June 16, 2025 • 18 mins
Retinol lovers, your skincare prayers have been answered! Kelly sits down with Medik8's Daniel Isaacs (the genius with suspiciously perfect skin), who finally explains why your face might be peeling off when using vitamin A products.
From comparing retinoids to coffee shots (retinaldehyde is a single espresso, who knew?!) to the shocking confession that you CAN use retinol in summer, this chat is full of "wait, I've been doing it wrong" moments.Daniel's refreshingly basic routine honestly makes us question why we own 47 products when he's getting better results with three. He breaks down the only trio of skincare essentials actually worth your money, and explains his "start low, go slow" philosophy that'll save both your face and your credit card from unnecessary trauma!
LINKS TO EVERYTHING MENTIONED:
Medik8 Advanced Day Ultimate Protect SPF50 $134
Medik8 Advanced Night Restore $150
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CREDITS:
Hosts: Kelly McCarren
Guest: Daniel Isaacs
Producer: Mollie Harwood & Sophie Campbell
Audio Producer: Tegan Sadler
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to Amma Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On Makeup is My Therapy.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm in love, I'm obsessed and I don't even feel.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Guilty a body. Hello and welcome to you Beauty the
daily podcast for your Face. I'm Kelly McCarran. This is
the formula, the show where we get up close and
personal with the biggest names in skincare and beauty and
take a little bit of a sneak peek through their
bathroom cabinets to see what's hot and what's not. Now, Ubiz,
(00:47):
I'm hearing you loud and clear. You want to know
more about retino, when to use it, how to use it,
and how to make sure your faith doesn't peel right
off when you do well, Thank me later, because we
have the Messiah of retinoids right here to break it
all down for us. Today. I'm talking to Daniel Isaacs,
one of the founders of UK skincare brand Medicaid. Daniel
(01:09):
has developed over one hundred unique skin care formulations and
specializes in retinoid's aka vitamin A. Most notably, Daniel pioneered
the use of retinel hide a more powerful version of
regular retinol, and developed the world's first clinical strength retinel
for under eyes. So when it comes to all of
your questions about retinol, we've got you. You're in the
(01:31):
right place. Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You have such beautiful skin, but.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
How can you do a little one? Oh on one?
What are the different forms of vitamin A that exist
in skincare? How do they differ from each other? There's retinal,
retinal retinoid acid. I once did an episode that tried
to break down them all, and I used really strange
car analogy. We'll have to link the episode in the
(01:57):
show notes, but I'm sure that you can put it
a lot more eloquently than I did.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was going to use a car as well.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
No, I'm really Oh my goodness, if it was the
same one, I would have felt like the smartest person
in the entire world.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
No, no, no, yea totally.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It can be so confusing, and we don't want to
have people have to have a biochemical degree to bio serum.
So totally get that. So yeah, retinoids is another term
for vitamin A. So these like a family of different molecules.
They're all related, so they're like cousins and they all
do similar things for the skin. And the great thing
about vitamin a generally is that they're really multifunctional, so
(02:32):
they can firm the skin, they can ease blemishes, and
they can even out the skin tone. So it's quite
incredible like what one, you know, family of ingredients can do.
The differences between the different forms are come down to potency,
So let's go through it. So are use some of
the kind of the names of the molecules. So you've
got retinal esters like retinal palmitate, then you've got retinol,
(02:53):
then you've got retinaldehyde, and then you've got retinoic acid.
So these are different forms and as I said, they're
different potencies. Ultimately, what all of these forms have to
do in the skin are convert into the active form, right,
So all they need to become active before they do
anything to your skin cells. The active form is retinoic acid.
(03:14):
And how far away in terms of how many steps
they need to convert to retinoic acid determines how strong
they are on the skin. So let's take retinol. That
would be like your latte, right in terms of strength.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, we're using coffee. I like that, okay, good, good coffee.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Retinaldehyde which is what we use in our Chrystal retina product.
That is a single shot of espresso. Espresso retinoic acid
that's going to get you buzzing. Retinoic acid is like
a double shot, okay, okay, And I think that there's
a bit of a window into the potency. But also
a double shot sometimes can be a bit too much
in the evening, especially if you know, using it quite regularly.
