KEY PLAYERS
• VITAMIN C
Emma advises choosing products that use a stable form of vitamin C such as magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. It’s non-acidic and stimulates collagen formation in the skin while providing antioxidant protection and helping reduce excess pigmentation. • NIACINAMIDE (FROM NIACIN/VITAMIN B3)
A fantastic all-round skin care ingredient, in that it acts in several ways to have a real benefit. It helps improve skin discolouration, it plays an important role in cellular energy production and it helps with overall skin moisturisation. • RETINOL
Considered to be one of the best performing ingredients to effectively address the signs of premature ageing and photo damaged skin. Retinol is part of the vitamin A family and it’s known as the normalising vitamin as it’s fantastic at supporting the skin’s functions. Retinol works by ‘cell communication’ – it instructs living skin cells to ramp up the production of more healthy, younger cells and this in turn speeds up the entire process of skin renewal.
Retinol also helps reduce the breakdown of healthy collagen from UV exposure while stimulating the production of new collagen. Retinol can inhibit the production of the skin pigment melanin, which means it’s very effective on improving skin discolouration and lightening brown spots. The result of the action of retinol on the skin is a much denser, plumper, more hydrated surface with reduced wrinkle depth, improved skin tone and an overall healthier, luminous glow. • PEPTIDES
These versatile protein chains have so many possible variations on what they can do for the skin. Peptides help strengthen the skin and some can reduce wrinkle depth by the creation of protein within the skin. They also have the ability to communicate via signals to your cells that tell them how to function. This means they can assist in stimulating collagen and regulate how it breaks down. They also enhance wound and cell repair and they can act as an anti-inflammatory. Some peptides can also help reduce pigmentation. Some of my favourite peptides are arginine/lysine polypeptide, palmitoyl pentapeptide and olgiopentapeptide. • ANTIOXIDANTS
These are vital in our skin care as they have the unique ability to prevent environmental elements from damaging our skin. As they penetrate into the skin, they turn any free radical lurking around into harmless compounds, preventing them from destroying collagen and elastin. This in turn means less wrinkles, less pigmentation, and less skin sagging. As an added bonus, antioxidants also help stimulate cell repair and collagen production.