Our Current Ingredient Crush - Royal Epigen P5

Today I want to talk about one of my very favorite biomimetic peptides found in our Bee Serum, Royal Epigen P5. I am literally obsessed with this ingredient and it will most likely be an all-star ingredient in many of our products to come. Essentially, Royal Epigen P5 is a biologically active peptide inspired by Bee’s Royal Jelly, scientifically modified to maximize its positive effects on skin.

So a little background on bees and why this ingredient is so interesting:

Honeybees live socially in colonies where there are divided by 3 different classes- workers (sterile females), queens (fertile females), and drones (all males). Among the females, queens differ greatly from workers in the sense that they have a much larger body size, they have 10x longer lifespan, and they behave in a completely different manner. But with all of that being said, amazingly, Honeybee workers and their queens share the exact same DNA.

How is this possible? Two words – Royal Jelly. Honeybees modify their genetic code by consuming Royal Jelly, and more specifically, a protein found within their jelly known as “royalactin”. This ingredient comes into play when consumed by these bees because it sparks the process of gene modification. The process of this genetic modification and how it can happen is known as “Epigenetics” - a word/concept that is a little over my head but I’m going to do my best in explaining it to you so bear with me.

All DNA is wrapped around proteins known as histones. The Epigenome is a structure located above the Genome and it regulates gene expression by  covering DNA and histones with chemical tags, making genes readable or not readable without changing their DNA sequence. These tags result in modifications that are influenced by environmental/external factors (i.e. diet), are reversible, sometimes are passed on from cell to cell (due to the fact that cells divide, aka mitosis), and are sometimes passed down from one generation to the next (OR can skip generations). Therefore, contrary to the Genome that remains fixed for life, the Epigenome is flexible.

Still following? Epigenome = flexible. Genome = not. Chemical tags = result in modifications regardless of DNA. Kewl, let’s move on.

Okay so what the f*ck Rachel why does this matter? Well bitch because we took this peptide and recreated it with all of its best components, because of Epigenetics, when this ingredient penetrates your skin it changes your cellular structure on an epidermis-level. Can you believe that?!

The reason why I always recommend our Bee Serum to people who are acne prone is not just because it contains Bee Venom which is antimicrobial and therefore zaps acne-causing bacteria in its tracks. It is also because our Bee Serum contains Royal Epigen P5, which is able to speed up tissue regeneration (and therefore healing – and therefore acne scars – and therefore blemishes we pick at – and therefore redness and inflammation from pimples!).

Royal Epigen P5’s ability to speed up tissue regeneration was analyzed by creating an artificial wound in a skin cell structure. By stimulating cell migration and proliferation, it was found that after tissue injury, Royal Epigen P5 essentially makes skin recover more quickly. This then led to a rapid increase in skin smoothness, and in studies when applied to the face of women presenting uneven skin tones, this peptide improved the uniformity of their complexions within just 28 days. Additionally, 80% of volunteers saw an increase in skin clarity within this time period.

Okay so hot – we now know why we want to incorporate Royal Jelly into our formula. But why use a biomimetic peptide when we can use natural Royal Jelly as an ingredient? Well first of all, the clean and natural beauty marketing trend makes me want to scream. And this is exactly why – Natural Royal Jelly is unstable and too large to penetrate the skin. Therefore, like many natural ingredients, if we were to use the “real” thing, it would literally sit on top of your skin, not be effective, and most likely cause a breakout. I literally get 100 DM’s a day about people using certain unnamed “natural” or “clean” products (90% of the time they’re not actually clean or natural as a side note), and how they have made them break out terribly or just have simply been ineffective. Well… that’s why sister! *hair flip***

Sorry for the essay - I shouldn’t have taken Adderall today. But, now that I am done ranting, whether you suffer from acne, have acne scaring from the pimples of the past, or just want an overall smoother appearance, I highly recommend implementing our Bee Serum into your routine! And if you had the patience to read this blog to its entirety, you deserve a reward, so use code ROYALJELLY at checkout to receive 35% off our Bee Serum.

Love you mean it.

XO,

Rachel