“You can’t be all things to all people, and a brand can’t be all things to all people. A brand can be as big as it gets with tons of money supporting it. But, there has to be a point of difference to stand out to consumers.” —Carmine Montalto
Most beauty founders drown in a saturated market, chasing viral trends while struggling to build brands that resonate. They sacrifice authenticity for algorithms, forgetting that true loyalty starts with a razor-sharp point of view—not pink packaging or empty promises.
Carmine Montalto is a NYC-based brand strategist with 25 years of beauty industry mastery, from Barneys’ cosmetics floors to judging global innovation awards. He’s named hundreds of products and built category-disrupting brands by marrying scientific rigor with soulful storytelling.
Tune in as Justine and Carmine dissect sunscreen myths, expose hyaluronic acid’s "plumping" deception, and reveal why SPF 30 outperforms SPF 50—then discover how to carve your niche in a market screaming for authenticity.
Meet Carmine:
Carmine Montalto is a NYC-based copywriter, brand advisor, blogger and podcaster with 25 years doing what he loves to do - write. With extensive expertise in beauty across every category – skincare, hair care, body care, fragrance, makeup, men’s, and oral care – Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of products, crafted packaging copy, written brand & product concepts, and created compelling digital campaigns.
Carmine uses his Skincarma blog and companion podcast to demystify perceptions about skincare. He leverages his extensive knowledge, experience and wit to deliver education on skincare products and ingredients, breaking down how to use them effectively to optimize your skin health. For the past three years, Carmine has been a judge in the annual Beauty Matter NEXT awards in the product innovation category.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Highlights:
00:55 From Clearasil To Cosmetics: Carmine’s Accidental Beauty Career
08:07 Sunscreen Showdown: Mineral Vs. Chemical Filters Demystified
10:25 Why Loving Your Sunscreen Matters More Than Its Spf
22:44 Brand-Building 101: Brand Focus
24:27 Top Innovations: Peptides, Exosomes & The Rise Of "Skin Health"
27:42 Spf 30 Vs. SPF 50
29:06 Beauty Fads That Flopped (And Ones That Deserve A Comeback)
31:21 The Hyaluronic Acid Myth: Why "Plumping" Isn’t Hydrating
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman: (00:00):
Good morning and welcome to Essential
(00:14):
Ingredients. So excited to sitdown with our loyal listeners
and anyone who is new and tuningin. Thanks for taking the time
to tune in each week, whetheryou're new or just joining us
for the first time, it means alot to us, and we're so
grateful. So this week's episodeis one you're not going to want
to miss. It features a gentlemannamed Carmine who is in the
(00:36):
beauty space. He's superinteresting, inspiring, and has
lots to share. We're going tolearn a lot about the future of
beauty, so stay tuned. You'renot going to want to miss this.
But if you could just maybeintroduce yourself, Carmine,
tell everybody who you are and alittle bit about your blog.
Carmine Montalto: (00:57):
I am a Brooklyn based writer and
copywriter, kind of brand guru,and a skincare lover. I've had a
long career in beauty that datesback 30 years. I got my start
behind on the sales floor as acosmetic department manager. I
(01:21):
was in beauty for quite a whilein retail. I have an English
degree, and I always intended tobe a teacher. I had this side of
me that was focused on languageand writing. And I'm talking
like I studied Latin in highschool. I was that kid, and they
(01:42):
converged my passion for beauty,for writing and language
converged. And I became acopywriter, and then a brand
expert, and then a blogger. Iwasn't ever intending to become
a blogger, but I started theSkincarma Blog in 2016, I
believe. I was living in JerseyCity, and took off from there.
(02:08):
To be honest, it just happened.A lot of my career is organic,
like these. Things just happen.I had no skincare routine
growing up. I use Clearasil onmy face. I never used sunscreen.
Justine Reichman: (02:27):
I haven't heard that name--
Carmine Montalto: (02:30):
I just aged myself.
Justine Reichman: (02:34):
So did I, apparently.
Carmine Montalto: (02:36):
I was talking to a founder on my podcast
yesterday, and we were talkingabout the skincare habits of
young people these days. And shehad a very interesting point.
And I know you know about allthe rumblings going on in
beauty, about how young people,12 year old girls and boys even
are using these reallyaggressive skincare products on
(02:59):
their skin. And she said, youknow, that bothers me. But at
the same time, I have to thinkback to what I did to my face.
And she said, I use Stridex. AndI said, oh, my God. The same.
It's like rubbing alcohol. Is itworse to use a Retinoid than it
is to use rubbing alcohol? Idon't know. It was such a good
(03:22):
point, right?
Justine Reichman: (03:24):
Those products that we use, the
Stridex, I could see thepackaging, it always reminds me
of nail polish remover.
Carmine Montalto: (03:33):
Absolutely. Acetone, same thing.
Justine Reichman: (03:37):
Thing that we're putting on our face. So
now, we fast forward, and herewe are.
Carmine Montalto: (03:41):
We were doing that and not using sunscreen.
Justine Reichman: (03:45):
Using body oil.
Carmine Montalto: (03:49):
It was just the other day where I was
talking to a friend andremembering Miss Shara. She was
my 6th grade teacher. And everyday at lunch, she would go
outside with the third gradeteacher. And in a lounge chair
with that big foil wrapped overthe cardboard and sun herself
(04:10):
while we were racing around heron the playground. Can you
imagine that happening today?
Justine Reichman: (04:16):
It's funny, because we're also sensitive to
the sun. Skin cancer andwrinkles, aging and wrinkles,
all sorts of things. And I knowthat everybody that you talk to,
whether dermatologists arealways like, make sure you use
your sunscreen. Does yourmoisturizer have SPF? We might
(04:41):
use like six or four. Yeah,right. But you thought, oh,
we're not gonna get any tan.
Carmine Montalto: (04:47):
I'm gonna use a four, and certainly not going
to use it around your eyes. Ihave this conversation with
people all the time. I had afriend come up from Florida. He
moved down there after COVID,and he was talking about how he
had, is it IPL where they removedark spots in your complexion
with lasers? And I'm like, couldyou just use sunscreen and
(05:11):
prevent the dark spots fromforming? I'm like, it's so hard
to read. He's like, I had to goback twice to get certain ones.
They were so deep and I said,you've got to start using
sunscreen in your eye area.Everybody's worrying about
burning their eyes, gettingsunscreen in their eyes, and
then they don't use anysunscreen. And that really
(05:31):
bothers me because it's the mostdelicate skin on your face, and
you're leaving the most delicateskin on your face exposed
because you don't want it toburn your eyes. Like, come on.
