Fucus vesiculosus algae
highlighting some brands (and ingredients) putting in work
Good afternoon!
I’m thinking of and sending love to everyone in LA. More importantly, I’m donating and encouraging everyone else to as well. I keep reminding myself of what Sharon McMahon posted a few days ago: in moments like this, do for one person what you wish you could do for everyone. I mean, that’s really all there is to it, right?
For years, my friend Caroline from Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! Has been demonstrating the power of community and micro-fundraising, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars via small donations, most under $5. With the volume of GoFundMe campaigns and calls for monetary donations, it can quickly start to feel like your small contribution won’t do anything. That’s the opposite way to think about it. Over the weekend, Caroline shared an idea to pick one GoFundMe and adopt it as your responsibility to get it funded. See it through until the goal is met. Share with your friends, coworkers, family group chats, newsletter subscribers, whoever you can encourage to pitch in. Check-in on the page, post updates and do for that one family what you wish you could do for everyone. There was no good way to pick one, so I looked at the fundraisers less than 20% funded, picked a random number (25) and found Alice Belombre, whose family home of 20 years in Altadena was lost in the Eaton Fire. Her daughter Clarissa shared “Alice is not just my mother—she’s my rock, my inspiration, and the cornerstone of our family.” One look at those pictures and you can see that.
Their fundraiser is just 16% funded at the time of writing this. If everyone reading this joined me in donating $50, it’d be fully funded. We have the opportunity to make their recovery a little easier, so let’s do it. Donate here.
This spreadsheet has compiled all of the wildfire GoFundMe’s (including directories for specific community giving) and what percentage of each goal have been met. Dozens are under 20% funded. Pick one and do your thing.
Beauty Brands Stepping Up
Tons of skincare/beauty brands have been stepping up to help and I’m taking note, especially of the ones going beyond just product donations. I want to highlight a few here in case you want to support them now or in the future. Any affiliate commission from these links will be donated.
Cocokind and Tower28 (whose founder lost her home in the fires), provided free shipping labels to anyone who has products to donate (they are currently pausing on this initiative as donation centers are overwhelmed), as well as paying for Airbnb’s and distributing hundreds of masks. I love Tower28’s extra-thick but totally acne-safe moisturizer for colder months. Trying Cocokind’s best-selling Barrier Serum is now at the top of my list. Both of these products would be great options for anyone looking for affordable, acne-safe, sensitive skin friendly products.
Joanna Vargas is offering free oxygen chamber or red light LED therapy sessions at their spa location on Kings Road. (I would love to hear about this if you go)
Rael (creators of my favorite pimple patches) is offering free period products to anyone impacted by the fires, just email support@getrael.com
Kirbie Johnson, co-host of the hit Gloss Angeles Podcast and LA-resident, is working with others in the beauty industry on the best strategy for product donations in the coming months and weeks, as these needs aren’t going anywhere. I will be following her directives on where to send my stuff and I will share here when I hear more, but I highly encourage following her guidance outlined here.
And now, let’s turn our focus to Stratia for lessons in both mutual aid and chemistry.
Stratia is a female-founded small business based in LA, where all of their products are made in small batches. The founder and chemist, Alli, is one of the smartest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to in this industry. In addition to making ingredient-driven, science-forward products, they’re all somehow under $30. Stratia is not only offering free skincare hand delivered by their team, but also opening up their facility in DTLA for anyone who needs a free place to work (with wifi, parking, meeting rooms and cold brew on tap) or to use their massive facility as a donation drop-off, sorting or storage site. Just contact their team info@stratiaskin.com
Their best-selling Lipid Gold (a serum-lotion hybrid formulated with similar principles as SkinCeuticals’ famed Triple Lipid Restore), put them on the map a few years ago, but I only recently started becoming familiar with their products since we started retailing them at my place of work. However, when I got trained on the line, I was unexpectedly most excited by their eye cream and vitamin C serum.
