[FRUTOSE] - Face Care Fruit Oils

Another Canadian brand I was introduced to at the Skinvestment's Beauty Date x MTL event was Frutose. This is a new brand that started in Toronto recently and their focus is that all of their products contains ingredients that are either derived from or is present in fruits! What was explained to us at the event was that if fruits are good for our body through ingestion, then it could be good for our skin through absorption as well.

Frutose sent samples of their Face Care Fruit Oils to the event, which are seven different fruit oils!

The choices are:
- Apricot kernel oil
- Avocado oil
- Scented cherry kernel oil
- Scented Fractionated coconut oil
- Scented Grape seed oil
- Scented pomegranate seed oil
- Scented raspberry seed oil

I grabbed the coconut, cherry and apricot oils, and was also given a sample of the Face Care Apple Hydrosol and a cute watermelon eye mask!

**As usual. Even though I received the products free from the company, all opinions expressed in this blog are my own. **

Before I go any further, here are the ingredients list for all seven fruit oils. Boy are they short!

-Apricot kernel oil: • Prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil.

-Avocado Oil: • Persea gratissima (avocado) oil. 

-Scented Cherry kernel oil: • Prunus avium (cherry) kernel oil • Sambucus nigra fruit extract • D-Alpha-Tocopherol • Prunus avium (sweet cherry) fruit extract.

-Scented Fractionated coconut oil: • Caprylic/capric triglyceride (fractionated coconut oil) • Sambucus nigra fruit extract • D-Alpha-Tocopherol • Cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit extract.

-Scented Grape seed oil: • Vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil • Sambucus nigra fruit extract • D-Alpha-Tocopherol • Vitis vinifera (grape) fruit extract.

-Scented Pomegranate seed oil: • Punica granatum (pomegranate) seed oil • Sambucus nigra fruit extract • D-Alpha-Tocopherol • Punica granatum (pomegranate) extract. 

-Scented Raspberry seed oil: Rubus Idaeus (raspberry) seed oil • Sambucus nigra fruit extract • D-Alpha-Tocopherol • Rubus idaeus (raspberry) extract.

See! I told you!They are super short!

The ones I grabbed are coconut, cherry kernel and apricot kernel. Two of those, coconut and cherry, are scented and have a longer ingredients list. While the apricot is just pure apricot kernel oil.

Here are their different functions:
- Apricot kernel oil: contains omega-6 essential fatty acids, and helps to soften, soothe, and protect the skin. It nourishes and hydrates the skin. It is cold pressed in Spain.

- Scented cherry kernel oil: contains natural antioxidants, alpha, delta and gamma tocopherols, vitamin A & E. Also contains a polyunsaturated fatty acid called eleostearic, which forms a barrier on the surface of the skin to help protect it from unwanted elements. It leaves a slight oil feeling on the skin.

- Scented fractionated coconut oil: acts as an emollient and moisturizer, as well as creates a barrier on the skin. All the while, it doesn't clog up pores. Will leave the skin feeling nourished and hydrated.

The oils comes in identical jars that contains 3ml of product, with different fruitt labels on the top to differentiate between them.

The dispenser is interesting. It is not a dropper, which comes with the full size. Instead, it is this long plastic stick that holds onto the oil at the tip. It's quite interesting to look at but I am not sure how practical it is. Because I found it to be a bit annoying to use in order to get some oil out. The outcome differs each time. Sometimes I can pick up enough that a drop of oil will just fall off of the dispenser. But sometimes it won't come off, and I will have to dip it back into the bottle, or touch my palm. Seeing how I like to mix it in with my serum, the last option can lead to cross contamination. Which is something we don't want. So unfortunately, I don't like the dispenser very much.

Let's talk about the products and how they perform.

First, let me talk about scents. If you read my blog or Instagram long enough, you know how important scent is to me. From the three I chose, coconut is my favourite. It has a natural scented coconut extract and it smells just like dried coconut meat.. YUM! The second favourite would be the apricot. It doesn't have added scent, so it's a light seed scent to it. I quite like it. The least favourite is the cherry, as it has a cherry scent that I associate with cough syrup and cherry candies. It also leaves my mouth feeling a tad oily after sniffing it a few times. The scents are pretty strong upon application but because it is all natural, it is actually pretty pleasant to smell!

The instruction says to apply 1-2 drops of the oil for all the face and neck areas.. Yeah.. I don't agree with that. I add about 3 drops in with my serum each time and it was just enough for half of my face. (Half of my face because I was testing the Woodlot oil on the other half at the same time). I tried applying just 1 drop, and it just feels like it disappeared upon contact. I would definitely use more than 1-2 drops of product.

You can tell from the picture that the oils has different colours, with coconut being the lightest and cherry being the darkest. The different colour has to do with how heavy the oil is!

I found that coconut, the lightest coloured, was REALLY thin. Because it is so thin, the oil sinks in really quickly when it is applied on its own. I barely had time to massage it and it is already sunk in. All that is left is a nice light coconut scent. There is no shine at all! My skin felt soft to the touch!

Apricot, the medium coloured oil was definitely heavier than the coconut oil. It took a little bit more massaging to get it to sink in, and it leaves behind just a little bit of shine. My skin felt dewy to the touch.

Cherry is definitely the heaviest of the oils, and the darkest. The cherry oil took the most massaging and it still left behind a noticeable shine on the skin. It made my skin feel a tad oily but also so dewy and moisturized.

Frutose suggest that you can use the same oil every day, or use a different one every day. It's up to you. But I found that the fruit oils are different, so you may want to change it depending on what your skin needs. For the three I chose, here is what I would recommend:

- coconut oil, being the lightest, is best suited for those looking for light hydration. For me, it is best suited for the hot summer months.

- Apricot is best suited for those looking for medium weight oil. Something that will provide a little bit more hydration and nourishment. I will probably use mine during the switch from summer to fall. Where my skin will start to need a bit more hydration with the cooler weather.

- Cherry is best suited for those with dry skin or is looking for a heavy dosage of hydration. I would definitely save it for the winter time where we have -20C temperature + windchill. That's when my face REALLY need a nice barrier to protect against the harsh wind.

That being said, I think is a neat idea and product line. To use the fruits that we normally eat and use it as core ingredients in our skincare.

The short ingredients list make it easy to understand exactly what is in each of the oils. I liked the products itself, but not so much of the applicator. Since it is such a hit or miss occurrence. Sometimes I pick up enough to form a drop and sometimes I don't. But I really like the scent of the products and liked that I accidentally picked up oils for the different seasons of the year. I will definitely continue to use the coconut oil right now, as the weather is quite warm!

Thanks to Frutose for providing these oils for me to try!