Slightly Peckish: Omiyage from Japan: Placenta C Jelly Supplement

Yup, you read it right. This is a present from one of my Japanese friends who visited London last year: a seven day supplement for young and puru-puru (plump and quivering) skin. Although placenta in skincare has been around in Japan for years, it's only recently that I've begun to see them appearing in the UK, usually in high-end beauty parlours where they do botox and carve up your face.

I like trying different ingredients but the word placenta just sends me into a squeamish place. Really, I can't. I mean, it's not even food, right? However, since my friend brought me this Placenta C Jelly which is low-calorie and mango-flavoured, I've been trying to work up my courage to give it a go. What I do for Umami Mart, eh?



It says in Japanese that there are 15,000 mgs of placenta extract in one box. You'll be relieved to know it's pig placenta and not human.



The box contains a week's supply of the beauty jelly. Each tube has 10g of jelly with only 3.3 kcal and is sugar and caffeine-free.



On top of the 15,000g of placenta extract, it also has 1,500mg of collagen, 50mg of elastin, 100mg of vitamin C, 10mg of hyaluronic acid, 25mg of birds nest extract and 3,000μg of ceramide per box. Lots of ingredients that'll make beauty maniacs froth at the mouth. Also some that are ethically ambiguous.



The jelly is slightly opaque and quite firm. It's rather shiny and beautiful.



And most importantly, what about the taste? Well, I was extremely surprised that it actually tasted like a proper mango. In fact, it tasted way better than a lot of other mango flavoured sweets I've tried. Most of them are gross and I usually only eat the real fruit. Yeah, I'm snobbish like that. As it's low calorie, there is a strong taste of sweetener (erythritol is the first item listed in the ingredients) amongst other additives, but it's not bad at all. Pretty impressive.

And my skin? Not really sure if it's made much of a difference. I'll probably have to eat bucketloads of the stuff for it to work but if I think too much about the placenta, I know I'm going to gag due to my overactive imagination.



So, would you try it?