(03:52):
So that's why we like the single shot, which is
a good balance of potency, but it is you manageable
when you're using it quite regularly.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That is so good. That is so much better than
my weird car petrol analogy. It was so much more
simple as well, thank you. Okay. So the brand started
with just Dispatchelor and a beca. How did the brand
evolve from that very early day's approach.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, for quite some time it was very much like
the two of us, you know, doing what we could
with the resources we had. For many years it was
literally as bachelor and a beaka. But we had some
initial success and so we were able to scale that,
you know, we always wanted to make things ourselves, and
so with every time that we moved to a slightly
bigger premises, that signified a big step in our journey.
(04:36):
And you know, we were growing the R and D
team primarily to be able to keep putting out innovative
products and maintaining that in house manufacturing. So with every
premises change, we were reinvesting in the things that allowed
us to keep innovating and put out exceptional products and
ultimately scale in our ambitions. A couple of years ago
we moved to our innovation center just north of London,
(04:58):
which now really signifies you know, that long term commitment
to in house innovation and quality standards.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And when did you realize that you were really onto something.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, I mean we definitely had more moms, you know,
of a doubt, Like we grew the hard way. It
was all very much organic trial and error, but we
always had really good testimonial feedback, so we were really
putting ourselves at the heart of the people that were
using their products, really engaging with them, and so we
could really see, okay that we're making a big difference here.
We've just got to be able to scale that and
as I said before. You know, as the market was
(05:29):
evolving and people started to become more educated, it became
much easier to tell our story and that was really
amplified during COVID, so leading up to COVID and then COVID,
where everyone was doing so much research at home and
really engaging in skin care and you know, wanting to
understand what they're putting on their skin, and you know,
MEDICAI have been really diligent in that efficacy area for
(05:49):
so long and making really considered choices with ingredients in products.
It became much easier for people to understand the difference
that we provide and that's really where we saw, you know,
the brand really take off and on the global stage.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It's funny. I think we definitely also saw a big
uplift with listeners to the ubaud podcast during then, not
just because people wanted entertainment, but because people sort of
I guess had more time to really learn and gain
more knowledge about things like skincare and it just became
such a big passion for people, and then they of
course want to be spending their money on products that
(06:21):
actually work.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Of course, I think it's such a positive shift, Yes, exactly,
people are now much more informed, you know's making smarter choices.
Smarter choices. I mean, there is a lot of information.
So I think that now, you know, we can serve
you in the media and from the brand side to
simplify things and to sort of make sense of the information.
But I think it's great that people are taking the
decisions into their own hands.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Was there one product that you sort of look back
on anything or that really changed everything, like really propelled
the brand onto the global stage?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
For sure, it's Crystal Retina, which is the product that's
where people mostly discover us is through crystal retina, which
is a retinoid vitamin a product. We were using traditional retinol,
and there's different forms of retinoise. It can get quite confusing,
but we were using the more traditional forms for a
few years. Discovered there was this new molecule that you
really couldn't get in skincare, but it was quite clear
(07:15):
from the studies that there's another level of efficacy here.
So that became our number one focus in terms of
research and as a brand to be able to bring
that to market in a really elegant formulation and then
put out a lot of education to explain the difference
between what people are used to from traditional retinol versus
what we were offering, and so we really redefined that
kind of category in skin aging and skin health. And
(07:38):
so I think being a brand that was able to
have that impact sort of really spoke to our kind
of commitment to scientific truth and education and product excellence,
and so that had a real halo effect for the
wider brand.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How should people be using writtenol then to get the
best results?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
So if you're starting from scratch, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Like yes, someone very average skin starting from scratch never
used written on before.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Start low and go slow.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It's a really powerful ingredient and we recommend people should
be using it for life. It's just good quality skincare.
So take the chance to ease your skin into it.
So start with a low strength and we offer a
variety of strengths. Point zero one actually got really sensitive
skin or roseatia, or you've had a bad experience in
(08:28):
the past with retinoids, So you can start low before
you then work your way to higher strengths and also
go slow at the start, so phase in the application.
