The Skin Care Ingredient

One of the most important ingredients in all our skin care products is the secretions produced abundantly by land snails of the species Helix Aspersa Müller whenever they are stressed. Stress makes them secrete a gluey fluid substance to shield, moisturize, repair and renew its skin. The same is also produced by the snail for several other natural functions, albeit with a different molecular composition or a different percentage of its molecular components. The complex molecules the secretion contains have been widely studied and you can learn all about them by following the links above under the title Helix Aspersa Muller Secretion.

How do we collect this precious substance?

We use a procedure that is completely inoffensive for the snails, while it allows us to acquire it PURE as it is abundantly being produced by the snails, and undiluted in water to prevent the degrading of its enzymes and other molecules by hydrolysis.

Hydrolysis: A chemical response in which water reacts with an element to produce other compounds; involves the rupture of a bond and the addition of the hydrogen cation and the hydroxide anion from the water and results in the creation of one or more new compounds that do not have the same properties of the original substance.

The snail secretions in our products are NOT deteriorated, neither by interaction with chemicals nor by immediate hydrolysis.

We also embed the natural ingredient in a liposome, a microscopic, fluid-filled pouch whose walls are made of layers of phospholipids identical to the ones that make up cell membranes. Liposomes are employed to deliver certain vaccines, enzymes, or drugs (e.g., insulin and some cancer drugs) to the body. Liposomes adhere to cellular membranes and seem to combine with them, releasing their load into the cell. Sometimes they are assimilated by the cell, and the phospholipids are incorporated into the cell membrane while the substance (glycoprotein enzyme) trapped inside is discharged.

Human skin produces several lipophilic substances which play a substantial role in the preservation of the skin. Chemically seen, these substances belong to the group of lipids, though they show differing structures: glycerides and free acids, cholesterol and its derivatives, esters with fatty acids and long chained alcohols, polar lipids of differing natural, saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. All in all an elaborated amalgam of complex processes.

Hyaluronic Acid - The Fountain of Youth

Hyaluronic acid as pure and concentrated as we use it, is a glycosaminoglycan existent in the intercellular matrix of skin where it has a conservative, structure balancing and shock-absorbing role.

Hyaluronic Acid is normally found in the joints, the lower layers of skin, the umbilical cord and in foetal skin. Medical graded Hyaluronic Acid is usually helpful to diminish the incidence of post-operative adhesions, as a viscoelastic agent in intra-ocular surgery, also as a synovial replacement fluid; and is used to help with the healing and regeneration of surgical wounds.

The unique properties of Hyaluronic Acid make it the ideal moisturizer. Hyaluronic Acid has a decisive part in cellular hydration, lubrication and cellular behavior, and has the ability to hold more water than any other biological substance. Its unmatched hydrating properties produce augmented smoothness, softening and diminished wrinkles.

Hyaluronic Acid has also shown excellent results in the diminishing of dryness, itching and burning of the skin. It offers a perfect context for the reproduction of new cells and healing after skin peeling.

Hyaluronic Acid is a major constituent of the extra-cellular matrix that surrounds rapidly reproducing cells. It has been demonstrated to be an integral factor in the rapid and scarless wound healing observed in foetal and neonatal organisms. Moreover, the cellular actions stimulated by Hyaluronic Acid are integral to the seemingly magical biochemistry of foetal development.

It is well known that foetal tissues contain large amounts of Hyaluronic Acid and that decreasing Hyaluronic Acid content are associated with aging and wrinkling. Therefore any practical efforts to extend and recover youth by revivifying damaged tissue should include this molecule.

Preservants

The preservant we use to isolate the gel from bacteria, yeasts and moulds, is an auto sterilizing skin-friendly pH-stable system that mixes a widely used, globally-accepted preservative (even in Japan), phenoxyethanol, with a proven preservative-enhancer, ethylhexylglycerin, instead of controversial parabens.

Phenoxyethanol is a natural bactericide element believed one of the least irritating cosmetic preservers with none of the polemical side effects of parabens. It provides a wide spectrum of anti-microbial labor fighting both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, as well as yeasts and moulds. It is soluble and its labor is effective for our protein-based product and it does not interact with the copper in the biological substance.

Ethylhexylglycerin reduces interfacial tension on the cell walls of micro-organisms, promoting their more rapid destruction and a wider spectrum activity.

Phenoxyethanol and Ethylhexylglycerin are synthetic compounds derived from grains and plants, and as many other synthetic sources they start as natural because everything comes from our surroundings; nothing is created via alchemy. We have yet to see any cosmetic that is "all" natural. Some synthetic compounds are wonderful for your skin, and no matter the allegations of cosmetics companies to the contrary, every cosmetics product in the world contains its part of synthetic ingredients.

Final Product

The final result is a product that contains ingredients that shield, moisturize, repair and renew the skin plus ingredients that imitate the intercellular makeup of skin and are essential for helping skin behave normally.

Intercellular substances are those compounds that exist normally in the skin and help to hold the skin cells together. Factors like dry environment, irritation, inflammation, sun damage, and age can all highly reduce the presence of these substances in skin. Mixing those intercellular substances with the natural active ingredient and moisturizers helps maintain the layers of skin integral, resilient, and in good physical shape, for it gives all the materials the skin needs to defend itself from contamination, ambient hazards and events that start an inflammatory reaction from within our body.

The product is manufactured in a state of the art Cosmetic Laboratory in the USA, based on Helix Aspersa Müller GlycoConjugates gathered in Chile and other selected active ingredients.