Pure Actives, which are awakening increasing curiosity, are pure active ingredients to be used on the face as a serum or as boosters for creams and serums to reinforce your facial beauty routine. Read on for the answers to the 10 most frequently asked questions about these little wonders.

Pure Actives are facial serums of surprising effectiveness, each with a specific, targeted action, allowing you to choose the one best suited to your skin. Beloved and increasingly copied and imitated, but never matched, they spark curiosity and questions. Let’s get to know them better!

1. Are Pure Actives photosensitizing?
2. Can I use them all together? How?
3. Can I use them during pregnancy and breastfeeding?
4. What’s the difference between the No-Age Serum and Pure Actives?
5. Can I mix Vitamin E or Coenzyme Q10 with Pure Actives?
6. What is the percentage of Vitamin C?
7. Which Pure Active is most effective against dark spots?
8. Which Pure Active should I use in my 20s or 30s to prevent wrinkles?
9. Which Pure Active should I use if I have combination skin?
10. Which Pure Active should I use if I have mature skin?

A few words about the packaging and how we can make this world a better place.

Pure Actives: What They Are

The texture of all Pure Actives is light and weightless. This makes them perfectly suited for any skin type and ideal for layering within your skincare routine, enhancing it with the specific action your skin needs most.

Our Pure Actives are:

• Hyaluronic Acid: plumping and hydrating facial serum
• Bakuchiol: regenerating and lifting face serum 
• Coenzyme Q10: hydrating. protective and antioxidant face serum 
• Plant Collagen: lifting and toning face serum
• Ecofermented Activator: lifting and smoothing facial serum 
• Phytoretinol : regenerating and lifting facial serum 
• Peptide Complex: smoothing and firming facial serum
• Stable Vitamin C: Brightening and anti-spot face serum
• Niacinamide + Zinc: seboregulating and anti-blemishes facial serum
• Salicylic Acid: purifying and seboregulating facial serum
• AHA Peel: weekly exfoliating and regenerating treatment

Find out more about the characteristics of each one in the article here!

The 10 most frequently asked questions about Pure Actives

It’s now time to answer the 10 most frequently asked questions we receive about Pure Actives:

1. Are Pure Actives photosensitising?

No, none of our pure actives are photosensitising, so they can also be used during the day or in summer without any problems. Vitamin C is, however, photosensitive, i.e. it tends to oxidise - and thus lose its effectiveness - with exposure to the sun. For this reason, all our re-bottle containers - i.e. those made of post-consumer recycled plastic - are equipped with a protective anti-UV filter. Phytoretinol, like all the other Pure Actives, is not photosensitising.

2. Can I use them all together? How?

All Pure Actives except the AHA Peel can be used morning and evening, mixed together, applied pure on the face, alternated or combined with your favourite face creams or serums!

Exceptions:

•    do not use Niacinamide+Zinc and Vitamin C together. If you want to use both, you can use one in the morning and the other in the evening
•    do not use Niacinamide+Zinc immediately after applying the AHA Peel, because Niacinamide is very concentrated and should not be combined with exfoliating treatments or products. Again, if you want to use both, you can use one in the morning and the other in the evening. All other Pure Actives are fine to use after the AHA Peel!

If you want a routine with an all-round action, you might like to consider the Pure Actives Kit, which contains all the Pure Actives with an effective anti-ageing function, or the Perfecting Pure Actives Kit, ideal for those looking for skin free from imperfections.

3. Can I use them during pregnancy and breastfeeding?

There are no particular contraindications: you can certainly use Pure Actives during pregnancy. Their formulas are very simple, well tolerated and suitable for the most sensitive skin. Pregnancy and breastfeeding are special periods in a woman's life, so it’s legitimate to ask extra questions! You can consult your doctor, who will certainly be able to tell you which ingredients to avoid.

4. What’s the difference between the No-Age Serum and Pure Actives?

The No-age Bioactive Serum has a complete formula, and is also effective when used alone. Pure Actives, on the other hand, are products with more specific actions designed to enhance or customise any beauty routine. That is why we recommend mixing them together or using them as boosters. In short, Pure Actives act specifically according to our needs. If we want to target specific concerns and personalize our skincare routine very precisely, we can use Pure Actives. Another option is to choose the No-Age Bioactive Serum and boost it with one or more Pure Actives.

4a. Why choose Pure Actives instead of using only the no-age serum?

If we want to act specifically and customise our beauty routine very carefully, we can use Pure Actives. Another solution may be to choose the no-age bioactive serum and boost it with an active. 

5. Can I mix Vitamin E or Coenzyme Q10 with Pure Actives?

All Pure Actives are water-based, except for Coenzyme Q10 ,which is oil-based. Oil and water do not mix. That’s why we recommend using it as a booster for face creams. The exact same reasoning applies to Vitamin E . It is also oil-based, so you can add 1 drop of Vitamin E to your face cream to boost its antioxidant, anti-ageing and smoothing action.