Don't go to nightly use straight away. We recommend for
the first two weeks, you use it twice a week,
and then for the next two weeks you use it
every other night, and then after four weeks with no issues,
you can go to nightly use. And if you do
(08:51):
get some sensitization with our products, you don't tend to,
but if you do, you can just sort of stay
at that frequency in it until your skin is ready
to then dial up the frequency.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And sometimes I actually like to like sandwich it because
I do have quite reactive skin because I'm always chopping
and changing and doing different things. So do you reckon
meant that people put it just on their bare skin,
or it's fine to sort of sandwich it a little bit.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So I'm not a fan of sandwiching.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You don't like to sandwich? Oh I love sandwich.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Well not when it comes to seums.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
What sandwiching or buffering it your cereum is doing is
basically reducing the dose. You're just kind of limiting the
active which kind of can be quite inconsistent as to
like how much your cream you put on before your serum.
So that's why we've taken that the approach where you
can actually choose just a lower strength to start with,
and then so you know, consistency, what are you putting
on your skin? So yeah, that for me is a
(09:42):
better way to approach it, and you then know where
your skin stands before you go to a high strength.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
If we were to have a peek inside your bathroom,
kennot right now, which of your own retinoid products are
you using? So you on a point one, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Was on a six for many years. I've just had
my third child and so I've got a few extra
lines creeping in from all of the exhaustion. So I've
needed a bit of a boost, so I've gone up
to the ten and as my Chris Retta.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, oh wow, and because your skin is stunning, I
honestly could not tell how old you are. You could
be like twenty five. I've honestly got no idea. It's
so glowy and plump.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean I'm probably older than I look, but yeah, retinoids.
I mean, I'm also the main guinea pig in the
business still, so I've got a lot of product going on, yes,
as well as my staples.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
In terms of yeah, Chris, the retinal for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What's the wildest retinal myth you've heard that makes you
want to gently bang your head against a wall. And
what would you rather people think of or no insteed.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, I think that there's still a myth that you
can't use it in the summer, and it's genuinely you can't.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I haven't heard that one.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, well it's a legacy thing, but it still gets around,
like when it's sunny or if you're in a sort
of just a sunny part of the world, you can't
use retinoids. And that's such a shame because although retinoids
can be exfoliating, so it sort of it reduces dead
skin on the surface, which can make your skin a
little bit more exposed to the sun. It's also really
good at thicking up your lower skin level, so it's
(11:04):
actually a really good protective And of course, you know,
you want to be preventing premature skin eating from sun
damage as much as you want to be correcting. It's
more powerful to prevent them in the first place. So yeah,
like taking a break during the summer from your retinol
is a really bad idea. So it's one four year round.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I think as well that we always hammer home the
importance of SBF anyway, But then furthering the importance of
SBF when you're using a retinol at night time. What
are your thoughts on do you like vitamin C? Like,
would you use a vitamin C with your SBF in
the morning?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I mean absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I mean from Medicaid, there are three pillars that we
believe everybody should be having in their routine. Is a
vitamin C, a sunscreen, and a vitamin A at night
like that. That's like the first on the team sheet
any routine, and it's doing so many things in those
three steps that we think that everybody should be doing that.
What do you love about vitamin C? Again, just lots
of benefits that it brings to the skin. It confirmed
(11:57):
the skin, it can even the skins uneven skin tone,
and it's a really powerful antioxidant, which is so important
just from extra sort of UV exposure and pollution. You know,
all of these things can overwhelm your skin's natural defenses
and that really accelerates this unnecessary aging process and sort
of damaged skin. So to have that all in one
ingredient and the level of efficacy proven behind it, it
(12:20):
really makes it stand out.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I also find that, I mean on a purely superficial level.
