THE POWER OF PLANTS
The Skin Stuff skincare is uniquely created in a way that is fundamentally different from commercial skin-product companies. How? We’re glad you asked. Most companies contract with factories to combine lists of standard ingredients from third-party sellers. Many “different” skin products are actually made from the same barrels of ingredients in the same labs, then packaged under various brand names.
Our botanical-extracts are made in small batches by us. We use organic or wild-crafted mushrooms and plants (herbs) from trusted sources. These extracts are then combined into our unique formula - also in small batches, and also by us.
No processed chemicals are used in our products. (You could eat ingredients in our products — but don’t, ok?)
We’re more than your grandmother’s homemade creams. Our ingredients are scientifically-backed, tried and tested for 3-5 years on different skin types in different climates.
We’ve outlined more than you knew you wanted to know about why our ingredients actually fight signs of aging and lead to younger-looking skin. If you’re in a hurry, skim the headings, we are quite proud of them.
Our Packaging
You know what’s loaded with healthy phytochemicals and really good for you? An apple (especially an organic one). Have a slice! All that vitamin C and other nutrients! But…notice what happens when you cut that apple up and leave slices exposed to the air for long. Brown. Mushy. Yuck. That’s oxidation, and all those vitamins (antioxidants) have been pretty much destroyed.
Kind of the same with even the most excellent phytochemicals in skin-care products. Of course, while common vitamin C is the most extreme and vulnerable example, other ingredients also degrade over time due to air and light exposure. Most commercial skin serums are packaged in glass “dropper bottles.” They look nice and seem “natural” — I mean, they’re what we used originally — but we’re always learning, and one thing we learned: the serum inside those bottles gets a big breath of fresh air every time you unscrew the dropper cap to use the product! And while a “big breath of fresh air” might be great for you and me, for a serum’s freshness and potency (like for that apple slices)…less great.
That’s why The Skin Stuff serums come to you only in “airless pump” bottles.
Shiitake Mushrooms
Younger Looking Skin, Fades Age Spots and Scars,
Anti-Inflammatory
Application of this extract results in visibly younger looking skin, fading age spots and scars. The dense presence of kojic acid delays aging and gives a radiant glow. Shiitake is also one of the most concentrated sources of natural zinc, which helps rebuild healthy skin.
Packed with antioxidant properties, shiitake also possesses the ability to fight skin inflammations. It can thwart off and ease rosacea, eczema, and acne.
The presence of Vitamin D and selenium along with the antioxidants safeguard your skin from damage triggered by environmental conditions.
Reishi Mushrooms
Reduces Fine Lines and Wrinkles, Reaches Deep Layers of Skin
Known as ‘the mushroom of immortality,’ works as an antioxidant and to protect against free-radicals, which are a major factor in aging. Reishi penetrates deep layers of skin, hydrating, nourishing, healing, and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Chaga Mushrooms
Improves Elasticity and Natural Glow
Though Chaga is hard to find and harvest it’s uniquely worth the effort. Contains high amounts of SOD, Zinc, Selenium, and one of nature’s highest concentrations of betulonic acid (necessary for regenerating skin).
White Snow Mushrooms
Smooths Skin and Protects Against Aging
This Asian wonder provides an intense surge of hydration while reducing pores and redness. This mushroom is legendary in Chinese folklore, credited with giving Yang Guifei, one of China’s “Four Beauties,” her youthful, radiant look. It has been used in Eastern skin-care for thousands of years — but more than folklore, this powerhouse is backed by science. The White Snow Mushroom has moisturizing properties similar to hyaluronic acid, which can hold 1,000 times its weight in water. But it surpasses hyaluronic acid because its particles are smaller and penetrate skin more easily.
Our formulation of the whole mushroom body may greatly assist in overall absorption, drawing out vitamins E and A (which are naturally occurring in our botanical ingredients). A number of expensive “snow mushroom water” extract serums are appearing on the market. Ours is the only serum of which we are currently aware using a proprietary whole-plant formula, not just an extracted liquid potentially discarding important constituents.
