Up Your Fall Skincare Game With An Awesome New Face Serum
Summer’s officially over, folks. So, there’s no better time to add a hard-working face serum into your skincare routine. Frankly, it would be rude not to.
Face serums are mysterious little characters. Often moisturizing, but not really moisturizers; sometimes oily, but definitely not face oils. Mind. Officially. Blown.
But the thing is, a face serum is probably the most important and hard-working product you could have in your skincare arsenal. Sure, it’s not 100 percent vital in terms of keeping your skin clean, moisturized and protected from the sun (they’re the absolute basics for healthy skin, btw). However, if you want to do more than just the bare minimum for your skin and want to keep it looking its best for as long as possible, you simply must include at least one serum in your daily regime.
Not sure where to start? Then allow us to fill you in on all the essential deets. Because summer’s gone, fall’s here and now’s the perfect time to up your skincare game.
What Are Face Serums?
A face serum is a light, water- or gel-based skincare product that’s been formulated to help treat specific concerns or skin conditions like dullness, dehydration or aging. Due to their small, molecular makeup, serums are extremely fast-absorbing and can penetrate deep into your skin. This is why they’re such a great tool for delivering active ingredients exactly where your skin needs them.
How Do Serums Differ To Moisturizers?
Unlike serum, a moisturizer’s main job is to, well, moisturize. Sure, it might contain antioxidants, exfoliating acids and all manner of other skin-loving ingredients as added extras but at the end of the day, a moisturizer’s ability to moisturize your skin is everything. A moisturizer, therefore, is richer than serum and usually contains some kind of emollient or occlusive ingredient (think shea butter, jojoba oil, coconut oil etc.) to create a barrier and stop moisture from escaping from the surface of your skin.
Serums, on the other hand, are lighter and contain much smaller molecules than their moisturizing cousins. Of course, serums can contain hydrating ingredients to help your skin retain moisture, but they don’t often contain occlusive or emollient ingredients (think shea butter, coconut oil etc) which form a seal on the surface of your skin. If they did, they wouldn’t retain such a lightweight composition and they wouldn’t absorb into your skin in such a timely, effective manner.
Is A Face Serum Right For Me?
Probably… but who knows? There are so many different formulations around, there’s bound to be one to suit your needs. However, the most important thing is to always patch test any new serum before applying it all over your face and neck for the first time.
To perform a patch test, apply a small amount to a discreet area of clean skin either behind your ears, inside your elbow, on your wrist or on the side of your neck. Then leave it for a good 48 hours to check for any negative reactions. If everything’s a-okay after this time, you’re good to go. Even mild reactions such as redness or a little tingling that settles down after an hour is fine – this is just those awesome ingredients getting to work. However, anything that’s continually uncomfortable or painful is a major red flag. If you experience a bad reaction like this, immediately cleanse your skin and don’t use it again. And if symptoms continue to get worse, always seek advice from a skincare expert.
How Do I Choose A Serum To Suit My Skin Concerns?
Most formulations will feel similarly lightweight and watery or gel-like, so that’s not really a factor. Instead, it’s all about those active ingredients inside.
Here are five awesome ingredients to look out for in a face serum, depending on your skin’s concerns:
1. Hyaluronic Acid
Great For: All skin types.
Hyaluronic acid is one of the best ingredients for hydrating your skin. It’s known as a humectant which means it works like a sponge to draw water to the surface of your skin.
2. Retinol
Great For: Aging or acne-prone skin.
Retinol is seen as the best of the best when it comes to boosting cell turnover and therefore working on everything from fine lines and wrinkles through to dark spots and pimples.
3. Vitamin C
Great For: Dull skin.
One of the most studied antioxidant in skincare, vitamin C protects your skin from free radical damage and inhibits melanin production to boost your skin’s glow factor and improve hyperpigmentation.
Great For: All skin types, particularly sensitive.