It gives your skin such a nice glow during the day.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
One hundred percent. It's a great one for the morning
because it really primes the skin. I have quite combination skin,
and I used to have real issues with it when
I was younger, and I think I still would if
I hadn't, you know, really immersed myself and sort of,
you know, got into the product side. One of the
biggest impacts on my skin has been finding the right
cleanser that doesn't strip the oils. But yeah, it gets
rid of things that can block your skin. And also,
(12:48):
you know, when you are dealing with actives, you want
something to make way for those ingredients to have their
effect into the skin.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
You've just launched a new version of vitamin say, haven't you?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What version sort type? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, just launched.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So this is ce Tetra Advanced, which is our latest
innovation in bitumin C, where one of our approaches that
the brand is to take these timeless ingredients but keep
them evolving to the latest needs from people. In this case,
we were hearing a lot of people were becoming quite
sensitized to vitamin C, yet they still want the clinical results,
so that was very much the thinking with this formula
where we are going to a twenty percent concentration of
(13:24):
the vitamin C but adding in phyto exosomes, which are
really soothing natural extracts that can keep the barrier in
a really good condition so that you're getting all these
great results but absolutely no irritation. It's also a lovely
new texture for us from the brand, which is like
a hydrating gel serum which is very quickly and primes
the skin. So yeah, keep it glowing as you start
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Oh that sounds so nice. And I've already predicted, I mean,
no one cares about my opinion, but I predicted that
exosomes are going to be the biggest thing in twenty
twenty six. Like they are so effective.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Really interesting new type of h Yeah, and so we've
seen them as like supercharged if you're getting them from plants,
you can really supercharge these these amazing rich benefits you
can get from natural extracts, and so yeah, that made
absolute sense for us with a high potency vitamin C serum.
So that's how we think about formulations with vitamin C
to really enhance the long term benefits, but also that
(14:15):
instant radiance.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I mean, what is your self care to you give
us the dirty details. I want to move on to
your routine, your personal routine because, as I've mentioned, I
know that we're not actually videoing right now, but your skin.
We need to know exactly what you're using. Walk us
through your routine, like AM and PM.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Sure, so I'm purely medicaid.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well it a bit, you know, a bit weird if
you weren't, like you might be like, I'm using this
and that. I'm sure every now and then you might
try different things.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But yeah, so in the morning it's my favorite clanmure
is my Cellar Moose, which is really that sounds nice. Yeah,
it's a really gentle cleanser that picks up sort of
the dirt and sort of you know, excess oil, but
without stripping your skins precious oils. I think it's such
an important step in your regular routine. So my Cella
Moose Seed tetra Lux, which is our radiance boosting clinically
(15:18):
proven vitamin C serum, and then Advanced Day Ultimate Protect,
which is are sunscreen SPF fifty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Okay, so it's not a twenty one step skincare routine.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, I'm always mixing things up with new samples
from the lab, but those are definitely my regular go to.
And then in the evening it's again saying my cella
Moose and Crystal Retinel ten and then Advanced night Restore,
which is our overnight moisturizer that's actually proven to work
with the retinoids, so you're getting some synergies there.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I love how simple that is.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It can be simple, Yeah, it can be simple.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You're buying my mind a little bit. I feel like
everyone's like their routine is just so big generally.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Sure, I mean, we have a lot of options in
our brand, but it's ultimately just to tailor to different
people's individual preferences and needs rather than building up an
infinite routine and to have different strengths so that Yeah,
like with the retinoids, if you're ready to step up,
then you can mix that in. But yeah, it's not
about overcompting it.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
If you had to choose, what is the one skincare
step that you would never miss.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I mean, can I choose three?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I was about to say it's really hard when you
just said the full trifector. Maybe bar those three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Bar those three, then a gentle cleanser. Okay, yeah, a
gentle cleanser.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Because otherwise you're not getting everything off and nothing will penetrate, right.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean I have quite combination skin. One of the
biggest impacts on my skin has been finding the right
cleanser that doesn't strip the oils. But yeah, it gets
rid of things that can block your skin. And also,
you know, when you are dealing with actives, you want
something to make way for those ingredients to have their
effect into the skin.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So usually we ask what one skincare technique or ingredient
you absolutely love is, but you've sort of gone into
the trifector of SBA, vitamin C and a retinol. On
the flip side, what is something that you see people
talking about all the time or you see it like
it's an ingredient or a trend and that you just think, oh,
my goodness, it is just so not worth the money,
(17:06):
or just don't waste your time.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
My general concern is people mixing things up based on
the latest TikTok hack. There's so many that sort of
look really fun and interesting, and that's fine, great, but
when you're chopping and changing different masks and peels, and
just so much inconsistently in the routine. I think that
that's causing a lot of issues. So you know, it
comes back to kind of the one takeaway for me
(17:29):
is like there's lots of exciting new techniques and tips
and all different kinds of products you'll be trying, but
try and keep things as consistent as possible.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I love that. Daniel Isaacs, thank you so much for
joining me today. Well that's all the time we have
for today. We really appreciate everyone for tuning in and
listening to You Beauty. And if you love the show,
which I hope you do. If you're listening and you're
not hate listening, because only weirdos do that, please go
rate and review us. You can also check out our
Instagram at you Beauty Podcast. Also, our actual faces are
(18:00):
on our YouTube channel. We'll pop the links in the
show notes, and don't forget to subscribe to our beauty newsletter.
