As an aesthetician with over 30 years industry experience and a creator of two professional skin care brands, it blows my mind how much choice there is in the market when it comes to skincare.
Imagine walking into a Mecca or Sephora and every little product had a voice… As you picked up each product it whispered to you why you should buy it. “Pick me! I am made of collagen; I offer antiaging benefits. Pick me, I am made of pearls, gold, caviar, I am botanical, I am vegan, gluten friendly, I give instant results, check out my packaging, I come in a syringe therefore I must be medical, patented technology, clinical strength, TGA approved, I smell amazing…”
STOP! STOP TALKING LITTLE PRODUCTS! So much noise, so many promises, not to mentionso much BS… Who do you believe?!
What’s important to understand is the difference in formulations and the fact that the price point does not always reflect optimum result or formulations. Here are three categories you need to learn and understand.
- Cosmetics – Cosmetics are best described as “smell good, feel good” products with no active ingredient value. In fact, their active ingredient value is so minimal it doesn’t even register on the radar. Here’s where it gets tricky; whilst in the mass market they’re easily recognised – cheap to affordable, sold in supermarkets, discount stores, pharmacies, department stores and via MLM structures but they can also come with a high-end price tag and image. Many premium brands say all the right things, use Hollywood celebrities to recruit your interest and generally sell what I like to call “hope in a jar”. Walk any premium department store to expose these brands. This category of skincare is old, many still use ingredients that are considered nasty and basically work on the surface of the skin.
- Cosmeceutical – I remember the launch of this category, it was around 1986. I was a young therapist sitting at a launch of AHA’s (Alpha Hydroxy Acids), the brand was M.D. Formulations, one of the first brands “in the world” to get skin serious. The word cosmeceutical came from the joining of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. We were introduced to “preventative skin care”, increased percentage of active ingredients that were able to address skin ageing “without compromising on indulgence”. As a therapist I was given the prime opportunity of making visible changes to the skin primarily with Acids that included AHA, BHA, L’Ascorbic Acid and Retinols and for the next 20 years many a brand joined this space and enjoyed advanced skincare results.
- Cosmedical– Come 2010 and with the introduction of innovative science, biotechnology, medically based actives and an ageing population we saw the launch of cosmedics with a D, that’s right D for doctor. Skincare that sits just underneath a prescription, yet better than a prescription since it is designed for daily use. Targeted to specific skin conditions and more intricately skin cell types, cosmedical skincare stimulates specific actions that make a skindeep difference. Cosmedical skincare communicates directly to the cells to optimise cell function, gain skin health and ultimately skin youth. How does it do this? It uses ‘functional doses’, active ingredients used in their recommended percentage that can trigger cell activity and normalise skin function.
2010 was not just the birth of the cosmedical segment but O Cosmedics, the worlds first true professional cosmedical skin care brand. O Cosmedics is based on clean science and active ingredients used in their functional dose. The delivery system is biomimetic being the perfect transport system to take actives to where they need to go. Once they hit their target cell… well the rest is what we call a skin addiction, a love for a brand guaranteed to transform skins, regain skin health and one’s self confidence. Try it for yourself www.ocosmedics.com
Maria Enna-Cocciolone is the founder and CEO of INSKIN COSMEDICS, Creator of O Cosmedics and Co-Creator of GINGER&ME NEUROCOSMEDICS and body products.