Otherwise known as vitamin B3, niacinamide is a gentle, but effective antioxidant. It works really well with the natural substances in your skin to improve tone, texture and the visible signs of aging.
5. Salicylic Acid
Great For: Oily or combination skin.
Salicylic acid is an oil-soluble chemical exfoliator that gets deep into your pores to reduce excess sebum, reduce acne breakouts and boost cell turnover.
How & When Should I Apply My Face Serum?
The general rule with skincare is that lighter products should always be applied first so they don’t have to fight with the heavies to reach the surface of your skin. This means, therefore, that serum should always be applied before moisturizer, to cleansed, toned skin. Then you can follow with a face oil and finally, that all-important, never-to-be-forgotten sunscreen (in the morning, of course!).
When it comes to your application technique, NEVER place the serum dropper directly onto your face as this can transfer oil and bacteria from your skin straight back into the bottle. Instead, apply one or two drops of serum onto clean hands, then apply it over your face and neck. Pat it gently all over cleansed skin and don’t worry about massaging it in. This is totally unnecessary. Serums are light enough to absorb into your skin without your help.
All serums are different, but most can be applied every day. Oftentimes, however, two or three times a week is enough – especially with the super potent serums that really pack a potent punch. Just make sure you read your labels for full instructions so you don’t overload your skin and end up causing irritation.
More About This Article
Georgia Gould
Georgia is an award-winning beauty writer who has been in the business for over 20 years. British-born, she began her career as a magazine beauty editor in London before moving to San Francisco, CA in 2012 where she now continues her love as a freelance writer and editor. As well as her editorial work, Georgia has created content for many high-profile beauty brands, including Clarins, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Simple and TRESemmé. Her passions include retinol (obviously), golfing, skiing and walking her beloved Schnauzer, Dave.
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Sad, sluggish skin getting on your nerves? Then it’s time to hit the refresh button.
When your skin looks kinda cruddy, it’s often your lifestyle habits that are to blame. Hungover skin? Never pretty. Stressed skin? Ditto.
The truth is, booze, sugar, smoking and stress all play their part in below par skin. For starters, sugar-laden booze and sweet edible treats expose your body to way too much glucose than it really needs. And this does nothing for your skin’s precious levels of collagen and elastin, creating advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which kill your radiant, youthful complexion and leave you with dull, dry skin that ages you up faster than you can say ‘pass the Rocky Road’.
Stress is a similar complexion killer, causing unnecessary spikes in cortisol, the stress hormone (which says it all, right?). An overload of cortisol in your system leads to all manner of skin issues including inflammation, excessively oily skin, blocked pores and hey presto, acne breakouts.
And don’t even get us started on smoking which, after baking in the sun all day, is probably one of the worse things you can do for your skin, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients, and literally suffocating your skin with over 7,000 collagen-destroying chemicals. Eesh!
Of course, reducing the amount of sugar you eat, cutting down on alcohol, not smoking and minimizing your exposure to stressful situations are all great ways to get your skin back on track. But they’re not always easy – especially the stress part! So, if you want to give your complexion a simpler and slightly more speedy detox it’s worth looking at your skincare routine.
Full disclosure: it’s not medically possible to get rid of your body’s toxins through your skin. However, keeping your skin clean and well moisturized will go a long way to ridding its surface of pollutants, impurities and dead skin cells. And this is vital in order to create a brighter, calmer and more hydrated, aka healthy, complexion.
Here are a few things you can do to help detoxify your skin for the new year...
1. Double Cleanse Before Bed
We don’t believe double cleansing is necessary on a regular basis, but when your skin looks like it needs an extra nudge in the right direction, it can be a very effective way to purge every last scrap of makeup, dirt, oil, sweat and debris. Plus, deep cleaning your skin helps create the ideal base on which to apply the rest of your skincare formulations so they’re able to function at a much higher level. Win-win.
