The Beauty In Supporting Local

Cleaner hands and bluer skies aside, a silver lining amidst these unprecedented times can be found in the way it is catalysing a renewed focus on supporting and celebrating Kiwi-grown businesses – many of whom are sustainably harnessing the unique biodiversity this country has to offer and who in turn will be the drivers for bolstering renewed vibrancy and direction in our communities. Snowberry – whose meticulously formulated “nature and science”-blended skincare products hail from a specialist plantation in excess of 9,000 native rainforest flora, possessing resins, seeds and leaves that hold the promise of special anti-aging skin care properties – is a fine case in point.

Snowberry is the brainchild of Soraya Hendesi, whose story began with concocting potions and adornments for her Mother and Grandmother. Fast-forward to the plantation that has become known as The Snowberry Gardens, and Hendesi is now in the unique position of wielding a powerful platform for a biodiscovery programme focussed on drawing out new-to-the-world bio-actives whose potency and effectiveness – married with state-of-the-art delivery systems – have gone on to be proven by independent gold standard clinical trial. 

Snowberry’s ongoing research into native plant properties for their potential as premium skincare components has yielded a particularly potent trio of hero ingredients, which crown the Snowberry skincare range: “Liquid gold” Harakeke Seed Oil that is rich in skin barrier-boosting Omega fatty acids and antioxidants, as well as phytosterols to help ease redness and irritation; Totarol, a free radical-fighting antimicrobial compound extracted from the heartwood of only naturally dead standing or fallen Totara Trees; and Kanuka Honey from the flowers of the Kunzea ericoides tree, the rarer cousin to Manuka honey, which has been found to possess double the levels of the main Manuka factor component. An example of the sophistication of Snowberry’s unique artisanal methods for extraction and formulation is in their ability to remove the sticky saccharides from the key components of the Kanuka honey without denaturing the beneficial proteins.

It is one thing to zero-in on the unique bioactive properties of native New Zealand flora but without an effective delivery system, the precious copper peptides, which coax old cells to behave like young ones, remain merely on the surface of the skin, failing to reach the part of the dermis where they can begin to boost collagen production, and plump and smooth the skin. Not one to do things by halves or any divisible part for that matter, enter not one but two world-first peptide delivery systems developed by Snowberry’s Chief Scientist, Dr Travis Badenhorst with the University of Auckland and Callaghan Innovation. Named CuPEP and eProlex, these state-of-the-art delivery systems ferry the “skin-remodelling” peptides into the dermis so effectively in Snowberry’s serums, independent gold-standard clinical trials have found their top-of-the-line Youth Renewing Serum to reduce wrinkles by 4.5 times and the New Radiance Serum to reduce wrinkles by 25.6 percent – the latter earning them publication in the Journal of Aging Science and the accolade of being the only brand to be invited to present at the 23rd World Congress of Dermatology. 

While these unprecedented times have for the moment seen environmental considerations swept to the sidelines in terms of public consciousness, Snowberry have remained unwavering in their commitment to environmental sustainability and helping to combat climate change through their rigorous carbon neutral ethos, believing that every single mitigation action is meaningful, even if it is not counted in their carbon offset calculations. Snowberry is now in fact carbonNZero certified for every single one of their products, which is no small feat. “Other brands may be carbon-zero for the whole organisation but being carbon-zero for every single product sitting on any shelf in the world is a huge undertaking,” says Hendesi. It is ultimately in such perception-shaping times as these that brands have more and more need for substance and transparency in the way that they operate, and Snowberry is an uncompromising and outstanding example of this in championing anti-ageing science and biodiscovery alongside sustainability in equal measure. Here, beauty really is more than a skin deep affair.

To harness the benefits of New Zealand native plants in your own skin, visit Snowberry.co.nz