Extracts

Arnica Extract
Arnica belongs to the compositae plant family. Extracts made from the blossoms, but also from the stems and roots, are mainly used in preparations for external use, especially in natural remedies, e. g. preparations against bruises, pulled muscles, contusions, strains, haematoma, rheumatism, neuralgia and ischialgia. Moreover, Arnica extract is one of the most popular plant extracts in cosmetics.Traditional Uses:
*heal wounds
*reduce inflammation
*soothe muscle aches

Carrot Seed Extract

Carrot seed has regenerating and toning effects, which is excellent for mature and congested skin. Rich in vitamin A, with a revitalizing effect.

Coneflower extract
Extracted from the Native American plant, Echinacea angustifolia, coneflower extract was originally used as an antidote for snakebites and other venomous conditions. The juice of the root was used to heal burns and soothe topical pain. Coneflower extract has been clinically demonstrated to aid in healing and act as an anti-inflammatory agent. The pale purple coneflower is a perennial herb and is used for its antibacterial properties in helping skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis

Cranberry Extract
Cranberry extract helps restore radiance to all skin types.
Cranberry Extract has significant levels of proanthocyanidins, with potential antibacterial and anti-oxidant components due to the compound Vacciniin, which inhibits bacterial adherence to cells, and is said to be very good for use in acne-prone regimens.
Contains the anti-bacterial ingredient D-vacinniin, which also protects against viruses and fungus.

Cucumber Extract
Excellent anti-inflammitory properties
The cucumber plant has been known in India and Egypt for 4000 years. Women have always covered their face with thin slices of cucumber to moisturize their skin and restore its radiance. Cucumber flesh is well-known in cosmetics. Very rich in vitamin C, it is used in moisturizing and anti-age creams.

Elder Flower
Antiseptic, astringent, soothing extract.. It is used to soften the skin and sooth irritation while having a decongestive effect as well. The constituents of Elder flower extract are flavonoids (isoquercitrin, rutin, astragalin and sambunigrin), phenolic acids (chlorogenic acid), triterpenes (alpha- and beta-amyrin), ursolic acid, sterols, volatile oils, minerals, mucilage and tannins. The therapeutic properties of elder flower extract in skincare include soothing irritation, antiseptic, healing and has a decongestive effect. It furthermore helps with inflamed skin and minor injuries.

Fresh Cactus Extract
Cactus extract: help the skin maintain a constant level of hydration.

Fennel Extract
Fennel extract increases the elasticity of the connective tissues of the skin. It is anti-wrinkle and anti-aging and has a tightening effect on the skin.

Fig

Fig Extract is the new star og modern skincare. Check out Darphin's entire fig line. Fig extract has moisturizing properties similar to the skin's own and so is an excellent hydrator providing a tightening effect. Rich in vitamin A and betacarotene it also has powerful enzymatic exfoliation action, 20X more efficient tham papain. The best part is after exfoliation with a Fig peel, there will be no flakiness, just soft and comfortable skin.

Green Tea Extract
Green tea contains compounds called polyphenols, which help eliminate free radicals. These free radicals can cause cancer by altering DNA. Polyphenols also protect healthy cells while promoting the death of cancer cells.
Cell biologist Dr. Stephen Hsu recently began studying the most abundant green tea polyphenol, called EGCG, and its effect on skin cells. Hsu and his colleagues compared the growth of normal skin cells to those exposed to EGCG.They foundthe EGCG reactivated dying skin cells."Cells that migrate toward the surface of the skin normally live about 28 days, and by day 20 they basically sit on the upper layer of the skin getting ready to die. But EGCG reactivates them. I was so surprised," Hsu says in a news release.He and his colleagues also found other ways that EGCG benefits skin cells.
The findings indicate that EGCG may offer potential benefits for skin conditions including psoriasis, rosacea, wrinkles and wounds.The most important catechin in tea is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), an antioxidant 200 times more powerful than vitamin E, antiaging. Used topically, Green Tea Extract protects the skin from UVA and UVB radiation.

Kiwi Fruit Extract
Kiwifruit is a highly nutritious fruit containing amongst other vitamins and minerals more vitamin C than any other fruit in the world and an exceptional quantity of vitamin E. This natural skin-conditioning agent provides a powerful source of antioxidants and vitamins that nourish and soothe the skin.. Kiwifruit also contain a protein called Actinidin. It is an excellent source of magnesium, vitamin E, and a potent source of antioxidants and amino acids

Licorice Extract

Licorice extract has anti-inflammatory properties. Obtained from the root of Glycyrrhia Glabra Linneva, it is one of nature’s most subtle and yet effective skin lightening agents. A natural skin fading agent that is an anti-irritant and relaxant that has a depigmenting effect as well as an inhibitory effect on melanin synthesis due to its ability to act as a tyrosinase inhibitor. Used to clarify and lighten the skin. As a depigmenting agent, licorice extract is more effective than kojic acid and 75 times more effective than ascorbic acid. The Lancet reports that licorice extract (glycyrrhetinic acid) acts as a natural alternative to topical hydrocortisone, without the side effects commonly associated with the steroid. Used for a number of medicinal purposes, particularly for the treatment of eczema and similar skin irritations. Delivers valuable soothing properties to the skin. Highly rejuvenating and nutritive qualities are attributed to it.

