The Benefits of Multi-Functional Skincare Products with La Fervance
Multi-functional and versatile skincare products are increasingly gaining popularity, and for good reasons.
Naturally supercharge your skincare
Heralded for its transformative properties, marula is trending in the Clean Beauty space. Here at TNC we typically don’t buy into trends, but in the case of marula oil our curiosity got the better of us. In a quest for the purest and most potent form of marula, what we found will not be a passing trend, but rather a staple in our skincare regime for years to come.
LUXE Botanics has embraced the power of transformative natural ingredients such as marula oil, creating products that are a truly beautiful sensory experience backed by real results. This week we spoke with Jene, Founder of award winning brand Luxe Botanics, about marula and WOW is she an expert!
In the spectacular Rift Valley in Kenya, along a stretch of 6,000 kilometres encompassing haunting volcanoes, sun-soaked fertile soils and shimmering sapphire lakes, spellbinding views extend as far as the eye can see, capturing some of Africa’s most dramatic and diverse landscapes. Here, basking in the unyielding sun and heat, marula trees thrive.
With their silver-toned trunks and rich spreading crowns, these trees provide cool, refreshing shade and hard fruits with a mellow green-yellow hue that fall to the ground to ripen. The nut from these fruits is pressed to produce a light champagne-coloured oil that African women have used for centuries to protect and heal their skin. From September to November, male Marula trees bloom exquisite deep red flowers, and from January to March, animals will pick and eat at their fruit.
It is here on an escarpment in the Rift Valley, where a community of Maasai people live, that Luxe Botanics marula oil is hand-harvested to deliver the finest in the world. Ultra-pure and unrivalled.
For over 10,000 years, Scelerocarya birrea- the marula tree, has thrived and nourished populations native to traditionally hot and dry climates, including those in Southern Africa, Madagascar and the awe-inspiring landscapes of Western Africa.
Best suited to dry and harsh environments, untouched by agriculture, pollutants or industrialization, marula flourishes in the wilderness. Its highly nutritious fruit, leaves, husk, and seed are all used by the local Maasai. Its fruit can be made into a jam or juice, its leaves are used medicinally and its bark for building.
The precious oil from the kernel of the marula fruit is well known among Maasai women. A tribe that settled in the Rift Valley in the 17th century, the Maasai discovered that marula oil was a healer for everything from stretch marks and scars to burns. It is a powerful moisturiser that soaks deep into the skin and is considered one of the best oils for ageing skin.
The marula tree is even sacred for some. As each tree is either male or female, some believe that by making tea with the bark of a tree of a specific gender, it can make a child either male or female in the womb. Others call marula the “Tree of Life” and consider it a symbol for fertility and softness, celebrating the tree’s embodiment of the female form.
LUXE Botanics marula oil harvesting begins by hand in the Rift Valley with the local Maasai women, who start their day early. The fruit falls to the ground to ripen, and it is here that each fruit is wild harvested in the wild stands of Kenya, selected by hand to ensure only the best are chosen and that no spoiled fruits are picked.
The fallen fruit is produced from January to March, when temperatures hover around an inviting 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius). January and February experience a dry spell, but March brings cloudy, rainy and humid weather. During times of dry and hot climate, the women sit under marula trees with their friends, harvesting the fruit.
Once the marula fruit is picked and gathered, it is cut open with a panga – a large knife. The pulp is removed, while the nut — which contains the oil — is dried in the sun. Each nut casing is removed by hand, and the husks are saved for fertilizer use. Nuts are hand-selected so that only the best, most succulent ones are chosen and processed into rich, luscious marula oil. Literally nothing is wasted.
Each harvested kernel is cold-pressed in small batches using a custom-made press to ensure marula’s high nutrient content is locked in and that its antioxidant properties, essential vitamins and minerals are carried over from kernel to oil, to your skin. This high-pressure proprietary equipment allows LUXE Botanics to keep the oil in its purest form without stripping it of its nutrients or compromising its quality. Microfiltered without chemicals or heat, LUXE Botanics marula oil retains all its natural goodness during this ultra-pure harvesting process.
The entire process takes two weeks, from the fallen fruit to the cold-pressed, freshly made oil. Because it is labour-intensive, it creates a hive of work for rural communities. Where other companies have mechanized and accelerated the marula oil harvesting process for profit, without picking the fruits by hand, it’s impossible to keep out the spoiled fruits, along with the use of heat and chemical preservatives, all of which can diminish the quality of the oil
LUXE Botanics marula oil is in its purest form with no additives, chemicals or preservatives.
Marula oil is a naturally unique oil. Perfect for a variety of skin types, including combination, dry and mature skin. Particularly healing and nurturing for sensitive or sun-damaged skin, marula rejuvenates skin’s natural moisture content to improve its firmness and suppleness, earning it the name “miracle oil” among the Maasai communities.
Marula offers skin benefits such as:
Uniquely blended for superior performance, LUXE Botanics Marula Hydrating Pre-Cleanser and Marula Hydrating Serum are specially formulated with a combination of intensely nourishing carrier oils, making it the best combination of oils for dry skin and ageing skincare, as well as mature and sun-damaged skin. This custom blend includes rosehip, carrot seed and jojoba oils, which comprise of a molecular composition that not only empowers marula to penetrate even deeper into skin for excellent absorption and nourishment, but each of these oils has their own unique properties.
Carrot seed oil is intensely rejuvenating, while rosehip and jojoba oils are naturally anti-inflammatory with antioxidant properties that help improve the appearance of ageing skin. When paired with marula, these oils make an incredibly light, absorbent, yet super hydrating serum designed specifically to nourish and repair skin.
TNC Tip: You can mix your Luxe Botanics Hydrating Marula Serum with your mineral power makeup to create the ultimate CC Foundation.
Marula Hydrating Pre-Cleanser
Marula Hydrating Serum
Transform dry, depleted skin with this replenishing, restorative, skin fortifying concentrate. Wild harvested and cold pressed Marula oil infuses a burst of essential fatty acids and antioxidants that mimic the lipid barrier and effortlessly absorb into skin, sealing in moisture. A noticeably supple appearance and youthful radiance is restored.
Best for: combination, dry or mature skin.
Volume: 30ml
TNC Tip: The Marula Hydrating Pre-Cleanser is the perfect first step in your double cleansing routine. It effortlessly removes all traces of makeup including waterproof mascara and removes the day’s dirt and excess oil. Follow with the Luxe Botanics Camu Cleanser for super clean, perfectly balanced skin.
Follow your cleanse with the Luxe Botanincs Camu Mist to moisten the skin. This prepares the skin to optimise the benefits of the Marula Hydrating Serum, carrying the lipophilic goodness through the skin. I like to mist a little over my serum and give myself a little three-minute facial massage each night.
Camu Brightening Cleanser
Camu Brightening Mist
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