On the surface, their vitamin C serum doesn’t sound like anything new. It contains 2 forms of vitamin C (pure L-ascorbic acid and an oil-soluble derivative, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate) which offer all the antioxidant, brightening and collagen building properties we’ve come to expect from vitamin C. It also has another powerful antioxidant, CoQ10.
A quick refresher on antioxidants: To understand antioxidants, you need to understand free radicals. Free radicals are highly-reactive, unstable oxygen molecules that wreak havoc on our cells and risk a chain reaction of cell death. They steal electrons from our healthy cells, breaking down cell walls and everything inside, damaging proteins, lipids and DNA. Skin wise, free radicals accelerate the signs of aging, cause pigmentation and generally make it harder for our cells to function properly. As the name implies, antioxidants work against oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals, giving them an extra electron so they don’t take ours. There are tons of different types of antioxidants and many offer other skin benefits beyond neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are everywhere, but the most common exposure is through UV rays and pollution, which is why it’s so important to use an antioxidant serum in the morning.
Vitamin C is just one of many antioxidants used in skincare. Truthfully, it’s not even my favorite, which is why I didn’t expect to care much for Stratia’s…and it’s not even really because of the vitamin C. L-ascorbic acid, or pure Vitamin C is highly unstable and tricky to formulate with since it degrades very quickly in the presence of water, heat or light, which is why these formulas typically have a short shelf-life. Alli figured out a way to stabilize this ingredient by suspending it in a water-free, silicone base, resulting in a one-year shelf life and an incredibly cool user experience. When applied on dry skin (this is key), that base evaporates in minutes, leaving behind only the active ingredients and extremely silky, smooth skin. Because the silicone evaporates, you can wait a few minutes and then apply the rest of your products on top without the risk of pilling. I love a product that innovates on common user pain-points, in this case, the short shelf life of L-ascorbic acid and the oily residue often left from vitamin C derivatives. Remember, the only skincare that works is the skincare you use consistently, so a brand that makes consistency easier always gets points in my book.
Now onto the eye cream. There are a few different causes of dark circles, some of which are inevitable, like genetics, but all of which are difficult to treat. Undereye skin is so thin, making it much easier to see blood pooling below, which is a common cause of dark circles (lots of blood vessels around there!) and one that is treatable to an extent. Stratia’s eye cream contains 2 ingredients I had never heard of before that directly address this: Fucus vesiculosus algae and Chrysin.
Heme is a byproduct of red blood cells, which can pool under the eye. The enzyme Heme Oxygenase helps to break down heme and clear it away, so Stratia uses Fucus vesiculosus algae, which has been shown to stimulate Heme Ozygenase activity.
Bilirubin, another byproduct of red blood cells, is orange-y red colored. Chrysin is a plant-derived antioxidant (!) which has been shown to stimulate the enzyme responsible for clearing up bilirubin buildup below the eye.
Cool!!!! Have you tried either of these or other Stratia products? Let us know in the comments.
Take A Rec/Leave A Rec
Have a rec or need a rec for an aesthetic provider? Tell us in the chat!
In the past week you’ve asked for and received recommendations for brows in Manhattan, facials in Boston, Botox for first-timers and more.
I want this to be an ongoing resource for subscribers and I’ll figure out a handy place for the link to live. [This will be a crowdsourced list and should not be considered a recommendation or endorsement from me, but obviously I will share recs if I have them.]
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Join us for Office Hours on Sunday! This exclusive weekly opportunity is available to paying subscribers.
Every Sunday at 5pm EST, I’ll begin a new thread for the week in Substack Chat, where you can ask me anything. Every Monday from 5-6pm EST, I’ll be in that chat live, answering questions for the hour. That way, if you can’t make it, you can submit any time after 5pm Sunday and still get an answer. If you can make it live, join in! You can ask questions in real time and (hopefully) interact with others in class ;)
Have a great week! Take care of yourself, drink water and double-down on your antioxidants.
xx,
Jolie