She's Helped to Create 200+ Products. Here’s What a Scientist Wants You to Know Before You Buy Your Next Moisturizer

0:00The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

0:08Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products and moments in beauty. We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins.

0:21Smitha Rao:Hello, hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Breaking Beauty podcast. We are the show all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn. And I'm Carlene Higgins. And we are two longtime beauty editors turned beauty podcasters in your feed each and every Wednesday. We're talking about the damn good products that we're adding to our top shelf. And we're meeting with the founders, the artists, and the experts who are shaking it up in the beauty industry. And today we are partnering with Pariva Beauty to welcome its founder, Smitha Rao.

1:00Smitha Rao:Welcome, Smitha. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. I really appreciate it. So you and I first met on the floor at AAD. I feel like I'm talking about AAD every other episode. Honestly, it is so impactful. But you had the best little booth and you're tucked in the corner and we took a photo together. So that was really fun. So it's great to be sitting here with you today. Yeah. And a A little bit of an introduction, Chex Notes. Smitha describes herself as an accidental scientist who initially set out to attend medical school before merging biotechnology with beauty as a scientist whose career has spanned nearly two decades.

1:40Smitha has formulated over 200 products for and consulted with more than 15 brands, working with everyone from Strivectin to Olaplex before starting her own skincare line just last year called Pariva Beauty, which means joyful transformation in Sanskrit.

1:57Smitha Rao:Yes. And most recently, Smitha has been included in Inc. Magazine's 2026 Female Founders 500 list. And last year, Smitha participated in the Ulta Beauty's 2025 Muse Accelerator program. and Pariva Beauty has also has already been recognized in Oprah Magazine and Glamour. Yes, we are very fortunate for all of that. Yes, striking it big already. And in this week's episode, we're going to get Smitha's take on everything from NAD and exosomes and skincare to what the longevity movement really means behind the headlines and where the line is between a product that genuinely performs and one that's just kind of good at looking like it does.

2:40Yeah.

2:41Smitha Rao:So we're going to delve into how to evaluate a skincare claim and stay tuned to the end to find out what Smitha is cooking up next. So, so happy to have you with us. I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Of course. So we're always wowed when a woman in STEM comes into the studio. One of your claims to fame, so to speak, is that you filed your first biotech patent in your 20s. Yes. So there must be a story there. There's absolutely a story there. So I graduated, you know, with a biotech degree from Michigan and I went into pharma, accidentally fell into beauty. So for your audience, biotech simply means you use living cells, whether it's plants, microbial or algae, to create really great high value compounds that change the baby age.

3:30I really was inspired by understanding why skin ages. So the first patent was around a technology called resveratrol. Do you guys know resveratrol? Yes, we do. Yeah, and for your audience, resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes. You know, it was a fascinating area of research because French people ate a lot of high-calorific food, yet they didn't have cardiac disease, and people focused on the skin of red grapes. My patent was really taking that amazing technology and creating a product that you could put topically and get really great results. So it goes back to the premise of what I was curious as a scientist, which is how does skin age and can I do anything to change the way it ages?

4:16So that was my first patent. Since then, I've had the ability to work with so many cells, human, plants, microbial. I've created over 200 products. And that journey led me to bring our Molecure 3 technology into Pariva. I have to ask you, Smita, when you talk about this story, were you the first to patent resveratrol for skincare or a certain type of resveratrol? No, I was not the first. I think resveratrol got a lot of attention because of, you know, its ability to change how what was happening when you ingested it. Right. So a red wine is a very romantic story. But the science was solid. You know, people started to talk about sirtuins.

5:00Right. I was not the first. But I think my specialization with biotechnology, I'm classically trained in that is I can really create molecules that change the way skin and scalp ages. So I was one of the few, I would say. OK, yeah, we're going to bleep this part. But did you help to develop the science that went into skin care line? Bleep. So I can tell you, yes, the short answer is yes. Wow. I'm OK. I'll tell you what. With a caveat. it. It went into a lot of the mega, mega brands. So I was at that time working with a Swiss life science company called Lonza. And they put me in a role where I partnered with some of the billion dollar global brands that talk about fermentation.