I've been using sunscreen aroundmy eyes since I was 22.
Justine Reichman: (05:44):
Yeah. I'm not quite as diligent as you are
now. I do have my sunscreen.It's from Dr. Dennis Gross, the
yellow bottle. I use that one.
Carmine Montalto: (05:55):
I love that product.
Justine Reichman: (05:56):
Yeah, it's a really good product, and it
doesn't make your face allwhite. It doesn't do anything
weird. And I like it becauseit's not just SPF, it's skin
care. This is gonna sound weird,but you can either buy makeup or
skincare. I buy skincare thatmakes your face look better.
Carmine Montalto: (06:15):
Don't have to mask all your imperfections and
photo damage with makeup.
Justine Reichman: (06:21):
When you're talking about the eye thing, I
have a problem with that too.Depending on makeup, I have to
really be mindful of what's inmy
Carmine Montalto: (06:54):
thick texture. They go on like a
deodorant, and it stays put.Now, I don't wear eye makeup, so
I don't know the nitty grittydetails about how well these
sticks layer, some of them aremuch more emollient. There's one
from Glow Recipe that's superemollient that I love. I think
it's called Watermelon Dewy Bombor something? SPF 9000, and it
(07:19):
glides around the eyes. I'massuming that you can apply
makeup over it because it's notdrying. It's very emollient, but
that's the trick. That's myhack.
Justine Reichman: (07:29):
As we're coming into summer, it's nice
here all year round where I am.I'm in Northern California, but
the truth is the sun is out allthe time. Whether it's 40
degrees or 80 degrees, it'sstill important to do this. I'm
curious because there's been somany conversations around the
(07:51):
ingredients in the products.They talk about the natural
ingredients, and they talk aboutbiotechnology. They talk about
not getting some of the stuff,but it's not really going in
your bloodstream. What are yourthoughts on that?
Carmine Montalto: (08:09):
My first thought is always, if you find a
sunscreen you love, use it. Itdoesn't matter. It's secondary,
whether it's chemical ormineral. If it's mineral and you
love it, that's terrific. And Ihave tons of mineral sunscreens
that I love, that I've worked onbranding, and packaging that I
(08:33):
recommend all the time. But ifyou find a sunscreen you love,
$10 Trader Joe's chemicalsunscreen. I don't know, I don't
even know if that exists, andyou love it, go for it. Use it.
90% this is from the Skin CancerFoundation. 90% of visible
changes to the skin are causedby UV rays. I talk about how the
(08:59):
best anti-aging product you havein your medicine cabinet is
sunscreen. And just becausebrands don't market sunscreens
as anti aging doesn't mean thatthey're not the best anti aging
product. Marketers created thiscategory called anti aging so
they could sell you moreexpensive creams. And for most
of the time, they don't reallydo anything but moisturize. So
(09:21):
primarily, to me, is aboutfinding a sunscreen you love.
Secondarily, there is someevidence coming to the fore that
chemical sunscreens do seep intobecause the whole point of a
chemical sunscreen is that itgets absorbed by the skin and it
blocks UV rays that way.Physical sunscreens don't get
(09:44):
absorbed. They sit on the verytop surface of your skin. So
anything you apply, it gets intoyour body. If there's chemical
filters, and they're not goodfor you long term, then that's a
problem. But to me, there's somany other things going on in my
day that are not good for melong term. The last thing I'm
(10:07):
worried about is chemicalsunscreens. What I'm really
starting to worry about ismicroplastics. Breathing all of
Justine Reichman: (10:13):
I do want to go back so that the folks that
are tuning in, we can talk tothem a little bit. And if they
were to just ask you, you gotinto blogging. And originally,
you started in housewares, isthat correct?
Carmine Montalto: (10:25):
I did.
Justine Reichman: (10:30):
People really do make these leaps and make
these jumps. They don'tnecessarily think like, I don't
know how to do that. What thatjourney was like for you?
Carmine Montalto: (10:40):
Talk about imposter in your job. I went
from Stridex Pads to AssistantManager of cosmetics. That's a
leap. So right after college, Imoved back home. I went to
college in Worcester,Massachusetts, and I moved back
home to Connecticut for abouteight months, I guess. And in
(11:04):
that period, I started a parttime job at a department store
in Connecticut as the assistantmanager of housewares. And I
loved it. I loved straighteningand filling in the cutlery sets
and all that stuff. I rememberthese to compliment my cutlery
wall, and then I knew that Iwasn't staying there. My college
(11:28):
roommate had moved to LA. Andwhen I was growing up, I hated
the cold. I still hate the cold.I'm 10 years old waiting at the
bus stop in my two guys puffycoat shivering to death
thinking, the second I can getout of here, I'm going to
(11:49):
California. And I would justfantasize all the time. Either
aliens were taking me, or I wasmoving to California. One of
those had to happen, and Ifollowed my college roommate out
to LA. I actually went outthere. It was the middle of
February. It was 28 degrees inConnecticut, and I landed in LA.
(12:09):
I came out of baggage claim atLAX onto the sidewalk, and you
would have thought that I was inpurgatory. I could not even
believe it was heaven. Icouldn't believe how warm it
was. I hadn't felt warm likethat in my life. I'd never been
(12:30):
to the tropics. I hadn't been toCaliforni. I had gone to Europe
on a high school trip, but itwasn't warm. It was like April.
I get out there, and I hadtransferred my job to a
department store in LA. A sistercompany of the department store
(12:51):
that was here. I go to HR, andthey're like, you're good.
Everything is set, but we need afavor from you before we put you
in housewares. The cosmeticdepartment manager is brand new.
She's young. Of course, I was 22so she was 22 and a half. She
(13:14):
was my age, and we just finishedMother's Day, and it was a
disaster. It was really tough.This was a very high visibility
flagship store for May Company.Do you remember May Company?
Justine Reichman: (13:27):
Yeah. That's where jobs right after college
to get into fashion,merchandising or buying the
buying Pro.
