Sara du Jour

May 20th, 2019

Does Tati’s Halo Beauty Really Work?

If you spend any time on Youtube, you’ll know that the beauty community went very Game of Thrones these last ten days. The betrayals! The alliances! The takedowns! The plotting! I have whiplash.

I had planned to wait to review Tati’s Halo Beauty Kiwi Seed Booster skin supplements once my full two month trial elapsed, but given all the current interest in her Halo Beauty supplements, I thought I’d better do it now, and save all you millennials and Gen Z-ers your hard-earned money. Money that would be better spent on, you know, avocado toast or something.

So, do Tati’s skin supplements really work? In a word: no. Read on for all my thoughts.

For those who don’t know: Tati is a very popular beauty Youtuber who launched a supplement brand called Halo Beauty, with two products (to date). One is a hair, skin, and nails supplement, and one is purely a skin supplement. The one I purchased and will be reviewing is the skin supplement – Halo Beauty’s Kiwi Seed Booster.

I chose this one because I’ve never had an issue with hair growth or my nails, and I preferred a product hyper-focused on improving skin. (In fact, as a half white, half Arabic person, I’m blessed with thick hair on my head yet not-super-thick body hair. So if there’s some kind of body-hair-growth-thing lying dormant in me, I’m not trying to trigger it by taking biotin, ya know?)

Since I’m prone to breakouts, my skin is my primary concern. And if a product could magically clear my skin, reduce redness, and tighten my pores like Tati claimed it would? Heck yes I was in. Take all my money.

I ordered Tati’s Halo Beauty supplements about two months ago, and have been taking them daily for close to a month and a half. My order was placed long before Youtubemageddon happened, so I went into this without an agenda or many preconceived notions. I knew of Tati and occasionally watched her videos when she reviewed products I was interested in, but I wasn’t a subscriber, so the following thoughts are not tainted by love or loyalty for Tati.

Given her reputation in the Youtube community as someone who is very honest and with a great deal of integrity, I feel confident in saying that she made this product with the best intentions and truly believes in the benefits of Halo Beauty. However, Tati is neither a dermatologist, scientist, or nutritionist. But more on that later.

Halo Beauty’s Kiwi Seed Booster: the claims

This is the part where I admit I was suckered in by a combination of Tati’s enthusiastic claims on Youtube about Halo Beauty’s skin benefits, numerous before and after photos from customers, and pseudo-science.

This is what Halo Beauty’s website claims about the Kiwi Seed Booster:

“Our proprietary Kiwi Booster formula is the very best supplement for your skin you can buy anywhere! [It] minimizes fine lines and wrinkles, supports collagen and keratin production, supports a clear and radiant complexion, supports a natural moisture barrier for hydrated skin, [and] inhibits bacteria, balances pH, and renews skin.”

Halo Beauty’s Kiwi Seed Booster: the price

THE PRICE SUCKS. Super f*cking sucks.

One month’s supply (1 bottle of 30 capsules) will run you $42 CAD. BEFORE TAX AND SHIPPING!!!! (Or $29.95 USD before tax.) My dumb ass bought 2 bottles to give it a truly fair test. Again, I was willing to splurge on the off chance it actually did miraculously clear my skin when no other product did. Insert face palm emoji here.

(Another reason I wanted to test Halo Beauty for longer than one month is because I am a *lady* and get ~THE BLOOD~ each month. This affects my hormone levels which in turn dramatically affects the quality of my skin, so testing any skin product for less than a month doesn’t give conclusive results.)

Halo Beauty’s Kiwi Seed Booster: the facts

Okay y’all, let’s get into the science of Halo Beauty. Here’s the Kiwi Skin Booster’s supplement facts, so we can get into it.

The short version is: none of these things are bad for you, but equally, none of these things have been scientifically proven to positively impact your skin. Plus, many of these vitamins (D3, B1, B2, B6, and Zinc) can be very easily found in multivitamins at a MUCH LOWER price point.

The Unnatural Vegan did an excellent, thorough breakdown of each component in this supplement, and researched to find ANY conclusive scientific studies showing evidence of skin benefits. Spoiler: there aren’t any. Here’s her video if you want to deep dive into the facts. (Note: she is reviewing Halo Beauty’s hair, skin, and nails supplement, but many of the ingredients are the same as the skin-only one.)

My experience taking Halo Beauty’s Kiwi Seed Booster

This is probably the part you really want to hear about, right? Did I see any changes in my skin? Nope.

My pores are the same size as when I started, the amount of redness I experience remains unchanged, and I still get breakouts. Mind you, some days my skin was very clear, and some days it horrifically broke out. But just like with any month and a half period, the fluctuations in my skin were due to where in my cycle I was (yes, I’m taking about ~THE BLOOD~ again) and other lifestyle factors like how much sleep I got, and how my eating habits were at that time.

So, what should you do for better skin?

Don’t be like me. Don’t get bamboozled by products making too-good-to-be-true claims. Be better than me. Or as Melania Trump would put it, #BeBest.

If you want to improve your skin, your best bet is cleaning up your lifestyle choices. Unfortunately there’s no substitute for drinking plenty of water, eating healthy (less processed foods, more fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes), and getting enough sleep.

My skin doesn’t lie. When I was eating well and sleeping enough, my skin was as clear as it could be (still not perfect, but pretty good.) When I was under-slept, and had stress hormones coursing through me, I made bad food choices too. And eating processed sugar and dairy clearly did not make my skin happy.

Layering on top of all that are my menstrual cycle hormones, that really don’t give a sh*t about how healthy I’m eating and how I’m sleeping. At certain points in my cycle, I break out badly, and that’s just that. If you also suffer from hormonal breakouts, Halo Beauty isn’t going to change that.

In conclusion

Before and after photos can be deceiving, and anyone can make bold, unsubstantiated claims. Over the course of a month, I could have taken a photo of my skin while heavily broken out, and put that side-by-side with a photo of my skin on a good skin day – without having taken a single skin supplement. Seeing that, you’d think I got dramatic results from a mystery product, when in reality it’s just…the normal ups and downs of blemish-prone skin.

So if you feel the itch to spend money on something to improve the look of your skin, you’d be better off treating yourself to some fresh produce, or a good concealer.

Until next time!

– Sara

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