Superfoods aren’t just for piling high on your plate or blending up into a smoothie; their nutrient-rich powers are the key to better skin, too. Tackling your top concerns topically, these are the food ingredients you need in your skin care routine.
1. Green tea
We’ve all been sipping on our cups of green tea for a few years now, reaping all those antioxidant benefits from the inside out. But green tea also does some of its best work from the outside in. It’s been found to help fight the signs of premature ageing and protect skin against free radical damage. With soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, green tea is great for sensitive and redness-prone skin types. The tannins in green tea are also excellent for combating dark circles so look for it in your eye cream ingredients list.
2. Pumpkin
Roasted or pureed into a lean soup, pumpkin is low in calories yet jam-packed with vitamins and minerals. And all that beta-carotene that’s responsible for its bright orange colour is great for your skin. It’s rich in antioxidants that help rejuvenate skin and boost collagen. Plus, pumpkin is a natural exfoliant that contains fruit enzymes and alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs), which is good news for your complexion as it promotes cell turnover for a smoother skin texture and a brighter skin tone. Pass the pumpkin, please!
Try it in Andalou’s Pumpkin Glycolic Mask. Combined with nourishing and antibacterial manuka honey, as well as exfoliating glycolic acid, this 98% natural mask works to pamper skin while gently dissolving dead skin cells to reveal a more radiant complexion.
3. Chia seeds
These tiny seeds pack a big punch, both when consumed and when added into skincare formulas. Chia seeds are abundant in omega-3 fatty acids that replenish lost moisture and leave your complexion looking plump and healthy. You’ll also find vitamin B3 and zinc in them, which help keep skin clear and oily complexions under control.
4. Kombucha
There’s been plenty buzz about the health benefits of guzzling kombucha, but its use as a skincare saviour is still underrated. The fermented tea contains probiotic bacteria that boosts your gut microbiome when consumed, while its bacterial extracts can help your skin microbiome when used topically. Products featuring kombucha are ideal for people with sensitive and dry skin, or those with conditions like eczema, acne and rosacea.
5. Olive oil
We drizzle this oil guilt-free over our salads (thank you healthy monounsaturated fats), and it seems our skin could also benefit from olive oil. No surprise that it’s an exceptional skin moisturiser, but what you might not know is all those vitamins found in olive oil (there’s A, D, E and K) do a wonderful job of restoring suppleness back into dry skin, too. Squalene – which is a natural compound found in olive oil – stimulates the skin’s natural production of elastin and collagen to further promote more youthful-looking skin. Oil us up!
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