Oftentimes, more doesn’t necessarily mean better. In fact, our formula philosophy is that less is more — of the right ingredients, in the right amounts, at the right concentrations, that is. We also appreciate the Skinimalism approach to skincare — the practice of cutting out the excess and using just a few, meticulously formulated skincare products in your daily routine.
Taking a look at our line for example — a complete day to night face & bodycare routine, bar a cleanser — in just 8 staple products that can be used year round. We’re able to achieve this with the help of our versatile, botanically-infused formulas. For each product in our skincare line, you’ll find 20 ingredients or less, 100% of which are plant-based.
The BellaVita Body Polish
To elaborate on our formula philosophy, let’s do a little breakdown – using our Body Polish as an example.
Our Body Polish is made up of 10 premium, organic ingredients — and that’s all it needs in order to be highly effective and incredibly nourishing.
All of the ingredients that make up this product are:
- Pink Himalayan Salt
- Dead Sea Salt
- Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil
- Rosa Canina Fruit (Rosehip Seed) Oil
- Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil
- Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)
- Vanilla Planifolia (Vanilla) Fruit Extract
- Tocopherol (Vitamin E) Extract
- Frankincense Frereana (Frankincense) Essential Oil
- Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel (Wild Orange) Oil
In this formula, we use equal amounts of pink Himalayan and dead sea salt followed by coconut oil, rosehip seed oil, and sweet almond oil. To top it off, we use equal amounts of frankincense and wild orange oil essential oil – both for their unique skin benefits and lovely aroma.
The “First Five” Rule
When reading ingredient lists of all kinds – especially for skincare products – a rule of thumb that some follow to determine the bulk of the formula is the “first five rule”. This refers to how the first five ingredients make up the bulk of the product formula. However, some will also argue that the first five ingredients are where all benefits will lie, and this simply isn’t the case – when it comes to skincare at least. This is because ingredients in skincare products are so incredibly nuanced.
Using our Body Polish as an example, while the salts (dead sea and pink Himalayan salt) and carrier oils (coconut, rosehip seed, and sweet almond oil) make up the bulk of the formula, they’re certainly not where all of the skincare benefits lie.
That said, just because an ingredient isn’t listed within the top five of the ingredient list, doesn’t mean it won’t have a beneficial effect
In fact, the first five ingredients typically just make up the format of a product—for example, the first five ingredients in our Body Polish are simply the ingredients that make it a polish.
However, while the Vitamin E in our Body Polish is listed as the third to last ingredient, it still adds so much benefit to the product and your skin.
How is this possible?
Because Vitamin E is available in many different concentrations. In our Body Polish, we use pure, plant-based Vitamin E in very high concentrations. That’s why we don’t have to use a lot of it in order for it to provide skin with the benefits it’s known for, like softening the skin, helping protect your skin's moisture barrier, and its antioxidant properties.
This speaks true to many of the ingredients we incorporate in our products, each of which have a specific purpose in all of our formulations.
Conscientious Formulation
The bottom line is that the percentage at which an ingredient is used in a formula depends on so many factors. When buying skincare products, it’s important to not believe the instinct that more is always better — and not to rule out a wonderful product just because it appears to have a low percentage of active ingredients.
A conscientious formulator who knows the benefits and differences of the right concentration and will formulate for optimum performance.
That's what we do at BellaVita.
Do you have any questions about our formulas? Do you want to know more about a specific ingredient we use? Or is there an ingredient you want to see added to our formulas? Let us know in the comments.