[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad]] I would be the first to say that I’ve been cynical about prebiotics in skin care but Cultured has made me sit up and take a bit more notice. Not only do I love the packaging with its beautiful, bright dots that instantly move it apart from other brands, but it’s founded by Rob Calcraft who co-founded REN. REN was ahead of its time twenty years ago – well ahead actually – and while probiotic skin care isn’t new-new, Cultured Skin Care is doing it their way. One of my points of objection has been the ‘worthiness’ of biome based brands – you can have fun with any ingredients, even bacteria, and I like skin care to be approachable.
There are three products (for now) – a mask, a serum and a cleanser. The theory of including prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics, ferments and micro-algae extracts is to strengthen the skin’s barrier which in turn helps it to perform at its best (and increasingly, science backs this up). By ‘best’, I mean skin that can generously host the good bacteria (to outperform the ‘bad’) that we all have and rely on to keep our complexions trouble free, strong and resilient. The stronger the biome, the better skin can protect itself which will mean different things to different people but examples might be balancing hydration so that your complexion doesn’t suffer moisture peaks and troughs, or perhaps to help it to be less reactive to sensitivities.
But while a biome friendly base is at the heart of all the products, they do their given tasks very well (I’ve tried the mask and the cleanser) thanks to carefully chosen ingredients, such as Kombucha, polysaccharies and hyaluronic acid.
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The textures are interesting, too. The Cleansing Balm, £32, is like a liquid balm – fluid without being too runny and perhaps like honey but obviously, not sticky. It does a sound job of removing makeup and leaves the complexion feeling perfectly cleansed. While the cleansing experience is a joy and it’s the least expensive of the trio, it would be last on my recommend list because it’s on the skin for such a small amount of time and if you are invested in biome boosting, I feel that your skin should have more time with it.
I’ve also tried the Biome One Mask as an intense bug-reboot in a jelly texture with an acid action. Acids tend to mess with your biome so it’s a bit of a contradiction but lactic, malic and succinic are gentler than many and it did leave my skin happily perky and glowy. A good option if you can’t tolerate peel products usually, but £48 feels quite steep. The Biome One Serum is £55 – texturally delicious and where I’d probably start because I don’t see a tentative approach as being useful if your skin just needs to calm the heck down. It’s said to have a retinol like effect but it’s main job is moisture balance – the perfect candidate for this is someone whose skin moisture levels fluctuate and they have sensitivities or are reactive. It’s very irritating to have a complexion that has multiple needs (if you are hormonal or menopausal you’ll hear me!) and if Biome One Serum does its intended job properly, you should find much more harmony as a result. I’m on board with the vibe of Cultured even if I’m not 100% convinced of probiotics etc (although you are with the person who has a Yakult at every opportunity so I don’t know why I’m being so hard to completely convince) and wish them every success. I’m also absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to get out the knitted bacteria that my friend Charlie made for me :-). Cultured is HERE, non-affiliate HERE.
Cultured Skin Care Review
prebiotics, postbiotics, ferments, counter-preservatives and micro-algae extracts, the formulas are also said to activate cells deeper within the skin to boost the production of key proteins and enzymes such as collagen, elastin and anti-microbial peptides to enhance overall skin quality and performance.
Making its debut with a Biome One trio
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All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
4 comments
Lovely to see my bacteria still in action – and that is a sentence I never thought I’d type!
I LOVE your bacteria!
I really love your posts, I also follow you on insta, as I’m a little older and think not all beauty works for me. Thanks for this review, I will try the serum to try to sort out my eczema, which has gotten worse lately.
Thank you – that’s so lovely to hear 🙂