The next wave of beauty brands is adopting a two-pronged approach to achieving a healthy, glowing complexion.
Can skin supplements really boost the efficacy of your topical skincare? Is this a necessary step or just another example of overcomplicating skincare routines?
These were some of the questions I asked
According to sisters-in-law and co-founders of skincare supplement hybrid Holski, Emma and Jill Hughes, adopting an inside-out approach to skin health isn’t merely a trend — it’s the way forward for beauty.
“Your skin reflects what’s happening both internally and externally,” Emma says. “It made sense to care for your skin in the same way, from the inside out, just as we do externally.”
It’s a sentiment that has been regularly reinforced in wellness circles, especially in the context of the gut-skin axis, or the role of gut bacteria in how radiant or glowy our skin appears.
As far as skincare supplements are concerned, collagen tends to have the market cornered, closely followed by hyaluronic acid-based capsules. Collagen’s ease of use (it can be blended into all manner of liquids and tastes yummy as a gummy) has rendered its entry into skincare routines a smooth one, not to mention the number of options available that cater to every budget and preference.
As Emma and Jill dived deeper into the world of skincare and supplement duos they discovered they weren’t alone in their thinking. “Cosmetic companies in France had already conducted clinical studies proving that ingredients beneficial for topical skin care were equally advantageous when they are ingested internally. In fact, almost a third better,” Jill says.
What culminated was Holski’s range of “supplemetics”, a two-step approach to skincare that positioned its Collagen Beauty Builder Powder as a companion product to its Collagen Activation Hydrator, which were twinned in boxes and geared towards three age ranges: 20-plus, 35-plus and 50-plus.
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Advertise with NZME.Together, this holistic skincare solution promotes a vibrant, more youthful-looking complexion, Emma says, adding that while they do share a handful of ingredients such as marine collagen, tremella mushroom, vitamin C and Holimel (a UV buffer that builds internal resistance against damaging UV rays), the topical product has a few added extras.
“This is because certain ingredients don’t provide any extra benefit when ingested, and their function depends on topical application, like collagen-signalling peptides that stimulate and direct more collagen to the skin for continuous repair and renewal,” she says.
In addition, Holski’s range of topical skincare harnesses low-dose encapsulated retinol to improve skin texture, reduce blemishes and fade hyperpigmentation, alongside squalene for skin-smoothing and skin softening benefits. Its ranges for those aged 35-plus and 50-plus also look to a needle-less expression relaxer known as Syn-Ake to help relax facial muscles, thereby reducing expression lines and wrinkles. The supplement also contains prebiotics to promote a healthy gut.
But Holski isn’t the only brand to unveil a new beauty power couple — and now topical and ingestible skincare are being packaged together to hammer home the point that good skin comes from within.
Working in synchronicity — with one product supercharging the other — the result is a radiant, glowing complexion. And who wouldn’t want that?
Early adopters have long been pushing beauty ingestibles in pill, powder or potion form alongside their selections of lotions and serums, but now there’s a preference towards packaging skincare and supplements together to uphold convenience and nix confusion.
It’s especially helpful for those of us who move through life at snail’s pace first thing — slather on the cream, swallow the pill, go about your day.
Across the globe, the likes of French skincare brand Gallinee and UK-based wellness startup You’re Looking Well are charging ahead with skincare and supplement duos. Developed by two ex-research analysts, YLW is best known for its science-backed The Regime, which sees its Day Cream and Night Cream paired with a Day Pill and Night Pill to take the guesswork out of supplement and skincare twinning.
Locally, Me Today has bundled its best-selling serums and supplements in three different packs to align with various skin types, conditions and concerns — but all of which provide that one-two punch of internal and external support when it comes to skin health.
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Advertise with NZME.While it doesn’t offer bundles of skincare and supplements (yet), Jeuneora is another example of a homegrown brand which excels in both realms — with its selection of supplements spanning a newly launched Greens+ Super Powder, through to its signature Renew+ Marine Collagen Super Powder, alongside countless others promising better beauty sleep, healthy hair, stronger nails and glowing skin. These supps are supported by the brand’s full suite of skincare, from hydrating serums and prebiotic-based cleansers through to advanced actives and sunscreen.
To anyone who questions this approach as a way of complicating skincare routines, Jill maintains that the tides are changing.
“Research suggests 90 per cent of women buying beauty products believe an inside-out approach is best for achieving their goals,” she says.
“Conventional wisdom tells us doing the same thing repeatedly doesn’t yield different results. Yet, we often get trapped in this cycle, hoping the next topical product will outperform the last.”
Instead, Jill says complementary approaches to skin health are here to stay — reducing steps in your topical beauty routine and following an internal and external approach by consistently using multi-role products which harness active ingredients and superfoods.
“Maintaining beauty is a marathon, not a sprint. Your skin will thank you for it.”
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