Carmine Montalto: (13:37):
Totally. This was May Company at Wilshire and
Fairfax, where the LACMA Museumis now, or the Motion Picture
Academy Museum is now. In thatcorner with that big gold that
was a fragrance bottle, thatgold thing on the corner was a
replica of a fragrance bottle.And so I was like, you want me
to go to cosmetics? I don't knowanything about cosmetics. I had
(14:05):
an Aramis fragrance. Thatclassic Aramis fragrance that my
mother bought me at G Fox at thedepartment store I was working
when I was 16 years old. And thereason she bought it for me is
because the girl behind thecounter told her that it was an
aphrodisiac. And that excited mymother. Oh, my God, maybe he's
going to start having aninterest in women. Aramis did
(14:25):
not work. And so I was like,Yeah, I guess so. I had no
choice. They had transferred meso I went down to the sales
floor, and I was the assistantmanager of cosmetics for two
days before I went back upstairsto HR. I asked her if I could
stay, and she was like, well,sure. I loved every second of
(14:50):
that job. It was amazing. It wasdynamic. There was always
something amazing going on. Andthere were all of these people
like, if I'm up in housewares,I'm on the floor by myself
usually, but I'm here. Therewere all these incredible women
who were very senior, you know,most of them were in their 60s
(15:14):
or 70s. They were countermanagers on Elizabeth Arden and
Germaine Monteil and Ultima 2.And they'd been there for 20,
30, 40 years in this departmentstore. They kind of took this
kid, this 22 year old kid whoknew nothing about beauty,
(15:35):
cosmetics or skincare undertheir wing, and they all taught
me everything they knew. That'show I start in beauty. Learning
from all of these incrediblyexperienced, intelligent and
passionate women. They lovedwhat they did, and they made me
love what I did. And so I wasliterally on that sales floor as
(15:58):
the assistant manager ofcosmetics for nine months before
I got promoted to my own store.They were opening a brand new
store in Northridge, and thatwas my baby. I was the cosmetics
manager in this brand new store,and it was amazing. I had
Charles of the Ritz custompowders. It was the first time a
(16:19):
brand had custom powders. Youcould come up to the counter and
we would customize your facepowder. It was so cool. And so I
did that for, I think it wasfour or five years at May
Company. And then I realizedthat I really want to stay in
this. I love being in thisindustry. And there was one
(16:42):
glaring problem, and it was thatMay Company did not have the big
three. They didn't haveClinique, they didn't have
Lancome, and they didn't haveEstee Lauder. I knew that's
where it was at, and I neededthat. And so I jumped ship, and
I went to Bullocks in CenturyCity where I was the cosmetics
manager, and I had Lauder,Lancome and Clinique.
Justine Reichman: (17:04):
And then how'd you end up in blogging?
Carmine Montalto: (17:07):
Yeah. So from there, I ended up at Barney's. I
was the cosmetics manager atBarneys, Beverly Hills.
Justine Reichman: (17:13):
I gotta say, my heart was with the one on
17th street. That's where I grewup. My mom would go shopping,
and I'd go shopping with her.
Carmine Montalto: (17:23):
And then I'm sure that was magical. So
Kiehl's was my number one brand.I never heard of Kiehl's in my
life. I came from the Lauder,Lancome and Clinique world,
remember? And so we had Kiehl's.And the day the store opened,
Mr. Morse had flown in with hisdaughter, Jamie, and they came
(17:46):
into the store in their leatherbomber jackets. I was so
enthralled by that. I was like,you people are wild. I fell in
love with Kiehl's. And it wasn'tsoon after that they had created
a position as a copywriter inNew York. In their New York
offices, they'd never had acopywriter. I flew back here to
(18:10):
interview for the job, and I gotit on the spot. They were like,
how soon can you start? How sooncould I start? I live in LA.
They gave me 10 days. L'Orealgave me 10 days to move to New
York, and I did it. I sold mycar in those 10 days, packed up
(18:30):
the house, said goodbye to allmy friends, and drove to New
York in a U haul. I was atKiehl's in house for seven years
or so before I branched out todo my own thing, and that was in
2008, I think. And while I wasdoing my own thing, starting my
(18:50):
own agency, party of one whereI've worked on probably 100
brands at this point, helpingthem refine their brand
identity, or create their brandidentity from scratch and work
on product, naming andpackaging, then I started to
look at blogging. And itactually happened. One day, I
(19:12):
was scrolling my Instagram feed,and I saw this one post. It was
a shelfie back in the day whenshelfies were hot. It was a
shelfie, and this person'sproducts were all pink. It was a
pink shelfie. All the productswere pink, whatever brand it
was. If it was a pink product ina pink jar and a pink lid,
(19:36):
whatever she had it in hercabinet. And I was looking at
the comments, and everybody wasso enthralled with this. And it
horrified me that anybody wouldthink that a pink bottle meant
that the product inside was anygood. And I thought, my voice
needs to be in this because Ihave all of this experience.
(19:58):
I've worked in-house on a brand,and I've worked on the sales
floor. I know this industryinside and out. I know you how
to make a skincare product, whatdrives a skincare product, and
what drives efficacy, and I juststarted a blog that. It was a
Saturday morning. I rememberthat I was texting a friend of
(20:21):
mine, and we came up with thename Skincarma. I don't really
remember, she might have doneit. The creative juices were
flowing, and it was likeSkincarma. I went over and
created a new account onInstagram called Skincarma, and
that's how it started. And Ihaven't stopped.
Justine Reichman: (20:41):
That's so fun. And I think that it's
interesting. As you're tellingme this story, I'm remembering
when I started my company. Iwent home and made a website.
Somebody asked me if I didsomething, and it all exploded
after that. And I think we havea lot of founders that tune in
and watch this podcast.Everybody always expects that
(21:03):
you put together a businessplan. It was really thought out.
And I'm not saying that thatdoesn't occur. But I'm saying as
much as that occurs, thisoccurs. I think it's really
important to tell people that.Because I think sometimes, they
get stuck in their own way.
Carmine Montalto: (21:19):
For sure. I honestly am so fortunate that I
found what I loved at 22, and Ihave not stopped. I have
continued to do that. And Ithink this all the time, when
I'm in the cafe, or I'm at themovie theater, or the post
office, or wherever, you comeacross someone who's being paid
(21:39):
to do what they do in front ofyou, right? I always think to
myself, do they love it? Do theylove doing it? You can usually
tell that they don't love doingwhat they're doing. And anytime
I've gotten myself to a place,it's happened mostly when I get
elevated to a management rolethat I realized that this isn't
(22:03):
what I love doing. What I lovedoing is writing and creative,
like coming up with cool ideasand refining brand identities. I
don't want to manage anything.
Justine Reichman: (22:16):
Well, it's interesting what you just said.
You can create the brand, andyou don't need to own it and run
it on a day to day basis. And Ithink that sometimes, people
forget that they can developsomething and then get somebody
else to run it, because that'snot their core competency. If
you have a great idea, there'sno reason you could say, I'm
(22:37):
going to sell it. Or I'm goingto be on the board of directors,
and you can still do what youlove or help other brands,
right?
Carmine Montalto: (22:44):
Yeah, absolutely. That's my expertise.
