Passion Fruit

A natural history

Passion fruit grows on a tropical climbing vine of South America that bears one of the most intricate flowers in all of nature, a showy crown of purple and white that opens for just a single day. The name has nothing to do with romance. When sixteenth century missionaries first saw the elaborate bloom, they read in it the story of the Passion of Christ, the fringe of filaments a crown of thorns, and named the whole family the passion flower.

From the seeds of that remarkable fruit comes a light, golden oil. Cold pressed maracuja oil is unusually rich in linoleic acid, the feather light fatty acid that conditions without weight, and it carries the fruit's own antioxidant vitamins. It is the kind of oil that absorbs and leaves skin soft, the quiet gift hidden inside a famously beautiful flower.

What it does for your skin

Passion fruit seed oil is a light, conditioning oil rich in skin loving linoleic acid. Compositional analysis found the cold pressed oil is dominated by linoleic acid, around three quarters of its fatty acids, the basis of its light, replenishing feel.^[1] The oil also naturally carries antioxidant companions, vitamin E, carotenoids, and plant phenols, with measurable antioxidant activity.^[2] In a formula it is a light, fast-absorbing oil that helps skin look soft, smooth, and comfortably nourished. Those benefits come straight from its linoleic-acid-rich makeup and natural antioxidant vitamins.

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