Add this to your skin-care vocabulary: Tremella fuciformis, also known as snow mushroom. It sounds like something Queen Elsa would order on her pizza, and yes, it is a fungus, but it looks more like a white gelatinous flower than a mushroom. It's commonly used in traditional sweet Chinese foods (like snow fungus soup) and has also been a staple ingredient in Asian medicine and skin care for thousands of years. Now it's popping up as an active ingredient in skin-care products in this part of the world, including in Volition's Snow Mushroom Water Serum and Moon Juice's Beauty Shroom Plumping Jelly Serum.

As far back as the imperial Tang dynasty, concubine Yang Guifei (713 to 756) — one of China's famed four great beauties — is said to have credited the snow mushroom with maintaining her youthful appearance. Modern science can explain why: Cosmetic chemist Ginger King says silver ear mushrooms, yet another name for tremella fuciformis, are a popular dessert delicacy in Asia due to their ability to boost skin hydration when taken internally. "Due to the gelatinous structure and high amount of polysaccharide, it has been used in skin care to provide hydration as well," she tells Allure.

Dermatologist Dendy Engelman, the director of dermatologic surgery at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, says the fungus acts similar to that of hydration powerhouse hyaluronic acid by pulling moisture to the skin. Hyaluronic acid can hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water, so finding an all-natural match for its hydrating power is pretty major. And snow mushroom has an extra edge. "The particles are smaller than hyaluronic acid so it penetrates the skin more easily," says Engelman. She cautions, however, that she wants to see more targeted studies on the ingredient's skin-care properties before she hails it as a magic mushroom.

This fungus sure looks promising, though, and the skin-care industry is catching on quick. In addition to Volition's Snow Mushroom Water Serum and Moon Juice's Beauty Shroom Plumping Jelly Serum — both designed to enhance skin elasticity through intense hydration, while simultaneously working to reduce signs of inflammation — you can also find snow mushroom in the Tata Harper Clarifying Moisturizer, Joanna Vargas Euphoria Face Mask, and Kypris Glow Philtra.

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