Justine Reichman: (22:47):
If you had one of our founders calling in
or asking you, I want to build anew brand, I'm interested in
launching a new brand. What aresome of the things that they
should consider before they takethe leap?
Carmine Montalto: (23:00):
They should ask themselves if they really
want this. I talk to founders alot on my podcast, and it's
grueling. It is verychallenging. You wear a lot of
hats. It's not just about allthe sexy stuff, the packaging
and the product naming, andtrying 500 versions of this
serum with peptides in it.That's the cool stuff. And if
(23:23):
that sustains you, great. Butyou have to have a point of
difference that is so key. Ithas always been the key, and it
always will be the key no matterthe competition. You have to
stand out. And if you have apoint of difference and a point
of view on beauty, skin, all ofthat. If you're focused on skin
(23:47):
barrier health, great and focuson skin barrier health because
there's a customer for that. Ifyou're focused on eczema and
helping people with super dry,sensitive skin, that's your
niche. You can't be all thingsto all people. A brand can't be
all things to all people.Certainly it can be, as it gets
(24:08):
big and there's tons of moneysupporting it.
Justine Reichman: (24:11):
I agree. And innovation is so big these days.
They're trying to do things withbetter, free products, and then
they're trying biotech. So I'mcurious, with all of that in
mind, you just judge of BeautyMatters Awards, what was the top
three innovative things thatyou're seeing?
Carmine Montalto: (24:27):
Last summer when I reviewed, I think it was
200 products, there were a lotof sunscreen innovations, which
I love. A lot of peptideinnovations and then adjacent
actives like growth factors.There was a lot of that. And,
(24:49):
you know, I think you know thatwe're seeing exosomes come to
the fore this year. The hotingredient of the year is
exosomes. I probably beinundated with exosome serums.
Who knows? I don't know. That'sthe cool part of it. I have no
idea. I see what I see, what Ihave visibility to, but I don't
(25:10):
have visibility on everything. Idon't collaborate with every
skincare brand. There's a lot ofstuff going on out there so I
think what's really cool, and Isee this escalating and becoming
clearer, and that is skinhealth. I know that sounds so
(25:31):
vague, but it's not because skinhealth really requires a few
elements. And first and foremostis sunscreen. And the number one
reason people give for not usingsunscreen is they hate how it
feels on their face. They'recompletely willing to risk all
the sun damage and skin cancerbecause they can't stand how
(25:52):
sunscreens feel. So when I seebrands innovating with sun care
products that are pleasurableand that make you want to use
them, one just came across mydesk a week ago, and I'm really
obsessed with this. And Ithought this morning, I have
probably 20 facial sunscreensthat I can reach for in the
(26:15):
morning. And I was like, oh, myGod. I want to use this one. I
really love the texture. I lovethe whole experience of it, and
that's not easy to achieve witha sunscreen. Sunscreen
development can take two, threeyears. I was talking to, I don't
know if you listen to MarkCurry, the founder of The Inkey
(26:36):
List on my podcast last week,and he was talking about how
long it's taken for them todevelop a mineral sunscreen. To
your point earlier that ispleasurable, and that is an SPF
50. Which means it has a highconcentration of zinc oxide,
titanium dioxide, or combinationof the two. That means it's
(26:59):
going to have a white cast. Andso they're really, really,
really toiling to develop amineral sunscreen with a high
SPF that is also - they'rereally masters at product
innovation. And the fact thatthey're not struggling, but
they're really, really workinghard, and it's taking a while
(27:20):
tells you everything about thatone particular product, the most
important product in yourarsenal.
Justine Reichman: (27:26):
So for our friends that are tuning in and
people in the industry, orpeople that are just curious
about how to approach sunscreenthis summer, is there anything
that you think besides that itfeels good and they're going to
use it that they should look forin their sunscreens?
Carmine Montalto: (27:42):
Honestly, I think SPF is overplayed. I think
an SPF 30 is fine. I can'tremember the exact numbers. SPF
50 blocks 98%, I guess, I doremember 98% of UV rays. And SPF
30 blocks 97% it's negligible.So if you find an SPF 30 that
(28:07):
you love and it's a mineralsunscreen, you can find
pleasurable mineral sunscreensat SPF 30. It's SPF 50, that's
the real issue. That's key. Andpair it with a sun stick like we
talked about earlier that youcan use in your immediate eye
area, I'm talking about in here,right up to the eyelashes like
(28:27):
this, all needs to be protected.And that's the reason why we
show age on our face, around oureyes first, because that's the
thinnest skin, and it's exposedfor the longest and it breaks
down.
Justine Reichman: (28:44):
Before we wrap things up, we have people
that are innovating in thisspace that are listening and
tuning in, I always try to thinkof the questions that they're
coming up with, right? So onething that came up for me was,
are there any beauty fads thatyou think died out before it's
Carmine Montalto: (29:06):
I thought there was something to skin
time?
cycling, but that petered out.Do you remember that it was like
two years ago where it wasreally about using really potent
actives on specific nights ofthe week, and then giving your
skin time to rest the nightafter. And I liked I liked that.
(29:30):
It made sense. I felt like itwas easy for people to follow
because people are, of course,confused about their skincare
routines and what their skinneeds. I thought that was cool.
I feel like slugging should havestayed around a little bit
longer. I'm a big fan ofpetrolatum, Vaseline, La Mer.
(29:50):
Number two ingredient ispetrolatum, aka Vaseline. And
probably those two trends, I'mtrying to think like, what other
trends disappeared, and I hadjust written about this in my
blog a few weeks ago. I'm gladthat the peptide trend is not a
trend. It seems to be enduring,and people are incorporating
peptides into their skincareroutines regularly. I think
(30:14):
that's a big deal. I do thinkthat there are ingredient trends
that need to go away. Thehyaluronic acid thing is crazy
to me. When you look at thescience, hyaluronic acid does
not penetrate the skin barrier.It stays in the top surface
layer of your skin and issupposed to draw water from the
(30:36):
air. But it doesn't draw waterfrom the air. When the air is
dry in New York City, it drawswater from deep down in your
skin and pulls it forward to thesurface where it evaporates out
of your face.
Justine Reichman: (30:47):
Does it matter what percentage it's at?
Carmine Montalto: (30:50):
It should be at 0%. I don't use hyaluronic
acid at all. I don't think it'sgood for your skin health. I
think it's like a fake sensorialexperience. It makes your skin
feel soft and plump. All thesehigh priced anti aging products,
that's what they do. They makethe surface of your skin feel
(31:11):
soft and plump, but they don'treally do anything else to
moderate aging or or anythingdeeper than that. They're skin
deep.
