The five Italian beauty brands inspired by the world of food and beverage
Witch command ingredient: what are buffalo milk, olive oil, saffron, tea and yuzu doing in skincare formulas? And what are their benefits for our skin?
G-Club
February 22nd, 2023
February 22nd, 2023
We are unlocking a memory from last summer that also applies to the upcoming warm season: according to TikTok, you can make yourself up with fruit. It's an idea that comes straight from grandmothers eating blackberries in the summer and seeing their mouths shiny and slightly berry-coloured without having to apply any cosmetics. Cherries, for example, make for a perfect natural blush on lips and cheeks, while the stem of grapes and the neck of bananas prove to be good allies for making eyeliner and lipstick.
@camilaramirezbeauty Estoy impresionada ib: @gabxxrielle #fruitmakeupchallenge #fruitmakeup original sound - <3
While for some of you this otherwise waste-free challenge is as playful and juicy as eating a cabaret of seasonal fruits, for others it might prove too difficult. And that's where beauty brands come to the rescue, taking advantage of natural ingredients from the food and drink world to create highly effective skincare formulas. We have selected five, all made in Italy, from Bologna to Sicily.
For Equazione, a natural skincare brand from Sicily, true beauty can be found everywhere, you just have to look for it in the ingredients while respecting nature. Floral botanical research and pharmaceutical knowledge thus become the perfect equation. The idea of Giusi Aricò, a pharmacist, and Michele Faro, a horticulturist, is to create products with essences from citrus fruits and plants certified by an environmentally friendly agriculture and grown in volcanic, mineral soils under the influence of the sea. Among them is yuzu, which resembles lemon but has the sour aftertaste of grapefruit and has relaxing, rejuvenating and stress-relieving properties thanks to its natural concentrate of vitamin C and poiphenols. All products are packaged in 100% recycled and recyclable material PET.
Beauty Thinkers, on the other hand, was born in Umbria as the idea of a collective of researchers, creatives and thinkers. For the brand, collaboration, including from fans of its formulas, is essential as an exchange of knowledge about current beauty in order to constantly improve it. All the products are natural and vegan, protecting the skin and having an antioxidant effect, thanks to a formula based on olives rich in indroxytyrosol, enhanced by the water of the olive trees on the Castello Monte Vibiano estate in the centuries-old hills of Umbria. Nature's intelligence is its guiding spirit, constantly teaching it the importance of self-repair strategies to stay healthy and young. The packaging plays its part: It is recycled and recyclable.
Biancamore recalls the story of princesses like Cleopatra, who bathed in a tub of milk to get beautiful skin. And that's how founder Daniela Senatore got the idea, looking for a natural remedy for irritated skin during her pregnancy. She found it after bathing in buffalo milk, which is very rich in lactoferrin, diluted with warm water. This very fatty ingredient, made 100% in Italy at Biancamore, forms an occlusive barrier (in the most positive sense of the word) that is moisturising for even the most sensitive skin. Do not think of a brand that is not environmentally friendly. The milk fibre is obtained in Paestum through a circular economy.
Putting nature centre stage with km0 products is the mission of the Palazzo di Varignana resort, located in the hills of Bologna. It took some time to launch the first holistic cosmetic line, made exclusively from products grown on their own land. Organic and natural, each product is nickel tested and gluten free, free of parabens and silicones and not tested on animals. With the pomegranate - the estate has 2,674 plants grown on 6 hectares - they have created a line that is a pure vitamin concentrate, ideal for skin affected by stress and time. The red saffron grown in the resort's Rio garden, on the other hand, has purifying and illuminating properties, giving the skin an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial beauty. Sangiovese wine, on the other hand, is a line developed for men's skin. This wine, grown on 35 hectares of indigenous vineyards, revitalises and promotes the skin's microcirculation and counteracts ageing.
Teaology is not called that by chance and has a motto: "We are convinced that what is good for us is also good for our skin." The B CORP company uses tea infusion instead of water in every one of its formulas, from masks to lip balms. And skin feels the benefits immediately after the first application. From five different varieties of tea, all grown organically and km0, the brand extracts the natural anti-ageing and anti-pollution active ingredients. Tea, in fact, has excellent antioxidant properties that are useful for banishing pimples, redness and inflammation and making the skin smoother and more radiant.