5:49And we like I was a small team of few scientists. We would partner with the big mega brands and we would create the technologies for for those products. Okay. Well, you'll have to take it from us because we had to bleep those brand names, but they're major. Trust us.

6:06Smitha Rao:Yeah. And you recently attended, I was kind of like snooping around on your LinkedIn. You attended the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists Convention. Yeah. Who even knew that was a thing, by the way? And it was like a supplier's day. And you wrote about the experience. You said, I have never witnessed biotechnology being adopted so aggressively at every level of formulation from exosomes and peptides to biosurfactants and functional actives. So what was it that surprised you? Were you sensing a lot of forward movement in that innovation as well? I would say the future is biology, not chemistry.

6:40So I've been in biotech all my career, right? This is the only thing that I know. Biotech 1.0 was creating biocells, technologies from cells. And it focused on higher value products like your peptides, which were typically thousands of dollars a kilo, right? It's a playbook from pharma. You use biotechnology, really create these high value compounds. And if you think about a skincare formulation, the actives cost the most amount of money, right? You put it in very small concentrations, but it had really great impact because it drove your clinical efficacy. Now it's biotech 2.0 and this is very very exciting because now it's biotech at scale.

7:23So everything in your cosmetic formula, your functionals, your emollients, your esters, every aspect of that, we have an alternative paradigm shift where you could use petrochemicals or synthetic chemistry. You're able to do this at scale. So this is incredibly exciting. and Puriva Beauty is literally a biotech company with the face of skincare, right? So we are leveraging this in a very meaningful manner and that's what's exciting. So I'm going to try and break it down a little bit. So with biotech and you're talking about at scale and the future being biology, not chemistry. So what you mean by that, is it the idea that you can take a plant-based active, let's say.

8:07And now you don't need the raw ingredient. You just take the cell matter and reproduce it. And that way you have this, you know, infinite scale versus having to harvest the raw ingredient. Is that what you mean by it? No, slightly different. What do you mean? Let me go back a minute. When you think about industrial revolution, almost all of the ingredients derived are what? Petrochemical based and synthetic chemistry, right? You used chemistry to extract your esters, your preservatives, your retinol, all chemistry, traditional chemistry. Now what we are seeing is those classes of ingredients, your humectants, your emollients, you can actually create better for you products using the biological system.

8:52You literally treat your cell like a factory. So you're making a lot of these amazing large scale products using the biological cells, as opposed to extracting it from the traditional synthetic chemistry route. So it's a little bit of yes and no. So you don't need those harsh raw materials or processes. You use the cell. But the second part, which is far more important, is the output that you're getting using biotechnology is far superior in safety, what it does for your skin, and it's also very sustainable. Okay. So it's kind of taking like the essence of the raw ingredient and really targeting what it is that's beneficial for your skin cells and like multiplying that.

9:37So you're getting the most active form. Yeah. Right. As opposed to just like grabbing an aloe plant and putting it on your skin. Exactly. Right. Yeah, exactly. Okay. That's helpful. It's a biotransformation. You're really getting high value compounds that would be very hard to get without. To mix up in a kitchen.

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12:43Smitha Rao:I want to ask you about what do you think is the difference between skin longevity and anti-aging? Because they are different. They are different. How much time do we have? So in a simple way, anti-aging is very problem solution. I have wrinkle. Here's your anti-wrinkle. I have sagging skin. Here's your firming. It was very firming. focused on what's the problem? How do I fix it? Yeah. Longevity focuses on why is your skin aging that way? Right. What longevity brings into the mix is understanding the why certain aspects of your skin or your scalp or your body ages and having systems to fix it.