This episode of You Beauty was produced by Molly Harwood
with audio production by Lou Hill. Thanks for listening and
don't forget to tune into tomorrow. Bye.
You're listening to Amma Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
On Makeup is My Therapy.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm in love, I'm obsessed and I don't even feel.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Guilty a body. Hello and welcome to you Beauty the
daily podcast for your Face. I'm Kelly McCarran. This is
the formula, the show where we get up close and
personal with the biggest names in skincare and beauty and
take a little bit of a sneak peek through their
bathroom cabinets to see what's hot and what's not. Now, Ubiz,
(00:47):
I'm hearing you loud and clear. You want to know
more about retino, when to use it, how to use it,
and how to make sure your faith doesn't peel right
off when you do well, Thank me later, because we
have the Messiah of retinoids right here to break it
all down for us. Today. I'm talking to Daniel Isaacs,
one of the founders of UK skincare brand Medicaid. Daniel
(01:09):
has developed over one hundred unique skin care formulations and
specializes in retinoid's aka vitamin A. Most notably, Daniel pioneered
the use of retinel hide a more powerful version of
regular retinol, and developed the world's first clinical strength retinel
for under eyes. So when it comes to all of
your questions about retinol, we've got you. You're in the
(01:31):
right place. Let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You have such beautiful skin, but.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
How can you do a little one? Oh on one?
What are the different forms of vitamin A that exist
in skincare? How do they differ from each other? There's retinal,
retinal retinoid acid. I once did an episode that tried
to break down them all, and I used really strange
car analogy. We'll have to link the episode in the
(01:57):
show notes, but I'm sure that you can put it
a lot more eloquently than I did.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was going to use a car as well.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
No, I'm really Oh my goodness, if it was the
same one, I would have felt like the smartest person
in the entire world.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
No, no, no, yea totally.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It can be so confusing, and we don't want to
have people have to have a biochemical degree to bio serum.
So totally get that. So yeah, retinoids is another term
for vitamin A. So these like a family of different molecules.
They're all related, so they're like cousins and they all
do similar things for the skin. And the great thing
about vitamin a generally is that they're really multifunctional, so
(02:32):
they can firm the skin, they can ease blemishes, and
they can even out the skin tone. So it's quite
incredible like what one, you know, family of ingredients can do.
The differences between the different forms are come down to potency,
So let's go through it. So are use some of
the kind of the names of the molecules. So you've
got retinal esters like retinal palmitate, then you've got retinol,
(02:53):
then you've got retinaldehyde, and then you've got retinoic acid.
So these are different forms and as I said, they're
different potencies. Ultimately, what all of these forms have to
do in the skin are convert into the active form, right,
So all they need to become active before they do
anything to your skin cells. The active form is retinoic acid.
(03:14):
And how far away in terms of how many steps
they need to convert to retinoic acid determines how strong
they are on the skin. So let's take retinol. That
would be like your latte, right in terms of strength.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, we're using coffee. I like that, okay, good, good coffee.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Retinaldehyde which is what we use in our Chrystal retina product.
That is a single shot of espresso. Espresso retinoic acid
that's going to get you buzzing. Retinoic acid is like
a double shot, okay, okay, And I think that there's
a bit of a window into the potency. But also
a double shot sometimes can be a bit too much
in the evening, especially if you know, using it quite regularly.
(03:52):
So that's why we like the single shot, which is
a good balance of potency, but it is you manageable
when you're using it quite regularly.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That is so good. That is so much better than
my weird car petrol analogy. It was so much more
simple as well, thank you. Okay. So the brand started
with just Dispatchelor and a beca. How did the brand
evolve from that very early day's approach.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, for quite some time it was very much like
the two of us, you know, doing what we could
with the resources we had. For many years it was
literally as bachelor and a beaka. But we had some
initial success and so we were able to scale that,
you know, we always wanted to make things ourselves, and
so with every time that we moved to a slightly
bigger premises, that signified a big step in our journey.
