Magic Beauty Mushrooms: Why This Ingredient Should Be Your Next Skincare Move

How is it possible that something you eat on your pizza can be good for your skin? Well, it’s the future, baby, and anything’s possible. All jokes aside, using mushrooms and mushroom extracts in skincare products has been a thing in Eastern medicine for centuries. We’re only just recently discovering its benefits here in the U.S. Trust—you’re about to see this powerhouse ingredient everywhere. Here’s what you need to know about adopting this magical beauty ingredient into your skincare routine.

What to Know About Mushrooms in Skincare

Remember when we mentioned that the Eastern hemisphere has been keen on mushrooms for some time now? Dr. Engelman helps break it down further. “Mushrooms have been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine,” she says. Mushrooms are known for their balancing and anti-inflammatory properties, which makes them quite useful in a daily routine.

“While the modern beauty industry has only recently (in the last few years) begun to really recognize the benefits of mushrooms, most experts agree that they are an excellent addition to our skincare routines,” says Dr. Engelman.

The Benefits of Mushrooms in Skincare

The list is long for the amount of benefits mushrooms have when you add them to your skincare. Here’s a brief overview:

• Balancing and Calming: “Most mushrooms are adaptogens, meaning they help balance and calm the skin,” says Dr. Engelman. 

• Anti-inflammatory: If you have a skin concern or condition like redness, dermatitis, psoriasis, or eczema, adding mushrooms to your skincare routine can yield results quickly, says Dr. Engelman. 

• Antioxidant-Rich: You shouldn’t step outside of your apartment without adding antioxidants to a step (or many) in your skincare routine. Mushrooms are effective in “fighting free radical damage and defending against environmental aggressors, helping us achieve younger-looking skin,” says Dr. Engelman. 

•  Brightening: Mushrooms can help “reduce hyperpigmentation, brighten skin, stimulate collagen and elastin production, and help the skin retain moisture,” says Dr. Engelman.

How to Use Mushrooms in Your Skincare

The most common mushrooms you’ll find in skincare include shiitake, which helps “brighten skin with kojic acid,” says Dr. Engelman. Shiitake mushrooms also contain the aforementioned antioxidant benefits, which will shield you from premature aging.

Reishi and chaga mushrooms are also recognized and loved in skincare for their antioxidant properties, says Dr. Engelman. “Another interesting benefit of reishi is that it contains beta-glucans, which pull water from the environment and to your skin, improving the skin’s hydration and contributing to a healthy skin barrier,” she says. The tremella mushroom is “best known as a humectant that can hold up to 500 times its weight in water, making it an excellent hydrating addition to your skincare routine, especially in the winter,” she adds.

Mushroom Skincare Products to Try

1. Best for Dry Skin: THREE SHIPS Dew Drops Mushroom Hyaluronic Acid + Vitamin C Serum

Hyaluronic acid (aka a super hydrator) and tremella mushroom help this skin-loving serum pack a powerful punch against dry skin. The all-star mix of ingredients help replenish and moisturize your skin, while also helping to firm, plump, and majorly brighten—thanks to vitamin C-rich kakadu plum extract.

2. Best to Fight Against Environmental Pollution: WLDKAT Mushroom + Moss Moisturizing Gel Cream

This gel moisturizer fights hard against signs of stress and environmental pollution, thanks to its formula of snow mushroom extract (rich in vitamin D, amino acids, minerals to help deliver 400 times more hydrating properties to skin than sodium hyaluronate), MossCellTec™ (which helps protect your skin from pollution, smog, and climatic stress), and hyaluronic acid (a super hydrator) that quickly absorbs into your skin to help give you a super dewy glow.

3. Best Eye Cream: W3LL PEOPLE Revitalizing Dew Snow Mushroom Eye Gel-Cream

Rise and shine! This lightweight yet rich eye cream is powered by ingredients like aloe extract, broccoli seed oil, snow mushroom, and niacinamide to help plump and hydrate your skin. It helps revive the dull skin around the eye and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

4. Best Vegan Formula: FEEL BEAUTY Mindful Palo Santo Soothing Mask

Ready. Set. Say “Om!” This mask gives you the relaxing power of a professional facial, thanks to ingredients like palo santo essential oil, lavender, and chamomile. Plus, it’s enhanced with adaptogenic mushrooms to immediately help relax and soothe your skin.

5. Best for Unbalanced Skin: PERRICONE MD Hypoallergenic CBD Sensitive Skin Therapy Rebalancing Elixir

Formulated with 99% pure Cannabidiol (CBD) and a powerful mushroom complex (derived from the lingzhi, shiitake, and maitake mushrooms), this gentle, soothing elixir is designed to visibly hydrate, smooth texture, and even skin tone for supple and radiant skin. Its powerhouse ingredients work to rebalance skin to its ideal pH level, leaving it feeling soft, smooth, healthy, and refreshed.

6. Best for Sensitive Skin: REN CLEAN Evercalm™ Ultra Comforting Rescue Mask

Introducing your new secret weapon in the fight against over-sensitivity: the Evercalm Ultra Comforting Rescue Mask. Formulated with superhero ingredients like white mushroom extract, arnica extract, and beta-glucan, this mask is here to save the day. It'll help calm those redness woes and stave off free radicals like a boss to leave you with soft, supple skin.

7. Best For Stressed-Out Skin: GLOSKIN BEAUTY Anti-Stress CBD Drops

If you’re feeling stressed out, you’re likely showing it on your skin. Calm things down with these CBD drops that contain CBD and reishi mushrooms so skin appears more hydrated, even-toned, and will be protected from environmental factors. Even better, these drops are Dr. Engelman-approved.

8. Best For Hydration: BIOPHILE Bio-Shroom Rejuvenating Serum

If you want super mushroom power, reach for this serum which includes a blend of three mushrooms, including tremella mushrooms. If your skin is thirsty, this serum will add a major hydration boost due to the tremella. It also includes niacinamide and vitamin C to help slow down the aging process.

9. Best For Redness: ORIGINS Mega Mushroom Skin Relief Soothing Face Lotion

This moisturizer is ultra-lightweight, which makes it perfect for daytime use. It includes both reishi and cordyceps mushrooms to help tackle facial redness. “Cordyceps has a variety of skincare benefits, including antioxidant, hydrating, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and improving collagen and elastin production,” explains Dr. Engelman.

10. Best For Aging Skin: W3LL PEOPLE Fresh Dew Snow Mushroom Gel-Cream Moisturizer

The snow mushroom in this gel moisturizer helps plump skin and turnover collagen production. That, combined with niacinamide and hyaluronic acid helps your skin unlock further hydration for skin that glows for 24 hours.

Want to level up your skincare routine with more powerhouse skincare picks?Take our Beauty Quiz now to get started with your own IPSY beauty subscription. Already an IPSY member? Refer your friends to earn points, which you can use toward products. Either way, don’t forget to check us out on Instagram and TikTok @IPSY.

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