Nigella Lawson’s Prickly Pear Seed Oil: What It Is and Why It Works
When Nigella Lawson let slip her secret for glowing skin, a fairly obscure beauty oil became the most searched-for ingredient in the UK practically overnight.
The oil? Prickly pear seed oil – what she famously called her “face-saving magic.”
The big picture – the whole Nigella Lawson prickly pear seed oil story and the column that started it – we’ve told in full over here.
This piece is for the curious: what’s actually in this oil, and why does it work so well on skin? Let’s break it down nutrient by nutrient.
Betalains
When Nigella said the oil “healed” her skin, what she was feeling is likely down in part to betalains – a powerful group of antioxidants that help defend skin against the free-radical damage that ages the look of it over time.
Betalains are the red and yellow pigments found in foods like goji, acai and beetroot – and prickly pear contains more of them than almost any other plant.
Vitamin E
Prickly pear seed oil carries more vitamin E than any other beauty oil – nearly 150% more than argan. Vitamin E is another antioxidant that works as a free-radical scavenger, and it’s a wonderful moisturiser with a calming quality, so it’s a friend to skin that’s prone to redness.
It also helps skin defend against the visible effects of sun and pollution. (Curious how prickly pear stacks up against the more famous oil? Here’s how prickly pear compares to argan oil.)
Vitamin K
“Put it on at night and you’ll wake up looking as if you’ve been to a spa by the sea, slept 10 hours a night and been off Twitter for a month,” Nigella wrote.
That overnight radiance is something people often notice within days – and while nearly every part of the oil plays a role, vitamin K deserves a mention here.
Prickly pear seed oil contains a significant amount of it, which is why the oil has such a reputation for helping skin look brighter and more even, and for brightening the look of the under-eye area.
Omega fatty acids
Essential fatty acids are the building blocks of a healthy skin barrier – the thing that keeps moisture in.
Prickly pear seed oil has one of the highest unsaturated-fatty-acid contents of any natural skincare oil, including around 60.5% linoleic acid, which supports the barrier while replenishing moisture and giving skin that noticeable “plumped” look.
Because it’s so high in linoleic acid (and low in the heavier oleic acid), it’s light, fast-absorbing and non-comedogenic – which is why it suits even blemish-prone skin that usually steers clear of oils.
Phytosterols
Phytosterols are plant compounds with a water-binding quality that helps replenish and comfort mature skin, keeping it looking soft, supple and youthful.
They support a healthy skin barrier and help skin look firmer and more resilient against the visible effects of sun exposure.
Why quality matters so much
Now you know why Nigella’s “secret sauce” is so special, a word on choosing well.
Look for certified-organic, cold-pressed oil – chemical processing strips out many of these fragile nutrients.
And check the label carefully: there are cheaper oils pressed from the prickly pear fruit, but it’s the seeds that are extraordinarily potent (the label may say “prickly pear oil” rather than “prickly pear seed oil,” so question anything suspiciously cheap).
The real thing is costly for a reason – it takes nearly 30kg of seeds to produce a single litre. It’s also one of the most sustainable crops in beauty.
For the full rundown of everything this oil does for skin, see our guide to prickly pear seed oil benefits.
The prickly pear seed oil in Indagare’s award-winning Illumino Youth Serum is hand-picked by a fair-trade cooperative of Berber families in rural Morocco, sun-dried, then gently cold-pressed – so every bottle arrives bursting with nutrients.
You’ll find it in the Illumino Youth Serum, or paired with our Signature Night Recovery Oil in the Organic Face Oil Duo Set.
Not in Australia? We now ship to the UK and USA with duties and taxes calculated at checkout – so the price you see is the price you pay, with no surprise fees when it arrives.
* Indagare Natural Beauty does not claim Nigella Lawson uses or endorses its prickly pear seed oil. Newspaper stories featuring Indagare’s prickly pear seed oil in relation to Ms Lawson’s column were the result of demand for this previously little-known beauty oil skyrocketing on the back of her UK Times column.