Upon accepting the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983, scientist and cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock mentioned that plant cells were “thoughtful” in how they grew and responded to their environments.

In the interest of simplicity and adherence to a word count, it meant she deduced plants had a level of intelligence that allowed them to make their own choices based on learning and memory. It is a feat that made them prime ingredients for homemade skincare before cosmetic giants took over with advances in chemistry (fun fact: a military camouflage paint inspired the invention of sunscreen).

With botanical intelligence, however, comes complexities. Plant-derived ingredients often yield a composition that is hard to “cosmetically control” in terms of colour and activity. They also often contain undesired contaminants such as heavy metals: just two reasons why while when usually promoted as an active, they come in a small serving at the bottom of a product’s ingredient list.

What makes these plant- derived products different from others in the past is that the botanical components are now the main ingredient, thanks to cosmetic engineering. Case in point: the Dr Dennis Gross 15% Vitamin C Firm & Bright Serum.

Plant-derived ingredients can be wholly extracted from their source and blended with other ingredients in a skincare product that work in co-efficiency with them. An example is the apple-derived malic acid in the Juice Beauty Green Apple Age Defy Serum, which exfoliates while aloe leaf juice soothes.

Alternatively, plant-derived ingredients such as guava seed oil, niacinamide and green caffeine in the Glow Recipe Guava Vitamin C Bright-Eye Gel Cream are enveloped in capsules to retain freshness even after prolonged use.

Plant-derived ingredients can even reach their full potential thanks to the chemical stability of what it is added to — the nutritional properties of spirulina do their job with the stability of the Christophe Robin Purifying Shampoo.

However, the only downside of having one’s greens would be that their efficacy often ranks slightly lower than their chemical counterparts. This is something that the good people at Herbivore do not see red about as bakuchiol is proven to be as efficacious as retinol itself.

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