To set yourself up for double cleansing success, you’re going to need two different formulations. The first should be an oil-based makeup remover to cut through makeup, sunscreen, sebum and anything else that’s, well, oily. Then you’ll need a water-based gel, cream or foam cleanser to wash away all the pollutants you can’t see, while helping to address any particular concerns you may have.
The cleansers you choose will obviously depend on your skin type but our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is awesome for deep cleaning and detoxifying your skin. Use this after removing your makeup and you won’t regret it.
2. Steam Clean Skin Once A Week
In ‘ye olden days’, regularly steaming your skin was a given. And frankly, we should all start embracing mom’s favorite skin detox trick. Although, scratch the ‘all’. If you suffer with dryness or sensitivities like eczema or rosacea you might want to give this a miss because super-hot temperatures cause the blood vessels in your skin to dilate which can lead to further redness and flushing. Probably not what you were in the market for...
For the rest of you, however, steaming is a great way to boost blood flow, soften rough skin and deep clean your pores by loosening trapped oil and dirt. Hello clearer, brighter skin.
To nail the perfect steam clean, fill your sink or a large bowl with hot (although not boiling) water. Then cover your head with a clean towel and hover your face about 12 inches above the water for 10 minutes. You could even add some fresh herbs or essential oils like chamomile, lavender or rosemary to the water to decongest or soothe your skin.
After the 10 minutes is up, gently pat your face dry with the towel, then spritz Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner all over to cool, calm and whisk away those loosened impurities.
3. Don’t Forget To Regularly Exfoliate
Who doesn’t love to exfoliate their skin every now and again? Exfoliating helps boost sluggish cell turnover to encourage dead skin cells to hop it, rather than sticking around at the surface where they clog up your pores and make your skin look dull and pimply.
Exfoliation is pretty important all-year long, especially as you get older when your natural rate of cell turnover slows down. But if your skin is feeling more yucksville than normal, it’s more important than ever.
Chemical exfoliation is probably the most skin-friendly way to exfoliate as it reduces any friction caused from scrubbing away at your skin. Look for glycolic acid and salicylic acid which are two of the best chemical exfoliators found in skincare. Our new AHA/BHA/PHA Liquid Exfoliant contains this dynamite blend, along with skin-brightening vitamin C and gluconolactone, a super-soothing exfoliating acid that also helps hydrate sad-looking skin.
4. Try Skin Cycling
One of the latest beauty trends to storm TikTok is skin cycling. And while we generally steer clear of faddish skincare whims, this one has real legs – especially for skin that needs a bit of a kick up the butt.
The brainchild of New York dermatologist, Dr. Whitney Bowe, skin cycling is a great way to enhance your night time routine without overloading your skin with too much, all at once. The basic concept is that you exfoliate one night, apply retinol the next, then give your skin two days off by applying moisturizer only. Then you repeat the whole process. Of course, you cleanse and tone as normal every night, but by spacing out your exfoliation and retinol application you reduce irritation or flare-ups. And by giving your skin two ‘recovery’ days you also allow your skin’s super-important barrier function time to heal and rebuild itself.
It's pretty smart when you think about it. Plus, it's a great way to decongest blocked pores while boosting skin turnover and helping to rebuild valuable collagen and elastin.
5. Hydrate, Hydrate & Hydrate Some More
Chronic dehydration is one of the most common side-effects of stressed out, over-indulged skin which makes rehydration imperative. Of course, drinking plenty of sugar-free fluids like water and caffeine-free tea is a great way to go, but your skin will actually benefit way more from topical hydration.
Ensure your skincare routine is literally overflowing with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin and aloe vera. These are all humectants which act like water magnets, drawing in moisture like little skincare sponges. Your best bet is to layer up a hydrating serum with a kick-ass moisturizer for the ultimate hydration. We love the combination of Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum and Vitamin C Brightening Moisturizer which gives you the added skin-loving benefits of vitamins C and E plus green tea and jojoba oil.
