Well with Arielle Lorre - 428: The Ingredients, Myths + Marketing Tactics of the Beauty Industry with Charlotte Palermino

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Charlotte Palermino is a licensed esthetician, co-founder of Dieux Skin, writer and self proclaimed skincare freak. She joins the show for an honest, no-nonsense conversation around beauty standards, treatments, what actually matters in skincare and what absolutely doesn’t. We get into the first skincare brand she ever fell in love with, the beauty products she thinks are totally overrated and the weirdest treatment she’s ever tried. Charlotte shares her go-to approach for treating hyperpigmentation, her laser recommendations, the number one thing everyone should be doing for better skin and why so many of us still get duped by clever marketing. We also unpack the realities of perioral dermatitis, why lawsuits ironically protect the beauty industry, how U.S. and EU regulations really differ and why Europe is often idealized for all the wrong reasons. Plus: the percentages that actually matter when reading ingredient lists, the future of skincare through her skeptical lens and the affordable brands she genuinely recommends.This episode is brought to you by:Go to justthrivehealth.com and use code WELL for 20% off your first 90 day bottle of Just Thrive probiotic. Visit OSEAMalibu.com and use code BLONDE for 10% off your first order sitewide. Try LMNT and get a free sample pack when you go to DrinkLMNT.com/WELL.Visit fatty15.com/WELL and use code WELL at checkout for an additional 15% off their Starter Kit.Go to fromourplace.com/BLONDE and use code BLONDE for 10% off sitewide. Get up to 25% off your order at Bakedbymelissa.com/BLONDE.This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This is well a podcast about wellness in all its forms. I'm Ariel Lori, and each week I'm sharing unfiltered conversations with people shaping how we feel, live, and look. Come for the substance, stay for the honesty, and leave with the tools to be well, inside and out. I loved today's episode so much, and I know that you are going to as well. So before you think that this is just another skincare beauty focused episode, it's actually so much more than that because my guest, Charlotte Parley has a really interesting take and approach to beauty. She is what I would consider a beauty skeptic and she's almost like an anthropologist in that she really kind of studies beauty and

skincare and how it affects and has been affected by cultures and societies and even politics across time and space. So we get into all of that. It's really a no-nonsense conversation about beauty standards, treatments, what actually matters in skin care and what really doesn't. We talk about beauty products that she thinks are totally overrated. We talk weirdest treatments she's ever tried. She also shares her go-to approach for hyperpigmentation. She has great specific laser recommendations, the things that everybody should be doing for our skin, and how to not get duped by clever marketing. We also talk about misconceptions about the U.S. and European regulations and how they differ and why Europe is often idealized for the wrong

reasons. We also talk percentages that matter when reading ingredient lists, the future of skincare through her skeptic lens, and affordable drugstore brands that she recommends. There are so many amazing recommendations and also thought provoking perspectives in my opinion in this episode that I think are going to help the way that you view both beauty and skincare. So, So a little bit of background on Charlotte. She is a licensed aesthetician. She is the co-founder of Doe Skin, an amazing skincare brand all about transparency and efficacy. She is also a writer and a self-proclaimed skincare freak.

I know you're going to love this one. So please enjoy. I feel like this is a long time coming. I know. It's been a long time coming for me. We've been following each other for a while. For quite a while. Yeah.

I love your content so much. And I love your transparency. see as a brand founder. Yes. I think that that really kind of separates you from a lot of other founders in this space. So I'm really excited to just deep dive on all things, skincare, beauty. I'm excited. I love when I'm with like a kindred spirit because I feel like I could just go on forever. It's like real talk. It's like, let's go into it. Exactly. But I would love to start with a lightning round. Ooh. Kind of get to know you lightning round. So what is the first skincare product you ever fell in love with? Derma A.

It was just a like a dermatitis face cream. It's by Pierre Fabre. It's like a French brand. You don't really see it here, but it's a French pharmacy skincare brand. What does it do? It just soothes dermatitis. Oh, I couldn't use anything for my whole life just because I would break out into a rash. Oh, got it.

So this is my rash cream. Love it. What's a beauty product that you secretly think is overrated? I think transexamic acid is talked about quite a bit. And a lot of the research is actually in general. tested tranexamic acid. So I think that. And then I think there's just like a lot of ingredients like melaton and hyluronic acid and things like that. We're like, okay, does some stuff, but it's not that exciting. And they're done that. Yeah. What do you like instead of transexamic acid?

Do you like hydroquinone or? It's for hyperpigmentation. I think hydroquinone is great when you are working with a doctor. I think that my problem with OTC products is that people can misuse it pretty easily. But hydroquinone is incredibly effective, but it can cause hypopigmentation. So lightning of the skin really in a way that you do not want. And so I like hydroquinone. I love chemical peals. I think chemical peels are a fantastic way to lift ever pigmentation. Retinal. Right. Like retinol is one of the most effective ingredients to use. It's just been kind of demonized. Vitamin C is fine. It's not that exciting. It's fine. I love your hot takes. It's fine. We're going to dive into some of these a little bit deeper after this, but what's the

