ANDREA MITAROTONDA
Consultant in Cosmetic Formulation Chemistry, United Kingdom

Facial oils have been on the rise for the last few years: they meet such trends as natural, water-free and less-is-more, all very current in the industry at the moment.

This one is formulated with interesting vegetable oils and actives each delivering skin benefits.

Prickly pear seed oil (INCI: Opuntia Ficus-Indica Seed Oil) is obtained by cold pressing the seeds of the prickly pear cactus.

Prickly pears are harvested and peeled; the flesh is then separated from the seeds with a sieve.

Seeds are then washed with pure water and dried in the sun before being pressed.

It is a very rare and precious oil: seeds represent about 18–20% of peeled fruits, and they contain only 3 to 5% of oil.

That means that 1 ton of fruit is needed to obtain 80 kg of seeds with which only 1litre of oil is finally extracted: definitely a natural oil, but its sustainability profile could actually be questioned.

The fatty acid profile may vary from one oil to another: this is possibly due to the degree of maturity of the fruits used; indeed, it is suggested that there is an increase in saturated fatty acid content towards the end of fruit maturation ...