"Smart" cosmetics

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The market is overflowing with all kinds of cosmetic brands. Every day from TV ads, beautiful brochures, we hear about the miraculous power of diamonds, herbs and "overseas" flowers that promise us an instant transformation. How to distinguish between what is beneficial and what is a common advertising stunt, we will be told today by a cosmetologist, owner of the IRUSHKA natural cosmeceutical brand Irina Nikolaeva.

Irina, tell us how you got into the beauty industry?

- I have always admired the aesthetics of a woman's face, I wanted to transform it. It's like the work of an artist. I have been doing cosmetology for several years, attended all kinds of training programs of manufacturers, found out which ingredient behaves like on the skin. Ultimately, I developed my own understanding of the benefits. I was faced with the fact that many manufacturers, giving preference to activity and low cost, neglected safety. Then the idea came to develop "smart" cosmetics, which will not be divided by skin type, have restrictions on age and time of use, and will not "add" a person to this or that drug. I gathered a team of chemists, doctors, found a plant that agreed with my tough policy and requirements, and we started work. The latter choice was not easy, since many refused immediately, while others could not make the product of the desired consistency and activity. Only a year later, I was able to launch the first products from the line for the face.

Irina, but all cosmetics are tested for safety. How can it be harmful?

- You're right, but there are many ingredients that have an effect, but they have many limitations and consequences. For example, antibiotics and retinoids. They treat acne, but after the drug is discontinued, everything returns to normal. The skin gets used to the product and cannot function properly without it. Phytoestrogens have also been introduced into products for both mature and youthful skin. Although they can only work with skin during menopause, they make the young "lazy". It's the same with lipids and all the ingredients that work to replace your own cells. After using cosmetics with such ingredients, the skin ceases to function on its own, as it gets used to the fact that this work is already being done for it.

What ingredients, in your opinion, are useless for the skin?

- There are a lot of marketing ingredients. They are designed and formulated to stand out from the competition and keep the trend going. Here are some examples. Hyaluronic acid cannot moisturize as its molecule is too large to penetrate. It's the same with collagen and elastin. Their molecules are too large and therefore ineffective. Diamonds, pearls and precious metals are useless, otherwise our hands, on which we wear gold rings, would never age. Even if you sprinkle yourself with diamond chips every day, your skin will not look younger. Nobody talks about this openly, and when buying a cosmetic product, the consumer thinks that the promoted additive works, since everyone uses it. But in the end, other chemistry works, and not always the safest.

When creating my cosmetic line, I moved away from templates and proven marketing. There is nothing in my cosmetics that can cause skin addiction or potential harm.

Also, the consumer will never find beautiful and useless ingredients, since I am against their use. I entered a new market for Russia. There are only four to five companies in the world working in the direction of natural cosmeceuticals. I am the first in Russia.