Camellia Japonica Flower Extract

Camellia Japonica Flower Extract comes from the Japanese Camellia plant (a cousin of the green tea plant). This plant is native to East Asia and known as "Tsubaki" in Japanese.

It's a flower extract packed with flavonoids and phenolic acids that give it most of its skincare value. In lab tests on human skin cells, the ethanol extract of the flower mopped up free radicals and boosted the skin's own antioxidant enzymes.

A separate study found the flower extract had solid antioxidant activity and reduced the reactive oxygen species that urban air pollution triggers in skin cells.

Newer work also points at anti-aging and calming effects:

One 2025 paper tied the extract and its component hyperoside to collagen III and elastin production plus better skin-barrier protein expression. A mouse study on eczema-like skin found four weeks of topical camellia extract reduced inflammation and itch-related markers.

Just know that most of these studies are cell-culture and animal work and not human trials. For now, it's best to treat it as a nice supporting antioxidant rather than a headline active.

At this time, there's no published regulatory use-level for this specific ingredient; suppliers usually sell it as a water/glycerin-based extract used in the low single-digit percent range.

There's no published contact-allergy case reports for this ingredient but as with any botanical, a patch test is sensible if you react to plant extracts generally.