CoValence has discovered marble berry extract, which it is marketing for use in skincare products. It can provide skincare benefits – but would also make a product look brilliant.

Marble berry extract is derived from the fruit of a unique plant the supplier discovered in the Tanzanian bush. For the first time in the plant world, the supplier says, the fruit of the marble berry plant has been observed reflecting color using a similar method to that of a peacock’s feather or a butterfly’s wing. As a result, it produces a more intense color than any previously described biological material.

A photo of the ‘polarized light’ effect, as it reflects off a marble berry, is shown. CoValence says that the light reflected is circularly polarized to the left or the right, which is the characteristic of a chiral structure. Plus – the color of the fruit remains exceptionally brilliant for years after being picked.

After the team at CoValence obtained samples of the raw material, and shipped it to the U.S. to extract and study, they determined that this unique, one-of-a-kind plant displays the most brilliant coloration in the known world. But it also contains respectable levels of polyphenols – exhibiting exceptional antioxidant activity at very low use levels.