Four active forms of C
No other product we know of provides more than one form of vitamin C – and most advertised as “Vitamin C Serum” use only standard l-ascorbic acid, the least expensive and least-stable form. Ascorbic acid is a chemical name for the vitamin C pills you can buy at any drug store or super “mart” (just look at the labels). This common form of the vitamin, when dissolved in solution, works great on skin as long as it’s stable and fresh. But when exposed to air and light, it can oxidize and not only become quickly useless but actually harm skin, exposing it to MORE free-radical damage! Some studies indicate ascorbic acid in solutions (with nothing to stabilize it), when exposed to air, can degrade in less than 24 hours! "It’s like when the inside of an apple is exposed to air and light," says dermatologist Dr. Nina Roos. "With enough exposure, the apple turns brown."
Vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid) oxidizes into a chemical called dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA), which results not only in change of color but loss of effectiveness. DHAA is definitely NOT something you want to be slathering on your skin. But if you’re using an ascorbic-acid-only based “Vitamin C serum” that’s been opened a few times – well, chances are that’s what you’re doing. Sorry.
Really, your face is better off with no topical vitamin C than with a daily coating of spoiled, oxidized chemical.
But there’s good news, too: There are vitamin C types that remain stable and effective, providing your skin with real, consistent, visible benefits! And when combined with ascorbic acid, they even help stabilize it! They’re a lot pricier that just using satndard vitamin-VC-pill ascorbic acid, but they’re unquestionably worth it.
We combine two very high-end types of C – magnesium ascorbyl phosphate and tetrahexidecyl ascorbate — with a fat-soluble form, l-ascorbyl palmitate, plus regular, original water-soluble vitamin C into our Reishi-C cream serum, giving you the stable, synergistic benefits.
The Daily Serums
Our cream serums are medicinal-mushroom based. Our processes, developed over years by our master herbalist, are unique. No other company duplicates or comes close. Selected booster phytochemicals, all from plant sources, supplement the natural mushroom power. Each batch is crafted and overseen, beginning to end, by us on our serene (well, fairly serene) hilltop acres in the Maine woods.
You get our best and nothing less!
A quick note on the subject of medicinal mushrooms: A chemistry lab has “discovered” an amino acid that’s miraculous, they claim, for skin – right down to mitrochodrial protection. And…They’re right!
The chemical's called ergothioneine, and this factory has patented a new... ”synthesized”... version called Thiotaine ®. Creams and serums are being made, most selling for over $200, featuring this synthetic amino acid.
Ergothioneine, meanwhile, is not “new” to our herbalist, who’s familiar with the natural, bioavailable form – so didn't need to read the fine print in the lab’s materials. But he did anyway, just for the satisfaction of finding the part admitting the NATURAL source of this amino acid is...mushrooms. Just like the ones concentrated in both of our serums. Who would have guessed?
Sea Kelp
Firming, Exfoliating, Superior Hydration, Anti-inflammatory and Anti-aging
Rich in vitamins and trace minerals, Sea Kelp can be applied on the skin as a firming, healing, exfoliating, and strengthening agent. It contains fatty acids that not only suffuse your skin with moisture, but prevent your skin from losing moisture. Kelp extracts rid skin of toxins, aiding absorption of anti-aging properties from other extracts. Our extract also helps smooth skin and reduce redness from rosacea or acne flare-ups.
Ferulic Acid
Reduces Development of Fine Lines, Spots, and Wrinkles
Ferulic acid is an antioxidant that works to boost the effects of other antioxidants. When used in skin care products, it helps to protect overall skin integrity by reducing the development of fine lines, spots, and wrinkles.
Naturally derived from rice bran and other fruit-skins and seeds, it’s excellent at neutralizing free radicals, especially the free radicals known as "superoxide," "hydroxyl radical" and "nitric oxide." It also acts synergistically with other antioxidants to increase their effectiveness. Ferulic acid is unusual in that its antioxidant activity is boosted by exposure to UV light, indicating it may be helpful in protecting skin from sun damage.
Patent research indicates it may also stabilize topical solutions containing l-ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).
Ferulic acid works well in tandem with antioxidants like vitamins C and E to stabilize and promote their strengthening qualities and further protect against the harmful effects of free radicals. According to the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, “Ferulic acid alone, like vitamins C and E, provides partial protection, but vitamins C, E and ferulic acid [together] provide virtually complete protection.”
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/a19479913/ferulic-acid