Manioc, potato, corn, wheat… we had got familiar with them in ‘green nail varnish’ (which do contain some chemicals – still not possible to ‘live’ without them for now!) by Manucurist, Aroma-Zone, and Kure Bazaar.
But today, vegetable gardens invite themselves in our cleansers, moisturizers, and even anti-aging products, as can be seen with the latest Clarins Extra-Firming range, which features a beetroot extract. This new franchise of five products intended for 40-year-olds will replace the Multi-Regenerating range (Extra-Firming Day Fermeté Anti-rides for all skin types, dry skins, or with an SPF15, 50 ml, €80 each; Extra-Firming Night Cream for all skin types or dry skins, 50 ml, €85, as from March).

Superfoods in cosmetics

Youth to the People is an American brand distributed in Sephora stores which resolutely banks on superfoods. Other than green tea and hyaluronic acid, kale (a type of cabbage much popular among healthy foodistas ) and spinach can be found in most of their skincare products: cleansing gel, anti-aging mask, moisturizing creams, or eye contours (Age Prevention Superfood Cleanser, 237 ml, €29.90; Age Prevention Superfood Cream, 60 ml, €39.90; Age Prevention Superfood Mask, 60 ml, €39.90; Age Prevention Superfood Eyecream, 15 ml, €32).

New Korean brand Mutus (whose subtitle is ‘Be a Skin Vegetarian’) also highlights vegetables in individual masks featured in Kraft sachets, like tomato (Daily Harvest Squeeze Power Up Mask Elastic Conditioning), carrot, sweet potato, and pumpkin (Daily Harvest Squeeze Energy Up Mask Vitality/Healthy), celery, broccoli, and avocado (Daily Harvest Squeeze Fresh Up Mask Relaxing Moisturizing), eggplant and beetroot (Daily Harvest Squeeze Lift Up Mask), or even onion, cauliflower, radish, and potato (Daily Harvest Squeeze Clean Up Mask Soft Balancing, 20 g, €4.95 each, as from March in Sephora stores)!

Superfood is also a magic word for aptly-named brand Skinfood (Tomato Soup Beauty Recipe Night Mask, 90 ml, €12.50; Avocado Soup Beauty Recipe Night Mask, 90 ml, €12.50 each; Bitter Green Soothing Clay Mask with 5 detoxifying green veggies, 145 g, €24.90, as from March in Sephora stores).

Superstar cucumber

Refreshing and thirst-quenching, it is used in the Nivea Cucumber and Matcha 48H Moisturizing Body Foam (200 ml, €5.20), the NPW reusable eye patches (Eye Pads Cucumber, two patches, €5.90), the oh-so cult Kiehl Cucumber Herbal Alcohol-Free Toner (250 ml, €22), and the latest SkinCeuticals soothing skincare products (Phyto Corrective Mask, 60 ml, €84; Soothing Cleanser Foam, 150 ml, €37).

But this ingredient with a delicious aquatic perfume is also contained in hair care, like in DOP’s Très Doux Shampoo with cucumber for normal hair (400 ml, €2.49) or in their Cucumber Cream Conditioner (400 ml, €2.49) – both are silicone-free.

Hair care with vegetables

DOP persists this spring. For the L’Oréal brand, good (French) vegetables make beautiful hair! After cucumber, beetroot, and avocado, the brand will launch a Melon Shampoo in May for combination hair whose roots are oily and ends dry (400 ml, €2.49; 200 ml, €3.40).
This vegetable (it belongs to the same family as zucchini and pumpkin) was elected by web users. Naturally rich in water and potassium, soaked with vitamins A, C, and B9, it is ‘both hydrating and detoxifying’. Just a few other details: the formula is more than 90% biodegradable and the packaging is 100% recyclable.

Ariane Le Febvre