Ingredients Glossary
Jojoba seed oil, one of the key constituents in Cell Nectar®, has wonderful effects as a "balancing oil" that can be used on any skin type. That's because jojoba oil with it's "sebum-identical" nature (meaning very similar to our own skin-secreted oils) has tremendous effects toward balancing oily skin to normal healthy skin, dry skin to normal healthy skin, and likewise for combo skin. Jojoba is [>>]
Fractionated coconut oil (FCO, also called liquid coconut oil) is a form of coconut oil that has had the long-chain fatty acids separated out such that it's now a liquid at room temperature. This form has very high percentage MCT's (medium-chain triglycerides) and can extend a product's shelf life. FCO is one of nature's super oils! This abundantly grown tropical oil is wonderful for the skin, being a penetrating, moisturizing, emollient, antimicrobial and antibacterial oil.
Apricot kernel oil (AKO) is an excellent skin serum oil, especially for use on the face as well as sensitive skin. AKO comes from the kernel, or inner part of the seed of the apricot fruit, Prunus armeniaca. It’s rich in essential fatty acids such as oleic and gamma linoleic acids, vitamins A, C and E, and antioxidants. AKO has fantastic restorative properties and will naturally nourish, moisturize and rehydrate your skin, leaving it extra soft and smooth! It also soothes eczema, firms and tones your skin, and slows down the skin aging process.
AKO is a very light oil that won’t leave any oily residue on your skin and is great mixed with other carrier and therapeutic oils, making it ideal as a facial serum. Additionally, AKO has low irritation and comedogenic potential. When used as pure AKO on your skin it’s best to first do a small patch test on your wrist to see that it won’t irritate your skin, although when used as a smaller percentage within a blended oil serum, skin sensitivity or irritation is far less likely.
AKO is a very light oil that won’t leave any oily residue on your skin and is great mixed with other carrier and therapeutic oils, making it ideal as a facial serum. Additionally, AKO has low irritation and comedogenic potential. When used as pure AKO on your skin it’s best to first do a small patch test on your wrist to see that it won’t irritate your skin, although when used as a smaller percentage within a blended oil serum, skin sensitivity or irritation is far less likely.
Pomegranate power! Cell Nectar serums and facial oils contain the awesome natural power of pomegranate seed oil (PSO), for natural anti-oxidant, collagen-building, anti-wrinkle, age-defying skincare!
PSO is rich in punicic acid, a unique polyunsaturated fatty acid with strong anti-inflammatory properties, comprising around 65% of the fatty acids in PSO. Punicic acid gets its name from Punica granatum, the scientific name for the pomegranate. The oil contains strong natural antioxidants that provide protection against sun damage and premature aging of skin.
PSO is rich in punicic acid, a unique polyunsaturated fatty acid with strong anti-inflammatory properties, comprising around 65% of the fatty acids in PSO. Punicic acid gets its name from Punica granatum, the scientific name for the pomegranate. The oil contains strong natural antioxidants that provide protection against sun damage and premature aging of skin.
Cell Nectar® contains virgin organic rosehip oil that is extracted by a cold-press method to squeeze the oil from rosehips and seeds. Rosehip oil is a luxurious oil that's renowned in the skincare world for its effect toward anti-aging, fading scars and reducing hyperpigmentation. This oil contains essential fatty acids, such as omega-3, -6 and -9 fatty acids, and is extremely nourishing for the skin, imparting powerful anti-aging benefits!
Avocado on your skin? Yes! Avocado oil is rich in antioxidants and an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, D and E, and sterolins. As powerful natural anti-inflammatory compounds, sterolins give avocado oil the ability to soothe inflammation and help heal sun damage, age spots, as well as more inflammatory skin conditions like eczema. In addition to soothing inflammation, calming sensitive skin and counteracting pollution-derived free radicals that antagonize healthy skin, avocado oil can act as a great overall moisturizer. Many have reported how avocado oil is simply amazing for hydration, skin calming and skin tone renewal, helping diminish pore size and remove impurities from the skin over time. 🥑🥑🥑 Sometimes we hear that while avocado oil is suitable for drier skin types, it may still clog pores in acne prone and more oily skin types, due to avocado oil being a heavier oil. However, this tends to refer to using high percentages if not pure avocado oil on your face! When diluted (oil in oil) in smaller percentages (<10%) with the lighter and more skin sebum-identical oils, as we do with Cell Nectar®, then avocado oil is a wonderful facial oil component for all skin types!