Justine Reichman: (31:21):
They're skin deep. Thank you so much for
joining me today. Our listeners,our followers, it is a great
conversation we learned. Ilearned so much, and I am going
to stay tuned for thoserecommendations.
Carmine Montalto: (31:34):
Okay. They're coming your way, I promise. I'm
going to email them to you rightnow.
Justine Reichman: (31:38):
In the meantime, for those folks that
want to tune into your podcast,where could they go find that?
Carmine Montalto: (31:43):
You can find me on Apple podcasts and Spotify
at Skincarma, S-K-I-N-C-A-R-M-A,or my blog@skinkarma.com, and on
substack.
Justine Reichman: (31:56):
Awesome. Thanks so much.
Carmine Montalto: (31:57):
Thanks, Justine, this is awesome.
Justine Reichman: (31:59):
Thanks for tuning in today, whether you
watched it on video at YouTube,or you downloaded our podcast at
Essential Ingredients, we're sohappy that you tuned in. Don't
forget to follow us on Instagramat
justine.reichman@ssential.ingredients.Stay tuned as we have a new
episode every week that goeslive on Tuesday.
Good morning and welcome to Essential
(00:14):
Ingredients. So excited to sitdown with our loyal listeners
and anyone who is new and tuningin. Thanks for taking the time
to tune in each week, whetheryou're new or just joining us
for the first time, it means alot to us, and we're so
grateful. So this week's episodeis one you're not going to want
to miss. It features a gentlemannamed Carmine who is in the
(00:36):
beauty space. He's superinteresting, inspiring, and has
lots to share. We're going tolearn a lot about the future of
beauty, so stay tuned. You'renot going to want to miss this.
But if you could just maybeintroduce yourself, Carmine,
tell everybody who you are and alittle bit about your blog.
Carmine Montalto: (00:57):
I am a Brooklyn based writer and
copywriter, kind of brand guru,and a skincare lover. I've had a
long career in beauty that datesback 30 years. I got my start
behind on the sales floor as acosmetic department manager. I
(01:21):
was in beauty for quite a whilein retail. I have an English
degree, and I always intended tobe a teacher. I had this side of
me that was focused on languageand writing. And I'm talking
like I studied Latin in highschool. I was that kid, and they
(01:42):
converged my passion for beauty,for writing and language
converged. And I became acopywriter, and then a brand
expert, and then a blogger. Iwasn't ever intending to become
a blogger, but I started theSkincarma Blog in 2016, I
believe. I was living in JerseyCity, and took off from there.
(02:08):
To be honest, it just happened.A lot of my career is organic,
like these. Things just happen.I had no skincare routine
growing up. I use Clearasil onmy face. I never used sunscreen.
Justine Reichman: (02:27):
I haven't heard that name--
Carmine Montalto: (02:30):
I just aged myself.
Justine Reichman: (02:34):
So did I, apparently.
Carmine Montalto: (02:36):
I was talking to a founder on my podcast
yesterday, and we were talkingabout the skincare habits of
young people these days. And shehad a very interesting point.
And I know you know about allthe rumblings going on in
beauty, about how young people,12 year old girls and boys even
are using these reallyaggressive skincare products on
(02:59):
their skin. And she said, youknow, that bothers me. But at
the same time, I have to thinkback to what I did to my face.
And she said, I use Stridex. AndI said, oh, my God. The same.
It's like rubbing alcohol. Is itworse to use a Retinoid than it
is to use rubbing alcohol? Idon't know. It was such a good
(03:22):
point, right?
Justine Reichman: (03:24):
Those products that we use, the
Stridex, I could see thepackaging, it always reminds me
of nail polish remover.
Carmine Montalto: (03:33):
Absolutely. Acetone, same thing.
Justine Reichman: (03:37):
Thing that we're putting on our face. So
now, we fast forward, and herewe are.
Carmine Montalto: (03:41):
We were doing that and not using sunscreen.
Justine Reichman: (03:45):
Using body oil.
Carmine Montalto: (03:49):
It was just the other day where I was
talking to a friend andremembering Miss Shara. She was
my 6th grade teacher. And everyday at lunch, she would go
outside with the third gradeteacher. And in a lounge chair
with that big foil wrapped overthe cardboard and sun herself
(04:10):
while we were racing around heron the playground. Can you
imagine that happening today?
Justine Reichman: (04:16):
It's funny, because we're also sensitive to
the sun. Skin cancer andwrinkles, aging and wrinkles,
all sorts of things. And I knowthat everybody that you talk to,
whether dermatologists arealways like, make sure you use
your sunscreen. Does yourmoisturizer have SPF? We might
(04:41):
use like six or four. Yeah,right. But you thought, oh,
we're not gonna get any tan.
Carmine Montalto: (04:47):
I'm gonna use a four, and certainly not going
to use it around your eyes. Ihave this conversation with
people all the time. I had afriend come up from Florida. He
moved down there after COVID,and he was talking about how he
had, is it IPL where they removedark spots in your complexion
with lasers? And I'm like, couldyou just use sunscreen and
(05:11):
prevent the dark spots fromforming? I'm like, it's so hard
to read. He's like, I had to goback twice to get certain ones.
They were so deep and I said,you've got to start using
sunscreen in your eye area.Everybody's worrying about
burning their eyes, gettingsunscreen in their eyes, and
then they don't use anysunscreen. And that really
(05:31):
bothers me because it's the mostdelicate skin on your face, and
you're leaving the most delicateskin on your face exposed
because you don't want it toburn your eyes. Like, come on.
I've been using sunscreen aroundmy eyes since I was 22.
Justine Reichman: (05:44):
Yeah. I'm not quite as diligent as you are
now. I do have my sunscreen.It's from Dr. Dennis Gross, the
yellow bottle. I use that one.
Carmine Montalto: (05:55):
I love that product.
Justine Reichman: (05:56):
Yeah, it's a really good product, and it
doesn't make your face allwhite. It doesn't do anything
weird. And I like it becauseit's not just SPF, it's skin
care. This is gonna sound weird,but you can either buy makeup or
skincare. I buy skincare thatmakes your face look better.
Carmine Montalto: (06:15):
Don't have to mask all your imperfections and
photo damage with makeup.
Justine Reichman: (06:21):
When you're talking about the eye thing, I
have a problem with that too.Depending on makeup, I have to
really be mindful of what's inmy
Carmine Montalto: (06:54):
thick texture. They go on like a
deodorant, and it stays put.Now, I don't wear eye makeup, so
I don't know the nitty grittydetails about how well these
sticks layer, some of them aremuch more emollient. There's one
from Glow Recipe that's superemollient that I love. I think
it's called Watermelon Dewy Bombor something? SPF 9000, and it
(07:19):
glides around the eyes. I'massuming that you can apply
makeup over it because it's notdrying. It's very emollient, but
that's the trick. That's myhack.