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The truth is, glowing skin will always be in.
Oh, the heady heights of glowing, healthy skin. Whether you prefer to use the term ‘bright,’ ‘glowy,’ ‘dewy’ or ‘radiant’: we can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t want their skin to be described by one (or all!) of these words. Why is it such an elusive and lusted-after skin condition? Because no matter your skin type or how many wrinkles you do or don’t have, nail that radiant glow and everything else pales into insignificance.
But, how to get glowing skin? Now there’s a question that has as many answers as we’ve had hot dinners.
You can start with what goes in your body, of course, taking a look at your diet and ensuring you chow down on plenty of antioxidant-rich fruit and veggies and cut back on things like booze, sugar, salt and processed carbs. This helps nix skin-damaging free radicals to ensure your skin turns over efficiently and remains healthy from the inside out, making it a great place to start.
There are also things like exercising outdoors to get your blood flowing, massaging your skin as you cleanse, getting plenty of shut-eye and faking it with highlighting makeup and shimmering face powders.
But skincare is our thing, so today we’re going to focus on that.
There are many awesome ingredients and products out there that claim to rejuvenate your skin and freshen up your complexion, but what are the true tried and tested contenders? Keep scrolling for, what we believe, are five of the best products for glowing skin.
1. The Definitive Glow-Giving Facial Serum
Let’s get one thing straight, there’s no better skincare ingredient for boosting a radiant glow than vitamin C. Vitamin C (otherwise known as l-ascorbic acid) has been researched to death over the years and it’s been proven to offer all manner of skin-boosting benefits – glowier skin being just one of them.
So how does this powerhouse work? Well, further to its antioxidant powers, which in themselves are great for strengthening your collagen supplies and improving cell turnover, it also helps slow down melanin production. Melanin, as you know, is what gives your skin its individual color and, when you expose your skin to UV radiation, it’s also what makes you tan. However, melanin production isn’t always smooth sailing. In fact, many triggers such as unbalanced hormones and too much sun can make your melanin go all over the place, resulting in patchy skin, dark spots and hyperpigmentation. No fun. No fun at all.
We believe vitamin C should be a staple in anyone’s skincare regime, but we also understand that it’s a potent ingredient that can cause sensitivities in certain skin types. This is why we infuse all of our vitamin C products with a milder version called sodium ascorbyl phosphate.
When it comes to looking for your perfect match for brightening your skin, you could literally take your pick of our entire vitamin C range, but for a classic favorite, you can’t go wrong with Vitamin C Facial Serum. We believe it’s a winner. Over 140,000 people on Amazon agree with us. We rest our case.
2. The Moisturizer With The Most
If you’re yet to try our new Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream you are missing out. It doesn’t contain vitamin C – because choices – but it is powered up by another ingredient that’s already making headlines for all the right reasons: bakuchiol.
Bakuchiol is nature’s alternative to the mighty retinol. Extracted from the seeds and leaves of the babchi plant, it’s fast becoming hot property in the skincare world due to its extraordinary skin benefits (just like retinol) and lack of irritating side-effects (unlike retinol!). We mean no offense to retinol, of course, because it’s still one of, if not THE gold standard of skincare. However, it’s not for everyone and bakuchiol has undergone plenty of studies that show it’s right up there, stimulating collagen synthesis and accelerating cellular turnover in a very similar way to rid your skin of unwanted dead skin cells and help improve your radiance factor.
We have a whole collection of products that harness the powers of bakuchiol but for a great introduction to the range, try this deliciously smooth moisturizer that’s ideal for all skin persuasions, including sensitive skin.
3. The One That’s In It For The Long Game
Admittedly this one might not make your skin look immediately radiant but c’mon now, patience is everything. And in all honesty, this is unarguably the single most important product you could use for glowing skin, healthy skin, smooth skin, strong skin, the works.
