I swear by a vitamin-packed face serum for giving skin a healthy, next-level glow but I'd never really considered drinking it. Until recently, anyway.
To back up a little, not all face serums are made for sipping. Nor is this new daily habit some sort of viral alternative therapy trend – I'm sure if Gwyneth Paltrow was guzzling her skincare, we'd know about it.
I've been using Ule's Avoir It All In & Out Nuturing Phyto Oil for a month, which is so pure you can consume it via your favourite drink or food, as well as slather it over your face. Made from only six ingredients – refined vegetable oils (grape seed, sunflower, borage), vitamin E (tocopherols), Centella Asiatica and Tulsi powders – it claims to nourish skin from the inside out, which was good news for my post-holiday, weather-beaten complexion.
Ule Avoir It All In & Out Nuturing Phyto OilAfter procrastinating a lot about exactly how to drink my serum, I initially opted for knocking it back like a tequila shot. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste horrific. It was neither sweet nor sour but there was definitely a vegetable tang. It was the texture that was most problematic for me – imagine supping on neat olive oil and you get the idea.
Going forward I opted for a less gung-ho approach and I now add 10 drops to either my morning granola or to a fruit juice. The serum still sits on the surface like an oil slick but it's virtually undetectable taste-wise.
When it comes to ingesting vegetable oils, there are numerous studies proving their efficacy. People who consume more vegetable oils have been shown to have lower cholesterol than people who eat a lot of saturated fats – something that's also been shown to lower the risk of heart issues. Celebrity hairstylist Cim Mahony also told me that he swears by adding avocado oil to a juice every morning in the winter months to keep strands soft and hydrated.
But it’s the benefits of grapeseed oil, in particular, that elevate it to near super oil status. Polyphenol compounds in grapeseed oil are especially powerful antioxidants. In fact, one study found they are 20 times more powerful than vitamin E and 50 times more potent than vitamin C.
Grapeseed oil also contains linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid that helps your body make ceramides to strengthen the skin's outermost layer, preventing water loss; plus it can speed up cell turnover. Applied directly to the skin, grapeseed oil can improve the look of sunspots and fine lines and, unlike other oils such as coconut, it is non-comedogenic so it won’t clog pores.
So did I notice a difference drinking my serum? I'm really intrigued by the idea of snackable beauty – it makes complete sense to me that what you ingest has a big impact on the visible health of your skin. And I have to admit that I enjoyed drinking Ule's Avoir It All In & Out Nuturing Phyto Oil more than I did applying it to my face as I found the consistency a little too rich for my particular skin type. But that's just a personal preference.
Since I started adding a few drops to my breakfast, I haven't needed to apply as much serum and moisturiser as usual – something that I’m hoping will serve me well in the winter months when skin is sapped of moisture by chilly temperatures outside and central heating indoors. It’s also proved to be a very easy addition to my daily routine – so much so, it's now second nature for me to add a few drops of oil via the pipette to my breakfast.
Of course, you don’t need to spend £64 to reap the benefits of grapeseed oil or vitamin E - you could just as easily sprinkle a few drops of grapeseed oil from the supermarket or crack open a vitamin E capsule. But the benefit of Ule's Avoir It All In & Out Nuturing Phyto Oil is that it's a convenient ready-blended option, made up of several potent antioxidants, not just the one, at carefully measured doses.
It's also not just a kitchen cupboard hero. If you suffer from dry or dehydrated skin, it would be a great multitasker to lean on as it locks in the goodness from your skincare when used as the final step in your routine.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Acting Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
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