Justine Reichman: (07:29):
As we're coming into summer, it's nice
here all year round where I am.I'm in Northern California, but
the truth is the sun is out allthe time. Whether it's 40
degrees or 80 degrees, it'sstill important to do this. I'm
curious because there's been somany conversations around the
(07:51):
ingredients in the products.They talk about the natural
ingredients, and they talk aboutbiotechnology. They talk about
not getting some of the stuff,but it's not really going in
your bloodstream. What are yourthoughts on that?
Carmine Montalto: (08:09):
My first thought is always, if you find a
sunscreen you love, use it. Itdoesn't matter. It's secondary,
whether it's chemical ormineral. If it's mineral and you
love it, that's terrific. And Ihave tons of mineral sunscreens
that I love, that I've worked onbranding, and packaging that I
(08:33):
recommend all the time. But ifyou find a sunscreen you love,
$10 Trader Joe's chemicalsunscreen. I don't know, I don't
even know if that exists, andyou love it, go for it. Use it.
90% this is from the Skin CancerFoundation. 90% of visible
changes to the skin are causedby UV rays. I talk about how the
(08:59):
best anti-aging product you havein your medicine cabinet is
sunscreen. And just becausebrands don't market sunscreens
as anti aging doesn't mean thatthey're not the best anti aging
product. Marketers created thiscategory called anti aging so
they could sell you moreexpensive creams. And for most
of the time, they don't reallydo anything but moisturize. So
(09:21):
primarily, to me, is aboutfinding a sunscreen you love.
Secondarily, there is someevidence coming to the fore that
chemical sunscreens do seep intobecause the whole point of a
chemical sunscreen is that itgets absorbed by the skin and it
blocks UV rays that way.Physical sunscreens don't get
(09:44):
absorbed. They sit on the verytop surface of your skin. So
anything you apply, it gets intoyour body. If there's chemical
filters, and they're not goodfor you long term, then that's a
problem. But to me, there's somany other things going on in my
day that are not good for melong term. The last thing I'm
(10:07):
worried about is chemicalsunscreens. What I'm really
starting to worry about ismicroplastics. Breathing all of
Justine Reichman: (10:13):
I do want to go back so that the folks that
are tuning in, we can talk tothem a little bit. And if they
were to just ask you, you gotinto blogging. And originally,
you started in housewares, isthat correct?
Carmine Montalto: (10:25):
I did.
Justine Reichman: (10:30):
People really do make these leaps and make
these jumps. They don'tnecessarily think like, I don't
know how to do that. What thatjourney was like for you?
Carmine Montalto: (10:40):
Talk about imposter in your job. I went
from Stridex Pads to AssistantManager of cosmetics. That's a
leap. So right after college, Imoved back home. I went to
college in Worcester,Massachusetts, and I moved back
home to Connecticut for abouteight months, I guess. And in
(11:04):
that period, I started a parttime job at a department store
in Connecticut as the assistantmanager of housewares. And I
loved it. I loved straighteningand filling in the cutlery sets
and all that stuff. I rememberthese to compliment my cutlery
wall, and then I knew that Iwasn't staying there. My college
(11:28):
roommate had moved to LA. Andwhen I was growing up, I hated
the cold. I still hate the cold.I'm 10 years old waiting at the
bus stop in my two guys puffycoat shivering to death
thinking, the second I can getout of here, I'm going to
(11:49):
California. And I would justfantasize all the time. Either
aliens were taking me, or I wasmoving to California. One of
those had to happen, and Ifollowed my college roommate out
to LA. I actually went outthere. It was the middle of
February. It was 28 degrees inConnecticut, and I landed in LA.
(12:09):
I came out of baggage claim atLAX onto the sidewalk, and you
would have thought that I was inpurgatory. I could not even
believe it was heaven. Icouldn't believe how warm it
was. I hadn't felt warm likethat in my life. I'd never been
(12:30):
to the tropics. I hadn't been toCaliforni. I had gone to Europe
on a high school trip, but itwasn't warm. It was like April.
I get out there, and I hadtransferred my job to a
department store in LA. A sistercompany of the department store
(12:51):
that was here. I go to HR, andthey're like, you're good.
Everything is set, but we need afavor from you before we put you
in housewares. The cosmeticdepartment manager is brand new.
She's young. Of course, I was 22so she was 22 and a half. She
(13:14):
was my age, and we just finishedMother's Day, and it was a
disaster. It was really tough.This was a very high visibility
flagship store for May Company.Do you remember May Company?
Justine Reichman: (13:27):
Yeah. That's where jobs right after college
to get into fashion,merchandising or buying the
buying Pro.
Carmine Montalto: (13:37):
Totally. This was May Company at Wilshire and
Fairfax, where the LACMA Museumis now, or the Motion Picture
Academy Museum is now. In thatcorner with that big gold that
was a fragrance bottle, thatgold thing on the corner was a
replica of a fragrance bottle.And so I was like, you want me
to go to cosmetics? I don't knowanything about cosmetics. I had
(14:05):
an Aramis fragrance. Thatclassic Aramis fragrance that my
mother bought me at G Fox at thedepartment store I was working
when I was 16 years old. And thereason she bought it for me is
because the girl behind thecounter told her that it was an
aphrodisiac. And that excited mymother. Oh, my God, maybe he's
going to start having aninterest in women. Aramis did
(14:25):
not work. And so I was like,Yeah, I guess so. I had no
choice. They had transferred meso I went down to the sales
floor, and I was the assistantmanager of cosmetics for two
days before I went back upstairsto HR. I asked her if I could
stay, and she was like, well,sure. I loved every second of
(14:50):
that job. It was amazing. It wasdynamic. There was always
something amazing going on. Andthere were all of these people
like, if I'm up in housewares,I'm on the floor by myself
usually, but I'm here. Therewere all these incredible women
who were very senior, you know,most of them were in their 60s
(15:14):
or 70s. They were countermanagers on Elizabeth Arden and
Germaine Monteil and Ultima 2.And they'd been there for 20,
30, 40 years in this departmentstore. They kind of took this
kid, this 22 year old kid whoknew nothing about beauty,
(15:35):
cosmetics or skincare undertheir wing, and they all taught
me everything they knew. That'show I start in beauty. Learning
from all of these incrediblyexperienced, intelligent and
passionate women. They lovedwhat they did, and they made me
love what I did. And so I wasliterally on that sales floor as
(15:58):
the assistant manager ofcosmetics for nine months before
I got promoted to my own store.They were opening a brand new
store in Northridge, and thatwas my baby. I was the cosmetics
manager in this brand new store,and it was amazing. I had
Charles of the Ritz custompowders. It was the first time a
(16:19):
brand had custom powders. Youcould come up to the counter and
we would customize your facepowder. It was so cool. And so I
did that for, I think it wasfour or five years at May
Company. And then I realizedthat I really want to stay in
this. I love being in thisindustry. And there was one
(16:42):
glaring problem, and it was thatMay Company did not have the big
three. They didn't haveClinique, they didn't have
Lancome, and they didn't haveEstee Lauder. I knew that's
where it was at, and I neededthat. And so I jumped ship, and
I went to Bullocks in CenturyCity where I was the cosmetics
manager, and I had Lauder,Lancome and Clinique.
