Prickly Pear Seed Oil: Green Beauty’s Most Coveted Oil

Prickly Pear Seed Oil is now one of the most sought-after ingredients in green beauty. The Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica,) is grown throughout North America—from Mexico to Canada. The bulk of the distribution is exported from Morocco where cooperatives work to harvest the spiny paddles that press one liter of oil from about eight tons of fruit, making this green oil a treasured ingredient.

Prickly pear seed oil has been celebrated for its wide range of benefits to the skin as it’s extremely high in essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. It truly is a super fruit, and the fruit itself is widely consumed in some cultures due to its ability to regulate blood sugar and high-quality nutrition. What makes prickly pear seed oil so special is, first and foremost, its high level of linoleic acid (a whopping 63% to be exact), which allows the skin to easily absorb it and works to balance all skin types, especially oily skin. On the comedogenic scale, Prickly Pear Seed Oil would rate a zero, making it a superpower ingredient for acne-prone skin and nourishing for dry and damaged skin. It contains Vitamin K, a nutrient that reduces the appearance of spider veins or dark circles around the eyes. It contains beta-carotene, the precursor to Vitamin A, which repairs the appearance of your skin through amino acids. And if that wasn’t enough…Prickly Pear Seed Oil has the highest level of Vitamin E of any other oil.  Talk about liquid gold!

This month’s Hero product, Prickly Pear Illuminating Tourmaline-Infused Beauty Nectar by LILFOX, uses prickly pear seed and fruit oil as its superpower ingredient. LILFOX Founder and Formulator, Alexis Rose, gave us insight to the benefits of this precious oil. 

“The prickly pear seed oil for our Beauty Heroes and LILFOX Discovery was pressed fresh in July 2018. It smells of ripe fruit with layers of earthy green cactus. Of all the different beauty oils available, prickly pear contains the highest percentage of unsaturated fatty acids, an amazing 88%, that are imperative to stimulating healthy cell metabolism. It also contains the highest level of natural tocopherols to protect and moisturize skin. With rich amounts of anti-inflammatory linoleic acid to balance oil production and discourage blemishes.

We also blend prickly pear fruit extract. The combination of cactus fruit and seed provides a rich content of tannins, flavonoids, betanins, and alkaloids to improve the overall appearance of the skin. The high tannin content of prickly pear can act as a natural astringent, which is great for tightening thus minimizing the appearance of the pores. Betanins are phytochemicals that only a few plants produce to protect themselves by acting as an antioxidant. The flavonoids and alkaloids work synergistically to protect, repair and soothe the skin and hair.”

You’ll also find that this month’s Sidekick, the Kalahari Eye Serum also leads with Prickly Pear Seed oil, blended with other concentrated oils and green coffee bean extract, to increase circulation and diminish dark circles around the eyes. 

Shop the Beauty Store to find more products that use Prickly Pear Seed Oil as their Superpower Ingredient!