Beauty tips: Seaweed can save your skin

[ thetwodarlings.com ]

Seaweed is your skin’s friend. It contains antioxidants, minerals and vitamins in high concentrations to help protect the skin. It can also aid in the treatment of skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and acne.

A slew of companies on our shores have been incorporating the stuff into beauty products, including AlgAran in Donegal, Seavite and Rí na Mara in Galway, and Green Angel in Dublin.

And then there’s Voya, based in Strandhill, Co Sligo. The company was set up in 2006 when Mark and Kira Walton began developing seaweed-based products to complement the growing popularity of the family business, Celtic Seaweed Baths. Voya has since developed a range of 60 products that are stocked in 37 countries, from the Caribbean to the Maldives. The company employs 23 people in Sligo.

The seaweeds used in the products are sustainably hand-harvested by a team of experts on the coast of Sligo, which has a reputation as one of the freshest and cleanest coasts in the world.

Voya has a wide range of products, from shampoos to scrubs, and I can heartily recommend the lot. The Luminosity Refining Radiance Exfoliator (€43) is a great two-in-one product that acts as a face mask and a very gentle exfoliator that leaves the skin visibly brighter. The Hydra Veil Hydrating Mask (€38) works to rehydrate the skin.

• voya.ie