ALLURE

Allure selects Prickly Pear as its ingredient of the month, highlighting Kahina Prickly Pear Seed Oil.

"It's hot pink and juicy, and it makes for one photogenic margarita. But prickly pear - which contains amino acids, vitamin B, calcium, beta-carotene, magnesium, and iron - is just as good slathered on your skin as it is ingested. 'People in the Israeli desert mix it with water to create a salve for windburn,' says dermatologist Jeannette Graf. And now skin-care companies are adding it to serums, oils, and masks. 'The fruit reduces inflammation, and anything that is anti-inflammatory is also anti-aging because inflammation is the first event that occurs in aging,' says Graf."