When you think of raspberries, you probably think of jam, pie or even a bowl of fresh berries topped with a dollop of whipped coconut cream. Mmmmmm!
While raspberries are a culinary staple, they also have a place in skincare. To be more precise, raspberry seed oil is loaded with skin-nourishing compounds.
Other names: Rubus Idaeus
What it is: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, emollient, occlusive
You can find it in: Face Glow and Jade Moon Serum
*The descriptions below reflect the quality of the raw ingredient.
Skin benefits of raspberry seed oil
Thanks to its high content of vitamins and and essential fatty acids, raspberry seed oil helps to combat signs of aging, support the skin barrier, reduce breakouts and increase hydration.
How does raspberry seed oil do it all? Let’s discuss.
Combats signs of aging
Raspberry seed oil is packed with vitamin A and vitamin E, both of which help slow premature signs of aging.
In fact, vitamin A was the first vitamin approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an anti-wrinkle agent. And vitamin E has been used in skincare products for decades.
Vitamin A helps slow premature signs of aging by boosting collagen production so that your skin looks plump and supple. It also helps speed cell renewal. This means that old, dead skin cells are more quickly shed from the skin’s surface resulting in smoother skin.
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the skin from free radical damage caused by environmental stressors.
In case you need a little refresher: Antioxidants are amazing compounds that help our skin fight free radicals. What are free radicals? They’re like little scavengers caused by air pollution and UV rays (among other things) that wreak havoc on your skin. Free radicals can cause oxidative stress to skin cells that ultimately breaks down collagen and elastin fibres.
Loss of collagen causes reduced skin elasticity and increased appearance of fine lines and wrinkles (AKA: signs of aging).
But thanks to its high content of vitamins A and E, raspberry seed oil can help keep signs of premature aging at bay!
And that’s not all, raspberry seed oil also helps keep the skin barrier strong.
Supports the skin barrier
In addition to vitamins A and vitamin E, raspberry seed oil is packed with omega-3 (linolenic acid) and omega-6 (linoleic acid) essential fatty acids.
These essential fatty acids are, well, essential to skin health. The thing is, the human body can’t produce them, so we need to get them from our diet or through topical application.
Luckily, raspberry seed oil is bursting with linoleic and linolenic acids. These fatty acids make up part of the skin barrier and a fatty acid deficiency is known to cause a weakened skin barrier.
When the skin barrier is damaged, the skin is more susceptible to irritation and redness. But don’t worry, the essential fatty acids in raspberry seed oil can help with that too. That’s right!
Omega-3 and omega-6 can help to soothe skin inflammation. Omega-3 helps with inflammation caused by UV damage while omega-6 helps with inflammation caused by sensitivity and skin conditions.
Reduces breakouts
If you have acne-prone skin, using an oil may seem like a bad idea. However, raspberry seed oil can actually help with acne.
Not only is it a non-comedogenic oil (meaning it won’t clog pores), the high linoleic acid content of raspberry seed oil can help with breakouts. An early study determined that topical linoleic acid helped reduce the size of comedones (AKA: pimples) after one month of use.
Increases hydration
There are a few ways that raspberry seed oil helps to increase skin hydration.
First, its skin barrier enhancing properties help to slow transepidermal water loss.
This is a natural process where water evaporates from the skin throughout the day. The process is increased when the skin barrier is damaged. A healthy skin barrier means more hydrated skin.
Second, it’s an emollient and an occlusive. Emollients help to soften the skin while occlusives help trap moisture in the skin.
As you can see, raspberry seed oil offers numerous skin benefits that make it a truly special skincare ingredient.
That said, there’s something extra special about the raspberry seed oil that we use in Graydon Skincare products.
What makes our raspberry seed oil special?
At Graydon Skincare, we’re dedicated to superfood and plant-powered ingredients. We’re also deeply committed so sustainability. That’s why we chose to use upcycled raspberry seed oil, called Raspberry NECTA®, in our products.
Raspberry NECTA® is a by-product of the juicing industry. Once juiced, the seeds are extracted from the remaining pulp (which would otherwise be thrown away) and pressed to remove the oil.
It takes 100,000 berries to produce 1 kilogram of highly-potent raspberry seed oil.
The sustainability aspect isn’t the only thing that makes our raspberry oil special.
Raspberry NECTA® undergoes rigorous testing and boasts 20% more vitamin E and 120% more antioxidant capacity than standard raspberry seed oil.
So, better for the environment and better for your skin. I’d say that makes the raspberry seed oil in Graydon Skincare products pretty darn special.
How to add raspberry seed oil to your skincare routine
By now you’re probably convinced that you need raspberry seed oil in your skincare routine. I mean, who wouldn’t want to:
- Combat signs of aging with collagen-boosting vitamin A and the antioxidant power of vitamin E.
- Reinforce the skin barrier, soothe inflammation and minimize acne breakouts with omega-3 and omega-6.
- Slow transepidermal water loss for more hydrated skin.
You can find this powerhouse ingredient on our Face Glow and Jade Moon Serum.
Face Glow is a tinted, moisturizing skin primer that delivers a dewy and radiant complexion. In addition to raspberry seed oil, this multitasker is formulated with sustainably-sourced mica to give you the perfect no makeup makeup look.
Jade Moon Serum is our revolutionary lipid barrier protecting serum. It’s packed with nutrient-dense superfood oils including raspberry seed oil, blueberry seed oil, prickly pear seed oil and safflower oil to support dry, depleted skin.
Best of all, Face Glow and Jade Moon Serum can be combined in a Skin Smoothie so you get double the raspberry seed oil goodness with one easy application. I actually use this combination (with a few drops of Supermoon Serum) all the time! I just love what all of the raspberry seed oil does for my skin.
Go ahead and give raspberry seed oil a try. I know you’ll love it as much as I do!