Justine Reichman: (17:04):
And then how'd you end up in blogging?
Carmine Montalto: (17:07):
Yeah. So from there, I ended up at Barney's. I
was the cosmetics manager atBarneys, Beverly Hills.
Justine Reichman: (17:13):
I gotta say, my heart was with the one on
17th street. That's where I grewup. My mom would go shopping,
and I'd go shopping with her.
Carmine Montalto: (17:23):
And then I'm sure that was magical. So
Kiehl's was my number one brand.I never heard of Kiehl's in my
life. I came from the Lauder,Lancome and Clinique world,
remember? And so we had Kiehl's.And the day the store opened,
Mr. Morse had flown in with hisdaughter, Jamie, and they came
(17:46):
into the store in their leatherbomber jackets. I was so
enthralled by that. I was like,you people are wild. I fell in
love with Kiehl's. And it wasn'tsoon after that they had created
a position as a copywriter inNew York. In their New York
offices, they'd never had acopywriter. I flew back here to
(18:10):
interview for the job, and I gotit on the spot. They were like,
how soon can you start? How sooncould I start? I live in LA.
They gave me 10 days. L'Orealgave me 10 days to move to New
York, and I did it. I sold mycar in those 10 days, packed up
(18:30):
the house, said goodbye to allmy friends, and drove to New
York in a U haul. I was atKiehl's in house for seven years
or so before I branched out todo my own thing, and that was in
2008, I think. And while I wasdoing my own thing, starting my
(18:50):
own agency, party of one whereI've worked on probably 100
brands at this point, helpingthem refine their brand
identity, or create their brandidentity from scratch and work
on product, naming andpackaging, then I started to
look at blogging. And itactually happened. One day, I
(19:12):
was scrolling my Instagram feed,and I saw this one post. It was
a shelfie back in the day whenshelfies were hot. It was a
shelfie, and this person'sproducts were all pink. It was a
pink shelfie. All the productswere pink, whatever brand it
was. If it was a pink product ina pink jar and a pink lid,
(19:36):
whatever she had it in hercabinet. And I was looking at
the comments, and everybody wasso enthralled with this. And it
horrified me that anybody wouldthink that a pink bottle meant
that the product inside was anygood. And I thought, my voice
needs to be in this because Ihave all of this experience.
(19:58):
I've worked in-house on a brand,and I've worked on the sales
floor. I know this industryinside and out. I know you how
to make a skincare product, whatdrives a skincare product, and
what drives efficacy, and I juststarted a blog that. It was a
Saturday morning. I rememberthat I was texting a friend of
(20:21):
mine, and we came up with thename Skincarma. I don't really
remember, she might have doneit. The creative juices were
flowing, and it was likeSkincarma. I went over and
created a new account onInstagram called Skincarma, and
that's how it started. And Ihaven't stopped.
Justine Reichman: (20:41):
That's so fun. And I think that it's
interesting. As you're tellingme this story, I'm remembering
when I started my company. Iwent home and made a website.
Somebody asked me if I didsomething, and it all exploded
after that. And I think we havea lot of founders that tune in
and watch this podcast.Everybody always expects that
(21:03):
you put together a businessplan. It was really thought out.
And I'm not saying that thatdoesn't occur. But I'm saying as
much as that occurs, thisoccurs. I think it's really
important to tell people that.Because I think sometimes, they
get stuck in their own way.
Carmine Montalto: (21:19):
For sure. I honestly am so fortunate that I
found what I loved at 22, and Ihave not stopped. I have
continued to do that. And Ithink this all the time, when
I'm in the cafe, or I'm at themovie theater, or the post
office, or wherever, you comeacross someone who's being paid
(21:39):
to do what they do in front ofyou, right? I always think to
myself, do they love it? Do theylove doing it? You can usually
tell that they don't love doingwhat they're doing. And anytime
I've gotten myself to a place,it's happened mostly when I get
elevated to a management rolethat I realized that this isn't
(22:03):
what I love doing. What I lovedoing is writing and creative,
like coming up with cool ideasand refining brand identities. I
don't want to manage anything.
Justine Reichman: (22:16):
Well, it's interesting what you just said.
You can create the brand, andyou don't need to own it and run
it on a day to day basis. And Ithink that sometimes, people
forget that they can developsomething and then get somebody
else to run it, because that'snot their core competency. If
you have a great idea, there'sno reason you could say, I'm
(22:37):
going to sell it. Or I'm goingto be on the board of directors,
and you can still do what youlove or help other brands,
right?
Carmine Montalto: (22:44):
Yeah, absolutely. That's my expertise.
Justine Reichman: (22:47):
If you had one of our founders calling in
or asking you, I want to build anew brand, I'm interested in
launching a new brand. What aresome of the things that they
should consider before they takethe leap?
Carmine Montalto: (23:00):
They should ask themselves if they really
want this. I talk to founders alot on my podcast, and it's
grueling. It is verychallenging. You wear a lot of
hats. It's not just about allthe sexy stuff, the packaging
and the product naming, andtrying 500 versions of this
serum with peptides in it.That's the cool stuff. And if
(23:23):
that sustains you, great. Butyou have to have a point of
difference that is so key. Ithas always been the key, and it
always will be the key no matterthe competition. You have to
stand out. And if you have apoint of difference and a point
of view on beauty, skin, all ofthat. If you're focused on skin
(23:47):
barrier health, great and focuson skin barrier health because
there's a customer for that. Ifyou're focused on eczema and
helping people with super dry,sensitive skin, that's your
niche. You can't be all thingsto all people. A brand can't be
all things to all people.Certainly it can be, as it gets
(24:08):
big and there's tons of moneysupporting it.
Justine Reichman: (24:11):
I agree. And innovation is so big these days.
