AD | This post features products that have been gifted to me in exchange for a review. All opinions are honest and my own.
It’s fair to say that the majority of us would love to have healthy, glowing skin, whether or not we are particularly into beauty and skincare. Well then, doesn’t a simple daily supplement that claims to give you ‘beautiful skin from within’ sound just ideal?
That is the claim of Y SKIN, a new skin supplement that is part of The Y Collection range, which you can read about below. Earlier this year, I was gifted a 60 day supply of Y SKIN to try out, and it’s been quite a journey! I’ll be sharing my experience trying Y SKIN, and addressing the all-important question: did it work?
About The Y Collection
The Y Collection was created by gut microbiologist Jelena Vulevic and biotechnologist George Tzortzis. These two scientists first met while they were studying for their PHDs at Reading University and they later worked together on formulating the well known Bimuno prebiotic supplement. In 2019 they formed veMico Ltd, the company behind The Y Collection range, which incorporates all their knowledge, experience and latest research into gut health.
About Y SKIN
So what does a gut health company have to do with skin? The Y Collection includes two products: Y GUT Sensitive, which improves overall gut health, and Y SKIN which specifically targets the Gut-Skin Axis. Jelena and George’s research has revealed the close link between gut health and skin health. Y SKIN contains metabolites produced by ‘good bacteria’, the Probiotic Bifidobacterium, rather than containing the bacteria itself. This way, you fast-track straight to the direct, concentrated benefits of the ‘good bacteria’.
When the gut is healthy, the whole body benefits, and this includes the skin, which is a particular indicator of overall health. But as the last sentence suggests, Y SKIN can have many other health benefits as well as improving your skin.
The potential benefits of Y SKIN
These are the benefits of Y SKIN as claimed on The Y Collection website:
- Reduces skin redness
- Reduces itching & irritation
- Reduces wrinkles
- Balances sebum to reduce skin oil
- Improves skin elasticity
- Improves skin barrier function
- Balances immune and endocrine systems
- Promotes clear, hydrated & youthful-looking skin
My hopes for Y SKIN
Out of the benefits above, I was most interested in having clear & youthful looking skin and reducing skin oil, itching and irritation. I often get spots, on my face as well as on my back in particular. I really hoped Y SKIN would help to stop my skin breaking out in spots.
I don’t have many wrinkles yet but over the past few years I’ve started to notice fine lines under my eyes. I hoped that Y SKIN would reduce these or at least slow down their development.
I also wanted Y SKIN to strengthen my immune system, because it’s never nice being ill! I hoped it would help me to avoid colds and coughs (including the dreaded Covid!)
There were a few other skin benefits that were not specifically mentioned, but I hoped Y SKIN might help with them too. I hoped it might help to keep my hands and lips hydrated, as I very often get dry, cracked skin on my hands and lips, especially in winter. I also hoped it might help to reduce the dark circles under my eyes.
I was also curious to see if Y SKIN would provide some digestive benefits too, as although it is marketed for the skin, it is ultimately a gut supplement. It made sense to me that it might provide noticeable benefits there too, such as a reduction in bloating.
First impressions of Y SKIN
The Y SKIN supplements come in a classy looking pot, which is white and red with a mirrored silver lid. The pot comes inside a cardboard box that is printed with more details about the product. The packaging is fairly minimal as the box fits snugly around the pot, and the pot itself is filled to the brim with supplements.
The supplements themselves are creamy white in colour and they come in a smooth capsule. They are not too big, and I find them easy to swallow. They smell a little bit funky, but I guess you’d expect that as they are a product of bacteria? The smell doesn’t really bother me as I just swallow them quickly so I don’t have to smell them for long.
Unlike some probiotics and prebiotics, these supplements don’t need to be stored in the fridge. I love this because it means I can keep them with my other supplements so I remember to take them. It also makes them more portable, as you can take a pot on your travels without having to worry about refrigerating them. It’s also more discreet as you don’t have to store them in the fridge where other people will see them.
My experience trying Y SKIN
I was sent a two month supply of Y SKIN, which is 60 capsules as you take one a day. It’s said that it should take 2-3 months to see the full benefits of Y SKIN, although most customers saw benefits within 30 days. I was optimistic that my two month supply would be enough for me to at least see some effects and judge whether the supplements were working for me.
It said in the instructions that I might get a gurgling stomach or nausea for up to a week. At week 3-4 I should feel an effect on my energy level. Then towards the end of 2 months I should see the effect on my skin, which should be softer and more hydrated. I was curious to see if I would experience all these things.
I decided to take the supplements in the morning, after my breakfast, as that is when I take other supplements so it was easy to fit them into my routine then.
Here is a ‘diary’ of my experience taking Y SKIN
7th March (Day 1)
Started taking the supplements. I haven’t experienced any symptoms so far.
11th March (Day 5)
I haven’t noticed any stomach gurgling or nausea. I also haven’t noticed any particular digestive symptoms any different to normal – at least nothing I can put down 100% to the capsules. No visible effects on my skin yet. It’s still very early days.
