogenic makes much more sense. Simply put, it means a product contains ingredients that have been tested to NOT clog your pores.
Unfortunately, like many skincare terms, the word ‘noncomedogenic’ is not regulated by the FDA, so while any product bearing this term is unlikely to clog your pores and cause a backup of oil and dead skin cells, it’s no guarantee. But it’s a good place to start, especially if you have super oily or pimple-prone skin.
10. NMF
While it might sound more like an early ‘90s alternative rock band, NMF actually refers to your skin’s natural moisturizing factor. Your NMF is a built-in moisturization system that’s located in the epidermis and contains a collection of powerful, naturally-occurring humectants such as amino acids, lactate, urea, minerals, sugars and peptides. These work together to draw in moisture and help protect your skin to keep it healthy, strong and supple.
As with sebum production, your NMF decreases with age which is why including humectants like hyaluronic acid, lactic acid and glycerin into your routine is so important – especially after you hit age 30.
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![How Your Favorite Comfort Foods Can Affect Your Skin]()
Did you know, some of your favorite comfort foods are doing your skin no favors? Like, no favors at all.
Let’s get one thing straight: when it comes to what you eat, a bar of chocolate here and a cheeseburger there is totally a-OK. What is it they say? Everything in moderation, right? And we agree. As long as you eat healthily for the most part and allow yourself treats when you want them you’re likely to be just fine.
However, when your meal and snack selections start to not only mess with your weight but also screw up your skin, it may be time to take a look at your diet choices. Because chocolate can’t give you acne, but it can definitely trigger your breakouts.
Whatever your comfort food weakness, read on for the biggest skin offenders that might be worth cutting back on. Of course, unless you have some kind of intolerance or a serious allergy, there’s no need to eliminate them entirely. Just know that if you want your skin to be its absolute best self, the old adage could not be more true – you are what you eat…
1. Cakes, Candy & Other Sweet Treats
OK, let’s start with arguably the biggest offender of them all: sugar. With zero nutritional value, sugar is the absolute devil when it comes to the health of your skin. How so? Well, in simple terms, sugar is an inflammatory which not only speeds up the rate at which your skin ages, but can trigger acne breakouts as well as flare-ups in existing skin conditions like rosacea, psoriasis and eczema.
Research also shows that excess sugar leads to the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are harmful compounds produced by the skin through a process called glycation. AGEs are no fun at all as they not only attack your skin cells but they do a real number on important proteins such as collagen and elastin, causing them to stiffen, weaken and perform poorly. All this manifests itself at the surface of your skin in the form of fine lines, wrinkles, dryness, sagging, dullness and, well, you get the picture.
More often than not, sugar cravings are simply the result of habit because sweet ‘treats’ make you feel happy and uplifted by releasing the ‘feel good’ hormone, dopamine, into your system. Refined white sugar and corn syrup are the real bad boys in this picture so avoid these as much as possible, swapping them out for things like honey or natural sugars found in fruit to get your sweet fix.
2. White Carbs
There is little better than tucking into a chunk of warm, crusty white bread or a pile of spaghetti carbonara of a cold, wintry evening. However, these sit under the refined carbs umbrella. And, note to self, in this case ‘refined’ is most definitely not a positive.
Refined carbs like white bread, pasta and rice are basically carbohydrates that have been processed and therefore stripped of the vitamins, minerals and fiber that make complex carbs so much better for your health and skin. This manufacturing process makes refined carbs easier to digest and offers an instant source of energy. Which may sound great, but this burst of energy is very short-lived (making you want to eat more) and causes a quick rise in blood sugar.
And there we have it: that skin-ruining thing called sugar rises again, which leads to AGEs, inflammation and friends.
Complex carbs are way better than the refined stuff so try to include more oatmeal, sweet potatoes and fruit and veggies in your diet. Less of the white stuff, yes?
3. Salty Snacks
Sure, sugar is seriously bad news. But salt is just as bad where your skin is concerned. You see, salt promotes dehydration, weakening your skin’s barrier function and killing its chances of remaining soft, supple and strong. What’s more, your favorite salty chips or nuts can contain up to 170mg of salt. Eesh!
Truth is, most salt contains around 40 percent sodium. Sodium draws essential moisture from the skin’s cells into the bloodstream in a bid to balance out fluids. This is important business and helps your body to function properly. But too much sodium in your diet puts this clever balancing act out of whack, pulling excess moisture from the cells and resulting in dehydrated skin that can be itchy, puffy, irritated and flaky-looking.
