Take a shot
Can you drink your way to a better complexion? And do beauty supplements really work? Remy Rippon goes in search of inner beauty.
Nourish the skin naturally from the inside so it glows on the outside,” reads the label on the Beauty Chef ’s Glow Inner Beauty Powder, a concoction which, when added to water, delivers skin-loving nutrients. The product is part of a new wave of beauty drinks that aim to have you sipping your way to a glowing complexion. “Digestive health is key for healthy, radiant skin,” says Carla Oates, naturalist and founder of the Beauty Chef. Oates is taking the old adage “you are what you eat” literally, with her 10-product range of powders, potions and topical applied skincare comprised of fermented ingredients, predigested so the body can more easily soak up nutrients and in turn improve the complexion.
“Our gut is where 70 per cent of our immune system lies … where we make nutrients, metabolise hormones, neutralise pathogens and make detoxifying enzymes. All of these things can wreak havoc on our skin if they are not in balance,” explains Oates, whose products focus on specific concerns like free radicals and fine lines.
Supermodel Elle Macpherson, meanwhile, has collaborated with her doctor to create the Super Elixir, after she learnt about body acidity and alkalinity and how maintaining balanced pH levels is claimed to optimise the function of the digestive and nervous systems and the integumentary system (hair, skin and nails). After trialling it for a month, do I look like a supermodel? Well, no, but I do feel more energetic and my nails are stronger.
So how does chugging down a drink translate to glowing skin? Taking a beauty supplement orally is said to more easily target the layers of the skin from the inside out. “Topical applications work extremely well on the surface, a little less in the middle layers and far less below the skin surface,” claims Brandon Truaxe, founder of Fountain, a range of liquid supplements designed to marry inner and outer health. The range includes the Hair Molecule (supporting strong hair), the Phyto-Collagen Molecule (supplements collagen lost through ageing and assists new collagen formation) and the Hyaluronic Molecule, which aims to deliver moisture-boosting hyaluronic acid to the skin.
But as for attaining a more youthful complexion, Truaxe suggests you team your new morning ritual with a side of patience. “Very much like medicine, the supplement must reach all body areas and build up before an effect is seen, especially in a specific organ like the skin,” he says, adding that it takes about two to three weeks of taking the Hyaluronic Molecule to see any difference in the skin.
Nutrient-laden skin cocktails have been part of Eastern medicine practices dating back centuries, which is why you’ll find a dedicated refrigerated area in the beauty section of most Japanese and Korean department stores packed full of edible beauty supplements. Closer to home, while we’re yet to get our beauty on ice, juice bars are venturing beyond standard green juices. Pressed Juices, for example, offers a blend high in vitamin C fruits to help reduce free radical damage to the skin.
Although it isn’t quite time to clear out your cabinets in favour of edible alternatives, a balanced approach to your skincare regimen can yield beneficial results. “We take the time to communicate with an audience that is educated but reasonably sceptical,” explains Truaxe. “In the case of Fountain, this discussion highlights what is known about the benefits of such ingredients.” Take Fountain’s the Beauty Molecule: one teaspoon delivers the same amount of resveratrol (the “good” component of red wine associated with increased life span) as found in 180 bottles of wine. It may not taste like a good drop of pinot, but I’ll drink to that.