Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum has been called many things: "Unicorn Tears," "Liquid Gold," "The Face Oil to End All Face Oils," and most recently from Glamour, "The Best Natural Beauty Product of All Time." Why is it so beloved? We got the scoop from founder April Gargiulo on the specific elements of the Vintner's Daughter formula that deliver this cult favorite's addictive results. It's been on our shelves since January 2015 and it's still going strong.

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Ayla: How can this one product work across so many skin types and conditions?

APRIL: Imbalances in skin may display differently on different skin, from acne to rosacea to dull, dry skin, but what each of these skin conditions reveals are common culprits: inflammation and imbalance. We seek to treat these underlying issues in a product that delivers true and dramatic change to all skin colors, ages and types.

Ayla: Tell us how you’re able to harness the power of botanicals to deliver this change.

APRIL: We make Active Botanical Serum from the world’s most nutrient dense whole plants whose nutrient structures complement our own skin’s cellular structure perfectly. For example, vitamin A-loaded alfalfa, mineral-rich nettle, and detoxifying dandelion form a synergistic superfood for skin that creates the foundation of our Phytoradiance Infusion, a blend that is at the heart of our formula. This trio provides skin nutrition in optimal ratios to address everything from environmental damage to elasticity, hydration, balance, and dullness.

Ayla: We love that you use a mix of whole plant infusions and high quality essential oils. Do you think this mix of both — instead of just using essential oils — is one of the things that ensures your formula is more powerful but also more gentle on the skin than many other oil-based serums on the market?

APRIL: Yes. Unlike most skincare, our unique whole plant formulation process takes place over weeks — the enfleurage technique used to create the Phytoradiance Infusion takes 6 weeks — versus hours or minutes. What this lengthy and resource intensive process ensures is the full spectrum and most optimal ratios of the very finest nutrition are procured from our powerful botanical blend. We do not compromise on ingredient quality, formulation length, or results, and we don’t think you should have to, either.

Ayla: Tell us more about your approach to ingredient quality.

APRIL: I like to take the example of a tomato. Think about a tomato you find inside a fast food sandwich and now think about an organic tomato you would find at your local farmer’s market in late summer. There is a clear qualitative difference in the organic farmer’s market tomato - in taste for sure, but also in the nutritional profile, the quality, and the environmental impact. Coming from an agricultural background, this is something I care about deeply and remains the cornerstone of how we source ingredients for Vintner’s Daughter. We only use the very finest ingredients from the most conscious producers around the world. This commitment doesn’t show up on an ingredient label, but it shows up in the performance of Active Botanical Serum because the ingredients we choose to work with have a higher nutritional value, vibrational energy, and as a result are able to feed skin in a more profound way. Skin that has been fed with the very best nutrition becomes stronger, more balanced, resilient, more radiant and at the end of the day, more youthful looking.

Ayla: You’re unique in that you make just one product. That takes a lot of discipline!

APRIL: We only produce one product because we don’t feel like you need ten steps to have beautiful skin — and we wanted to create a single product that will become your desert island, never leave home without serum. We believe in the luxury of quality, performance and time. Active Botanical Serum will deliver all three in one single, transformational step.

Ready to dig into this luxuriously efficient product? Click here to shop, and if you're in San Francisco, stop by our studio at 1825 Bush Street to check it out in person and get a push/press tutorial from us. We're open from 10am-5pm, M-F and 10am-2pm Saturdays.  

And while you're waiting for your order, waiting for us to open, or just looking for something beautiful to watch – check out the gorgeous video, featuring April at her family's vineyard in Napa, below.