3 New Ingredients You Should Get to Know

We have been in full swing production mode for almost two years with our Wild Fruit Serum – Brightening Facial Complex so you can imagine how excited we are to announce it this week. Everything from choosing the ingredients to coming up with the perfect label design to making sure it smells good (that was our favorite part!)

We’re using some new ingredients that we’ve never had in our products before and we wanted to tell you a bit about them because we think they are top-notch ingredients!

Kakadu Plum

We have a fun time with this one because saying it makes us giggle. The kakadu plum (said like cockadoo), or Terminalia ferdinandiana (way less fun, we know), is a flowering tree native to Australia. It grows like a weed in the subtropical woodlands and is total bushwacker food - eat it right off the vine!

It has a grey, flaky bark and big pale green leaves with small white flowers that form on spikes toward the ends of the branches. The plums are small, almond shaped and yellow when they’re ripe. They are pretty sour, but they grow sweeter as they ripen.

Kakadu plums are usually eaten raw, but because they’re so common where they grow, the locals found ways to use them in everything from jam to juice to medicine.

Out of this world vitamin C - Okay, maybe not out of this world, but definitely the highest vitamin C content ever recorded. The kakadu plum is 3.5-5.5% vitamin C, compare that with orange or grapefruit that come in around .5% at their highest, we’re super impressed. We’ve written at length about how Vitamin C is a wonder-ingredient for your skin before and we’re really excited to be able to use this ingredient!

The antioxidant game is on point - The research is preliminary but with antioxidants like gallic acid, ellagic acid, chlorophyll, lutein, and vitamin E, it is super promising. Antioxidants like these compete with the environmental pollutants that cause oxidative stress, a major source of aging.

Everyone wants to soothe dry skin, right? Because kakadu plum soothes the feeling of dry and temporarily uncomfortable skin too! While this isn’t the only thing that gives this fruit the ability to reduce the appearance of redness, an important constituent to mention here is the glucoside quercetin, which is well-known for its soothing properties and absorbability. Quercetin scavenges for free radicals that can incite flare up responses in the body internally and environmentally. This is helpful for taming redness and helping with irritation caused by pollutants.

Oh yeah, the mineral content - Kakadu plum is high in magnesium, zinc, copper, calcium, potassium and a whole slew of other essential minerals that keep your body healthy and your skin radiant.

Apple Extract

Another one of our new ingredients is the apple extract! It’s not exactly a wild fruit, but it’s being used in a big way in the skincare world and there are tons of reasons why.

They help with oxidative stress - In other words, aging. Not only are apples rich in nutrients like vitamins A and E, they also have a high concentration of flavonoids that are commonly used for their anti-aging effects. In fact, according to a 2004 study, apples contain a variety of phytochemicals, including quercetin, catechin, phloridzin, and chlorogenic acid, all of which act as powerful antioxidants.

Exfoliate naturally - Apples contain natural alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) that help to gently exfoliate your skin. Called “fruit acids,” these ingredients help break up those tough bonds that hold dead skin cells to the surface, so that you can wash them away when cleansing. Your skin will glow, appearing brighter and smoother.

Diminishes pores - The apple acts as a natural astringent, which means it helps to shrink the appearance of pores.

Balances vital oils - the AHAs and natural tightening properties are great for helping to balance the oils in the skin, which is absolutely lovely for those of us that suffer from clogged pores.

Japanese Knotweed

Do a google search for Japanese knotweed and you’ll find words like “killing,” “invasive,” “dreaded,” “nightmare,”—the list goes on.

This is one of those plants that can take over a garden and become a scourge for homeowners. An Asian native, Fallopia japonica, is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world’s most invasive species. The root system is so strong that it can damage roads, retaining walls, and concrete foundations as the plant forms thick, dense colonies that crowd out other plants. It has hollow stems, oval leaves, and small cream or white flowers.

Lucky for us, we’re not concerned about how it looks or grows. We’re actually glad that it grows in such abundance because this plant may actually be really good for you—both internally and externally. You can eat the young shoots, which are said to taste like rhubarb raw or cooked (though most people cook them and some say they are great in pie) and the stems can also be sliced and steamed or simmered in soups.

The roots (rhizomes) have also been used in traditional medicine to treat many different ailments. Because of its healthy components, the plant is also being embraced by alternative health practitioners today.

Here’s how this invasive weed can make your skin much more beautiful!

Helps give skin an ageless appearance - Knotweed is a great source of resveratrol. You may have heard of this ingredient in relation to red wine and grape juice but knotweed is known to be an even more potent source of resveratrol! One of resveratrol’s known benefits is that it visibly plumps the look of skin. It helps to fight off the effects of gravity and prolongs a more youthful appearance.

Natural skin protector - Resveratrol’s high antioxidant activity will naturally protect your skin from both collagen breakdown as well as environmental factors.

Improves the appearance of skin tone - Resveratrol, the apparent miracle ingredient, will not only re-energize the look of your skin, but it will also clarify and balance your skin’s tone, leaving it luminous and glowing.

Alleviates temporary redness or discomfort - Knotweed soothes the feeling of temporary flare ups and can lessen the appearance of redness.

Have you used any of these natural ingredients? Let us know in the comments below!

Sources

NCBI - Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits

Taste of Australia - Kakadu Plum

NCBI - The chemotherapeutic potential of Terminalia ferdinandiana: Phytochemistry and bioactivity

NCBI - Potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and proapoptotic anticancer activities of Kakadu plum and Illawarra plum polyphenolic fractions.

Journal of Young Investigators - A Review of Quercetin: Chemistry, Antioxidant Properties, and Bioavailability

NCBI - Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits

The following article 3 New Ingredients You Should Get to Know was first published on: http://annmariegianni.com