(04:36):
And you know, we were growing the R and D
team primarily to be able to keep putting out innovative
products and maintaining that in house manufacturing. So with every
premises change, we were reinvesting in the things that allowed
us to keep innovating and put out exceptional products and
ultimately scale in our ambitions. A couple of years ago
we moved to our innovation center just north of London,
(04:58):
which now really signifies you know, that long term commitment
to in house innovation and quality standards.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And when did you realize that you were really onto something.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, I mean we definitely had more moms, you know,
of a doubt, Like we grew the hard way. It
was all very much organic trial and error, but we
always had really good testimonial feedback, so we were really
putting ourselves at the heart of the people that were
using their products, really engaging with them, and so we
could really see, okay that we're making a big difference here.
We've just got to be able to scale that and
as I said before. You know, as the market was
(05:29):
evolving and people started to become more educated, it became
much easier to tell our story and that was really
amplified during COVID, so leading up to COVID and then COVID,
where everyone was doing so much research at home and
really engaging in skin care and you know, wanting to
understand what they're putting on their skin, and you know,
MEDICAI have been really diligent in that efficacy area for
(05:49):
so long and making really considered choices with ingredients in products.
It became much easier for people to understand the difference
that we provide and that's really where we saw, you know,
the brand really take off and on the global stage.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It's funny. I think we definitely also saw a big
uplift with listeners to the ubaud podcast during then, not
just because people wanted entertainment, but because people sort of
I guess had more time to really learn and gain
more knowledge about things like skincare and it just became
such a big passion for people, and then they of
course want to be spending their money on products that
(06:21):
actually work.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Of course, I think it's such a positive shift, Yes, exactly,
people are now much more informed, you know's making smarter choices.
Smarter choices. I mean, there is a lot of information.
So I think that now, you know, we can serve
you in the media and from the brand side to
simplify things and to sort of make sense of the information.
But I think it's great that people are taking the
decisions into their own hands.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Was there one product that you sort of look back
on anything or that really changed everything, like really propelled
the brand onto the global stage?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
For sure, it's Crystal Retina, which is the product that's
where people mostly discover us is through crystal retina, which
is a retinoid vitamin a product. We were using traditional retinol,
and there's different forms of retinoise. It can get quite confusing,
but we were using the more traditional forms for a
few years. Discovered there was this new molecule that you
really couldn't get in skincare, but it was quite clear
(07:15):
from the studies that there's another level of efficacy here.
So that became our number one focus in terms of
research and as a brand to be able to bring
that to market in a really elegant formulation and then
put out a lot of education to explain the difference
between what people are used to from traditional retinol versus
what we were offering, and so we really redefined that
kind of category in skin aging and skin health. And
(07:38):
so I think being a brand that was able to
have that impact sort of really spoke to our kind
of commitment to scientific truth and education and product excellence,
and so that had a real halo effect for the
wider brand.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How should people be using writtenol then to get the
best results?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
So if you're starting from scratch, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Like yes, someone very average skin starting from scratch never
used written on before.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Start low and go slow.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It's a really powerful ingredient and we recommend people should
be using it for life. It's just good quality skincare.
So take the chance to ease your skin into it.
So start with a low strength and we offer a
variety of strengths. Point zero one actually got really sensitive
skin or roseatia, or you've had a bad experience in
(08:28):
the past with retinoids, So you can start low before
you then work your way to higher strengths and also
go slow at the start, so phase in the application.
Don't go to nightly use straight away. We recommend for
the first two weeks, you use it twice a week,
and then for the next two weeks you use it
every other night, and then after four weeks with no issues,
you can go to nightly use. And if you do
(08:51):
get some sensitization with our products, you don't tend to,
but if you do, you can just sort of stay
at that frequency in it until your skin is ready
to then dial up the frequency.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And sometimes I actually like to like sandwich it because
I do have quite reactive skin because I'm always chopping
and changing and doing different things. So do you reckon
meant that people put it just on their bare skin,
or it's fine to sort of sandwich it a little bit.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So I'm not a fan of sandwiching.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You don't like to sandwich? Oh I love sandwich.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Well not when it comes to seums.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
What sandwiching or buffering it your cereum is doing is
basically reducing the dose. You're just kind of limiting the
active which kind of can be quite inconsistent as to
like how much your cream you put on before your serum.