They're trying to do things withbetter, free products, and then
they're trying biotech. So I'mcurious, with all of that in
mind, you just judge of BeautyMatters Awards, what was the top
three innovative things thatyou're seeing?
Carmine Montalto: (24:27):
Last summer when I reviewed, I think it was
200 products, there were a lotof sunscreen innovations, which
I love. A lot of peptideinnovations and then adjacent
actives like growth factors.There was a lot of that. And,
(24:49):
you know, I think you know thatwe're seeing exosomes come to
the fore this year. The hotingredient of the year is
exosomes. I probably beinundated with exosome serums.
Who knows? I don't know. That'sthe cool part of it. I have no
idea. I see what I see, what Ihave visibility to, but I don't
(25:10):
have visibility on everything. Idon't collaborate with every
skincare brand. There's a lot ofstuff going on out there so I
think what's really cool, and Isee this escalating and becoming
clearer, and that is skinhealth. I know that sounds so
(25:31):
vague, but it's not because skinhealth really requires a few
elements. And first and foremostis sunscreen. And the number one
reason people give for not usingsunscreen is they hate how it
feels on their face. They'recompletely willing to risk all
the sun damage and skin cancerbecause they can't stand how
(25:52):
sunscreens feel. So when I seebrands innovating with sun care
products that are pleasurableand that make you want to use
them, one just came across mydesk a week ago, and I'm really
obsessed with this. And Ithought this morning, I have
probably 20 facial sunscreensthat I can reach for in the
(26:15):
morning. And I was like, oh, myGod. I want to use this one. I
really love the texture. I lovethe whole experience of it, and
that's not easy to achieve witha sunscreen. Sunscreen
development can take two, threeyears. I was talking to, I don't
know if you listen to MarkCurry, the founder of The Inkey
(26:36):
List on my podcast last week,and he was talking about how
long it's taken for them todevelop a mineral sunscreen. To
your point earlier that ispleasurable, and that is an SPF
50. Which means it has a highconcentration of zinc oxide,
titanium dioxide, or combinationof the two. That means it's
(26:59):
going to have a white cast. Andso they're really, really,
really toiling to develop amineral sunscreen with a high
SPF that is also - they'rereally masters at product
innovation. And the fact thatthey're not struggling, but
they're really, really workinghard, and it's taking a while
(27:20):
tells you everything about thatone particular product, the most
important product in yourarsenal.
Justine Reichman: (27:26):
So for our friends that are tuning in and
people in the industry, orpeople that are just curious
about how to approach sunscreenthis summer, is there anything
that you think besides that itfeels good and they're going to
use it that they should look forin their sunscreens?
Carmine Montalto: (27:42):
Honestly, I think SPF is overplayed. I think
an SPF 30 is fine. I can'tremember the exact numbers. SPF
50 blocks 98%, I guess, I doremember 98% of UV rays. And SPF
30 blocks 97% it's negligible.So if you find an SPF 30 that
(28:07):
you love and it's a mineralsunscreen, you can find
pleasurable mineral sunscreensat SPF 30. It's SPF 50, that's
the real issue. That's key. Andpair it with a sun stick like we
talked about earlier that youcan use in your immediate eye
area, I'm talking about in here,right up to the eyelashes like
(28:27):
this, all needs to be protected.And that's the reason why we
show age on our face, around oureyes first, because that's the
thinnest skin, and it's exposedfor the longest and it breaks
down.
Justine Reichman: (28:44):
Before we wrap things up, we have people
that are innovating in thisspace that are listening and
tuning in, I always try to thinkof the questions that they're
coming up with, right? So onething that came up for me was,
are there any beauty fads thatyou think died out before it's
Carmine Montalto: (29:06):
I thought there was something to skin
time?
cycling, but that petered out.Do you remember that it was like
two years ago where it wasreally about using really potent
actives on specific nights ofthe week, and then giving your
skin time to rest the nightafter. And I liked I liked that.
(29:30):
It made sense. I felt like itwas easy for people to follow
because people are, of course,confused about their skincare
routines and what their skinneeds. I thought that was cool.
I feel like slugging should havestayed around a little bit
longer. I'm a big fan ofpetrolatum, Vaseline, La Mer.
(29:50):
Number two ingredient ispetrolatum, aka Vaseline. And
probably those two trends, I'mtrying to think like, what other
trends disappeared, and I hadjust written about this in my
blog a few weeks ago. I'm gladthat the peptide trend is not a
trend. It seems to be enduring,and people are incorporating
peptides into their skincareroutines regularly. I think
(30:14):
that's a big deal. I do thinkthat there are ingredient trends
that need to go away. Thehyaluronic acid thing is crazy
to me. When you look at thescience, hyaluronic acid does
not penetrate the skin barrier.It stays in the top surface
layer of your skin and issupposed to draw water from the
(30:36):
air. But it doesn't draw waterfrom the air. When the air is
dry in New York City, it drawswater from deep down in your
skin and pulls it forward to thesurface where it evaporates out
of your face.
Justine Reichman: (30:47):
Does it matter what percentage it's at?
Carmine Montalto: (30:50):
It should be at 0%. I don't use hyaluronic
acid at all. I don't think it'sgood for your skin health. I
think it's like a fake sensorialexperience. It makes your skin
feel soft and plump. All thesehigh priced anti aging products,
that's what they do. They makethe surface of your skin feel
(31:11):
soft and plump, but they don'treally do anything else to
moderate aging or or anythingdeeper than that. They're skin
deep.
Justine Reichman: (31:21):
They're skin deep. Thank you so much for
joining me today. Our listeners,our followers, it is a great
conversation we learned. Ilearned so much, and I am going
to stay tuned for thoserecommendations.
Carmine Montalto: (31:34):
Okay. They're coming your way, I promise. I'm
going to email them to you rightnow.
Justine Reichman: (31:38):
In the meantime, for those folks that
want to tune into your podcast,where could they go find that?
Carmine Montalto: (31:43):
You can find me on Apple podcasts and Spotify
at Skincarma, S-K-I-N-C-A-R-M-A,or my blog@skinkarma.com, and on
substack.
Justine Reichman: (31:56):
Awesome. Thanks so much.
Carmine Montalto: (31:57):
Thanks, Justine, this is awesome.
Justine Reichman: (31:59):
Thanks for tuning in today, whether you
watched it on video at YouTube,or you downloaded our podcast at
Essential Ingredients, we're sohappy that you tuned in. Don't
forget to follow us on Instagramat
justine.reichman@ssential.ingredients.Stay tuned as we have a new
episode every week that goeslive on Tuesday.
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