So what is this too-good-to-be-true product we speak so highly off? Simple. Sunscreen. Now don’t roll your eyes at us in a ‘not that old chestnut’ fashion because we don’t bang on about sunscreen just to pee you off. We do it because we care about your skin.
The simple truth is that if you don’t protect your skin from the sun’s damaging UV rays, your collagen supplies will dwindle, elastin will get destroyed, dark spots will appear and cell turnover will decrease. This all leads to dull, lackluster, sad-looking skin. And that’s just touching the surface.
Ensure you apply a quality, broad-spectrum sunscreen every morning without fail to make sure your skin doesn’t get caught up in all that damaging nonsense.
Try our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen which also comes packed with sodium ascorbyl phosphate (that supercool vitamin C derivative we spoke of earlier) on top of hydrating ingredients like squalane and cucumber, plus vegan marine collagen to help target fine lines and sagging skin.
4. The All-Important Skin Exfoliator
If your pores are filled to the brim with sebum, sunscreen, makeup and dead skin cells, your skin stands no chance of being smooth and radiant. Dead skin cells, in particular, create the perfect storm for dull skin.
One of the simplest ways to keep your skin clear from complexion-killing pore plugs is to use a chemical exfoliator like 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant two or three times a week. Chemical exfoliation works by using certain ingredients –commonly fruit acids – to break down the glue that holds dead skin cells together. By doing so, they’re an incredible way of forcing these unwanted cells to sling their hook so that the fresher, brighter ones can make their way to the surface. And unlike physical exfoliation which uses pressure and movement (like scrubs and cleansing brushes), chemical exfoliation, when done correctly, is far less damaging and irritating.
Our fabulous 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant combines a carefully crafted blend of three exfoliating acids along with organic reishi mushroom and hyaluronic acid to combat dehydration and help soothe and nourish the skin. Because, btw, dehydration will also kill your glowy skin vibes.
5. The Dewy Skin Spritz
Convenient and effective, our Ocean Minerals Super Toner is often glossed over in our line-up of skincare greats, but it’s a real goodie in the quest for a revamped complexion. Not only is it formulated with two key skin-brightening players – vitamin C and glycolic acid – but it also contains power-packed peptides, collagen-boosting MSM and over 90 revitalizing marine minerals. All this adds up to some serious love which helps to remove dull, dead skin cells, detox your pores and smooth the surface for a more balanced, even skin tone.
It's an awesome addition to your skincare routine and takes just seconds of your time to apply. So, why not?
Why not indeed.
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Fine lines and wrinkles are totally natural, but if you want to lessen their impact, you might want to take a look at some of these seemingly innocent lifestyle habits.
We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve warned you about the perils of the sun and its effect on the number and intensity of your wrinkles. Ditto for stress, smoking and a lack of sleep. But while these things are up there as the most common culprits of aging skin – the sun being the number one offender, of course – there are plenty of other everyday lifestyle habits you probably didn’t realize were affecting the rate at which your skin aged.
Obsessed with your Stanley water bottle right now? Well, for one thing, who isn’t? But for another, you might want to rethink that whole drinking-from-a-straw situation once you’ve read the rest of this article. You have been warned…
Drinking From A Straw
One of the main reasons smoking is so bad for your skin (toxic chemicals aside) is the repetitive motion of puckering up your lips. How so? Well, this repeated action contracts a ring of muscle around the mouth area called the orbicularis oris muscle. Over time, this causes your skin to lose elasticity. And you know those lines you see when you purse your lips? Instead of going away after you relax your mouth, they start to become permanently etched in.
Same thing happens if you drink through a straw all day long.
What To Do: As much as we know you love your Stanley Quencher try not to drink out of it 24/7. At home, switch it out for a regular glass and when you’re out and about go for a water bottle that doesn’t have a straw. Oh, and if you get offered a straw when you next order a gin and tonic in a bar, say no. Those fine lines around your lips – as well as the environment – will be forever grateful.