weirdest beauty treatment you've ever tried? The weirdest beauty treatment I've ever tried. I mean, I do think that Botox is weird because it's like botulism, but at the same time, like, it's pretty targeted and it works. But I've gone to like med spas in Korea where they just like beat the shit out out of your face. Like they say it's like through circulation, but it's like you walk out almost with bruises. And they aren't injecting anything. They aren't doing anything. But like they are literally, like really like almost punch. the face. Is it effective? It felt amazing and it really like help with my TMJ. Like I wish they had it here because I don't ever want to get Botox here. Yeah. And they don't do it here because I think it's like

liability. Right. I go to a place in LA where they do incredible buckle massage. They're Russian. I have terrible TMJ and I botoxed the shit out of my masseters for years and I had like master Botox blindness. So I didn't see that it was dropping. I had like the scream mask face. You know, like, was dropping your jaw. Yeah. And all these people ever since, you know, I stopped doing Botox. It's been two years that I've been in this night here. But see how effective it is? Yeah. Like, you still have the effects. Yeah. I didn't start until this year until I was 38. Yeah. And I know that you think preventative Botox is like a scam. Yes and no, because you have zero lines on your face. Yeah. How long have you been doing it for? I think I started around 29 and stopped at like 37. Okay. So yeah, it worked. But like the thing is, it also works on me. Yeah. And I financially was not in a position to go to somebody that was reputable in my 20s. And so now in my 30s, it makes just way more sense for me to do it. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. But it did prevent. I mean, you got. Sure. I'm also like not very expressive. I'm super expressive. I am around my eyes. That's my area. You know, but in my forehead, like, I'm just not really like,

I don't really have the, I'm not a furrower. I'm not a razor. So that's why I. So even when you raise your brow, It's like you don't get the, I really raise. It's like, but I would get, even just from like a slight raising of my brows, I would get deep edges. And so I did have like pretty deep wrinkles, but it works. Yeah. I mean, ice skating rink on your forehead right now. I love it. That's the goal.

I actually do find when I tape, it does keep the lines at bay. If I don't tape, I start to wake up with static lines because I'm like this in my sleep. That's actually why I got Botox. Yeah. After the, after November 5th, we'll leave it at that. So two weeks after that, I was waking up with such bad headaches and like tension pain in my forehead, not migraines. But it was from just scrunching up my face. And I was like, fuck this. I'm not so over it. And I was really, I love seeing what skincare can do. I can still see what skincare does,

like on the rest of my face, my body, things like that. But I just couldn't wake up screaming anymore. Yeah. No, I totally understand. I miss it so much. Maybe one day. But buckle massage does definitely help with TMJ. It doesn't do what Botox does, but I definitely have that blindness. And a lot of people are like, what did you do to your jaw? And I'm like, nothing. My master grew back. And I have a jaw line now that I didn't have for so long because I was just like hitting it so hard with the Botox. Okay, the beauty hill you'll die on. Sunscreen over everything. Yeah. Like prevention is the best skincare advice you can get. And it's why it just kills me these apps that tell you when the UV index is highest for you to go out. Because not only is it going to like mess up

your skin and you are going to regret it when you get older, not because I like getting older. I like seeing signs of aging. Like I feel like I definitely look my age and that's a beautiful thing. For me, it's more I'm like, I have to get skin cancer biopsies all the time. I'm getting stuff cut out of my body all the time. And I'm like, this was just so easily preventable. And I believed the narrative that I wanted to believe. Because even back then, people knew that tanning beds were bad. Were you in tanning beds a lot? Yeah. Yeah. I was. Me too. We're around the same age. Yeah. And where did you grow up? I grew up in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Boston. But like, Rhode Island's very like Jersey Shore. In Rhode Island. Where? Barrington. Lincoln. I went to Moses Brown. Oh my gosh. I did not.

I'm in public school. When I was living in New Hampshire, I went to private school and the nuns just like would let us out. They, like, didn't teach us anything for, like, three years. And so ever since my mom's like, you're never going to school ever again. How do I not know this about you? This is, I don't really talk. Because the thing is, is like, people ask me where I'm from and I'm like New England. No, England. Because I grew up in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Got it. And so it's like, when I say Rhode Island, people start mentioning things from Rhode Island. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not a cartographer. I don't know what that is. Yeah. But the tanning beds were big, especially back in the early 2000s. It was like, how tan can you get? We would go to the tanning bed, do two sessions back to back,

and then go to the beach. Like, it was, it was really. And I feel like people were like, it is carcinogenic, but not to the point where we have so much information now, like where TikTok dermatologists are like one sunburn is enough for you to increase your chance of melanoma. Yeah. By pretty, because like we're both pale. Yeah. I know that as you get more melanated, the, like risk changes. Yeah. But for us, it's like we were basically taking a whole pack of cigarettes, throwing them in our mouth and then lighting them all up. Yeah. But I think there's also like just a naivete when you're younger. Like, because my mom told me all the time, stay out of the sun, use sunscreen. You're going to regret it. She was in the sun until she was like in her late 20s, early 30s.

They lived in Tel Aviv and they were like out in the burning sun all the time and she was so dark. And then she stopped at 30 and she has amazing skin. But I think when you're that age, you just think that's never going to come, you know? And I also was a little bit aloof. And I'm like, they'll have something to take care of it at that time. And we do have lasers and things that can help with that. But yeah, I go bi-annually to get skin checks every six months. I'm just like, who knows, you know. Yeah. With all of that. Okay. Let's do one more and then we'll get into it. Get into it. What's a trend, a beauty trend that you think will laugh at in five years? I want to say tanning, but I don't think that's going to be accurate. I think beef tallow.