13:25So a very key component of longevity is prevention. Men and women don't want to just fix their wrinkles. They want to change the way they age. And longevity is the only way you can get there. I think the prevention element is key. When you do, when you really go to the cellular level and unlock why somebody's aging at the rate they're aging and you start to fix that, then you pair it with treatments that really amplifies the benefit. That's where longevity sits. It's the intersection of regeneration and cosmetic. Yeah. It's healthier skin for longer, right? For as long as you can. And healthspan is kind of the word we've heard in this space before.

14:03So what about some of the ingredients? Exosomes has completely popped off. Is that sort of part of your DNA? Yes. Yes. We have a proprietary technology called Molecure 3. It's made from plant biotechnology. It addresses three really critical areas. One, exosomal activation. Second, cellular energy with NAD+. And third is inflammation. Exosomes are in your body. They're very small, tiny vesicles that are in your cells. What it does is communicates from one cell to another. What's fascinating is that when we think about problem and solution in the old way, you think about this cell is not producing enough collagen.

14:46Let me fix it. Now, if you go back and look at a bird's eye's view, the potential of exosome is fantastic because you're looking at an ecosystem of all cells. How do we enhance communication? How do we do this in a way that you're able to get better collagen across the board or lower inflammation across the board? So the potential is fantastic. Biotech is all over this. But there's two approaches, right? So if you think about some of the exosomal brands out there, you actually add exosomes in the body, right? You replenish. That is one area. I think Pariva's mission with Molecure 3 is to make your skin cells operate better.

15:27We use our technology as a positive signal. So your body makes its own exosomes. Right. We don't add, we regenerate. Right. So that's how the longevity.

15:37Smitha Rao:So it's targeting the pathways. Kickstart those messengers. And then you're able to see the amplification of it. Right. Yeah. Very cool. And then what about NAD? Because that's definitely crossed over from the wellness world. And, you know, this is one where I remember when it first hit my inbox and I was like, okay, you definitely see this kind of trend toward what, if it's something that people think is good for them in the wellness world, it must be good as a topical as well. Yeah. First of all, I need to know what does NAD even stand for? Okay. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. It's a very lengthy name and it's found in every single cell.

16:21It is basically your cell's energy. And as you age, energy goes down, right? So in the supplement space, it's normally as an ingestible or as an IV. I've had NAD IVs for a very long time. Yeah. Topically, though, it's a very finicky molecule. It deactivates very easily. So it's and you know, the skin barrier is there for a reason. It's very hard for these ingredients to penetrate the skin barrier. It's intentional. So in the wellness space, certainly, you know, we know this energy is required for all cellular functions in order for cells to operate at its peak performance. So there is an overinvestment in NAD plus in the topical, sorry, in the supplement category.

17:04It's a little bit more challenging in topical applications.

17:08Smitha Rao:So with your product, then it's again, targeting that cellular pathway. Correct. Yes. And we have NAD. We have NAD. Yes. We target NMN, which is the rate limiting step. OK. So the way I look at it is, you know, if your phone is dying, some people will get you the charger. Right. That is your instant quick fix. With Molecure 3 technology, we said, can we change the battery and make it last longer? So, again, this is the regenerative properties. We are not adding NAD Plus to skin topically. It's just it's not possible. what we're instead doing is using our Molecure 3 technology as a precursor. And we've got a lot of data, a lot of studies to show that it's actually helping your body make more energy.

17:52This is the newer battery that lasts longer. So it's working on NMN within your body. You cannot have NAD plus without NMN. With that enzyme, you make NAD plus.

18:07Smitha Rao:Got it. I'm glad we have you here explaining all of these things. I know that you look at a lot of claims. You've been in the industry forever. When you go to Sephora, half of the products say clinically proven. So as someone who actually runs clinical tests, what does that phrase mean when it's being used responsibly? And what does it maybe look like when it isn't used so responsibly? Clinically tested is a scientific claim. It's often used as marketing language. What about clinically proven? Same thing. Really? Clinically proven is a scientific claim. Is a scientific claim? Yes. Clinically proven is?