Your Smartphone
What would we do without our digital devices? They are pretty much everything in today’s modern world. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. However, your smartphone, in particular, plays a huge part in the health of your skin. For one thing, constantly looking down while texting, gaming, emailing and browsing can accelerate the formation of creases or bands around the circumference of your neck, aka ‘tech neck.’ Similarly, squinting and frowning at your phone can add even more lines and wrinkles both on your forehead and around your eyes.
Your digital devices also emit something called high-energy visible (HEV) or blue light which studies suggest are just as damaging to your skin as UV light. Blue light not only has the potential to disrupt your skin’s natural barrier function but it can promote inflammation, encourage discoloration and accelerate collagen damage which is a one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles.
What To Do: Use your phone less (ha, if only it were that easy!) and always hold it upright so your head isn’t looking down all the time.
You must also try our awesome Longevity skincare range. This collection of three healthy aging products contains lingonberry stems cells which have been shown to help protect your skin from blue light damage.
The Way You Sleep
Getting lots of quality sleep is majorly important for the state of your skin, but skincare experts also agree that the way in which you sleep carries just as much weight on your skin’s aging process. Sleeping on one side, for example, causes creasing on that same side of your face which can increase your chances of developing fine lines on one side more than the other. Similarly, sleeping on your front and smushing your face into your pillow every night creates repeated pressure on your entire face – a sure-fire way to invite fine lines and wrinkles to do their worst.
What To Do: A silk pillowcase can help reduce friction, but your best bet is to change your sleep position so you sleep on your back with your head slightly raised. This avoids repetitive face-to-pillow contact and stops excess fluids from pooling under your eyes which helps stop dark circles and puffiness. Extra bonus right there.
Forgetting To Wear Sunglasses
Squinting is another one-way ticket to fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes as it causes your periocular muscles to repeatedly contract. And if you continue to do this day after day you will soon see exactly what we mean when those cute lines around your eyes turn into deep crevices that just won’t go away. Squinting also contributes to those annoying vertical lines between your eyebrows – glabellar lines or 11s – making it a real no-no if you care about aging skin.
What To Do: Wear shades whenever you go outside – even if it’s bright but not particularly sunny. This’ll immediately stop you squinting and will also protect the skin around your eyes from those damaging UV rays. And if you find yourself squinting at your computer or the TV? Well, it might be time for an eye test. Just saying.
Finally, to help keep the skin around your eyes moisturized and youthful-looking, apply an eye cream morning and night. Try our Peptide Eye Gel which helps support collagen production to minimize premature aging.
Allergies
Do you find yourself continually rubbing the skin around your eyes during the allergy season? This happens when your body’s defense system reacts to an allergen it feels threatened by. Mast cells in your eyes then release chemicals like histamine to try and get rid of these allergens which causes your eyes to become red, watery and itchy.
Allergy triggers can come from many things, including airborne pollen and pet hair, but the worst thing you can do for your skin is to vigorously scrub away at your eyes. This seriously upsets your collagen supplies, thinning your skin, wearing it down and inviting lines around your eyes to do their worst.
What To Do: If your eyes are constantly itching, the most important plan of action is to find out why, so talk to your doctor if symptoms persist. In the meantime, try eye drops and if you can't help but rub your eyes, reduce damage by using just the pads of your ring fingers rather than your whole hand. This will help reduce pressure and friction.
Swimming
We hate to knock any form of exercise but swimming in chlorinated water can be pretty harsh on your skin (and your hair for that matter!). Chlorine is great for sanitizing water and eliminating any contaminants that may otherwise cause infection and illness. But it’s not ideal for your delicate skin. In fact it’s a natural irritant that strips natural oils and moisture from your skin’s protective barrier. This is OK in small doses but if you swim every day and don’t protect your skin, this can potentially cause dryness and dehydration. And two things wrinkles love in order to thrive are dryness and dehydration.