There’s more. When the skin starts to become dry and dehydrated, it produces more oil to compensate for its lack of moisture. And this can be a killer on your skin if you’re prone to breakouts, blocking up your pores and triggering acne before you can say ‘pass the salt!’
It’s important to remember, however, that salt is crucial for your health so don’t avoid it completely. Just try to use less when cooking and give lower sodium savory snacks like unsalted nuts, crackers or veggie chips a go.
4. The Processed Meat Gang
Processed meats like bacon, sausages, salami and deli meats are all super-high in salt. So… see above. They also contain a ton of saturated fat and are often packed with preservatives called nitrites to preserve them and help them last longer. Fair enough. Actually, what if we told you that nitrites assist in the breakdown of collagen and elastin? Not so fair enough, after all.
Reminder: collagen and elastin are important proteins that work hard to keep your skin firm, strong and supple. As skin ages it loses vital collagen and elastin which is why it’s important to do everything you can to preserve them for as long as possible. Quality sleep, kick-ass sun protection, topical antioxidants, you know the score. But if you undo all this hard work by overloading your diet with collagen and elastin-killing preservatives like nitrites. Well, you can say goodbye to youthful-looking skin and hello there, premature aging.
5. Fried Food
It’s estimated that over a quarter of Americans consume fried food from fast food restaurants every single day. Scary right?
Fried foods like burgers, fries, hot dogs and chicken not only raise your bad cholesterol and lower your good cholesterol, but they also increase the number of AGEs in your skin. Remember AGEs ⬆️? Yes, they’re truly the bad guys in this picture. Fried foods, however, produce a whole different kind of AGE to sugar in that they’re not created inside your body, but form within the food when it's cooked at such extreme, dry temperatures.
Studies have shown that dry heat (basically any kind of heat that doesn’t include water) may increase the amount of AGEs in food by up to 100 times. Baking, broiling, roasting and barbecuing all cause AGEs to form in certain high fat/high protein foods (especially red meat), but frying is undoubtedly the worst. Get this: fried bacon contains around ten times the number of AGEs as microwaved bacon. We’re not going to get too technical on you but no, microwaving isn’t a form of dry heat cooking. It’s complicated. Just trust us on that one.
The moral of the story is if you’re worried that your diet is aging you up too fast, think about what you eat and get some balance in your life with more fresh fruit and veggies, unprocessed foods, white meat, fish and legumes.
A great skincare routine can also help to keep your collagen levels in check so why not try our awesome Longevity range which encourages healthy, rather than premature skin aging.
We like that.
How Your Favorite Comfort Foods Can Affect Your Skin
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![What Is Salicylic Acid And Does Your Skin Need It?]()
Salicylic acid is right up there with glycolic acid for exfoliating your skin. But it also has an extra string in its bow. Listen up, oily skin folks, this one’s for you…
Salicylic acid is one of those ingredients that truly delivers. Forget your snail mucus and 24k gold flakes because they simply don’t live up to the hype. Along with skincare greats like retinol and vitamin C, however, salicylic acid does exactly what it sets out to do. And frankly, that’s all you can ask from a skincare ingredient, is it not?
If you’re not sure what salicylic acid is all about, not a problem, that’s what we’re here for.
So, read on for everything we know about salicylic acid: glycolic acid’s equally as effective, but really quite different cousin…
What Is Salicylic Acid, Exactly?
You’ve heard of AHAs and BHAs, right? Well, salicylic acid sits in the BHA camp. In fact, it’s really the only BHA you need to know about being the single most common BHA used in skincare and cosmetics.
BHAs, or beta-hydroxy acids are fat-soluble chemical exfoliants that break down the bonds between your skin cells to encourage them to slough away more efficiently. Physical scrubs have the same effect, but they use physical pressure alongside grains or textured surfaces to exfoliate your skin. Chemical exfoliants just harness the powers of acids like salicylic to do the same job, improving cellular turnover as a major part of the deal.
Salicylic acid, in particular, is extracted from the bark of willow trees and has amazing exfoliating benefits. But there’s more. It also has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial qualities (take that, pimples!) and, because it’s fat-soluble, it has an uncanny knack of penetrating into your pores and getting to work on your sebaceous glands. And that’s a big plus if you have super oily skin you find hard to control…
The Benefits Of Salicylic Acid In Skincare
Exfoliants are a crucial part of a healthy skincare routine. Not only do they boost cell turnover to help give you a smoother, softer and brighter complexion, but they also work hard to improve collagen synthesis. And as you mature, that’s really important since collagen degradation becomes a huge deal as you hit your 30s and beyond.