19th March (Day 13)
Not that I’m meant to yet, but I haven’t noticed any definite effects. I think my skin does look clearer but that could be pure coincidence or imagination at the moment. I’ve been sleeping pretty well, but to be honest, I normally do. I think the effects may take longer to show but I am hopeful.Â
28th March (Day 22)
On this day I stopped taking them. Why? I was having a little bit of a mental health crisis and I had narrowed down these supplements as one of the possible causes. It turns out I don’t think it was caused by these after all – as I’ll explain more further down.
23rd July
Four months later, in July, I decided to try taking them again, as I really wanted to experience the benefits of them. I still had 5 weeks supply left which would take me past the 3-week mark that I reached in March. I was cautious that they would cause another mental health dip, but I had just got to the end of a busy era and entered the quieter summer season so I thought it would be a good time to start taking them again as it wouldn’t affect my work so much if that did happen.
I decided I would see what happened around the 3-week mark, and see what my experience was. I hoped the mental health dip I had in March was just coincidental and not due to these capsules, but at least I would know. Assuming I decided to carry on beyond the first 3 weeks, I would still have 2 weeks worth of supplements to take, and I hoped I’d start to see some effects and benefits during that window.
Thankfully, I was absolutely fine and didn’t experience any negative effects on my mental health this time around, so I concluded that it probably had nothing to do with the supplements the first time around. I kept taking them for a further two weeks but I didn’t notice any obvious benefits, so I made the decision to purchase another month’s supply. Originally, if I had continued taking the supplements in the Spring, I would have taken them for a full 2 months whereas because I stopped, I ended up only taking them for a maximum of 5 weeks. I wanted to see if I would get any benefits after a full 2 months in order to write a thorough review.
19th November
Upon writing this update, I had been taking the supplements every day since 23rd July, so that’s just under 4 months. I decided to buy even more after I finished my extra month’s supply, just in case I needed longer to see the benefits. I would have thought that by this time, any results would definitely be apparent. Unfortunately, I still hadn’t had any obvious, dramatic results.
In terms of my skin, it didn’t look particularly better than usual. I still got spots, including some big ones, but it could be do to with other skincare products I’ve been using. There are some improvements, listed below, that I HAVE noticed, but it’s impossible to say if they are a result of these supplements or if they are from other factors.
- My ‘bacne’ is a bit better – still there but not as bad.
- My mood has been better, but that could be a result of many factors including that I generally do feel better in Autumn.
- I overall have less of a digestive reaction if I eat a lot of beans or other ‘gassy’ foods!
- I think I have better focus and concentration but again, that could be due to other factors.
None of these effects are dramatic though. It says on the Y SKIN website that people should start complimenting your skin and healthy glow, but I haven’t received any such compliments which suggests that there has been no obvious improvement to my skin.
As mentioned earlier, Y SKIN is also meant to support your immune system. It’s hard to tell whether it has helped me in this respect, because I caught Covid over the summer while taking them, but I didn’t have it too badly – certainly better than the first time I had Covid. I also haven’t had any other full-blown colds despite feeling like I was coming down with something – so maybe the supplements have helped me to ward them off, but it’s impossible to tell.
Will I carry on taking Y SKIN supplements?
Y SKIN supplements are really expensive, at £49.99 for a 30 day supply. That said, if I had experienced significant benefits from these supplements, I feel it would be worth the cost. It works out as about £1.67 per day, and put that way, it doesn’t seem so much when you consider the benefits it claims to give. For me, if these had given me glowing skin, healthy digestion, more energy, and the whole range of other benefits, it would be totally worth it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see as many benefits as I hoped, which has left me doubting whether to carry on taking them. I am considering carrying on for a while, because the science suggests that they ARE helping me, even if I can’t see it. I’d be interested to see if any more benefits become apparent long-term, for example, if my mood remains high in the spring when it can tend to drop, and if I continue to avoid colds. I might also try changing or simplifying my skincare routine because maybe the effects of the supplements will shine through without being affected by other products.
On the packaging it says take 1 capsule per day. However on the website the instructions are slightly different – it says: ‘Take one capsule once or twice daily, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner.’ I’d be curious to try taking them twice daily, to see if I notice more obvious benefits. However, this would obviously make the product twice as expensive!
My overall verdict on Y SKIN supplements
I think Y SKIN is a great concept and it seems to be backed by believable science of how and why it would work. I have mixed feelings about them based on my own experience because I didn’t get the obvious or dramatic benefits that I hoped for. It’s left me wondering whether the more subtle and potential benefits are worth the high price point, and I’m uncertain about whether to carry on taking Y SKIN long term.
For the time being, I’ve decided to carry on taking them at least for a few more months to see if any of the benefits become more obvious. However I recognise that I am fortunate that my budget allows me to do this, and I know that for many, the product would be out of budget especially if they only noticed subtle benefits like I did.
I might make an update post in a few months time, to share any further benefits or thoughts about this product, and whether I ultimately decide to keep taking it. Let me know in the comments below if this would be of interest to you!
If you are curious to try Y SKIN, they occasionally have sales so one tip I have is to wait until they have a sale and then stock up. I did this recently, they had an autumn sale so I bought two tubs instead of one, to make the most of them being cheaper. You can also use my discount code, BRILLIANTDAY which gets you 20% off.