What To Do: A pre-swim shower is a great way to reduce chlorine damage because if your skin is already wet, it will absorb less chlorinated water. Smart huh? Of course, you should also shower immediately after swimming and moisturize all over to replace lost sebum and hydration.
When it comes to your face, apply Vitamin C Facial Serum to fully cleansed skin after swimming. Vitamin C helps neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine. Follow with moisturizer and you should be good.
3 Of Our Favorite Wrinkle-Busting Skincare Products
Because a little help goes a very long way...1. Collagen Boosting Skin Supplement
Want to keep your skin looking its best for as long as possible? Then you simply have to look after your collagen. And what better way than with this daily supplement that’s literally brimming with clinically-proven, collagen-promoting ingredients like vitamin C, acai and biotin.
2. SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C
Did we mention that the sun is the biggest culprit when it comes to premature skin aging? We did? Yeah, well, we will continue to do so. We will also continue to laud the benefits of daily, broad-spectrum sunscreen for warding off the sun’s damaging UV rays. And this is an absolute must. No arguments.
One of the most effective anti-aging ingredients in skincare, retinol helps stimulate cell turnover and up your skin’s content of quality collagen. This awesome facial serum also contains hydrating hyaluronic acid (take that wrinkles) and vitamin E (same). We love that for you.
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Packed with some of the most forward-thinking (and super effective) ingredients in skincare, our Longevity range is everything for healthy, aging skin. So, let’s get acquainted, shall we?
It’s not often we pat ourselves on the backs, but at the end of 2023 we launched a complete new range of awesome, healthy aging products called Longevity. Brimming with incredible ingredients and with three expertly formulated products, we’re super proud of this range. It’s also been getting some excellent feedback on Amazon with reviews like: “This eye cream has truly been a game-changer for me,” and “I’m sensitive to retinol products, but this makes my skin feel so soft and hydrated.”
True praise indeed.
We figured, therefore, that it was time to tell you a little more about the range. Consisting of three products, Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream, Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream and Rejuvenating Longevity Serum this collection is all about its innovative ingredients which are specifically formulated to help skin age healthily and beautifully. We know how much you love to learn about skincare ingredients so we figured you’d love to hear more about the five powerhouses that make Longevity so unique and effective.
So, here we go…
1. Bakuchiol: The Retinol Alternative
Bakuchiol has made headlines over the last five years, but if you’re still none the wiser, here’s the lowdown.
A botanical extract derived from the leaves and seeds of the Psoralea Corylifolia plant (commonly known as babchi), bakuchiol has been used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine for years to treat skin ailments and diseases. Thanks to its popularity in Ayurvedic practices, it started making its way into western skincare around 2007. And it quickly showed a lot of promise because of its similarities to the gold standard of skincare, retinol.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for your entire life, you’ll be well aware that retinol is one of the most highly regarded ingredients for improving the tone and texture of the skin. It works at a cellular level to rev up turnover and encourage healthy collagen production, making it a shoo-in for both aging and acne-prone skin. But the thing with retinol is that it’s potent. Like, really potent. So much so that it doesn’t suit all skin types, often causing facial redness, excess dryness, irritation and itching. Which is no one’s idea of a good time.
Of course, there are plenty of alternatives out there that work on similar issues (ceramides, peptides, antioxidants and exfoliating acids to name just a few) but nothing before has ever been compared so closely to retinol as bakuchiol.
This is why we simply had to base our corrective, aging products around this absolute gem of a skincare ingredient. All the powers of wrinkle-reducing, skin-smoothing retinol with way fewer side effects? We’d have been fools not to.
2. Coffeeberry: The Free Radical Terminator
One of skin’s biggest enemies is the free radical. Free radicals are nasty components that form in your skin when it’s exposed to external aggressors like UV radiation, pollution, stress and cigarette smoke. They’re bad news because they screw up your collagen and elastin supplies, having the knock-on effect of encouraging premature lines, wrinkles, dark spots and sagging skin. As we said, bad news.
