Liquid oxygen, the new super ingredient of beauty

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Sometimes the best ideas are right in front of you. For the skin care industry, that’s oxygen. In addition to supplying our bodies with energy, oxygen supports skin health by supporting cell renewal. As our oxygen levels deplete with age (about 60 percent of skin’s oxygen capacity is lost by age 40), this renewal process begins to slow. The result is an increased risk of fine lines and wrinkles.

Lyma Oxygen Mist and Glide, £99 per month with laser starter kit, £1,999

Nature Bissé Oxygen Complex, £145 for 30ml

“Your skin needs oxygen to function optimally,” says Lucy Goff, founder of LYMA, who recently updated the brand’s Oxygen Mist to include 100% active stabilized oxygen, a non-toxic liquid concentrate. While stabilized oxygen has been used in medicine since the 1920s, the beauty industry has historically favored the gas form for use in oxygen facials. But experts disagree on whether oxygen gas can penetrate the skin. LYMA uses oxygen in liquid form, which the brand promises can help boost moisture, repair skin’s barrier function, and boost collagen.

Other brands that now use oxygen in liquid form include beauty cake and element eight. Barcelona-based Natura Bissé, meanwhile, uses a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in its Oxygen Complex serum.

biological research VIP Mask 02, £130

111SKkin Oxygen Express Mask, £115 for 75ml

Skin expert Melanie Grant is an advocate of oxygenated skin care, but says that not all formulations are equally effective. “I recommend formulas that work with medical grade perfluorocarbons [oxygen carriers] that can transport oxygen molecules transdermally [through the skin into the bloodstream]he says, pointing to the Biologique Recherche’s VIP O2 Mask and author Definitive Density Cream. Look for brands that have “clinical data to back up their claims” and apply it along with a “firm, purposeful facial massage.”

Customers look for products that are “rooted in scientific [an expert] he has studied all his life,” says Farfetch’s Sophia Panych. Chief among these experts is 111Skin co-founder Yannis Alexandrides, whose work as a plastic surgeon has inspired a variety of non-invasive skincare products. The brand’s Oxygen Express Mascara is a case in point: A five-minute dose promises to brighten, tighten, and refresh.