Alpyn PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer Proves Skincare Can Be Sustainable & Effective

A Review of the Sustainability, Science, and Effectiveness of Alpyn Beauty PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer

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I am obsessed with skincare. I research every ingredient before a purchase. Now that I am learning about sustainable beauty, I also consider how skincare is produced and packaged. If you are reading this, you already know it is hard to find earth-friendly skincare that works. Alpyn Beauty PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer is one of the few sustainable and effective products.

Alpyn Beauty bills itself as “Wildcrafted Actives.” Wildcrafted is a fancy word for foraging. Plants aren’t grown on a farm but collected from their natural environments. Wildcrafting claims not to harm the plants or their surroundings. Sounds great, right? From what I can tell, only 2 PlantGenius complex ingredients, arnica and chamomile, are wildcrafted. According to a Vogue article, the other 3 PlantGenius ingredients (borage, sage, and calendula) are hand-cultivated by a local farmer. Nevertheless, the PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer is sustainable and packed with good ingredients.

Purchase the Melt Moisturizer at Anthropologie, Credo, Sephora, or Alpyn Beauty’s website.

Sustainability

Good: Better than most, but more information is needed about ethics and carbon footprint

Packaging: Alpyn Beauty makes its jars with 100% recycled glass and are recyclable. They also use Forest Stewardship Council certified paper for boxes.

Ingredients: Alpyn Beauty utilizes sustainable practices when harvesting ingredients in Wyoming. The pink quartz mica that gives this moisturizer its pink sunrise-on-the-mountains color is responsibly sourced in the United States. They don’t say where other ingredients come from. A few (a very few) ingredients are certified organic.

Carbon Footprint: They claim sustainable manufacturing practices but don’t provide details. I contacted them for more information but haven’t heard back.

Ethics: Alpyn Beauty is Leaping Bunny and vegan certified. They provide little information about their supply chain. Again, I contacted them for more details but haven’t heard back.

Claims

Alpyn Beauty makes several claims for the PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer. I investigate 3 of these claims below.

Bakuchiol

“Bakuchiol (a plant-based ingredient shown to have similar benefits to retinol) and Tripeptide-29 encourage collagen production and diminish the appearance of fine lines.”

I had doubts when I saw this claim about bakuchiol. Retinoids (vitamin A) are possibly the most studied skincare ingredients. Dermatologists consider them the gold standard for aging gracefully. However, in a clinical trial, reported in The British Journal of Dermatology, a twice-daily 0.5% bakuchiol cream worked as well, and without the irritation, as a once-daily 0.5% retinol cream. Unfortunately, Alpyn Beauty does not say how much bakuchiol is in the PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer.

I didn’t find much about Tripeptide-29. INCIDecoder points us to results from the manufacturer but notes that the studies were performed in test tubes, not on people.

Hydrators

“A sophisticated cocktail of natural hydrators— hyaluronic acid, ceramides, olive fruit oil, linoleic acid, coconut, apricot kernel oil, squalane—fortify, maintain, and repair skin’s all-important moisture barrier.”

I won’t bore you with the evidence backing these claims. The benefits of these ingredients, especially hyaluronic acid and ceramides, are well documented. The PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer includes 2 forms of hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate (second-listed ingredient) and hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate. This is great because sodium hyaluronate attracts moisture to the skin’s surface. Hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate benefits deeper into the skin’s surface and works with sodium hyaluronate to provide skin with more hydration. Good stuff!

Antioxidants

“Antioxidants— vitamin C, Centella asiatica—brighten and provide protection from free radical damage.”

Vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid is one of the most studied skincare ingredients. As summarized in this 2017 literature review, many studies show that vitamin C helps the skin repair itself and protects against free radical damage. Centella asiatica (also known as gotu kola, tiger grass, cica, and other names) has been extensively studied for minor wound healing. A much-cited 2010 study published in Experimental Dermatology confirmed that Centella asiatica benefited sun-damaged skin.

Additional Ingredients

I could go on about the ingredients in the PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer, but I am surprised you have read this far! I feel the ingredients listed above are its workhorses. If you still aren’t convinced, consider that it includes glycolic acid, glycerin, tocopherol (vitamin E), and linoleic acid (a fatty acid) too.

Review

PlantGenius Melt Moisturizer is currently my favorite daytime moisturizer. It includes some great ingredients. I have combination skin and my dry areas can get very dry. This moisturizer keeps my skin hydrated without making my oily areas oilier. I don’t have any wrinkles, so I can’t speak to its aging gracefully claims.

It loses a star mainly because of its “wildcrafted actives” tagline. It only includes 2 wildcrafted ingredients (and in minimal amounts). Nevertheless, Alpyn Beauty’s sustainability practices mean you can feel good about purchasing it. I only wish they had provided more information about manufacturing and supply sources. They also lost a star because of this lack of sustainability information and not responding to my questions promptly. The automated email I received promised a response in 2 business days.

Would I Buy Again?

Yes! Alpyn Beauty is more eco-friendly than most brands and the Melt Moisturizer kept my dry-prone skin from drying out during the day.

Check out my other reviews.

Updated March 6, 2022.