Yeah. Even though I know there are. some people laughing at beef tallow now. Yeah. I think it was kind of, it's the new coconut oil. And coconut oil was considered crunchy and Democrat. And now beef tallow is considered crunchy and Republican. And it's like, we've done like the full circle. It's like the horseshoe effect where it's like the two extremes are the same.

It's like, I would say beef tallow is like coconut oil. It's just not a miracle. It's okay. I don't even think it's that bad. Like, you're like, it's going to give you acne. And I'm like, my really dry skin, it's probably not going to give me acne. Yeah. But also, like, it's deeply unful.

pleasant and there are just so many, so many better formulas that are made with lipids that your skin like. Yeah. Like, it's really high in oleic acids. It's like a very slimy product. And it's not even like fully sinking into your skin. Like Instant Angel was just from due, it's like formulated a ratio. But it's the same ratio that's found in your skin for cholesterol, seromides, and free fatty acids. Like, why? Yeah. Also because the beef tallow is expensive. Yeah. Some of these whipped tallows with, like, other ingredients. I'm like, I'm sorry. What? But I've heard you say in an interview, too, like, it's not the first time that, like, animal-derived products have been used in skincare either. So the fact that people are like, ooh, this is like this novel thing.

Like, and here's my take. It's like Europeans used it a lot. And when they actually came into the U.S. to start colonizing the U.S., like indigenous people in the United States have much better hygiene than Europeans. Because a lot of people from England, for example, example, they were Puritans and like they didn't bathe. So like, why would you take skincare advice from like people who brought disease didn't bathe? And then on top of that, I know had bad skin. Yeah. And teeth. Like their sanitation practices were terrible. Like in like Aztecs when like Spanish colonizers came in, they would carry incense around them. And the Spaniards thought, oh, they think we're gods. And they're like, no, you smell bad. No way. You smell bad. And so I'm just not taking

that advice. It's bad advice. And actually, Native Americans in Pennsylvania, actually were some of the first people to refine petrolatum, like refined petroleum into petroletum. And so the founder of Vaseline, he was in Pennsylvania. And so it's like this kind of like, that's like indigenous science is like Vaseline. And so I like Vaseline a lot. Yeah. It's a long way of saying Vaseline will always be great. I saw you did a post recently too that was like make it make sense. Essentially, it's like animals cooked in plant oils, bad. Plants cooked in animal. Oils, good. Like, how did we arrive there? There were a lot of different sides that were so funny. I know. It was like, are we healthy? Did it make America healthy? But I think the bigger thing is, is like, my grandfather was an Italian immigrant. And he, I remember him, like, when I was a kid, he would just go through the newspaper and he would just rip apart the ads. He, like, would just rip apart marketing. And he was like, what? Like, because it's like, like, it would say, like, fresh vegetables. He's like, what? Are you going to sell me rotten vegetables? Like, this makes no sense. And so he would just, he would just, he would. And so he would. He would. He would.

just rip through them and my grandmother on my French side kind of does the same thing. And so because I spent a lot of time with my grandmother in particular, I think just through osmosis. Yeah. I just look at like how language is put together and I'm like, bad idea. Yeah. Doesn't make sense. So funny. I love that post. Okay. Well, first I want to know like how did you go from tanning and all of that to becoming beauty obsessed? So basically, I feel like it happens to a lot of people. But as you get older, like your skin does start to change. And because we are not very melanated, we genetically are going to change faster. It just is how it is. I was also working in women's media at the time. I was working at Cosmo and Elle and Marie Claire. And so I was very adjacent to beauty. I would work with beauty brands.

I would write about beauty. I actually wrote about frownies in like, I think like 2017. Wow. And so I was reporting and doing growth hacking and all these different things. And then I just couldn't tolerate any skin care. And so I started working in cannabis briefly. I saw what people were doing the CBD. And I was like, I feel like there's a huge area in beauty to kind of poke through the marketing because I was seeing creators do it, but I wasn't seeing brands do it. And I think it's because brands thought if they were honest, they would lose customers. But actually trust is the bedrock of any community. And so I really wanted to explore the idea of what does honesty and beauty like? What does transparency look like? And can we get people to understand what they're buying

so they don't get duped? I don't blame people for not being scientists and falling for these insane theories like, oh, chemical sunscreen is, you know, going to kill you. Because at the end of the day, if you're not a scientist, like, how do you know? I do blame the people saying it. Yeah. As I'm sure you've seen from my social media. But at the end of the day, I was one of those people, right? Like I had perioral dermatitis for years because I fell for clean beauty. And I was working with bloggers and they were like, yeah, it's actually just the toxins purging from your skin. No, I'm, I'm really allergic to botanicals. Those are my allergies. The same way that, like, you're allergic to pollen. Yeah. My skin, it will look at like any sort of an essential oil and be like,

absolutely not. And so through science, through really focusing on that when I actually worked in reporting and beauty, and then eventually when we started working on cannabis and things like that, I just really want to talk to scientists and doctors, just like can get a better idea. of like what's real and what's not. There has never been a better time to take control of your health, and it all starts in the gut, but unfortunately processed foods, pesticides in your food, antibiotics, stress at work, and even toxins in the air you breathe can overwhelm your digestive system. So that miserable post-meal bloat, indigestion, and more are all signs that your gut needs some help.

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energy, clearer thinking, no slump. And I don't crave salty snacks later because my body, actually got what it needed. And the flavors are so good. I am obsessed. It's also amazing for anyone who's active, people who fast, people who follow lower carb or lower salt diets, just anyone who wants to feel really hydrated, not just feeling like they drink a bunch of water. So right now, Element is offering a free sample pack with any purchase. That's eight single serving packets free with any element order. It's a great way to try all eight flavors. Get yours at drinkelement.com slash well. This deal is only available through my link at d-r-r-i-l-m-n-t-t.com slash well. What was the turning point for you when you realized that what you were doing for your skin wasn't

working and what did you start implementing that got your skin to where it is now? Because it's bananas. Everybody watch on YouTube if you're not. Or at least go look at the clips. I mean, stunning. Thank you. So I was at a party in Canada and it was my friend's house and her mother is a dermatologist, and she's staring at me, and I'm like, this lady is looking at my rash. Because I had peri-year-old dermatitis, like, here. And this was before social media, really. And so I didn't actually document it, but it was very aggressive. She looked at me and she just grabs my hand, like, later on in the day, and she pulls me aside. And she's like, don't take this any kind of way. She writes me a script. She's like, you have perioral dermatitis. It's very severe. It looks extremely painful. stop using everything that you are using, use this. And she gave me an antibiotic cream, which wasn't the cure for me. For me, my cure was sulfur and sulfacidamide, which is an

antibacterial appointment. But everybody's a little bit different with parol dermatitis. And so that's when I realized I'd really gone far down a path of like the non-toxic beauty movement, but it actually led to really bad results for me. And I was like, of course you need to follow science. Like I follow science with so many other things that I do. Why was beauty why did I suspend belief for beauty? Like, I'm allergic to poison ivy. Would I keep going into the poison ivy patch? Yeah.

No, but here I was doing that. Yeah. Well, I think to your point of what you said before, it's so hard for like the layman to navigate, yeah, see industry and navigate like, okay, what is clean beauty versus what is the actual science? Mm-hmm. And I think that when it comes down to it in the industry,

like you see so many good marketers. Yes. And nobody's going to sit there and be like, okay, I'm going to like go to pub med. and I'm going to read the research and even like trying to understand a PubMed, like, who's funding it? You know, it's almost impossible. It's actually investigative journalism. Yeah.

And nobody has time for that. I've been not invested in it. And it's, and that's the thing. It's like you should have to be. But there's very little regulation on marketing. There's actually quite a bit of regulation on the products if you follow the law. That's the lawsuits are what keeps the industry safe because a lot of people fly under the radar. You can sell on Etsy.

you can sell on Amazon. There were actually people going blind off of a cream on Amazon because of of mercury in it. Yeah. What cream can you say? It wasn't like a brand that you would know. It was just like some random brand that was. And everyone's like, I can't believe it like this is and I'm like, yeah. Like people break the law. Are we surprised? Yeah. Like people do illicit drugs. Like come on. Like of course people are going to break the law with a cream. And so that's why going to retailers like a Sephora, you know that there is like a level of vetting. And so, you know, that's, that's like one thing that I think is like people kind of forget. But products themselves don't have to be like FDA approved or FDA cleared, do they? Or is it

ingredients, but not the actual final product? So basically the U.S. takes a cautionary approach, whereas like Europe takes a risk-based approach. So, or sorry, that's the, it's the inverse. And so it really falls on the company. If you create a product that is unsafe, you, the company are liable. And so that's why you don't need banned ingredients because, like, are people, like, that banned ingredient list in Europe, they have things like cyanide on it. I'm sorry. What? Yeah. Do we really need to ban? Like, sure, if you want to. That list also in Europe was not made with the cosmetics industry. It was just like a list that was made. There's like 30 different times of like types of like jet fuel. And they were like, well, a brand could put it. And I'm like, yes. And you could sue them. And that's the thing that people aren't kind of like connecting. Like for example, there was. a lot of FDA recalls on supplements a few years ago, like very big brand names that I don't want to name the names. You can look at the letters. They had cadmium lead high levels. Illegal. Yeah. You could sue them if you had complications. And so that's kind of the thing that keeps the industry regulated, like me as a brand, especially a brand that is sold as Sephora.

It would not behoove my business to break the law. It would not behoove my business to kill you. So let's also like use a little bit of critical thinking here while also still being critical, still asking questions, but when you get the answer, let's move on to the next question. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of wanted to debunk like the whole band in Europe versus versus band here. Because I'm like, I literally do regulatory for my brand. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so you're a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this. And I think that there's this attitude here that like there's so much better in Europe and their products are so much better and their food is so much better. And like sometimes yes, you know. But can you explain to people like why it isn't exactly what they think it is? They think that it's very like, it's a duality. It's black or white. It's good and bad. Well, the first thing I want to say is Europe has a lot of government. So you can't vote in a president wanting small government and then having regulation. RFK is without a doubt the worst thing that could have happened to the United States for anybody who wants more safe products, ingredients or an environment. The rollbacks on the EPA. I'm sorry, breathing in chemicals is far worse than applying them to your face.

When I say chemicals, I mean like bad chemicals, right? Like things that, you know, are shown toxicity, are proven toxicity. Like, for example, I would much rather apply cyanide to my face than to eat it because that's much worse. A much smaller dose will kill you. And so that's kind of the first thing that I would say is that in Europe, they pay a lot of taxes and they have a very regulatory government that protects its constituents. So number one, what's your philosophy on government? Okay.

Should government protect you or should they leave you alone? And if they leave you alone, then, okay, you're on your own. Be an investigative journalist. Good luck with that. That's the first piece. The second piece is that in Europe, it's much more cautionary. So if there is the potential, then they are going to start to limit things. So a great example is sunscreen.

I think that people think that sunscreens in Europe, they have totally different filters, therefore they don't use things like abo benzo. Incorrect. A lot of sunscreen brands use the ingredient abo benzone, and they can actually use it at a higher percentage. In the U.S., it's limited to 3%. In Europe, you can use it at 5%. It's safe.

They are just taking a different regulatory model in terms of how they approach ingredients. A different one will be homo salad. They have different percentages that you're allowed to use for face versus body. For face, you're allowed to use 7%. For body, it's about 0.5%. in the U.S., it's up to 10%. Is that difference going to lead to carcinogenic effects? No, it's just differences in how they regulate things.

And so I think that people idealize Europe without realizing that they're actually more lax on certain ingredients and more strict on others. But it's just really how they're looking at it. The other thing I will say in Europe, they follow science and experts. The U.S. was that way. This is the first time it's diverged. and so we'll see what happens. I'm not very optimistic. Yeah. I'm not optimistic. I'm despairy is how I like to say it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that people are so hyper-focused on things like a food die versus, like you said, rollbacks on the EPA. Like, yeah, I don't think people understand like how broad that is and how that is going to affect us in the long run versus like, okay, sure, food dies and food not great, you know? Take it out. Like I don't, I don't disagree. Yeah. But like if you're also taking the fluoride out of the water, you know they did that in Calgary. They took the fluoride out of the water. And then within 10 years, children were having so many dental complications, cavities, like their teeth were rotting out of their faces that they put the fluoride back in the water. So what are we doing here? Yeah. What are we doing? Yeah, it's frustrating. Okay. So I want to talk about for you, what are

are the foundational product for good skin. And then also like other things that we can do. Because I know that you like lasers. I need to pick your brain on lasers as well. But let's start with like the foundation skin. So the foundation is always going to be cleanse sunscreen. Cleansing is so important to your skin because we live in a world with a lot of pollution and increasing pollution, which is always great. So you need to get that off. Pollution. It's actually been found with UV to actually intensify its effects and to actually cause. cancer more on your skin. So pollution, very bad. I saw that at a sunscreen symposium. It was really interesting, listening to the researcher talk about it.

Cleansing your face very important. Sunscreen, very important. The sun is a beautiful thing. Most people do not live where they are from because of things like colonization. So this idea that the sun is good for you, well, I'm sorry, but if your last name is McFadden and you live, no offense to McFadden's out there, love Irish people. And then you live in Arizona or Florida. Like my mother is a redhead and she lives in Florida. Not. You're from the North with the sun?

Kind of. Also, she's older. And that's the other thing. People don't realize skin cancer takes decades. And she was so sun safe her whole life that now that she's in her 70s, it's going to take decades for the skin cancer to show up. Maybe because she's older, it'll show up faster. I actually should ask a Durham.

So thank you, actually. We need to bully my mom on sunscreen. But, you know, for me. it's my damage when I was like seven because I get I get very tan because I'm half Italian. You too. And so it's the damage that I got when I was when I was kid. Yeah. That's showing up now 30 years later.

And so yeah, sunscreen's foundational. But then I would say once you start getting into your teens, you know, continue that routine, 20s. You're not really going to be experiencing aging, especially if you're wearing sunscreen. But you might be experiencing acne. I actually recommend using a retinoid and an exfoliant. Because if you're using just a retinoid, you actually might be exacerbating some of that acne because you're not sloughing away the skin.

So you want to make sure that you're using an exfoliant and a retinoid. It's okay if the retinoid's gentle to start, and then you kind of work your way up. And then once you start getting into your 30s and 40s, you can start looking into more expensive ingredients like peptides, anything that's going to basically support collagen. That's when you're in the collagen game. If you're using a retinoid, an exfoliant,

and, you know, a sunscreen and a moisturizer, you're going to be golden. But then in those, that age bracket, that's when you're starting to look at things like, you know, peptides, growth factors and like PDRN, like not so much research on that. It's unclear if it's even effective. But peptides are fragments of proteins. I'm joking now that I don't protein max, I peptide mat. Love it. Because it's about signaling collagen production.

And that's when you can do things like treatments as well. And then it's really about supporting all of them. that. An antioxidant is something I should have mentioned as well. And that's kind of something you can start using in your 20s and 30s and 40s because your skin and your body is less apt at fighting free radical damage. And so eating antioxidants is great, but it only supplies so much to the skin. So topically applying it is just like an extra level of protection. So niacinamide, vitamin C, vitamin A in a way, but you want to use something that's like a higher percentage that can fight that free radical damage that you can also wear during the day and is nice and suitor.

I love niacinamide because it's both an antioxidant, barrier repair, and at percentages over four, or around four percent, you start to see hyperpigmentation actually lessen. And what lasers do you like? So halo laser is if you want to go really for it. So halo is more for collagen, hyperpigmentation, texture. And you do that maybe once a year or once every two years. The last stand body? I do just face.

So I actually have like nothing on. I've always been like a clothes wearer at the beach because I hate controversial. I hate sand. Oh. I hate it sticking to me. It's like a sensory thing. I'm the weirdest bikini possible wet in the sand rolling around. In the sand.

Yeah. Yeah, that's my nightmare. Like once I literally went on a kayak just like covered in clothes because I'm like, I can't be on this beautiful beach anymore. But that's amazing for your skin. Like, because I feel like we're at the age where. And you were saying this even, like, we're at the age where you start to separate the sunscreen wears from the nonsense screen wears. Yes. You know. You really start to see it. You look at somebody like Anne Hathaway. I mean, and you see her like paparazzi pictures when she's out in the sun. She's in full UPF, like head to toe clothing. And her skin is amazing. Like porcelain doll. Whereas, you know, other people use myself for an example. I mean, I was a tannaholic until my late 20s. And I'm starting to notice it not even.

so much with like pigmentation. I kind of like zap that. Yeah. A couple years ago. I did like an IP all with a fracstall over it and it never came back. But it's the degradation of of collagen. And so it's like the degradation of elasticity. Yeah. I'm like I'm too young. Yeah. For like creepy skin. It's horrible. It'll it. It'll, it'll do it. It'll do it. And I think that's a thing that people don't realize. It's like you're going to get great creepy skin. Yeah. Creepy skin. But it's like, are you going to get it in like your 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s. Yeah. Like it all kind of depends. And so I would say for full body. I mean, I love like, like, laser genesis as like a gentle laser that you do consistently, that just kind of gives you that

glass skin effect, I would say, in terms of poor size. Is it ablative or not? It's a, I think it's non-ablative. It's very gentle. Like you go in and out, you're a little bit red, but you go on like a cycle of every two weeks. It's almost like microneedling. Where you go on a few cycles, but then it gives you this really beautiful effect to the skin. And I think that's for me. It's like, my grandmother has the most stunning skin. She is 92. And she never went in the sun. She's so funny. She was like, yeah, I went in the sun once and I got a sunburn. So that means I'm allergic. And I just was like, this lady is. I aspire to that. Well, just in the sense where she was like, if you burn, you're allergic to the sun. She's like, I don't understand why people don't get that. And I'm like,

me, stop. She's like, the people out there tanning. She's like, hmm. Yeah. But she does have the most stunning skin. And so. And she has. And she has. And she. has, like, still, like, structure and collagen too. Wow. Yeah. She doesn't use skincare. Wow. Now she's a skincare because I force her too, but that's amazing. Yeah, you also see it like I was in Europe this summer all over, but especially like south of France. I feel like there are a lot of older women there who, you know, they summer there. They're out in the sun. They're smoking their cigarettes. Yeah. And tanning all day. And you can tell. So the people that say, like, tanning is good for you. Yeah. I understand the argument for like getting some vitamin D, right? And getting vitamin D from the sun. And it

feels great to be outside. I love being outside. Yeah. But it's also funny to me because I'm like, look, there's the aesthetic aspect. And I think that women are held to crazy beauty standards and that should be questioned. And it's, it's not fun, right? Feeling like worth is tied to something that you can never achieve because it is a privilege to get older. And it feels wild that we tie so much the appearance of youth. But in France, health care is free. Yeah. To an extent. Getting skin cancer is extremely expensive in the United States. And so not that I think people are fast and loose in Europe because health care is free. I think also stress is a killer in a pretty big way. My boyfriend just got shingles and it's stress related. And I'm like looking at it, I'm like,

everything we do is so stressful. Everything is stressful in the U.S. And so for me, it's very much. So we also don't have like a healthcare system that's very affordable or accessible. So like also going to cost you down the road. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think people consider that. You know, I think that they consider the aesthetic of it. Exactly.

You know, there's a health care cost. My grandmother actually had a melanoma on her nose. And it was like, it was in. She had to get most fully off. And it's hard. Yeah. It's hard. That recovery time too, because you're older, right?

Like if you're in your 60s or 70s, like your collagen isn't what it was. There's a reason why you want your collagen to be intact because you actually are better at wound healing. There's also like a medical benefit to it, like even a retinal. There's a medical benefit to using retinol over time. It makes your skin stronger and it makes it more have more collagen. Okay. I want to talk about one of the most interesting things in longevity right now, which is C15, the first essential fatty acid discovered in over 90 years. And it's the hero ingredient in fatty 15.