6. What is the percentage of Vitamin C?

The formula contains a safe and effective concentration, proven by clinical studies to be sufficient for a lightening and anti-blemish effect. The formulation is extremely simple, and by revealing the exact percentage of Vitamin C present, we would effectively be making our formula public. That is why the percentage is not stated. The percentage of our Vitamin C allows the active to perform effectively, but also to remain stable over time after opening.

7. Which Pure Active is most effective against dark spots?

Vitamin C, Ecofermented Activator, Niacinamide+Zinc, and even Peptide complex all gave anti-spot action. Let's take a look at the differences:

• If your spots are due to redness or post-acne marks: Niacinamide+Zinc will be your go-to Pure Active. Its depigmenting action is perfect for reducing spots and redness from blemishes. You can enhance its effect by adding Peptide Complex to your routine, which works on both redness and brown spots.
• If your spots are brown, caused by sun exposure or photoaging: the antioxidant power of Vitamin C is ideal and can be boosted by the evening action of Ecoferment Complex and Peptide Complex. These are the most difficult spots to treat, but with the support of functional ingredients, we can minimize them and help prevent new ones from appearing.

Here’s how to build a complete routine to fight sun-induced spots:

• Uniforming Serum + 2 drops of Vitamin C, Ecofermented Activator and Peptide Complex to complete the action
• Antipollution firming face cream - High Protection SPF 30  during the day
• Pomegranate No-age Face Cream, anti-aging and antioxidant, in the evening 

Here’s a full skincare routine tailored for your skin type: https://blog.lasaponaria.it/en/insights/anti-ageing-facial-beauty-routine-how-to-use-pure-actives#spot 

8. Which Pure Active should I use in my 20s or 30s to prevent wrinkles? 

You can use Plant Collagen for an immediate lifting effect and Hyaluronic Acid to prevent wrinkles.

Here you can fine a full skincare routine tailored for your skin tipe: https://blog.lasaponaria.it/en/insights/anti-ageing-facial-beauty-routine-how-to-use-pure-actives#wrinkle 

9. Which Pure Active should I use if I have combination skin?

Your go-to Pure Active is undoubtedly Niaciniamide+Zinc, with a strong sebum-regulating function and Salicylic Acid, with a purifying and seboregulating action. You can also add the AHA Peel and complete your routine with Anti-Imperfection Serum if you have skin with blackheads or pimples.

If you have combination skin, you can also consider the Perfecting Pure Actives Kit: all the Pure Actives contained in the kit combat imperfections, and at the same time perform different, targeted actions on the skin, as well as an anti-ageing action.

Other Pure Actives that are great for combination skin are Ecofermented Activator for its skin-tone evening effect and Phytoretinol for its regenerating action.

Here you can fine a full skincare routine tailored for your skin tipe: https://blog.lasaponaria.it/en/insights/anti-ageing-facial-beauty-routine-how-to-use-pure-actives#combination 

10. Which Pure Active should I use if I have mature skin?

For an all-round anti-ageing action, you can use all the Pure Actives.

In general, an indispensable Pure Active in your case will be Hyaluronic Acid, for its plumping action, as well as Vitamin C, for its anti-blemish and brightening action. You can find all the anti-ageing Pure Actives in the Pure Actives Kit.

Here you can fine a full skincare routine tailored for your skin tipe: https://blog.lasaponaria.it/en/insights/anti-ageing-facial-beauty-routine-how-to-use-pure-actives#mature 

And if you’re not sure which Pure Actives to choose, you can always take our test!

It will tell you which ones are best suited for your skin type!

A few words about the packaging and how we can make this world a better place

Our choices define us: that is why here at La Saponaria we are doing enormous work on packaging! We’ve decided to eliminate virgin plastic from all our packaging, which we are progressively doing on all our products. So, we use glass jars, recycled aluminium, recycled, 100% biodegradable cardboard and bioplastic, a plastic derived from sugar cane. Another really interesting material is the wonderful re-bottle plastic, i.e. post-consumer recycled plastic, obtained from used plastic waste.

What not everyone knows is that normal recycled plastic comes from industrial waste, but is effectively new, because it has never been used. This is why post-consumer recycled plastic has an additional value in comparison with normal recycled plastic: not only does it not involve the creation of new material, but it brings new life to materials that have already been used, preventing them from ending up in the sea or in landfills.

All the bottles of all our Pure Actives are equipped with a UV filter, to preserve maximum effectiveness of the product.

Making organic, healthy and environmentally friendly cosmetics is not enough for us! Sustainable packaging has always been a priority for us, now more than ever.