With the current pandemic that started in the year 2020 until today, we personally saw how skincare products easily dominated the online market. It quickly became the focus of most people, and with the trending promotion of self-love and self – care, it became the new face in the world of beauty.

Before the pandemic, people’s choices for skincare were greatly affected by the popularity of a brand as advertised on social media, which often, may not be what their skin needs, but rather to make them feel in touch with the current k-beauty trend. However, times have changed, and beauty enthusiasts are now aware of the importance of researching and choosing products that are best for their skin in the market. 

In 2021, we saw how onions and kombucha were incorporated in some Korean skincare products. We were also surprised at how they benefited the skin, and how effective they were and now that 2022 is right in front of us, some experts predicted what 2022 has in store for the k-beauty market.

 

 

Plant Extracts – Based Skincare

Claudia Christin, a famous k-beauty vlogger in the world of Instagram, in one of her Instagram posts, predicted that for 2022, there’s going to be a lot more unexpected plant extracts-based skincare, that would turn out to have beneficial properties. Plant extracts, as we know, have been part of the ingredients of the products on our shelves, and they somewhat became dominant on the latter part of last year, which we think, would double in number for this year, as people realizes their benefits to the skin.

You may be wondering by now, what can you get from plant extracts or are they really effective. For one, plant extracts are used in skincare products to support health, texture and integrity of the skin, hair and nails. They are known to help achieve that healthy skin glow, the smooth texture and younger looking skin.  These plant extracts also tend to be antioxidants in action because the organisms where they may have been extracted from grows or flourishes from direct UV light, which is the Earth’s most prolific manufacturer of free radicals. Not only that, it is also generally known to be a rich source of vitamins, proteins and essential oils.

Well, way back 2021 red onion had been used as a key ingredient, what can we expect from k-beauty brands for this year? What are your guesses? For me, I hope to see some garlic as an ingredient in upcoming skincare products as it is known to have antibacterial, antifungal, anti-viral and antiseptic properties from allicin (derived from garlic) which helps to kill bacteria causing acne and reduce the swelling and inflammation of the skin while improving blood circulation at the same time. The potential for this ingredient is endless

 

 

 

Sustainable, Eco-friendly Packaging

On top of this, Claudia also thinks that there is going to be a tremendous increase in awareness around the sustainable packaging towards eco-conscious beauty. Some of you may be wondering, what is a sustainable packaging. When we say sustainable packaging, these are eco-friendly or the “no-waste” packaging. Options could include the use of biodegradable paper or cardboard for outer packaging which is often coated with potato or corn instead of plastic, metal or glass containers and jars, the use of soy-based ink instead of the usual petroleum-based inks. Well, I, for one, really love and enjoy sustainable packaging, they’re new to my eyes, and it helps with the environment too! Not only am I the one benefitting from it (as it houses skincare products I really love using) but it also helps with saving our mother Earth. Two functions in one, cool right?

 

 

 

Fermented Ingredients, Vegan – Friendly Products, Skin – Friendly Formulas and Gentle Formulations

Next up, we have Maree Kinder, a Korean adoptee and Entrepreneur who focuses on skincare curation, who, just like Claudia, also believes that in 2022, we’ll see a move towards more sustainable packaging. In addition, she also thinks that more brands will be leaning towards skincare that are sensitive-skin friendly, which means gentler and fragrance-free, and products that features fermented ingredients.

The use of fermented ingredients in skincare products originated from South Korean’s beauty industry. Okay, I know, when you read that first statement, it somewhat made you think that this is about slathering kimchi on your skin. No need to worry, as this is far from that.

Basically, fermented skincare uses ingredients that are by-products of fermentation. Fermentation is a process where the lack of oxygen and the presence of beneficial microorganisms like yeast, molds and bacteria breaks down sugars and starches into alcohol and acids. These processes result in some of the most helpful ingredients in the skincare game like lactic acid and probiotics.

A study was made in relation to atopic dermatitis (eczema) and its reaction to probiotics. (Probiotics are a mixture of live bacteria and/or yeast that boosts the growth of healthy germs that are already in your skin to achieve a natural glow In this study, it was found that, although probiotics make little to no difference in reducing itching and sleep loss caused by eczema, it was found that probiotics slightly reduces the severity of eczema by helping improve the skin barrier function. Probiotics was also found to suppress cell inflammation by enhancing the production of short chain fatty acids which were found to act in the cells of the skin.

