Creating The Eye Achiever

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

People often ask what it is like to create a product or what my method is for formulating a new product. I would love to say it’s effortless. That I am a skin savant where the formulations come to me in just a couple trips to the lab. But that wouldn’t be true – it takes a great deal of effort. To create a product can take the better part of a year – and in some cases, longer than that. It isn’t an overnight process. I go through countless iterations until I feel that a product is ready – in the case of the eye achiever it took 63 iterations, to be exact.

The process of creating a product can be painstaking. In fact, there are many sleepless nights where I stare bleary-eyed at a computer screen and hunt for the latest information and clinical studies. It’s a passion and relentless pursuit to find the best high performance ingredients, which have the muscle to deliver on their promise. And I love every flipping minute of it. In all, it’s a true labor of love.

When I first set out to create a product, my goal – first and always – is that the product I’m making should deliver on its promise, but even more than that, it should surprise and delight. I want consumers to say, “wait a minute, this stuff is really good.” And over time, I want them to see real results, so much so they say, “this product is the real deal.” Creating a new product doesn’t happen in isolation. It involves countless hours batting around ideas with ingredient suppliers (shout out to Angela, Craig, Mohammed), chemists, the best, most passionate team who all share the vision (& who walk around the office very moisturized and glow-y), the most supportive retail partners willing to give feedback along the way and a very understanding life partner. During this process, when Paul (my fiancée) grew tired of hearing me talk about eye serums, he’d have a running joke that we should call this “Youth-In-Eyes” (aka euthanize). He thinks he is very funny! Hahaha! 

A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE STAR INGREDIENTS

At the end of the day, it’s all about what goes into that bottle. So I thought it would make sense to delve deep into some of the star ingredients that make this eye serum special:

+ Supercritical Chia – Chia seeds are the richest known plant source of omega fatty acids, antioxidants and essential minerals – all factors that play a vital role for the health of your skin. The Nutritional Science Research Institute tested the nutritional value of chia seed and said it contains “the highest number of antioxidants we have ever measured” and cited chia as one of the most powerful whole food antioxidants we know.

+ Natural Astaxanthin which is 65X stronger than Vitamin C. Studies have shown that astaxanthin enhances the antioxidant actions of Vitamin C, which is why we paired these two ingredients in this formula.

+ Vitamin C Ester – shelf stable Vitamin C ester, which interestingly enough, studies have found astaxanthin enhances the antioxidant actions of Vitamin C

+ Alaria Esculenta Extract is an all natural, algae extract, multifunctional skin treatment active. It helps protect the skin’s firmness and elasticity while boosting the synthesis of collagen and hyaluronic acid. The skin is plumped, looks firmer and smoother.This ingredient stimulates hyaluronic acid synthesis by +24% An invivo study on 20 volunteers, during 28 days found an increase in by moisture 70%, firmness by 90%, skin tone and texture by 85%.

+ Sea Lavender is an active ingredient extracted from a unique marine plant harvested on the coast of Northern Brittany, France. Its combined anti-inflammatory (IL-1, IL-6), firming (collagen, glycosaminoglycans) and plumping (hyaluronic acid) actions make it a great natural solution for slowing down the signs of aging. Invivo studies have shown: 32% increase of tubules length for microcirculation stimulation, and 20% stimulation of mitochondrial respiration

+ Sea Fennel is a marine plant extract that is known as the “keratogenesis architect”, it improves the barrier function of the skin through the protection of its epidermis lipids, boosts cellular respiration and restores the water balance. Specifically, it has shown in invivo tests **volunteers using this ingredient found their skin to be: more radiant (76%), less dull (90%), less greyish (81%) more homogenous (71%), smoother (71%)

+ Wakame This particular macro alga, or seaweed, is an active that provides long-term anti-aging benefits. It works by giving your cells a better ability to fight free radicals, one of the main causes of skin aging.

+ Sweet White Lupin Seeds restore resiliency to firm and smooth the skin (in an in vivo study of this ingredient conducted on 25 volunteers spanning 45-69 in age for 89 days: 92% of volunteers noticed improved firmness of the skin and 72% noticed reduced sagging of the facial contour)

+ Includes traditional/ancient skin healing plants including (among others) Raspberry Seed Oil, Black Cumin Seed Oil, Rooibos Tea Extract, and Eyebright among others.