Then there are natural ingredients that
function better with the help of synthetics.
The best example is vitamin C, “one of the
few ingredients that can build collagen, because
it both promotes it and preserves it,”
Gross says. “It’s natural, but apply a little
science and you can make it even better.”
Synthetic ingredients can not only stabilize
vitamin C; they can make it suitable for
use in higher concentrations, as well as
help it travel to the deepest layers of skin.
“In order for a product to make you look
younger, you need to get ingredients into
both the water-soluble and lipid-soluble
phases of skin,” Gross says. “Vitamin C
alone is water-soluble, but if you piggyback
it onto a lipid molecule it can get to
areas it wouldn’t normally reach, promoting
collagen and protecting skin against
free radicals.”