As we mentioned, however, salicylic acid differs to other water-soluble chemical exfoliants like glycolic, citric and lactic acids. And that’s because it’s fat-soluble which allows it to go deeper below the skin’s surface, penetrating through the lipid layers to really get into the pores. We mean no disrespect to the AHAs of the world, of course, because they’re incredible at what they do – which is to exfoliate at a more surface level. But, if you have oily skin or have trouble with breakouts, blackheads or blocked pores, salicylic acid can offer so much more.
Salicylic acid is almost unbeatable at preventing your pores from becoming clogged with dead skin cells and excess sebum, AND it gently exfoliates your skin by loosening the bonds that hold together those tough, outer layers of dead skin cells. This not only improves the tone and texture of your complexion almost immediately, but it stimulates collagen production helping to stave off premature lines and wrinkles as time goes by.
To summarize, the key benefits of salicylic acid are…
* Exfoliates the skin and removes dead skin cells* Improves cellular turnover* Balances and controls excess sebum* Detoxifies pores* Reduces acne breakouts* Calms inflammation5 Ways To Make Salicylic Acid Work For You
Like most active ingredients, salicylic acid must be given the respect it deserves. Here’s how to use it wisely and effectively...
1. Always Patch Test Salicylic Acid First
Most salicylic acid treatments are well-tolerated by all skin types and safe for daily use. However, there’s always a chance your skin could freak out by this potent, active ingredient, so patch test any new product before applying it regularly. And yes, we know patch testing sounds like a bit of a headache, but it’s really easy and will only delay your product use by a day or so... but it can save your skin a whole lotta pain.
To patch test your product, apply a small amount to a discreet area of your skin (we like to do it behind an ear). Then leave it for 24-48 hours to check for any negative reactions. Most likely, your skin will be fine other than mild redness or tingling which is to be expected with any active product. However, if you experience anything like burning, discomfort, swelling or itching, stop use immediately – this product is not a good fit for you.
2. Listen To Your Skin To Get Your Routine Right
Once you know you’re safe to use your salicylic acid formulation without any negative reactions, introduce it slowly into your routine. Your skin might be strong enough to take it every day… then again, it might not. Start with once a week and then build on that after a couple of weeks as your skin acclimates. And remember to always read the labels of your products as not all serums are built to be used daily, anyway!
Our Vitamin C Super Serum+, for example, is packed with potent ingredients and combines salicylic acid with other skin superheroes like retinol and vitamin C. Because of this we recommend you apply it just two or three times a week for the best results.
3. Get The Most From Salicylic Acid By Using A Leave-On Treatment
Salicylic acid can be used in pretty much any skincare formulation, from cleansers and toners, through to exfoliants, serums and moisturizers. To really maximize its benefits, however, we believe that leave-on products offer far superior results to anything you’re going to wash down the plughole. It’s common sense, right?
On that note, try our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant which is everything for brighter, clearer, smoother-looking skin. Apply it to clean skin, before your serum and moisturizer.
4. Combine It With Tea Tree Oil
Our Tea Tree Super Serum+ blends salicylic acid with tea tree oil to really hit breakouts from all angles.
Tea tree oil is extracted from the leaves of the Australian tea tree and it has awesome anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial benefits making it a shoo-in for helping to calm facial redness at a surface level. Meanwhile, salicylic acid goes deeper to improve cell turnover and help remove excess oil and dirt that can block your pores in the first place. Together they’re truly dynamite. What’s more, our serum has been crafted to be as gentle as possible while still providing all the benefits you could ever want.
As we said, dynamite.
5. Use Sunscreen Every Morning
All experts agree (us, dermatologists, the FDA, need we go on?) that salicylic acid must be used in conjunction with a broad-spectrum sunscreen in order to help protect the skin and avoid sensitivities to UV radiation. It’s basically non-negotiable, so make sure sunscreen is as much a part of your morning routine as cleaning your teeth and brushing your hair.
We like to keep our SPF30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C right there on the shelf next to our serums and eye cream. That way, we never forget.
What Is Salicylic Acid And Does Your Skin Need It?
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