Pomegranate Extract
Pomegranate extract has demonstrated a variety of beneficial functions including antioxidant and anti-viral activity. In 1996, a University of Nottingham research team in Pennsylvania learned that pomegranate extract could destroy several viruses nearly on contact. The discovery of this anti-viral activity created further experimentation and clinical trials. One study confirmed that the ellagic acid from pomegranate extract effectively protects cells from damaging free radicals. Additional phenolic compounds found in pomegranate, anthocyanidins-also well-known scavengers of free radicals-combine synergistically with ellagic acid to increase greatly pomegranate's potency as an antioxidant.
The most extraordinary benefit of this radically innovative ingredient is that it boosts the sun protection factor (SPF) rating of topical sunscreens so that the same SPF protection levels are maintained using fewer chemicals and more antioxidants.
High in antioxidants and the next big buzz in skincare (Murad's using this), it's also very high in ellagic acid. Pomegranate fruit extract (PFE), from the tree Punica granatum, contains several polyphenols and anthocyanidins (pigment that gives certain fruits their dark red colors), the antioxidant activity of which is higher than that of red wine and green tea.

Sea Kelp Extract
Sea Kelp improves skin tone and firmness. Soothes and moisturizes.
It also helps soften and revitalize the skin while cleansing.
Sea Kelp Extract creates almost immediate hydration and skin protection

Tamarind Extract
It's an African Fruit high in aha and enzymes and used in may many very high end cosmetic lines..like the night creme is $244..
It is also an expectorant rich in organic acids such as aopha hydroxy, tartaric, ditric and malic. Tamarind extract is a useful ingredient in body-cleansing products for adjusting skin acidity conditions. It also serves antiseptic, anti-allergy, and skin tightening purposes. Tamarind meat, mixed with water and applied to the face, is an excellent anti-freckle and anti-aging remedy. The seed contins xyloglucan, with demonstrated free radical scavenging and immunising properties. Tamarind leaves and flowers, dried or boiled, are used as poultices for swollen joints, sprains and boils. Lotions and extracts made from them are used in treating conjunctivitis, as antiseptics, as vermifuges, treatments for dysentery, jaundice, erysipelas and hemorrhoids and various other ailments. The fruit shells are burned and reduced to an alkaline ash which enters into medicinal formulas. The bark of the tree is regarded as an effective astringent, tonic and febrifuge.

Red Raspberry Extract
Contains tannins, vitamin C and has a natural astringent effect, antiseptic, anti-bacterial. Rich in the essential fatty acids & contains gamma-tocopherol in active free forml. This lipophilic extract is recommended for all skin types, but is especially useful in formulas for mature skin.

Watermelon Extract

Watermelon improves effectiveness of skin moisturizers, stimulates and enlivens skin.

White Tea Extract

White Tea Extract (Camellia Sinesis Leaf) contains polyphenols, catechins, catechols and flavenol (Compound W) which provide strong anti-oxidant benefits.
Ever wonder why certain ingredients in anti-aging products are better for your skin than others? White tea for instance?
In a study funded by Origins Natural Resources, a division of The Estee Lauder Companies, researchers found that white tea extract protects skin cells from the damaging effects of the sun that lead to aging. Certain ingredients in the extract, which was applied to subjects in cream form, protect the immune functioning of the skin cells preventing the oxidation process, which leads to aging, from occurring. In other words, white tea extract contains powerful anti-oxidants that assist skin cells in fighting free radicals that lead to aging of skin. 10X anti-oxidants of green tea, this research illustrates that plant based ingredients certainly do have an important role to play in skin care, especially in the realm of anti-aging products and protection against photo damage. Photo damage, which leads to aging, occurs when the DNA in skin cells is damaged after exposure to sunlight. White tea extract limits that amount of damage, hence protecting against aging, particularly wrinkling and pigmentation (those horrid brown spots!).

White Tea Extract Shows Anti-Cancer, Anti-Aging Protection for Skin
Scientists say they have proven ingredients in white tea are effective in boosting the immune function of skin cells and protecting them against the damaging effects of the sun.
Researchers believe that white tea extract's anti-oxidant properties are the reason the extract was effective; if so, it also suggests that the agent may provide anti-aging benefits. The same process of oxidative stress in skin cells that leads to immune system damage can also promote skin cancer and photo damage, such as wrinkling or mottled pigmentation.
Kevin Cooper, MD, is chairman of the department of dermatology at UHC and CWRU. "We know that younger skin tends to be able to resist the oxidative stress associated with exposure to the destructive rays of sunlight. The white tea extract also appears to build the skin's resistance against stresses that cause the skin to age."

The results offer promise in the battle against skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States with more than one million new cases diagnosed every year, according to the researchers
The Skin Study Center at UHC and CWRU has studied the benefits of another form of tea that has protective effects. Researchers found that ingredients in green tea decreased the direct effects of sunburn. This newest study is the first of its kind involving white tea. White and green teas contain the highest amounts of antioxidants of all tea varieties, but white tea is actually the least processed form of tea and is rarely used in consumer products.
Scientists at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University have proven that ingredients in white tea are effective in boosting the immune function of skin cells and protecting them against the damaging effects of the sun. The discovery that white tea extract protects the skin from oxidative stress and immune cell damage adds another important element in the battle against skin cancer.
White tea helps to inhibit and scavenge free radicals formed by exposure to UVA light and external pollutants. White tea improve lipid production ten times better than green tea. So white tea extract is a superior ingredient for skincare. It can protect the skin form environmental aggressors, strengthen the skin and reduce the visible signs of ageing.

Yarrow Extract

Yarrow is excellent for reducing inflammation, scars, stretch marks, varicose veins and wounds. It's considered to be antibacterial and antiseptic so it helps problem skin and dermal infections, also balances and regulates sebaceous glands, especially suitable for sensitive and damaged skin.

Yucca Extract

The Yucca Schidigera plant is native only to the south-western deserts of North America. Traditionally Native American Indians used it for washing, shampooing, and for a myriad of different medicinal applications. The natural saponins in the juice are responsible for its superior surfactant quality.