La Prairie Review: Ingredients & Best Products
Did you know that some skincare ingredients have such potent, unique effects that they’re actually patented? That’s the case for La Prairie’s Cellular Complex - this carefully created blend of ingredients is something that appears in all La Prairie skincare products. The Skin Caviar, Platinum, White Caviar (and more!) contain the La Prairie Cellular Complex and that’s the only place you’ll find it, too. La Prairie didn’t just patent any old skincare ingredients either!
The researching team at La Prairie knew they struck gold when they developed this unique formula - here’s what makes this patented complex worth its weight in gold.
La Prairie Platinum Rare Cellular Life Lotion | $980
La Prairie’s Platinum Rare Collection combines the rejuvenating properties of Platinum with their Cellular Complex.
What is the La Prairie Cellular Complex?
What is in this blend that could be worth La Prairie filing a patent for? Well, the first thing to remember is that the patent isn’t just for this group of individual ingredients - it’s for their unique way of putting these five ingredients together to create something that takes La Prairie above and beyond the rest.
Finding out what’s actually in La Prairie Cellular Complex is as easy (well, difficult) as finding the actual patent - and here are the five components of this exclusive anti-ageing blend:
- Oligopeptide 21
- Glycoprotein 1
- Glycoprotein 2
- Panax Ginseng Extract
- Horsetail Plant Extract
However, just because we know what's in it doesn't mean we've been able to crack all of La Prairie's secrets. There's a lengthy process to keeping all of the details of this potent complex secret, starting with splitting the creation process between three separate laboratories - one for Glycoprotein 1, one for Glycoprotein 2, and the last is for bringing all of these potent ingredients together.
There's one more step for added security, too; no single formulator knows the entire Cellular Complex Recipe, proportions and all. It's split between several technicians and formulators to ensure it stays La Prairie's skincare secret!
Even though we don't know the concentrations of the ingredients, we can be sure that they're still going to have a significant effect on your skin! Let’s break down these individual components to get a good idea of how this luxurious skincare complex comes together.
La Prairie Pure Gold Cellular Radiance Perfecting Fluide | $845La Prairie Cellular Complex pairs perfectly with gold to create a radiance-boosting, luxurious serum.
Oligopeptide 21
As you can tell from its name, Oligopeptide is just one of the many types of peptides out there. Peptides make fantastic anti-ageing skincare ingredients for their ability to subtly influence skin behaviour, whether that’s increasing collagen synthesis, reducing melanin formation, and firming skin - just to name a few.
Glycoprotein 1 & Glycoprotein 2
These are quite similar so they can be grouped together - the La Prairie patent details them as specific protein extracts from one of our favourite skincare categories: ferments. The benefits of ferments haven’t escaped the La Prairie research team, and they’ve even isolated what they identify as the most effective proteins for skin!
Glycoprotein 1 is sourced from yeast and saccharomyces, while Glycoprotein 2 comes from Lactobacillus - both probiotic skincare ingredients that provide a major boost to skin health.
La Prairie White Caviar Eye Extraordinaire | $805
The White Caviar Eye Extraordinaire Eye Cream brightens and rejuvenates tired under eyes for a youthful glow.
Panax Ginseng Extract
Ginseng is a potent all-rounder skincare extract that does a lot for your skin. Like, a lot. This natural plant extract soothes inflammation - preventing dreaded inflammaging from taking place. It’s also effective at regulating excess melanin synthesis, fading dark spots caused by sun damage and breakouts. Studies have found that Panax Ginseng also works as an antioxidant, protecting skin from wrinkle-forming external stressors for youthful, firm skin.
Horsetail Plant Extract
What sets Horsetail Plant Extract apart from other natural extracts are the high levels of silica and silicic acid (and yes, that’s different from salicylic acid). Silica and silicic acid aren’t often talked about but they have their own proven benefits - a study found that silicic acid applied to skin was able to increase skin firmness and thickness for younger-looking skin.
Studies also suggest that silica plays an essential role in collagen synthesis of the skin, supporting healthy collagen production for skin that looks younger and stays rich in collagen for longer.
La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Cream | $690Seal in the benefits of Caviar Extract and Cellular Complex in this rich, moisturising cream from La Prairie.
The Benefits of La Prairie Cellular Complex
So, now that we know what each of these individual ingredients does on their own, how do they work well together? La Prairie’s patent claims that this unique complex is able to stimulate fibroblasts and keratinocytes - two crucial parts of the skin’s structure. Fibroblasts are the type of cell responsible for creating collagen, the natural support network in our skin that gives it the feeling of fullness and density!
Keratinocytes are the skin cells that make up our outermost layer of skin, aka the epidermis. Stimulating these keratinocytes results in an increase in cellular metabolism - in other words, skin cell production is increased for younger, more radiant skin.
And that’s not all La Prairie Cellular Complex was developed to do - as amazing as it is on its own, it was also developed to work alongside other more common skincare ingredients such as Coenzyme Q10, Retinol, and other skincare actives included in La Prairie Skincare to make them even more effective for skin. It essentially boosts all the benefits of other active ingredients for a skincare line that truly makes the luxury difference for your skin!
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