Five Best With Amino Acids

75% of my body (and yours) is made up of amino acids. They are the building blocks of proteins and they get together and form chains to create our anti-aging friends, peptides. Amino acids are an essential part of the synthesis of collagen and elastin. I have noticed that I do exceptionally well with serums that take their amino acids seriously, so I am always scouting for new ones. Some recent finds are superlative and they have inspired the first ever Five Best with amino acids.

  • Kat Burki Form Control Collagen Gel

    Kat Burki Form Control Marine Collagen Gel ($150 in the shop). My skin just drinks in Kat Burki’s new heavy hitting serum. Sodium hyaluronate is infused with a silk protein complex of 13 amino acids. Each amino acid has a different role and some are necessary for the function of others—for example, threonine is necessary for glycine and serine, which in turn are vital for the production of collagen and elastin. The other ingredients are well-selected. The marine collagen is keratin from algae and there’s Kat Burki’s signature botanical brew and plant stem cells. What’s more, the formula works on wrinkles.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • BRAD Biophotonic Essential Elixir Multi-Peptide Youth Regenerating Serum

    BRAD Biophotonic Essential Elixir Multi-Peptide Youth Regenerating Serum ($95 in the shop). This is all about the amino acids. The complex is similar to Kat Burki’s, although BRAD’s silk proteins have been biofermented. In a base of herbal extractions, there’s not much more than witch hazel and hyaluronic acid to distract us from the amino acids. Regenerating is a great way to describe this serum. Re-energized would be a great way to describe my skin as a result.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Sciote Omni Phyto-Cell Serum

    Sciote Omni Phyto-Cell Serum ($130 in the shop). Although the amino acids (peptide complex, as Sciote calls them) have center stage in Sciote’s serum, the other actives could hardly be said to have a mere supporting role. Right out the gate there’s collagen-boosting Matrixyl 3000. Resistem is a stem cell from a member of the daisy family. Useful botanicals include gotu kola, periwinkle and cucumber. All this comes together for an all-around, multitasking anti-aging serum.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Sweetsation Q*Lumiere Organic Day Crème

    Sweetsation Q*Lumiere Organic Day Crème ($29). Silk protein amino acids deliver silky skin, says Sweetsation. And I would agree. Sweetsation has combined them with a trip to the farmer’s market and there’s a veritable orchard-full of fruit extracts including watermelon, raspberry, guava and papaya. Marine extracts also play their part. Borage and flax take down skin redness, kojic acid lightens the skin and roll calls just go on and on.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Skinfinite Peptide Repair Serum

    Skinfinite Peptide Repair Serum ($69 in the shop). Unlike the other’s in this Five Best selection, Skinfinite has isolated just one amino acid instead of taking the complex route. Carnitine is one of the most important when it comes to aging as it interacts with mitochondria and it is now believed by scientists that mitochondrial decline is a key factor in getting old. Skinfinite’s formula also contains an epidermal growth factor, apple stem cells, spin trap (a radical scavenger) and antioxidant ubiquinone.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients