Latest news with #CharlottePalermino
Elle
17-07-2025
- Health
- Elle
‘Skin Longevity': Why You're Seeing This Beauty Buzzword Everywhere
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. When I applied for my first beauty editor job, the listing didn't include, 'thinking every day about how you will slowly march towards death'—the cerebral answer that a 20-something actress once gave me when I asked how she thought about aging. Still, on my desk and in our magazine's beauty closet, there are hundreds of creams and serums focused on anti-aging. The labels promise to prevent, to reverse, to freeze—time, I suppose, and the evidence of it. But one recent day at Equinox, I saw a new phrase airbrushed onto the wall near the spa like an ancient mythic text: 'Skin Longevity.' The biggest beauty companies in the world are positioning skin longevity moisturizers and serums as the new frontier in wellness—beauty products to go along with your cold plunges and tonal linen sets. In 2023, Estée Lauder founded a Skin Longevity platform, complete with an advisory panel of 'pro-aging' dermatologists from top medical and research institutions. Its Re-Nutriv line even includes a complex made of sirtuins, which experts call the 'longevity gene.' Earlier this month in Paris, L'Oreal presented its Longevity Integrative Science initiative, announcing its new focus. WWD recently reported that facialist Pietro Simone is opening up a 'skin longevity playground' in the West Village. Charlotte Palermino, the founder of the skin care brand Dieux, says that on a recent trip to Seoul, South Korea—largely considered the epicenter of beauty innovation—she saw an entire beauty section devoted to skin longevity. Even on PubMed, an online database of scientific research papers, 'you see that the longevity term has gone up exponentially,' says Zakia Rahman M.D., a dermatologist at Stanford Medical School who studies at the school's Center on Longevity. In short, skin longevity is the movement towards lasting skin health. 'For us, it is synonymous,' says Charles Rosier, co-founder of the science-backed beauty brand Augustinus Bader. The company recently launched an AI-powered longevity metric tracking platform in partnership with Deepak Chopra called AB Chopra Epigenetics. 'We're talking about trying to keep skin cells as healthy as possible to prevent them from aging prematurely, [which happens] when you subject them to environmental stress,' explains Alan Widgerow, M.D., chief scientific officer at Galderma, the global dermatology company that owns Cetaphil and Restylane. Stanford's Rahman simplifies the concept for her patients as: 'Your skin looks better because it's working better. Longevity is the optimal functioning of your cells.' Many brands are rooting their formulations to a discovery made years ago by scientists studying cognitive decline and other age-related disorders. They found that the accumulation of non-functioning cells—referred to as senescent, or more colloquially as 'zombie cells'—leads to accelerated aging. But zombie cells can also cause wrinkles and the skin to look more dull, obviously of interest to the beauty industry. Skin longevity is not technically a synonym for anti-aging, in the same way that soft serve is not ice cream, an emoji is not an emoticon, and Meghan Markle's 'fruit spreads' are not jam. The concepts are related, but different and nuanced. As an exercise, I asked experts what treatments or formulations they considered to be skin longevity, versus traditional anti-aging. Sunscreen and anti-oxidants (like vitamin C) are considered protective in nature, so they fall under skin longevity. Anything regenerative or that stimulates collagen, including retinol, peptides, polynucleotides, PDRN (in the form of salmon sperm), or even certain fillers like Radiesse or Sculptra would be classified as skin longevity. (Conveniently, a lot of what already exists in the beauty industry can be classified as skin longevity.) The discussion got a little trickier when it came to Botox. For instance, Rosier says a neurotoxin injection doesn't qualify as skin longevity: 'According to us at Augustinus, not so much, because it weakens the muscles. Our vision of skin longevity is more about empowering elasticity in the skin.' But according to Rahman, 'It absolutely does.' She points to different applications of Botox, including when it is injected into scars to help heal tissues. 'Botox affects the quality of the skin' at a base level, she reasons. In those areas where skin is less elastic or atrophic, you can have a depression and thinning of the skin, which Botox can help. Does getting a facelift at 40 count as skin longevity? Don't be so quick to scoff. It depends on how you think about it. 'When people think about their goals, it includes preparation for how you will age in the future. How do you want to look and how do you want to age?' says Shereene Idriss, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City. To some, this new thinking feels more positive and proactive. Anti-aging is futile. 'You're set up to fail,' Idriss says. 'You're never going to fight the aging process. It implies that something is wrong with you, that you're fighting something.' In contrast, Palermino says, 'Skin longevity feels truthful because you are actually improving the longevity of your skin. You're making it stronger for longer, just like working out is good for you.' It's also gender neutral, speaking the language of Silicon Valley biohackers and Instagram wellness influencers alike. A tech bro with a 'skin care protocol' is not into beauty, but he is into 'skin longevity.' The wellness industry is now three times the size of the pharmaceutical industry, and driving the skin longevity trend. 