Biologi are a brand that’s doing something I haven’t seen before in consumer skincare – they sell single ingredient, undiluted, “100% active” whole plant extracts as ready-to-use skincare products, with no extra potential irritants like fragrances, preservatives or emulsifiers. Plant extracts are often the “hero” active ingredients in skincare products, but in general you’ll find them at really low concentrations (2% or below). While this means that you can cram more actives into the one product, it also means that the final product is less potent, and a lot of the time the benefits come from the first few standard ingredients instead of the plant extracts.
Biologi was started by Ross Macdougald, a chemist with 30 year’ experience as a product development chemist working with many multi-national companies developing cosmetic formulations and active ingredients. Annoyed at how the low concentrations meant that the natural ingredients weren’t really getting a chance to shine, Biologi sells certified organic plant actives at 100% concentration, extracted using a special method to keep the extract as unaltered from the natural version in the plant as possible. The entire production process is controlled by the one company, so the products are traceable from plant to bottle.
Some natural ingredients can’t really be used at high concentrations since they can cause reactions, but the ones from Biologi are fine to use even if you have sensitive skin, as long as you introduce them slowly. They currently have three products, which Biologi recommend as all-in-one moisturiser, toner, primer, eye cream and anti-aging product (they recommend that you have an additional cleanser, exfoliator and sunscreen). The three products are:
- Bd Luminosity – 100% Davidson Plum
- Bk Rejuvenation – 100% Kakadu Plum
- Bf Hydration – 100% Finger Lime
Bd Luminosity Face Serum ($97.95 for 30 mL) contains 100% Davidson Plum extract. Some of the key components of the extract are phenolic acid, tartaric acid, anthocyanin and quercetin, which are supposed to help skin strength, hydration, natural skin glow and photosensitivity, and creates a protection barrier against environmental factors. It’s recommended for rejuvenation, anti-aging and acne prone skin.
Bk Rejuvenation Eye Serum ($79.95 for 15 mL) is 100% Kakadu Plum extract, which has gallic acid and ellagic acid along with a whopping 40% vitamin C, in its unaltered plant-sourced form. I didn’t quite trust that the high vitamin C wasn’t a typo, but Biologi kindly provided me with their HPLC analytical data (performed by Southern Cross University) and yeah, 40% is right. As you’d expect from a high vitamin C product, it claims to increase collagen production, elasticity and skin tone, and protect your skin from environmental damage. Since the pure plant extract is used, the vitamin C should be stabilised from oxidation by the components that would normally keep it stable inside the plant.
Bf Hydration Body Serum ($64.95 for 50 mL) has 100% Finger Lime extract, which has tryptophan, ferulic acid and 10% vitamin C (again, verified by Southern Cross University). It’s intended to increase moisture, protect from environmental damage, boost collagen, elasticity and even out skin tone. You can use this on your face as well if you like, but Biologi recommend that you use it in conjunction with another Biologi product.
All three products are very runny serums. Bk Rejuvenation takes the longest to sink in, but once they’ve had time to sink in all three leave a similar weightless but slightly sticky film on the skin. Bf Hydration smells a bit like lemonade, while the other two smell slightly sweet (and all three taste sweet, if you’re tempted to lick them).
The lack of preservatives worried me at first, but Ross reassured me that they’d been stability tested to have a 2 year shelf life, and the airless pump bottles prevent the entrance of any microbes. The pump bottles are really gorgeous as well.
After a week of using Rejuvenation and Luminosity on my face I had noticeable fading of some hyperpigmentation of some chin acne that had been lingering, and my skin felt beautifully hydrated the whole time. Hydration also worked fantastically on my legs, which are usually very difficult to keep smooth and hydrated, but it completely got rid of my scaly winter skin – and they stayed smooth for a week after I stopped using it too.
They are a bit on the pricey side if you’re considering them as a single skincare product, but if you consider the percentages of actives compared to products that contain the same actives they’re really good value – for example, Biologi Bk is $79.95 for 15 mL with pure (100%) active, but if you diluted it to 2% like in a standard product it would translate to $1.60 for 15 mL.
If you intend to use them as all-in-one products they’re pretty good value, and compared to other luxe natural, certified organic products they’re pretty similarly priced (and of course, actually better value if you consider the percentage of actives as I mentioned above).
Biologi can be purchased at the Biologi webstore.
This is a sponsored post; however, the opinions expressed are still my honest opinions of the products. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.
Would it be possible to mix them into other products? If you wanted to combine their benefits with, let’s say, a hydrating serum containing mainly hyaluronic acid?
LindaLibraLoca recently posted…essence The False Lashes mascara extreme – That extra mile
Hi LindaLibraLoca, Lucy here from Biologi. We would never want to mix Biologi in with another serum as the synthetic ingredients that make up other products would negate the 100% activity of the Biologi serums and may cancel out some of the Phytoactives in the serums. If you wanted to continue using your existing serum I would recommending using Biologi in the morning and the other serum at night or vice versa.
I’m interested to use the eye serum as a face serum due to the high % of Vitamin C, so when they say 40% is that actually 40% stablished like Paula’s Choice being a 10%, I’m just making sure when you say 40% it’s the 40% and I’m not confusing myself reading it as 40% of the bottle is Vit C haha because I’ve never seen such a high Vit C percentage in a bottle. Is the plant type as potent as say what’s in Paula’s Choice ? Also I notice ferulic acid isn’t in the eye serum is that correct.
Thanks Michelle, always love your blog.
Hi Tess, Lucy here from Biologi. You could definitely use the eye serum as a full face serum- many of our customers do this.
When we say our Kakadu Plum serum has 40% Vitamin C- we really do mean that there is 40% Natural Vitamin C (not synthetic ascorbic acid). So yes 40% of the bottle is Natural Vitamin C. You won’t find any Ferulic Acid in the eye serum as Kakadu Plum does not naturally produce Ferulic Acid. If however you were looking for a plant extract that did contain Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid then try our Bf body serum. The Bf body serum is 100% Finger Lime extract which has both 10% Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid, alongside other Phytoactives.
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It’s always nice to see strong actives with sophisticated packaging! I really like the airless pumps. I’m so sick of transferring products to airless pumps myself.
I came here looking for your review again because these guys just popped up on my facebook ads saying sensitive skin is caused by synthetics. Big sigh! It’s a shame because I liked this review and thought the stuff sounded good.