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slash blonde what are your thoughts on trinan versus retinol oh good question yeah so this is actually something that I was kind of debating And then Vichy did a study that showed that over extended periods of time, when it comes to aging, there's almost no difference or there is no difference between Tretnawan and a retinal. As long as the retinal stable. And then I saw a video from, I believe it's Dr. Sam Ellis, the founder of prequel. Founder I love, brand I love. And she was saying, you need to use your Tret every day if you can. And I could never do that.

My skin would fall off. Once a week. Exactly. I could do. And what she was saying is that it's better to use. And I looked in her comments and I asked her and she's like, it's absolutely better to use a retinal every single night than it is to use tretino in once or twice a week. Got it. And so I was like, great. So I'm going to keep doing that. And like my skin is thicker now. Yeah. And I know this because when I get treatments, like they're just like trying to really. Oh yeah. So which retinal do is working on one. So that's one that's been fun. But Ioppa was it's a K beauty brand. It's expensive. But it's that's the thing. K beauty, like this idea that it's all cheap. It's like. The cheap brands are cheap. Yeah. Come on. So Iope is actually one of my favorite Korean brands. It's a clinical brand. They actually were the first people to stabilize retinal. Because retinal is a vitamin. It's vitamin A. It's like vitamin C. It's very unstable like most antioxidants because antioxidants have an extra electron

to like donate to free radicals. And so that's why it stabilizes your skin. So Iope is fantastic. Medicaid 8 is fantastic. They encapsulate their retinal in cyclo dextrin. Again, it's all about how stable is the retinal. It's like that it actually does what it's supposed to in the skin. And then I trust Caroline Hirons with like my life. Yeah, I love her. And so Skin Rocks is a brand that I think just does a really great job. They don't really disclose percentages.

They might on the retinal, but they do so many clinicals on their product that you don't need really the percentages because you know the actual end formula works. And so I would recommend that I tried that retinal and I thought it was a really excellent retinal. and there's two different strengths. So you can start low and then work the way up. Caroline has a quote where she was like, I'll be mat when I'm dead. Like, or I have enough time to be mad when I'm dead. And I was like, that speaks to my soul.

I, and the thing is, like, I'm like, actually, I'm like, what skin type is Caroline Hyerns have? But it's just like, people have dry skin. Like, we're like, fuck that. Yeah. Like, I want to be amphibian. Yeah. I want to be like wet dolphin, reflective, just to go ball, all of the things.

and I get a lot of hate for it. My engagement. Yeah, exactly. What are some slept on products? I feel like it's getting more love, but like the clearing serum from Sophie Pabbitt, I think is fantastic. And I think people think that low percentages, because I think it's 8% Mendelic acid. Mendeleic acid is pretty gentle. So I think people are always like, oh, it's like not strong enough.

And I'm like, using something every day will give you results. Like, it's kind of like deliverance from my brand do. Yeah. Use it twice a day, every day for 12 weeks. You are going to see results on hyperpigmentation. If you're wearing sunscreen, just kind of like laxity and then also just like tone unless if you have an allergic reaction. So I think the Mandela clearing serum is fantastic.

I'm really excited to try Shawnee Darden's new retinal. That I haven't tried it. I just saw the PR mailer. So I'm really excited to try that one. And then this is actually a makeup brand, but I love what our. Mexico is doing. Zero plastic. Packaging. But the packaging isn't shitty. It's like really beautiful, very luxury, not inconvenient, really well done non-plastic packaging and a beautiful product. Let's talk SPF makeup. I know. Controversial. I know. You're like going into all the hot topic.

Well, I heard you talking about it on Breaking Beauty. And I feel like that's kind of another trend that we're seeing, which is like, okay, great. Yeah. Sun protection. but these targeted products, like you can't rely on that, right? Exactly. And so I think a brand that's doing it really well is CL because they're very clear. They're like, you can't just use the blush and call it a day. You can't just use the foundation and call it a day. They've created a whole system like that.

When you're layering it, you're getting enough about two milligrams per centimeter squared. So how they test sunscreens on, it's actually very medieval, but they'll weigh out the sunscreen. And then they'll apply it on like a, like, a. like a little patch on a human and then they just irradiate them with light. And like it's not even realistic because, you know, ultimately like being out in the sun for like eight hours, is that the same thing as being hyper irradiated for 20 minutes? Probably not, but it's the best that we have for now, right? So it gives you an indication. It's why you need to reapply and you need to apply like Meredith Duxbury levels of sunscreen in order for it to actually work. So for me with

tinted sunscreens, I love them, but they need to be marketed properly. And so you have a brand like merit that has their sunscreen. Very beautiful. It's like a satin finish. Very beautiful formula. They tested it in two labs. So in Europe and the U.S. I love it when brands test at multiple labs because then you actually have a better indication as to the SPF level. And that one, though, it doesn't layer great with other sunscreens underneath it. I don't love using uncoated zinc sunscreens with sunscreens that have abobenzone. And so anyways, I'm just very careful in how I layer tinted. For that, I just use it as my only sunscreen. But you have to use. like four to five pumps. Yeah. It's not like a little, like you're going to be piling it on.