'Men don't want to be seen as feminine. Skin longevity must be a capitalist dream, because it makes beauty palatable to women and inspirational to men,' theorizes Palermino. Just as wellness can easily disguise diet culture, and emphasize thinness, pseudoscience, and unrealistic expectations, skin longevity could just further exacerbate our culture's obsession with youth. It could become anti-aging, just with a cuter outfit. 'There are excellent things with the wellness industry, but it can go sideways very quickly. With beauty, I could see the same thing where skin longevity is really just a code word for looking young forever. That's where I would challenge the industry to not go,' Palermino says. Some people may still roll their eyes at the term. Rahman was speaking to a retired colleague of hers at Stanford who extensively studied epigenetics and big data. When talking to him about the school's skin longevity program, his reaction was, Of course, people care about how they look. Rahman told him: 'I don't want you to think of it as vanity. I want you to think of it as vitality.' She calls it a light bulb moment. 'When people understand it that way, they embrace it the same way that they do optimizing their muscle, cardiovascular, or brain function.' This 'glass half full' approach (as Idriss calls it) has already appeared in some beauty marketing. Shiseido's new Ultimune Power Infusing Serum has tempered expectations, says Salina Urben, senior manager of U.S. education and training for the brand. 'We're not going to say it carves 20 years off your skin, but there's something about truly healthy skin that's beautiful and radiates.' Ideally, adds Palermino, skin longevity could become a healthier way of looking at getting older. 'We need to make aging the beauty standard. It's okay to age. It's a beautiful thing to age. How you want to age is what differs.'
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dieux Cofounders Launch Sun-Screener, a Tool Meant to Demystify SPF Filters for the Masses
Dieux cofounders Charlotte Palermino and Joyce de Lemos are looking to tackle SPF misinformation. The duo are launching a virtual tool, called Sun-Screener, which allows users to copy-paste the ingredient list of an SPF product in order to receive confirmation of its efficacy, plus breakdowns of active UV filters in the formula, how they each work, and in which regions they are approved for use. More from WWD Sesame Oil Skin Care: The Secret to Hydrated Skin or a Recipe for Clogged Pores? Clinique Doubles Down on Growth Strategy With More Launches, First TV Ad in a Decade Melanie Grant Partners With Violet Grey for New York Studio Opening The launch comes at a time when the sun care market — propelled by TikTok, the virality of Korean and Australian SPF brands around the world, and proliferating launches — is booming. But as the category has grown so, too, has misinformation surrounding it. 'We want to empower people with the information to make their own choices in an unbiased way — for us, that looks like stating the facts as they are, and making them easily accessible,' said de Lemos, who is also Dieux's cosmetic chemist. In recent months a movement toward beef tallow as an SPF alternative has gained momentum online, while influencer Nara Smith also took to TikTok to share how she makes her sunscreen from scratch, sparking a conversation about the viability of homemade SPF (which was quickly denounced by dermatologists). In addition, usage of product-scanning apps like Yuka, which designate ingredients as 'high-risk' or 'risk-free' without taking into account ingredient quantity or form of delivery — which are often key to determining ingredient safety — is soaring. 'We want to get people to wear sunscreen, but also to educate them in a nonjudgmental way, where we're not saying something is 'good' or something is 'bad' — that creates fear, not education,' said Palermino, who is known for creating content that makes skin care knowledge accessible to her 700,000-plus collective social media followers. Sun-Screener, developed and peer-reviewed alongside cosmetic chemists Rebecca Perry and Ava Perkins, briefs users on more than 35 different UV filters — from mineral filters titanium dioxide and zinc oxide to chemical filters like avobenzone, octocrylene and more. The brand will also build out a blog component addressing common SPF-related questions tied to the tool, which is accessible via Dieux's own direct-to-consumer site. 'The fun thing about Sun-Screener is that there's no 'bad' answer: it's either, good news — your sunscreen has sunscreen in it — you're fine! Or, we need more information,' said Palermino. Eventually, the tool could involve a feature enabling users to contact their representatives to request action regarding long-stalled FDA approval of newer, more sophisticated chemical SPF filters, many of which are available in other countries, hence the popularity of international SPF brands. 'We want to create a zero-fear environment to help people understand what's in their products, in a way where it's clear that sunscreen is good,' Palermino said. Best of WWD Sesame Oil Skin Care: The Secret to Hydrated Skin or a Recipe for Clogged Pores? How Grooming Is Introducing Men to Self-care and Redefining Masculinity Clean Beauty Brand Ignae Makes Big U.S. Push With a New Look