Fermented products reduce the chance of skin irritation. Since the fermentation process neutralizes the toxic substances that natural raw ingredients contain, it is more suitable for sensitive skin. In addition, fermentation using yeast can also lead to the creation of special substances like ethanol and carbon dioxide, that prevents harmful microorganism resulting to a great reduction on the chance of developing skin damage. To provide a backbone to this statement, a study conducted in the Journal of Medicinal Food in 2012 revealed that because fermented products mimic cell functions, adverse reactions are rare making them suitable for sensitive skin.

Fermented ingredients in skincare products basically gained fame from the fact that it is effective for anti-aging. This has been proven by a study made in Dermatologic Therapy, where they found that fermented yeast extract diminishes the signs of skin aging by improving collagen synthesis.

Experts believed that fermented Ingredients are more powerful post – fermentation and can penetrate deeper into your skin, which means that it is more bang for your buck in your skincare – products.

Some samples of fermented ingredients are Galactomyces Ferment Filrate, Sacchromyces Ferment Filtrate and Kombucha.

 

Brand Introduction:

 

 

It’s a delight to introduce you to a brand that has everything of the above characteristics-- Vegreen, a brand whose name comes from the compound word vegetable and green. With these compound words, you now must have a brief idea on what products does it make. Let’s see what this brand is all about.

First off, Vegreen is a brand that promotes veganism, so you can be assured that their products are vegan-friendly or does not exploit animals and their formulations are plant-based. They also use sustainable packaging which are made from 100% sugarcane by-products instead of wood. The reason behind the use of sugarcane, is that it is recyclable and can be harvested several times a year, more than with trees. Pretty clever right? That’s not it yet! There’s still more! They managed to replace the beloved and famous snail mucin with yam mucin as the main ingredient in their product. Now, you must be asking yourself, why yam mucin? Vegreen thought it would be better to use wild yam extract or Phyto mucin because they believe that snails should not sacrificed in exchange for beautiful skin. Now, you must be asking yourself, what is yam mucin then? Yam mucin, also known as Phyto mucin is just as effective as snail mucin. It is extracted from wild yam and has been proven to moisturize, heal and strengthen the skin barrier. How can one ingredient do that? Phyto-mucin contains a unique compound called diosgenin which, according to Hindawi, a scientific journal, helps delay skin aging and contributes to reverse photo aging skin damage. In addition, it was also found that it could help with hyperpigmentation.

With this new ingredient used by Vegreen, you can feel and be beautiful without the guilt of sacrificing the snails.

As of this moment, Vegreen has formulated four products:

 

 

The Fragrance – free Nature Mucin Serum which comes in a 50ml bottle with a pump and contains 63% mucin from wild yam extract, panthenol and ceramide to deeply moisturized the skin, strengthen the skin barrier and firm the skin away from stress.

 

 

The Alcohol – free Nature Mucin Toner. This comes in a 250mL bottle. Pretty big, right! It contains a little bit higher percentage of mucin, at 68%, which has the ability to restore tired skin and bring it back to it former glory.

 

 

 

The Vegreen Fragrance-Free Cica Serum which also comes in 50mL bottle with a pump. Everyone, if not, almost everyone, loves Cica! Well, who would not love something that gives a soothing and caring effect to the skin which strengthens the skin barrier? But the good things don’t just stop there, this also has panthenol for sensitive skin and sodium hyaluronate, which is known to be a natural moisturizing ingredient which hydrates the skin well and protects it from external irritation. 

 

 

The most well - loved product from Vegreen is the 730 Daily Moisture Cream. You must be wondering, why is it called 730. Well, this cream is named 730 because Vegreen formulated it to be used for 365 days or for the entire year, every morning and evening, which gives us 365 days times 2 resulting to 730. This is formulated for everyone, anywhere, anytime, any condition and without skin irritation with only 11 ingredients. This cream prevents aging and balances oil-water distribution of the skin and sterilizes the skin to prevent bacterial infection.

Although Vegreen only has four products, the ingredients line – up and effectiveness are superb. It is truly made for everyone, and I think, this deserves more recognition than what it has now. Don’t you agree? Also, now that you know about this incredible brand, will you try some or all its products?  Let us know below.