The Formula

Recently I attended a friend's wedding in Wisconsin.  She complimented me on my skin tone and appearance and asked me (indirectly) about my skin care regimen and am ashamed to admit that I was a bit dismissive.  It wasn't because I didn't want to share my "skin care secrets" with her, it was perhaps because I am embarassed about its expense and complexity.

Daily
Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser (US$21.50, 5 oz)
Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Refining Moisture Cream Complex (US$54.50, 2.5 oz)
Erno Lazlo Total Skin Revitalizer (US$80, 1 oz)
Erno Lazlo Intensive Decollete Cream SPF 20 (US$95, 2.1 oz)
Clinique Sun SPF 50 Face Cream (US$18, 1.7 oz)
Clinique All About Eyes (US$29, 0.5 oz)

Weekly?
Alba Botanical Deep Sea Facial Mask (US$9.99, 4 oz)
Dr. Mercola's Organic Acai Night Moisturizer (US$37.80, 1.7 oz)
Clinique Repairwear Intensive Eye Cream (US$40, 0.5 oz)

These are my current go-to items for skin care.  Many of them were recommended (or gifted) to me.  Those items that are mainstays are the Elizabeth Arden Moisturizing Cream and Clinique SPF 50 Face Cream.  If I forget (or run out) of either of these, my skin quality deteriorates rapidly.  I get rosacea on my forehead, cheeks, and chin (commonly called the T-zone) from sun exposure and air pollution.  A product that forms a barrier between your skin and the atmosphere is a must in Southern California.



Gardner and Garbo



The weekly (pampering) treatment is administered to soothe my skin when it's become overworked.  This may come from many hours in front of the computer, holding my head in my hands, sitting in front of a bonfire, or any other activity that doesn't involve excessive sun or wind exposure.  When my skin is already stressed, I don't do extra beauty treatments like masks.  When it's just run down through routine, I find I notice a difference after a night treatment of Acai Night Moisturizer combined with Repairware Eye Cream.  I use the Botanical Deep Sea Mask to unclog pores and give the appearance of smaller pores, it seems to have an astringent effect.  Always good to have is a freezer-stored eye mask, to reduce swelling around the eye area.  Cold cucumber slices covering the eyes also work well.



Living now so near Hollywood, it's fun to think of the celebrities (pictured above are two starlets who were treated by Erno Lazlo before his death in 1973) who have used skin care regimens formulated by chemists.  Lazlo also treated Jacqueline Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn, among others.  Erno Laszlo was a Hungarian-born medical doctor, who earned a reputation in skin quality improvement after treating the Princess of Belgium



Elizabeth Arden





Florence Nightingale Graham (died in 1966), who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire started by a collaboration with A. Fabian Swanson, a chemist, to create a "fluffy" face cream, bringing a scientific approach to formulations.



Josephine Esther Mentzer (died in 2004), who went by the business name Estée Lauder, became more interested in her uncle's business (chemistry) than her father's (hardware). She agreed to help her uncle, Dr. John Schotz, a chemist. He owned a company called New Way Laboratories, which produced numerous beauty products (creams, lotions, rouge, and fragrances). She called one of his creams Super Rich All-Purpose Cream and began her business by selling beauty products to her friends.  Evelyn Lauder, daughter of Josephine, paired with dermatologist Dr. Norman Orentreich to create the Clinique line for Estée Lauder.  The same company also owns Aveda, incorporating the healing properties of Ayurveda (the Hindu science of longevity) and aroma, while producing products that are as organic as possible and produced with greater environmental responsibility as a guiding principal.





Estée Lauder with a customer



I definitely understand that appearance isn't everything, but the face is key to making a good first impression.  I am happy to be teaching at the Claremont Colleges and I do so without wearing cosmetics (foundation, concealer, shadow, rouge, lipstick).  But I still engage in skin care.  And I appreciate the efforts of pioneering businessmen and businesswomen who combined an interest in sales with improving the appearance of our facial skin and for formulating protective creams that allow us to enjoy the atmosphere regardless of how polluted it is and how many DNA-damaging free-radicals and UVA and UVB rays encounter our faces each day.  Even 10 minutes in the sun without these creams and I notice a decline in my skin quality. 

Hurrah for chemistry and for those willing to work at the interface between medicine, chemistry, art and fashion!  Do I spend too much on these products?  Is it worth every penny?  What would my skin look like if I washed it with Dove soap?  I can't tell you that, but I can say that since beginning the Erno Lazlo products (August), I have received more compliments than before when I was using only the E. Arden and Clinique regimen.  The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

I want to also articulate that the ingredients in such creams and lotions often have botanical origin.  I believe that as issues of sustainability and biodiversity become more widely appreciated, the cosmetic and cosmaceutical industries will continue to offer improved formulations of bioactive creams from natural sources.  A friend I met at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany works toward the characterization of molecules isolated from plants used in traditional medicine in French Polynesia.  She holds a patent on a natural product with antioxidant properties that is currently formulated into a skin cream.  Chemistry is beautiful!

Want more?
Chemists' Corner: Organic Cosmetic Standards Podcast (39 min) with Gay Timmons , who owns and operates Oh, Oh Organic, Inc., a company committed to the development and delivery of sustainable agricultural ingredients for the cosmetic and personal care industries.
Cosmetics Design: Formulators Need Green Ingredients Podcast (2 min 39 sec) with Dr. Liliana George, Executive Director of Strategic Developments, Research & Development, Estée Lauder.
Potions and Lotions: Lessons in Cosmetic Chemistry Activity Learn more about solids, liquids, solutions, mixtures and solvents, oils, waxes, emulsifiers, emollients, surfactants, stabilizers, antioxidants and how they apply to cosmetic chemistry.  Hosted by ScienceBuddies.com