How INSIDE’s Scientific Processes Enhance the Effectiveness of Plant-Based Skincare
At INSIDE The Skincare Lab, we believe that nature holds the key to healthy, radiant skin, and thoughtful experimentation and science-led formulations are the way to unlock it. The natural, plant-based ingredients in our skincare products are healthier for your skin and the environment. And thanks to our carefully-developed scientific formulations, they have a better, longer-lasting effect than any synthetic counterpart!
Here, we pull back the curtain and invite you INSIDE, to see our cutting-edge scientific processes and technologies, how they extract more potency from every plant, and how our time-tested formulations ensure skincare solutions that feel, smell and perform wonderfully.
The Science of Natural Skincare
The skincare industry has come a long way in terms of scientific processes and technologies. Sadly, most of these are based on synthetic formulations driven by the petro-chemical industry.
From the very beginning, at INSIDE we decided to instead extract potency from plant-based ingredients. Our journey led us to explore and expand on techniques such as cold pressing, steam distillation, and CO2 extraction to obtain our essential oils, plant extracts, and other natural compounds from plants.
But unlike the standardized synthetic ingredients, nature is unpredictable! And due to this infinite array of uncontrollable factors — from plant age to environmental temperatures, soil composition to harvest time, and many more — lots of plant-based skincare brands end up with wildly varying products from year to year, based on the quality of each batch of oils.
So we made it our mission to develop the same effectiveness and consistency that you’ve come to expect of your favorite skincare products. Our work has led us to publish a series of papers on our research, pioneering many new methods of extraction that result in consistently cleaner results and higher potencies. And it’s these new and improved methods that are the basis of all of our unique formulations, ensuring the highest quality natural skincare products.
Our Scientific Extraction Processes
At INSIDE The Skincare Lab, we use a combination of traditional and modern scientific processes to extract the most potency from our plant-based ingredients. Our extraction methods ensure that around 80% of each plant’s active compounds — vitamins, amino acids, flavonoids, and others — are safely extracted.
We use four main extraction methods:
Water-alcohol extraction
In this extraction process, the water and alcohol work together to extract different components from the plant. We start by soaking the plant in a mixture of water and ethanol.
The water helps to dissolve water-soluble components, such as sugars and vitamins, while the alcohol helps to dissolve alcohol-soluble components, such as alkaloids and essential oils.
The mixture is then filtered, and the alcohol is evaporated, leaving behind a concentrated extract.
Vegetable Glycerin extraction
Instead of alcohol, our glycerin extraction process uses vegetable glycerin, a colorless, odorless, and sweet-tasting liquid, as the solvent.
Otherwise, the process of glycerin extraction is similar to water-alcohol extraction. The plant material is soaked in a mixture of vegetable glycerin and water, and the mixture is then filtered and evaporated to concentrate the extract. The resulting extract is typically a thick, syrup-like substance.
Glycerin has a lower evaporation point compared to alcohol, which makes the evaporation step of the extraction process quicker and easier. But it can’t be used for everything, and it can be less effective at extracting certain components, such as alkaloids and essential oils, compared to alcohol.
Oil-alcohol extraction
In this extraction process, instead of using water, we soak the plant material in a mixture of oil and alcohol, usually ethanol, to extract the desired components. The mixture is then filtered, and the alcohol is evaporated, leaving behind a concentrated extract.
The oil and alcohol work together to extract different components from the plant. The oil helps to dissolve oil-soluble components, such as fatty acids and lipids, while the alcohol helps to dissolve alcohol-soluble components, such as alkaloids and essential oils.
As with the above methods, it’s this combination that allows us a more complete extraction of the plant's active components.
CO2 extraction
Our most ‘sci-fi’ extraction process, supercritical CO2 extraction, extracts the active components of a plant or herbal material using carbon dioxide (CO2) as the solvent. CO2 extraction is a highly efficient and versatile method that allows for the selective extraction of specific components from the plant material.
We pressurize and heat CO2 to a supercritical state, in which it acts as both a gas and a liquid. The supercritical CO2 is then passed through the plant material, where it dissolves the desired components and forms a mixture of CO2 and the extracted components.
Finally, we separate the mixture and the CO2 is evaporated, leaving behind a concentrated extract.
CO2 extraction is a complex and technically demanding process that requires specialized equipment and expertise. It’s usually more expensive, but the resulting extract is often of higher quality and purity compared to extracts produced using other methods.
Regardless of the extraction method, we always follow up with lyophilization — essentially freeze-drying — which helps to preserve the integrity of the native molecules of each plant. This increases their ability to penetrate deep into layers of the epidermis, and preserves their original natural goodness.
Our Technology
Unlike other natural skincare products, our highly advanced technical equipment and natural emulsifying agents let us produce skincare products with minimal micelle size of emulsion allowing them to penetrate deeper and act for longer.
The micelle size is also an important indicator for the emulsion stability. A more stable product will maintain its feel and applying it will feel more consistent throughout its lifetime. You may have noticed the opposite with ‘homemade’ natural products, that feel great at first, but end up separating and becoming unusable after a few weeks.
Our Formulations
When developing our unique luxurious formulations, we first study all available research papers regarding each ingredient. This helps us identify effective combinations, and understand the ideal quantities for each active ingredient. We then dive deep into scientific experimentation — or what we like to call ‘cooking’!
Over the course of developing one skincare product, we might create 200+ different formulations. Each may differ by less than a pinch of one ingredient, or spend a few seconds more over heat, or get mixed a little faster. At this stage, we also explore different natural penetration enhancers for each formula to make them more effective.
And last but definitely not least, we always keep in mind scents. Many of these ingredients’ scents evolve during the process, introducing new smells and becoming more or less potent. So when we combine several essential oils, we also make sure the ‘perfumeric combination’ ends up as an unforgettably pleasant scent — without sacrificing any effectiveness.
Paving the Way for Sustainable Skincare
At INSIDE The Skincare Lab, we’re revolutionizing the meaning of green skincare by combining innovative scientific processes and 100% natural ingredients to create effective, eco-friendly skincare solutions. We believe our innovative approach to skincare sets a new standard in the industry, and will pave the way for a more natural, sustainable future in the skincare world.
By choosing INSIDE's natural formulations, you're making a conscious decision to elevate your skincare routine to new heights. You're embracing a sustainable approach to beauty — one that emphasizes not only effectiveness but also the environmental responsibility we owe to ourselves.
As you redefine your skincare practices, know that INSIDE is here to support you every step of the way. With our luxurious, high-performance green skincare products, feel good about the impact you're making on the planet and your own wellbeing.
Interested in Learning More?
You can dive even deeper into the science behind our extraction processes by reading some of our published scientific papers.
Discover how safe your current skincare products are, using the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database.
It rates the safety and effectiveness of skincare products based on their ingredients. EWG is a non-profit organization that aims to help people lead healthier lives by uncovering the truth behind toxins and pollutants in our skincare, foods, and the environments we inhabit.
All of our ingredients are marked as a 1-2 in the EWG index, the safest levels possible!