So that's why we've taken that the approach where you
can actually choose just a lower strength to start with,
and then so you know, consistency, what are you putting
on your skin? So yeah, that for me is a
(09:42):
better way to approach it, and you then know where
your skin stands before you go to a high strength.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
If we were to have a peek inside your bathroom,
kennot right now, which of your own retinoid products are
you using? So you on a point one, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Was on a six for many years. I've just had
my third child and so I've got a few extra
lines creeping in from all of the exhaustion. So I've
needed a bit of a boost, so I've gone up
to the ten and as my Chris Retta.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, oh wow, and because your skin is stunning, I
honestly could not tell how old you are. You could
be like twenty five. I've honestly got no idea. It's
so glowy and plump.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean I'm probably older than I look, but yeah, retinoids.
I mean, I'm also the main guinea pig in the
business still, so I've got a lot of product going on, yes,
as well as my staples.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
In terms of yeah, Chris, the retinal for sure.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What's the wildest retinal myth you've heard that makes you
want to gently bang your head against a wall. And
what would you rather people think of or no insteed.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, I think that there's still a myth that you
can't use it in the summer, and it's genuinely you can't.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I haven't heard that one.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, well it's a legacy thing, but it still gets around,
like when it's sunny or if you're in a sort
of just a sunny part of the world, you can't
use retinoids. And that's such a shame because although retinoids
can be exfoliating, so it sort of it reduces dead
skin on the surface, which can make your skin a
little bit more exposed to the sun. It's also really
good at thicking up your lower skin level, so it's
(11:04):
actually a really good protective And of course, you know,
you want to be preventing premature skin eating from sun
damage as much as you want to be correcting. It's
more powerful to prevent them in the first place. So yeah,
like taking a break during the summer from your retinol
is a really bad idea. So it's one four year round.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I think as well that we always hammer home the
importance of SBF anyway, But then furthering the importance of
SBF when you're using a retinol at night time. What
are your thoughts on do you like vitamin C? Like,
would you use a vitamin C with your SBF in
the morning?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I mean absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I mean from Medicaid, there are three pillars that we
believe everybody should be having in their routine. Is a
vitamin C, a sunscreen, and a vitamin A at night
like that. That's like the first on the team sheet
any routine, and it's doing so many things in those
three steps that we think that everybody should be doing that.
What do you love about vitamin C? Again, just lots
of benefits that it brings to the skin. It confirmed
(11:57):
the skin, it can even the skins uneven skin tone,
and it's a really powerful antioxidant, which is so important
just from extra sort of UV exposure and pollution. You know,
all of these things can overwhelm your skin's natural defenses
and that really accelerates this unnecessary aging process and sort
of damaged skin. So to have that all in one
ingredient and the level of efficacy proven behind it, it
(12:20):
really makes it stand out.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I also find that, I mean on a purely superficial level.
It gives your skin such a nice glow during the day.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
One hundred percent. It's a great one for the morning
because it really primes the skin. I have quite combination skin,
and I used to have real issues with it when
I was younger, and I think I still would if
I hadn't, you know, really immersed myself and sort of,
you know, got into the product side. One of the
biggest impacts on my skin has been finding the right
cleanser that doesn't strip the oils. But yeah, it gets
rid of things that can block your skin. And also,
(12:48):
you know, when you are dealing with actives, you want
something to make way for those ingredients to have their
effect into the skin.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
You've just launched a new version of vitamin say, haven't you?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What version sort type? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, just launched.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So this is ce Tetra Advanced, which is our latest
innovation in bitumin C, where one of our approaches that
the brand is to take these timeless ingredients but keep
them evolving to the latest needs from people. In this case,
we were hearing a lot of people were becoming quite
sensitized to vitamin C, yet they still want the clinical results,
so that was very much the thinking with this formula
where we are going to a twenty percent concentration of
(13:24):
the vitamin C but adding in phyto exosomes, which are
really soothing natural extracts that can keep the barrier in
a really good condition so that you're getting all these
great results but absolutely no irritation. It's also a lovely
new texture for us from the brand, which is like
a hydrating gel serum which is very quickly and primes
the skin. So yeah, keep it glowing as you start
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Oh that sounds so nice. And I've already predicted, I mean,
no one cares about my opinion, but I predicted that
exosomes are going to be the biggest thing in twenty
twenty six. Like they are so effective.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Really interesting new type of h Yeah, and so we've
seen them as like supercharged if you're getting them from plants,
you can really supercharge these these amazing rich benefits you
can get from natural extracts, and so yeah, that made
absolute sense for us with a high potency vitamin C serum.