Yeah. Where do you think skincare is going in the next few years? I think skincare is going to treatments. I think everybody's like, look to Korea for the future. And I'm like, so everyone's getting laser. Yeah. And I know that I get, I've gotten criticism for this, but I've actually talked to like, you know, dermatologists in Korea, plastic surgeons in Korea, people who live in Korea. It's far more common to do some sort of a treatment in Seoul than it is in the United States, just on a per capita basis. There's more plastic surgery happening. There's just more happening. And there's a huge medical tourism. You know, that's happening as well. And so you're starting to see that uptick here in the United States. Now, in the United States, because things are always more expensive here, I'm always like, things are

expensive and worse. You're starting to see the rise of med spas. And so because people want these accessible treatments, because the thing is, a laser is going to do a lot for your skin. And for hyperpigmentation, for example. I like to think of it as like these treatments, it's like plastic surgery. It's going to give you an immediate kind of result, but then the way you maintain it is skincare. And so I think that's what you're going to start to see in the U.S. Like you're seeing even with skinstiticals. They're coming out with serums that help prolong your Botox. Yeah. Like that's, I think, where it's going to be going. Yeah. That's the hill that I will die on is that treatments and procedures are not skin care.

And people conflate the two or the three. And I understand, again, it's like to some people who have no knowledge about any of this, they think, oh, you get a facelift and you don't have any wrinkles ever again and your skin is pulled. And I'm like, that's not, you're going to look wild. Yeah. If that happens. Yeah. And you look at people who have surgery and who have treatments who didn't take care of their skin. And it can only look so good. You know, you look at that person who was in the sun, including in their face and their neck until they're 70. And then. And then. And then. And. And. And it can only look at that person who was in the sun, including in their face and their neck, until they're 70 and then they go and they get a facelift and it's like yeah and I think and here's a thing it's like I if you don't want to participate in beauty standards and if like because beauty standards are aggressive and they're expensive and I get it like I really do even though there is so much research that people what people do associate beauty with financially what it can do like Korea was a really like being in soul for a while and talking to people and just talking to people who even almost are like anthropologists and sociologists like just talking about. they had to make it illegal to ask for pictures on your resume because they would screen you based off how you looked.

It's just a much more direct. There's no dog whistling there. Right? It's like not the wellness industry. They're like lose weight. Yeah. Because it's not about wellness at the end of the day. It's like how do you look a certain way? But I think ignoring what those aesthetics can do for a person and just being really realistic. Again, it's like that transparency. It's like you can two things can be true at the same time. They can be really unfair, but they can also do certain things for you. you. Yeah. Do I think it's empowering? No, because Mitch McConnell looks like a melted candle. And so if it was really empowering, like him and Warren Buffett would be out getting facelifts. I don't think that's happening for them, right? And so there's kind of like that duality. But at the end of the day, it's like skincare is going to be the most cost effective way for you to maintain something over a long period of time. And so I just feel like it's silly to not invest in it, even if it's drugstore products. It doesn't need to be super expensive products. There's so many different options. Yeah. Favorite drugstore product? The ordinary is not at the drugstore, but I do love the ordinary. I love La Roche Pose.

I think La Roche Posee, they just, you know, La Roche Posee-Vise-Vichy, like, they just do, like, well-formulated products. I don't know if prequels at the pharmacy. They're at Target, even though we're boycotting Target. So buy them online. Buy them online. There we go. And buy them online. Yeah. And by Dune. Yeah. And by Dune even get to talk about it. We'll have to do. We'll have to do. We'll have to A part two maybe. Yeah, we'll do a part two on, I'll do. But, you know, a lot of my experience informs how we talk about products and why we do price transparency and why we do so many clinicals. We just had more clinicals come out on Instant Angel because everyone calls us a barrier repair cream. And I'm like, everything is barrier repair. Like we've overused this term. It does great

barrier repair because it replenishes your lipids, but has a peptide in it that actually we've now shown firms the skin. Like we are seeing massive wrinkle reduction. Wow. Once you, at the four week and the eight week mark. So, you know, for us, like we like to say our skin, care is for people who are starting to like level up their skincare. But yeah, everything I do kind of it like feeds into how like the lens of do. Yeah. And I know my listeners are all beauty obsessed. So if you are not already following Charlotte on Instagram and TikTok, more of what we talked about today and like very in-depth videos and I learned so much from you. So thank you so much for coming on. Thanks so much for having me. Of course. This was so fun. Thank you. Tell everybody where they can find you.

You can find me at Charlotte Parley on Instagram and TikTok. And you can find you can find Find Dew at doskine and doiskin.com. Thank you. D-I-E-U-X, by the way. We'll link it in show notes too. So people can. Amazing. Easy.

Okay. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked the episode and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes such a long way in supporting the show. Follow the show over on Instagram at well.pod. You can also follow my personal Instagram.

at Ariel Lorry. I'm always sharing great clips from the episodes, and we also have full episodes on YouTube as well if you want to watch in entirety. Thanks for listening. You know that feeling when you want to move, but you're low on time, motivation, and patience for bad music? Yeah, same. That's why I love obey fitness. Obey is the on-demand platform that helps you train smarter, not longer. You can choose from short, stackable classes like 10-minute abs or 20-minute strength or go full out with progressive training programs that actually build results. They've got strength, sculpt, cardio, mobility, plus dance parties when your brain just needs a serotonin hit. It's visually vibe, super motivating, and super easy to start. Go to obaithiness.com, start your free trial,

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