A proven way to combat free radical damage is to throw topical antioxidants at your skin. And, while we’re huge fans of vitamin C (*understatement of the year, right there!), we’re nothing if not open to other antioxidant ingredients. And coffeeberry extract fits firmly into this camp.
Derived from the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean, coffeeberry extract is chock full of antioxidants and some studies suggest that it has up to 10x the antioxidant powers of other topical ingredients. We call that a pretty strong argument for using it in skincare products for mature skin. So that’s exactly what we did! And you’re welcome.
3. Glycerin: The Hydrating Classic
While we love being at the forefront of skincare technology and exploring nature’s finest new ingredients, we loathe to ignore the classics. And glycerin might be an oldie… but it’s a real goodie.
Sometimes known as glycerol, glycerin is one of the most effective humectants in skincare. In fact, research suggests it’s the most effective humectant you can use on your skin. Even better than hyaluronic acid (HA). This is because it has a lower molecular weight than HA which allows it to penetrate the skin deeper and quicker.
But wait, what do humectants do? Well, they’re the wonderkids of hydration, drawing water to the top layers of the skin like tiny little magnets. This helps to replenish your skin’s natural moisturizing factor, increasing hydration and minimizing water loss while also encouraging healing and better protection from that bad old world we live in. For such an unassuming ingredient, it's pretty powerful stuff… and something you’ll find not only in our Longevity range but across a whole bunch of TruSkin favorites. We salute you, glycerin.
4. Lingonberry Stem Cells: The Anti Blue Light Hero
Berries are big in the superfood world, but few pack the punch of lingonberries which are literally loaded with active plant compounds such as vitamins and polyphenols (basically super-charged antioxidants).
With small, bright red berries and glossy green leaves, the lingonberry plant is a hardy evergreen that’s commonly found in northern American forests as well as northern Europe and Canada. Again, it’s not as common in skincare as other fruits, but it’s great for adding hydration and blocking those pesky free radicals that love to cause havoc deep within your skin. In particular, these smart stem cells have been shown to protect the skin against blue light damage (aka high energy visible, or HEV light) which surrounds us everyday thanks to the sun as well as your smartphones, computers, TVs and other digital devices.
Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum which means that, unlike UV radiation, you can see it. It’s pretty good stuff because it’s high in energy and proven to boost your mood, improve memory and increase mental alertness. However, it’s been linked to eye damage and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), if you expose your body to blue light late at night, it throws your sleep way out of whack. It’s also seen as a real enemy to your skin because, just like UV rays, it produces free radicals which damage DNA and destroy collagen and elastin.
Protection is key, people, and lingonberry stem cells are your gals.
5. Snow Algae: The Pink Powerhouse
You might not have seen snow algae on the skincare shelves before (or in your local park for that matter!), but don’t let that fool you, because it's a true force to be reckoned with.
Snow algae is found in the ice caps and mountain tops of some of the coldest, most extreme climates in the world. Although it’s green at warmer temperatures, snow algae turns pink when the mercury drops and levels of UV radiation increase. This is why it’s often referred to as pink, red or watermelon snow. Why the color change? Well, this produces a clever defense system which protects snow algae from harmful UV radiation and allows it to thrive in such extreme, frigid conditions where most plants would stand no chance.
Pretty cool, right? Well, it’s just as cool for your skin. In fact, research shows that when applied topically and regularly, snow algae not only offers amazing antioxidant properties (take that, free radicals) but also activates certain enzymes and genes to restrict energy to your skin. This encourages them to work more efficiently which, in turn, accelerates DNA repair, boosts collagen production and slows down the aging process to help fortify your skin’s barrier function and strengthen your skin.
Fancy getting in on all these skin-regenerating, age-loving ingredients? Then you must try our fantastic Longevity range, right here.
Skincare ingredientsThe Ingredients That Make Our Longevity Range So Darn Good
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