Shake up your skincare routine with active plant-based ingredients
Choose natural beauty and botanical skincare products for a healthier complexion and glowy skin
Text: Leila Louise Fitton
Considering starting a plant-based diet? Why not go au naturel on your skincare too? Seeing as the skin is your body's largest organ, a plant based beauty routine will reward you with a healthy complexion and glowy skin when you combine an organic diet with clean cosmetics.
"Up to 60% of what we put on our skin gets absorbed, so making sure our beauty routine is strictly vetted and regulated is vital," says beauty journalist Tania Zainudin. "Our skin protects us from harmful rays and dangerous bacteria, so we should feed it only the best things possible. Plant-based products means the core ingredients are derived from plants or natural products that might grow on trees — they’re not necessarily vegan, unless they contain no animal-derived ingredients and are cruelty-free. The purity of the product also depends on whether chemicals are used, for example some natural products use a small percentage of chemicals to preserve the product for consumer's safety."
Indeed, the rise of plant-based skincare brands globally is thriving with plant-based and conventional cosmetics brands all launching their own versions of green beauty. A 2016 report by market research firm Euromonitor found that consumers in Singapore are becoming increasingly concerned about what’s in their beauty, personal care and skincare products. We’re now better informed about the harmful effects of synthetic chemicals, therefore there’s a higher demand for natural beauty that comes with a more mindful approach.
The Natural Selection
Founder of The Speak Collective, Nisa Zulkifli initially created skincare products with plant based ingredients to help with her eczema. "When my skin was sensitive, it flared badly and couldn't tolerate a lot of additives,” she says. “Trying to understand what was causing it, I stripped down my beauty routine. I started paying attention to ingredients, and in turn began learning how to make cleansers and balms."
The Speak Collective's Oat + Lavender Cleansing Powder was the result of this discovery period. "I started researching calming ingredients and put together something that my skin needed at the time — something calming (oats), soothing (lavender), cleansing (kaolin), hydrating (sweet almond oil). There were many iterations of the powder cleanser, but I found that once the formula contained the right amount of functional ingredients, there was no need for other stuff to complicate it. It made my skin softer and the eczema around my eyes cleared up.”
After sharing her concoction with some family members and friends, Nisa set up The Speak Collective with her partner Mutiara Pino. Their focus is to produce skincare products for natural beauty that encapsulate the botanical goodness of biocompatible, primarily plant based ingredients and are 100% vegan.
Traditional and modern medicine
Premier Clinic's aesthetic physician, Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Saliem Al Qaraghuli is another champion of skincare and cosmetics containing active plant based ingredients. "Phytocosmetics are cosmetic products where active ingredients are natural-based rather than synthetic,” he explains. “It’s a collaboration between traditional and modern medicine — extracting and utilising beneficial active ingredients in treating or improving skin conditions.”
Dr. Ahmed believes that active plant ingredients are the best approach to healthier skin and natural beauty, “after all,” he says, “plants and their biological metabolites have survived a natural selection process and undergone long-term medical trials. For generations these active ingredients have demonstrated their natural potency, so why risk the relatively unknown effects of synthetic additives?"
As humans are organic beings, it’s logical for us to opt for natural products, especially when there are more and more to choose from. International companies such as La Mer, La Prairie and Caudalie, to SEA brands such as Sigi Skin, Rooki Beauty, Mira Singapore, Your Sustainable Store, Herbivore Botanicals, Root Remedies, Rad Alchemist, The Speak Collective, 100% Pure, The Herb Farm, Re:Erth and Olive Natural Skincare are all joining the green beauty movement.
When it comes to your own choices, Tania advises to "focus on well-known plant based ingredients such as Jojoba oil for skincare or Argan oil for hair. The more familiar they sound, the more likely there will be studies supporting their efficacy. Remember that the effects of some botanicals may become enhanced when formulated with other additives, and the ranking of the ingredient list reflects the relative proportion of each component.”
Whatever your skin concern, chances are there’s a plant-based beauty product for you. Here, The Soothe lists some of the most popular natural products for green beauty. Please note, if you have sensitive skin, see a dermatologist before giving them a whirl.
● Best for: Boosting collagen and fighting wrinkles
Jojoba oil, plant stem cells, sunflower oil (plumps the skin), pomegranate oil (leaves a luminous glow), rose geranium oil (for glow and plump), rosehip seed oil (rich in omegas 3 and 6, works to improve the texture and quality of skin), anthocyanin (found in blueberries for radiant skin), Vitamin C (increases the suppleness of skin, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, increases elasticity, inhibits melanogenesis), or any source of naturally-derived Vitamin A
● Best for: Fixing dry skin
Byangelicin, jojoba oil, prickly pear oil, Vitamin E oil, camellia seed oil (naturally rich in nutritive oleic acids)
● Best for: Reducing sunspots
Vitamin C (the active nutrient that also helps combat skin damage from harmful UV rays)
● Best for: Healing sunburn
Ellagic acid (found in raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, walnuts, pecans, blackberries, pomegranate)
● Best for: Blitzing acne
Black willow bark, jojoba oil, tea tree oil
● Best for: Diminishing dark circles
Rosehip seed oil, gallic acid (found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark), Vitamin C