18:42Yes. All of them are, in my opinion. I see. As a scientist, as somebody who's run a number of clinical studies, if you say you're clinically proven, the legal and the regulatory people will ask, show me how. Right? A responsible clinical study has a couple of things. First, you want to do it independently. You have to do it with a third party entity. So you remove the conflict of interest. Second, you have to have a large number of people. So the simplest thing I can tell your audiences is if you say somebody's clinically proven, just look at the fine print. How many people? If it's on five people or eight people, I mean, that's that's it's not statistically significant.

19:21You need at least 30. OK, that gives you statistically significant. Then you also look at what's actually being told. If it's very exaggerated, like 100 percent this and these wrinkles overnight. I mean, that's not possible. Yeah. That's pure marketing. Yeah. And so a couple of things, right? Independently tested, at least on 30 people. So you have statistically significant. We, in our clinical studies at Pariva, we don't ask consumers, do you see an effect? We actually measure. So instrumentation is incredibly important. So instrumentation is, there's no gray. It either works or it doesn't. You either have hydration or it doesn't.

20:02You have barrier function or you're not. You're having firmness or you're not. So it's a very critical measurement. This is mandatory in all our products. In fact, we are probably the only brand that has tested a clinical study on our primer, which is, you know, not a skincare product. And again, it has all the parameters. So I think this is going to be the biggest challenge of beauty because everybody is going to use this as marketing, whether it's clinically proven or clinically tested or scientifically tested. then you have to just look at you know what is it like how show me how yeah it's a simple question how many people were there right right what did you test how do brands go about procuring a third party tested to run a clinical test like that because wouldn't you have to fund it which then would be automated automatically make it not necessarily not necessarily so there are a lot of really great clinical testing companies worldwide.

21:00It almost always has an IRP. They review. Ours was done under the supervision of a dermatologist. You pay for the clinical study. I've been in studies where the outcome was not that great. Don't, I mean, I would say it's really, it depends on the formula. It also depends on how you test. But there are times when the results are not favorable because the formula was not that great. So yes, of course, the brands fund it. I think that's inevitable. Like you have to pay. They're very, very expensive. To launch Pariva between the science, the IP, the testing, it's a million dollars minimum. The clinical studies are very, very difficult and time consuming expensive.

21:41And frankly, you're introducing variability just because you're running a clinical doesn't mean you get that amazing results, right? So yeah, I mean, that's how you operate. But yeah, I think it's one of those challenges. Everybody claims they're clinically tested. And then you know what's going to happen. You're going to sell them once. I want you to use our products the first time because the before and afters and the clinicals are great. But I want you to come back to me because it actually worked. And that's where, you know, you're never going to get the repeat purchase. Yeah.

22:09Smitha Rao:You have a really interesting claim that your products reverse skin aging by up to two years with 30 days of use. So that's very specific and some might say a bit bold to say that. So how How have you managed to do that? We are so proud of this. This is on our Col 20 gel cream moisturizer. A little bit about the product. This is, this has got 20 % bioactives. So the highest concentration that we were able to do in a treatment. So they're 20 % actives that are all clinically tested to improve skin. It's also multi-benefit. So it replaces three products instead of one. So when we set out to do the study, we didn't think we would get this claim.

22:47So we knew it was a great product. We knew in our panel testing that people really started to like, it became one of their cult favorites. So the way we looked at it is how did we get the claim? First, we had a pool of, you know, the average age of panelists were 50. So we looked at the length, width and depth of the wrinkles in the beginning of the study. That correlated to a certain age, let's say 50 years old. As they use the product for 28 days, we ran it for a lot longer. We went back at the end of 28 days and we looked at the length, width and depth. We also looked at hydration, barrier function and a whole bunch of parameters.