So that's how we think about formulations with vitamin C
to really enhance the long term benefits, but also that
(14:15):
instant radiance.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I mean, what is your self care to you give
us the dirty details. I want to move on to
your routine, your personal routine because, as I've mentioned, I
know that we're not actually videoing right now, but your skin.
We need to know exactly what you're using. Walk us
through your routine, like AM and PM.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Sure, so I'm purely medicaid.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well it a bit, you know, a bit weird if
you weren't, like you might be like, I'm using this
and that. I'm sure every now and then you might
try different things.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But yeah, so in the morning it's my favorite clanmure
is my Cellar Moose, which is really that sounds nice. Yeah,
it's a really gentle cleanser that picks up sort of
the dirt and sort of you know, excess oil, but
without stripping your skins precious oils. I think it's such
an important step in your regular routine. So my Cella
Moose Seed tetra Lux, which is our radiance boosting clinically
(15:18):
proven vitamin C serum, and then Advanced Day Ultimate Protect,
which is are sunscreen SPF fifty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Okay, so it's not a twenty one step skincare routine.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, I'm always mixing things up with new samples
from the lab, but those are definitely my regular go to.
And then in the evening it's again saying my cella
Moose and Crystal Retinel ten and then Advanced night Restore,
which is our overnight moisturizer that's actually proven to work
with the retinoids, so you're getting some synergies there.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I love how simple that is.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It can be simple, Yeah, it can be simple.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You're buying my mind a little bit. I feel like
everyone's like their routine is just so big generally.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Sure, I mean, we have a lot of options in
our brand, but it's ultimately just to tailor to different
people's individual preferences and needs rather than building up an
infinite routine and to have different strengths so that Yeah,
like with the retinoids, if you're ready to step up,
then you can mix that in. But yeah, it's not
about overcompting it.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
If you had to choose, what is the one skincare
step that you would never miss.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I mean, can I choose three?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I was about to say it's really hard when you
just said the full trifector. Maybe bar those three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Bar those three, then a gentle cleanser. Okay, yeah, a
gentle cleanser.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Because otherwise you're not getting everything off and nothing will penetrate, right.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean I have quite combination skin. One of the
biggest impacts on my skin has been finding the right
cleanser that doesn't strip the oils. But yeah, it gets
rid of things that can block your skin. And also,
you know, when you are dealing with actives, you want
something to make way for those ingredients to have their
effect into the skin.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So usually we ask what one skincare technique or ingredient
you absolutely love is, but you've sort of gone into
the trifector of SBA, vitamin C and a retinol. On
the flip side, what is something that you see people
talking about all the time or you see it like
it's an ingredient or a trend and that you just think, oh,
my goodness, it is just so not worth the money,
(17:06):
or just don't waste your time.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
My general concern is people mixing things up based on
the latest TikTok hack. There's so many that sort of
look really fun and interesting, and that's fine, great, but
when you're chopping and changing different masks and peels, and
just so much inconsistently in the routine. I think that
that's causing a lot of issues. So you know, it
comes back to kind of the one takeaway for me
(17:29):
is like there's lots of exciting new techniques and tips
and all different kinds of products you'll be trying, but
try and keep things as consistent as possible.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I love that. Daniel Isaacs, thank you so much for
joining me today. Well that's all the time we have
for today. We really appreciate everyone for tuning in and
listening to You Beauty. And if you love the show,
which I hope you do. If you're listening and you're
not hate listening, because only weirdos do that, please go
rate and review us. You can also check out our
Instagram at you Beauty Podcast. Also, our actual faces are
(18:00):
on our YouTube channel. We'll pop the links in the
show notes, and don't forget to subscribe to our beauty newsletter.
This episode of You Beauty was produced by Molly Harwood
with audio production by Lou Hill. Thanks for listening and
don't forget to tune into tomorrow. Bye.
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