[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] Ever heard of sea fennel? Official name is perennial halophyte – halophyte being a plant that is well adapted to growing in saline conditions which makes it one tough grower. You might know it as samphire (yum) or rock samphire but whatever name it has, it’s emerging into the beauty industry big time. The claims for it are vast – unclogging pores, boosting collagen, reducing skin creases and speeding up cell turnover and it’s exactly what skin needs for radiance. I love the word radiance when it’s applied to skin – we all know that look of brightness and clarity and it’s beautiful on skin of any age and any tone.
I had a sample of this quite some time ago but it’s only just launched, hence the wait. But it’s given me time to have a good trial run of this (ten days) and yes, it’s delightful. I’ve moved on to testing other products but I made notes and haven’t forgotten anything about it which isn’t something I can say for everything I try. It’s also super expensive. Sea fennel acts as a retinol alternative – so many of those popping up now and I’m not sure I can put my finger on why the tide is turning against actual retinol. I know that some people are reactive to it, but we could say the same for many ingredients. It’s only when sea fennel is combined with cranberry extract that it’s able to work in a similar way to retinol by ensuring cell turnover, but at the same time, it gives moisture and soothes irritation. I didn’t have any adverse effects with this unlike some retinols. I don’t think going through that terribly dry two weeks or an upward sliding scale of usage while your skin adapts to retinol is helpful or actually, achievable without disadvantages. I’ve seen many a beauty editor with extremely dry skin passing it off as adapting to retinol. Nobody wants to do that time.
The stats are good on this – 100% showed improvement in skin smoothness*, After 2 Weeks: 100% showed a reduction in skin redness* and 100% showed improvement in skin texture*. After 4 Weeks 85% showed improvement in the look of lines*. I believe it – and the stat that stands out to me is 100% reduction in redness. That is strong. These stats are based on expert grading clinical studies on 41 panelists. I adore this brand – I’ve done previous [paid and unpaid] work with them and it’s just never not a pleasure to try the products. I’ve met the founder, Vicky Tsai, and raised concerns about the language used to describe women’s skin and she embraced it. If you look on the website, the categories are carefully split without the words ‘anti-ageing’ or any ‘fear factoring’ terms. In fact, this launch was the first work thing I went to after being ill over the summer, so I was nervous and feeling out of touch and wobbly, and they couldn’t have been kinder.
I’ve also noticed that Tatcha are now doing value sets – I would 100% recommend, as a starting point with this brand, the Travel Size Dewy Cleanse & Hydrate at £28 (value £41) HERE which puts discovering whether it’s for you in a much more affordable bracket. In the meantime, Tatcha Silk Serum is £98 (yikes, I know) for the full size HERE and £38 for 10ml HERE.
Non affiliate HERE
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