Our newest Skincare CRUSH

We're falling hard this time...

Today's ingredient of choice?

CENTELLA ASIATICA!

Pretty isn't she? This gorgeous, leafy, green beauty has become a big player in the skincare world and we are LOVING HER. For a number of reasons, if we're being honest! So let's learn a little more about our ingredient of the moment.

Centella Asiatica (CA), also known as cica, Gotu kola, mandukparni, or Indian pennywort (the list goes on and on!), has actually been used in the orient for a long time prior to its uses in skincare today. In terms of the actual "WHAT" of it all, CA is a perennial herb, known as a "creeper" because of its tendency to grow low along the ground. It's found throughout India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, South Africa, South Pacific, and Eastern Europe. Only now is it really becoming popular here in the western world. Prior to its overwhelming and increasing popularity for skincare, it was primarily used medicinally. Medically it was fantastic for a wide range of reasons! It helped heal wounds, treat skin conditions from psoriasis and eczema to varicose ulcers, and even helped with anxiety and improved cognition. You read that right, everything from itchy skin to a boost in brainpower and productivity. That's A LOT for one little herb, and that's only a fraction of what it can do!

When it comes to CA in skincare, our main interest here, CA has become known as a "skin saver" due to its incredible healing properties. One of its extraordinarily long list of names is actually 'tiger grass', a name it earned due to ACTUAL Bengal tigers using the herb to heal their wounds by rolling in the grasses. It's gone from healing tiger’s wounds to people’s wounds and is now gracing our skincare to help save our skin in wholly new ways by becoming a part of many of our daily routines!

Because of its powerful anti-inflammatory capabilities, CA is fantastic for soothing, repairing, and nourishing sensitive, dry, or otherwise irritated skin. The plant’s actual chemical composition is made up of madecassoside and asiaticoside which are both HUGE players in soothing skincare. In fact, if you're as big a K-beauty and skincare nut as we are, you may have already heard of at least one of those ingredients before on its own! CA also does a great job when it comes to boosting hydration, blood circulation, and even increasing collagen production, all things you want when your goal is a youthful, glowing, fresh, and healthy complexion. One order of firm, elastic, perfectly plumped skin coming right up!

The best way to apply? With an ingredient like CA you want to let it soak in as long as possible. Serums, creams, anything meant to sit for an extended period on the skin will help to best deliver all of the healing properties CA has to offer.

All of this sounds...well kinda perfect now doesn't it? Yeah, that's pretty much what we thought too. With all that goodness packed into one teeny tiny ingredient...it's pretty hard NOT to have a little ingredient crush! Alright, maybe it's more than a LITTLE crush. And what's better is that CA can be found in so many different products now, there's no shortage to go around! In fact, we've packed our products with CA! I mean, when you think of letting products soak into the skin what better way to do that than with a mask and intensely moisturizing cream?

When it comes to a truly skin-changing experience, especially in terms of pregnancy, CA is the perfect companion to maternity skincare. Your skin is already going through the most dramatic and accelerated change it will most likely ever experience, so using skincare that's specifically meant to nourish, heal, protect, and soothe your skin with CA as a major ingredient is an absolute game-changer. You seriously can't go wrong!

From the Bengal tiger stripes to your own, mama, CA is there to help, heal, and revive!