Ask the Formulator: What is a Peptide, Really?

What is a peptide?

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids — the same amino acids that build every protein in the body, and in every plant. String a few together, and you have a peptide. String many together, and you have a protein: collagen, elastin, keratin. The concept itself is not synthetic. It exists in nature long before any laboratory isolates it.

Why is it included in skincare and makeup?

The industry isolates one exact peptide sequence, strips it from its natural context, and manufactures it at scale. This allows a precise, testable claim — a specific percentage, a specific clinical result — which is straightforward to print on a label and easy for a customer to compare across brands. It is efficient science, built for consistency and reproducibility.

What does it do for the skin?

Peptides act as signals. Certain sequences prompt skin cells to behave in specific ways — most commonly, to produce more collagen, which supports firmness and elasticity. Others help repair the skin barrier or calm inflammation. The mechanism is well established: peptides communicate with skin cells the way a key communicates with a lock.

Where is it found in nature?

Amino acids rarely occur alone in nature — they travel within a matrix, alongside the antioxidants, minerals, and fatty acids that help the body use them. This is a documented principle in pharmacology: peer-reviewed research on plant-derived bioactive compounds shows that whole extracts often outperform an equivalent dose of an isolated constituent, through improved bioavailability, enhanced solubility, and interaction across multiple biological pathways at once.

Sea Buckthorn

Carries eighteen of the twenty-two amino acids that build human protein, delivered alongside the omega fatty acids that help them reach the skin barrier.

Horsetail

Known primarily for its silica content, also supplies proline and lysine — two amino acids the skin uses directly in building its own collagen.

Where is it found in the Gressa line?

Sea buckthorn CO2 appears in the Siberian Pineapple Pressed Serum and the Night Repair Elixir.

Horsetail is part of the Gressa Healing Complex™, present across the entire Minimalist line: the Minimalist Corrective Serum Foundation, the Minimalist Illuminating Serum, and the Minimalist Bronzer.

Svetlana is a master formulator with nearly two decades of experience in conventional and botanical cosmetic formulation, and the founder of Gressa and Formula Natura Labs. Her work is carried by retailers across North America, Europe, and Asia.