Here's a – shock horror – good piece of news related to boozing. There's a proven health benefit to your weekly glass(es) of house red wine – the fact that grape skin (particularly red grape skin) contains the anti-oxidant reseveratrol.
The health community has been talking about the benefits of resveratrol for a couple of years now – its ability to improve heart health and particularly its use in cancer treatment, where studies have shown it can make tumours more sensitive to chemotherapy. But while it's been long-believed that resveratrol would be just as beneficial for the skin, it’s really only now that we can get our hands on something that really works.
SkinCeutical’s new Resveratrol B E, £120, has just launched. And here's why you need to save up/persuade someone to buy it for you – it contains a high concentration of stable reseveratrol (in fact, it’s the highest concentration on the market to date) and, in this case, the anti-oxidant has been combined with vitamin E and Baicalin (another antioxidant that also reduces inflammation). Together they prevent free-radicals forming in the skin, where they cause damage and premature ageing. But what it also does – and this is rare when it comes to products containing antioxidants – is makes the skin produce more of its own anti-oxidants so it can protect itself better. This basically translates to improved texture, plumper skin and warding off wrinkles for longer. Impressive stuff.
I bang on about SkinCeuticals so frequently you might think I was on some sort of retainer. I’m not. Honestly. It’s just that, having now worked in the beauty business for a few years, it’s hard not to sing the virtues of a brand that, among hundreds, no thousands, of other launches, manages to deliver every single time.
It’s a pricy brand, but that’s not why I think it’s amazing. (In fact, the other brand I’m always raving about is Eucerin and that’s cheap, cheap.) It’s just that SkinCeuticals works. It’s as simple as that, and it’s expensive only because the ingredients are top-quality and the delivery is completely infallible.
I have been using it every night for about two weeks now, and while it’s obviously too soon to see massive change (this is the sort of product that works over the long-term), I have noticed some positive changes to my skin already, noteably it’s a lot softer and less red – both good things in my book.
So yes, it's expensive. But, I believe, this is one of those products that's worth it. And before you say you'll just down a few extra glasses of Sangria this summer to up your red-wine quota, think about this – some experts reckon you would have to drink around 60 litres of the good stuff to see the benefits we’re talking about here. Just think of the hangover.
Follow Suzanne on Twitter @suzanne_m_scott
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.