Ingredient Focus: Linoleic Acid

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acid, barrier, brightening, cacay oil, collagen, Dermalogica Melting Moisture Masque, Elemis Exotic Frangipani Monoi Body Cream, Evolve Organic Beauty Superfood 360 Serum, fatty acids, free radicals, hyperpigmentation, ingredient, irritants, lipid, luminosity, Medik8 C-Tetra Luxe, Medik8 Lipid-Balance Cleansing Oil, moisture, oil, oils, omega, omega 6, red ginseng, rejuvenation, serum, skin, skin protection, skin tone, smoke, soft, squalene, superfoods, supple, texture, vitamin, Vitamin C, Vitamin F, wrinkle depth

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Here at Pure Beauty, we make it our business to know exactly what’s in the products we sell so that we can make targeted recommendations for our clients’ skincare needs. One ingredient we’ve seen popping up a lot lately is linoleic acid, also sometimes referred to as vitamin F. Linoleic acid is actually an essential fatty acid, which means it’s essential for human health but isn’t created by the body.

Linoleic acid, or vitamin F, provides moisture and plumpness without making the skin feel heavy or weighed down. It fortifies the skin’s barrier, helping to fend off UV rays and air pollutants such as smoke, both of which cause free radical activity that can result in wrinkles and signs of ageing. It also lightens sun induced hyperpigmentation, making it an excellent all-rounder in the skincare game. It’s found in a number of naturally occurring oils, such as sunflower seed oil, hemp oil, grapeseed oil, and prickly pear seed oil.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of some of our favourite products which contain vitamin F. 

Medik8 Lipid-Balance Cleansing Oil

Oils are perfect for cleansing the skin as they can melt away dirt and make-up without stripping away the skin’s own barrier. This cleansing oil from Medik8 features an optimised ratio of essential lipids to replenish the skin’s natural defense barrier. This leaves the complexion soft, supple and protected from everyday irritants. The Omega-6 (yet another name for linoleic acid!) helps to rebalance the skin’s lipid levels to encourage a healthy complexion. 

Dermalogica Melting Moisture Masque

This mask from Dermalogica starts as a balm but melts to become a highly hydrating oil for your face. Activated by skin’s natural heat, this luxurious mask delivers a satisfying melting sensation as it penetrates skin’s surface layers to deeply nourish and rehydrate. As well as containing linoleic acid, which helps protect against skin-damaging free radicals for healthier-looking skin, it also contains micro-algae. This marine algae contains hydrating properties which help soothe and protect skin against the drying effects of pollution

Elemis Exotic Frangipani Monoi Body Cream

It’s not just the skin on your face which benefits from the use of linoleic acid. This body cream from Elemis contains sesame oil which is hugely rich in linoleic acid and antioxidants, and has a well-balanced lipid profile, providing excellent emollient and skin softening properties. The unique infusion of exotic Tahitian monoi oil, a blend of tiare flowers soaked in coprah oil, is fragranced with frangipani flowers to leave skin feeling beautifully soft, supple and delicately scented.

Evolve Organic Beauty Superfood 360 Serum

This lightweight serum from Evolve Organic Beauty is pretty unique in that it can be used by all skin types and ages! The formulation is packed with highly effective natural superfoods which deliver comprehensive skin protection and rejuvenation benefits including improvement in skin tone, wrinkle depth, texture and luminosity. The linoleic acid contained is sourced from cacay oil, obtained from the seeds of a majestic Amazonian tree. Cacay oil is also packed with bio-retinol to support the skin barrier layer and to lock moisture into the skin.

Medik8 C-Tetra Luxe

The final product on our linoleic list is this lipid Vitamin C enhanced radiance serum from Medik8. As well as being packed with vitamin F and C, it contains vitamin E, which protects the skin from free radicals as well as optimised red ginseng, which boosts the serum’s brightening powers while stimulating collagen production. It’s also got a dose of squalane, which  helps to restore the skin’s natural defensive barrier while deeply hydrating the skin. What more could you ask for?!

Your Guide to the Best Moisturising Ingredients

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Photo by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash

Skincare is one of those things which can be entirely subjective – a product which one person swears by could be far less effective for someone else. This is usually down to the key ingredients in each product and how our skin reacts to those ingredients. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at some of the best ingredients for hydrating your skin, to help you to choose which might be best for your skins’ individual needs.

Hyaluronic Acid

Most people have heard of hyaluronic acid, but people continue to be surprised that it’s a moisturising ingredient (maybe because of the common perception of what an acid usually does?). When you apply a hyaluronic acid serum to your skin, it acts like a sponge by attracting moisture to boost hydration on the surface of skin. Dermalogica Daily Resurfacer is a 3-in-1 treatment which harnesses the power of hyaluronic acid to offer maximum hydrators to resurface, smooth and brighten the skin without causing irritation or redness.

Ceramides

Ceramides are lipids that help form the skin’s barrier and help skin retain moisture, while also helping the skin protect against environmental aggressors like irritants, and pollution. Dermalogica Overnight Repair Serum is packed with ceramides which mimic the natural fats found in our skin to help lock in moisture and stop skin from drying out.

Glycerin

Glycerin is actually a bit of a special ingredient as it actually traps moisture from the environment around you, allowing your skin to absorb it, giving you a softer, more supple complexion. It’s often used in hand creams or areas which need an extra boost, but is also found in Elemis Daily Defence Shield SPF30, which protects the skin from environmental micro particles and harmful UV rays, as well as leaving the skin feeling nourished, soft and supple.

Lactic Acid

Lactic acid is a ‘best of both worlds’ ingredient in that it act a both a mild exfoliant, as well as an humectant. This means that it gets rid of dead, dry skin cells at the same time as locking moisture in. It can be found in Dermalogica Biolumin-C Serum, which also exfoliates and reduces unbalanced pigmentation while nourishing the skin with moisture.

Urea

Urea might not sound like something you want to rub on your face, but it’s actually synthetic urea which features in skincare and it can be used to treat even the worst cases of dry skin, dermatitis and psoriasis. Urea works in part by loosening dry skin, and Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex is made to target the eye area by reducing wrinkles, crows feet and puffiness which occur due to dehydration.