So tell me, what exactly is this?
[Lucy] Biologi is the world’s first 100% active serum. That can be a little bit confusing because of course there are straight oil products out there but oils are oil-soluble, so Biologi is the world’s first 100% active water-soluble serum with a single ingredient, and we’re also organic, vegan, cruelty free and natural.
So it’s not an oil?
No, Biologi contains all of the water-soluble vitamins that are in plants, so things like vitamin C and phenolic acids which are really anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing. They actually work incredibly well because they are water-soluble so they can actually absorb into the skin a lot faster than an oil can.
What do each of the serums do exactly?
All of the Biologi serums are actually multi-use - they do have a specific use but they can be used anywhere. Each serum only has a single ingredient - it can be confusing, people think it’s like the juice of the plant but that’s not the case. What is inside the bottle is the liquid matrix that flows inside the plant. Basically it’s like the life force inside that plant which carries all of its nutrients and we’re able to deliver that in its pure state.
How on earth do you get that into that bottle?
We have a world-first, very unique extraction process which Ross Macdougald, Biologi’s founder, created over many years. It actually means that we can pull the nutrients out of a plant and keep it stable which has never been done before.
Most vitamin C is ascorbic acid right?
Ascorbic acid can be super unstable, so what we have to do is produce it in its stable form. Vitamin C in its purest form is a carbohydrate so what’s really cool about that is that sometimes someone with sensitive skin may not be able to put products with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) on their skin, but vitamin C in its purest form is a carbohydrate which means you can put this on to your skin and not only will it repair the skin but it will also look really good.
Can you take us through each of the different serums?
Body Serum
The Biologi Body Serum - called the Bf body serum - actually has 100% finger lime extract in it. Finger lime naturally contains vitamin C, ferulic acid and an amino acid called tryptophan which is really healing. That’s basically because it is 100% active and you’re delivering pure plant nutrients into the skin so it works really, really quickly at repairing the skin.
Face Serum
Probably our most popular serum is the Bd face serum. It contains 100% davidson plum and we’ve also called it the Luminosity serum because that’s what it does to the skin. Davidson plum naturally contains a lot of things that are antioxidant rich or anti-inflammatory - things like gallic and ellagic acid, something called anthocyanin which is the antioxidant in red wine (which is why they say you can drink red wine). It’s what creates that red colour. Davidson plum also naturally contains tartaric acid so if you are a problematic or oily skin type then the Bd face serum is really good because the pH of it is slightly lower so it makes it a little bit more acidic, so it works really well on skin that is prone to breakouts.
So if you’ve got acne prone skin would you use that one?
Yes, it is suitable for everybody, it’s the go-to product for everyone but if you are more on the problematic side then you’ll definitely lean towards the Bd face serum.
Eye Serum
The Bk eye serum is actually made of 100% kakadu plum, and I think most Australians know what kakadu plum is and that we’re using them a lot in skin care now. Kakadu plum has the highest concentration of vitamin C in a plant in the world. So that is pure, natural vitamin C straight out of the kakadu plum, and it’s not ascorbic acid and it hasn’t come from a powder or anything. The Bk serum is the eye serum but as I mentioned earlier all of our serums are multi-use, so if you wanted to use it on your full face you’re more than welcome. It’s an incredible eye serum but it also can be used as a full face serum maybe a few nights a week, say if you were to get the Bd face serum you would use that morning and night but a few nights a week you’d use the Bk eye serum on your full face instead, like a booster serum.
Can you transition between them?
Most people either start on the Bf body serum or the Bd face serum. The reason that you may start on the body serum first is if you already have skin that is slightly sensitised, so if you feel you’re really sensitive always start with the Bf body serum. It sounds really weird putting a body serum on your face but like I said they aren’t specifically for that one area and it works incredibly well. So if that sounds like you, start with the body serum on your face, and then if you feel like you’re more of a normal skin type or you are more on the problematic side, definitely jump straight into the Bd face serum. If you had a concern like pigmentation though you would start with the face and eye serums, using the Bk eye serum on your whole face every second night instead of the Bd face serum to treat pigment.
I personally haven’t noticed any residue on my skin in the morning like I normally do with some other serums, why is that?
It’s to do with product formulation. We’re so used to using skin products that do have to have some synthetics in them to help hydrate the skin. Because we use a pure plant serum to hydrate the skin it’s literally soaked up and goes straight into the cells rather than sitting on the surface, so like you said when you wake up the next morning there’s no product that’s been wasted and is just sitting there. Even if it’s natural, they often will have an emulsifier to bind water soluble and oil soluble ingredients together and most products have both of these. That can affect them actually absorbing into the skin which is why you can still feel a little bit of residue on your skin in the morning.
So basically you still need to use a cleanser and a scrub but this replaces a toner, serum and moisturiser! Can you still use a moisturiser?
You don’t need to use a moisturiser after Biologi and we highly recommend that you don’t.
When I first used this I put a lot on my face twice a day and I had a few breakouts afterwards. I went too hard didn’t I?
There is an adjustment stage when you first start using Biologi. We recommend probably only using it once a day, say in the morning. At night time just do your old skin care routine and once you get to the second week you can probably be up to using it twice.
I also noticed that for the first couple of days my skin was kind of sticky?
That’s really normal. It’s actually a really cool thing, so when you look at skin cells, the outer wall of that little skin cell is actually made up of sugars. When it’s damaged the outer walls of the cells are actually broken, they’re not functioning, which is why we will have skin damage basically. When you apply Biologi it races to the middle of that skin cell and replenishes it and it will actually fix the outer wall of its cell. Then it will shed the old damaged ones which are made of sugars, which is why you get sticky. It means your skin is actually repairing itself which is so cool to actually physically feel. After a week or two of use you’ll notice it’s not sticky anymore, so it has repaired those top layers of the epidermis and it can actually penetrate deeper and then work on those ones, so you don’t notice the stickiness anymore.
I’m still a bit unsure of the order you use them in, you don’t layer them do you?
The thing with Biologi is that you have to almost forget everything that you knew about skin care. You cleanse first, and then you just use your Biologi serum and follow with your makeup routine. Then at night time, cleanse, exfoliate, then Biologi serum, and that’s it. We don’t recommend that you put any other products on top of Biologi, and we also don’t recommend that you layer them. We’re very used to layering our normal skin care but Biologi does not like to be layered on top of each other. Remember that we’re dealing with 100% pure plant nutrients, so they actually don’t like each other. If we were to layer the face and eye serum you would find that the amount of vitamin C going into the skin would be decreased or cancelled out. Just put the face serum all over your face but avoid the eye area so when you use your eye serum there’s nothing else there. Just try to keep them separate.
But if you live in an area with low humidity or you’ve been on a plane, you can use an oil. If you had an oil that was like 100% rosehip or cacay - anything pure - at night time you could cleanse, pop your Biologi serum on, wait a few minutes and then put a little bit of oil over the top. A blend of pure 100% oils is alright too. That works quite well if you have been really dehydrated.
How about sunscreen?
Yes, please use a sunscreen. We highly recommend a sunscreen - just wait a minute after applying Biologi then pop your sunscreen on over the top, then makeup.