Calendula oil is a natural oil extracted from marigold flowers (Calendula officinalis) that has antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties that can be useful in healing wounds, soothing eczema, and relieving rashes. Calendula oil is a wonderful ingredient to include in sensitive skin care formulas, including those for eczema and dermatitis, because it has amazing anti-inflammatory properties and helps to reduce swelling. Calendula oil is very safe to use even on the most sensitive skin types. Calendula has abundant skin calming and healing properties, and is also renowned for its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, astringent, antifungal, antiviral, and even immunostimulant properties, making it useful for disinfecting and treating minor wounds, conjunctivitis, cuts, scrapes, chapped or chafed skin, bruises, burns, athlete’s foot, acne, yeast infections, bee stings, diaper rashes, and other minor irritations and infections of the skin! Last but not least, Calendula also stimulates the production of collagen, which assists in the healing process.
Sea buckthorn has a long history of use in folk medicine, dating back thousands of years. Tibetan doctors during the Tang dynasty used it to help relieve various health problems, and it is renowned in Ayurvedic medicine as far back as 5,000 BC. In 12 BC, the ancient Greeks used it to treat various health issues. In Tibet, Russia, Mongolia, and China, sea buckthorn is known to help relieve cough, promote blood circulation, aid digestion, and alleviate pain. Today, sea buckthorn oil is well-known for its healing and rejuvenating effects on the skin. When used topically, it's a great natural cleanser and exfoliator. It can also help heal burns, cuts, wounds, sunburn, rashes, and other types of skin damage. Using sea buckthorn oil daily helps slow down the signs of aging by nourishing the tissues in your skin and body.
Bergamot oil comes from the cold-pressed rind of the bergamot orange fruit, providing an essential oil rich in compounds with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. This makes it ideal in helping to fight acne and soothe skin inflammation. It also provides a lightly scented, soothing quality to the overall oil product.
We use high-grade, plant-source vitamin E oil derived from organic sunflower seeds in all of our formulations. This type of vitamin E consists of gamma-enriched mixed tocopherols to provide an extra potent version of vitamin E. Perfect for our skincare purposes, this superior version features enrichment in gamma-tocopherol as the most powerful antioxidant of all the mixed tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). That this helps prevent spoilage is not only great for our product's ingredients, but it's also beneficial to your skin in the fight against the constant onslaught of pollution, chemicals and sun, where antioxidants are certainly needed!
CoQ10 in skincare products?! With chemical name ubiquinone (form in oil) or ubiquinol (when water soluble), CoQ10 is indeed right out of a basic biochemistry textbook. Cell Nectar oil serum is infused with natural CoQ10 for good reason, which perfectly complements its mélange of botanical oils. As a little backgrounder, enzymes are important proteins that catalyze all chemical reactions in your body to sustain life, while “co-” means “with”, such that co-enzymes are helpers for your enzymes, working together with them to keep you and your cells alive, thriving, vibrant and maintaining all living functions. CoQ10 is found naturally in every cell of your body, working inside the mitochondria (the powerhouses within your cells) to help produce the ATP energy your cells need to function. It follows that high-energy cells, like those making up skeletal muscles and heart have the lion’s share of CoQ10. But skin cells also require lots of energy to function properly, being highly metabolic, with high turnover, as well as being the body’s largest organ!
CoQ10 actually has at least 3 really important and parallel functions in skin health: 1) CoQ10 helps make energy for your cells, as just described, 2) topical CoQ10 inhibits enzymes that degrade collagen and facilitates collagen formation, and 3) CoQ10 acts as a powerful antioxidant that quenches the dangerous free radicals that can ravage your cells. While in muscles this means sopping up the free radicals produced as a natural consequence of all that local energy production and use, in skin this means quenching all those free radicals being produced from exposure to the sun’s radiation, UV exposure, toxins, smoke, pollution, and many other “insults” our living shell is being bombarded with on a daily basis!
CoQ10 actually has at least 3 really important and parallel functions in skin health: 1) CoQ10 helps make energy for your cells, as just described, 2) topical CoQ10 inhibits enzymes that degrade collagen and facilitates collagen formation, and 3) CoQ10 acts as a powerful antioxidant that quenches the dangerous free radicals that can ravage your cells. While in muscles this means sopping up the free radicals produced as a natural consequence of all that local energy production and use, in skin this means quenching all those free radicals being produced from exposure to the sun’s radiation, UV exposure, toxins, smoke, pollution, and many other “insults” our living shell is being bombarded with on a daily basis!