Could Pearl Powder Save Your Skin? Meet the Strangest Beauty Superfood Yet

As metaphors for good skin go, pearls rank right up there with milk and babies’ bottoms. Who wouldn’t want their face to resemble the rare, lustrous beads of the sea? Yet as it turns out, pearls’ complexion connection is more than symbolic. Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine have long advocated ingesting the marine treasures in pulverized form—not only for better looks (a remedy favored by empress Wu Zetian in the 7th century) but as a tonic for everything from tuberculosis to eye disease to sexual dysfunction.

And lately, as with so many ancient wellness remedies, pearl powder has found a following among chic members of the try-anything New Age beauty brigade. Moon Juice, the Los Angeles beauty emporium and celebrity favorite that’s often the first to champion obscure healing tonics, sells jars of the substance, which is also the key ingredient in its popular Beauty Dust supplement. And like any superfood worth its salt, pearl powder has received the seal of approval from Goop.

While the concept sounds far-fetched—or even inedible—it turns out that the elements that make pearls luminous and strong might, in fact, do the same for the body. The beads are comprised of 30 to 80 percent calcium, a well-established nutrient, and they also contain magnesium, amino acids, and trace minerals—“a lot of things women are deficient in,” notes Cayli Cavaco Reck, owner of Hamptons natural-beauty pop-up Knockout Beauty, which does a brisk business in the powder.

Reck first discovered the supplement through a Chinese herbalist when she needed relief from headaches, but soon found it helped with her melasma. “I have noticed a difference; I think that it does even out your skin tone,” she says. “And I’ve found that, using it consistently, hormonal breakouts are either diminished or totally nonexistent.”

According to Moon Juice’s Amanda Chantal Bacon—who puts a pinch of the stuff in her smoothies several times a week—pearl powder is effective beyond the surface, too. “Many people don’t know of it as a mood food,” she says. “It has a calming effect, and it’s a tool I use when I feel weak or depleted. If you haven’t been eating very well or you’ve been traveling or it’s around your period, at that moment where you’re like, ‘I want a bloody steak,’ [it’s time to consider taking it].”

Of course, like many non-Western wellness remedies, pearl powder has a limited amount of current scientific research behind it, and as with other supplements, it is not tested by the FDA. “I do not work with it because there isn’t enough research to back its uses and outcomes,” says Manhattan-based nutritionist Amy Shapiro, MS, RD, founder of Real Nutrition NYC. “With that being said, the research and information out there points to it helping to prevent skin discoloration; digestive issues, as the calcium coats the stomach similar to calcium supplements; and osteoporosis, due to its high mineral content.” With side effects that can include fatigue, nausea, and gas, she points out that “it’s easy to take too much internally, as it’s very potent,” so it might be best to consult a doctor before adding it into your daily diet.

However you may feel about ingesting it, pearl powder’s proponents also claim it has benefits when applied directly to the face—meaning it just might become skin care’s next star topical ingredient. It appears in a handful of products, like Tatcha’s Polished Rice Enzyme Powder, an exfoliant with a cultish following; Bacon likes to mix it with raw honey to make masks. “Your face actually absorbs all of it,” she says. “My skin feels fantastic the next day.” It’s testimonials like this that make pearls a wellness buzzword to watch. “We’ve done this as humans for thousands of years,” Bacon points out, “why would we continue if it didn’t work?”

 

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