How Fermented Ingredients are Transforming Skincare ft. Amala Beauty

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Skin Anarchy. Today I'm featuring a beautiful brand that I've really been enjoying lately and I'm excited because I actually get to introduce you guys to the product product product product product product.

0:30Dalia it's very exciting to host too. Thank you so much I'm very excited to be here and talk about Amala and the skin microbiome. What got you involved with Amala if you could tell us a little bit about your journey in the beauty industry. Absolutely I started working in beauty when I was in China. I lived in China for almost 10 years and I started working for this beauty brand called Foreo. I worked with them doing the product development for almost five years. Foreo is a very popular skin tech brand. They do facial cleansing devices, acne devices, masking devices, and I got into skincare working with them as well.

1:10And when I wanted to leave China, the owner of the company actually asked me, what's your next gig? Where are you going? And I told them, I can only work for the best. And I believe that Foreo is the best its own skincare tech space. So I want to find another space, which is skincare. And I want to work for a natural brand because that's what I'm all about. And I was lucky enough to found Amela during the pandemic. So I've been with them for four and a half years. And what really drove me into the brand was the story, taking care about the microbiome, only formulating with natural and organic ingredients and doing clinical trials for every single product.

1:52That's pretty cool. Now you're with Forreo. I love Forreo. I've been a huge fan of that brand for a long time. Me too. I still use their products. I think they have great products and great technology behind them. They really do. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting, the natural product space, right? Because, and I'm saying this, as you mentioned, you wanted to shift to that natural ingredients, you know, kind of space. And that's very interesting to me, because I find it to be kind of an untapped potential. You know, every time I see a brand that I really enjoy, that's like clean or natural based, it's always something new, you know, and something really interesting.

2:31So I would love to learn about what really made you gravitate towards like this natural beauty, kind of, I guess, you know, movement that's been going on, you know, with these natural-based ingredients? I think you said it right. A few years ago, when we started hearing about clean brands and Sephora Clean Approved and all of these small boutiques that were only targeting natural brands, it was a trend. Everybody going in the natural organic trend, but I think it has now become a lifestyle. Usually, the people that are searching for natural skincare, they live a natural lifestyle. And that's what drove me into this brand because I try to live a very natural and clean lifestyle, not only with the products I put in my face, but with what I eat, exercising.

3:22So I think it's all about a lifestyle. So I wanted to work for a company that was similar to my lifestyle and Amelie is exactly that. That's so cool. Now, what um what are the hallmarks of what amala is doing in terms of like their approach to formulation if you could absolutely i mean it's it's it's very important to point out that amala was started many years ago in 2008 when nobody was talking about clean and organic and natural ingredients um and it started because we wanted to shatter the misconceptions that natural skincare doesn't work. So there must be a way to prove this because there are a lot of amazing plants and ingredients in nature that we can use to prove that natural skincare actually works.

4:16So when Amela started back then, we were only working with very small farms in Europe and then it evolved to be a brand that was just focusing on the microbiome. And this is a term that not a lot of people know, but I want to get into that and explain why this is very important. So first, I want to mention why the microbiome is actually the definition of the word and micro means very tiny, small, and then microbiome, it's a community or an ecosystem, ecosystem of living microorganisms. So every skin has a protective layer called the microbiome. And just like your fingerprints and your DNA, no two skin microbiomes are the same.

5:03We begin to develop this unique skin microbiome at birth. And this is the diverse community of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that inhabit the skin surface. So when you have a healthy microbiome, it's very crucial to a balanced skin. And when your microbiome is balanced, then you start to see this healthy, radiant, glowing-looking skin. So when we were trying to create the line of products for Amala, we thought, you know, we believe that the key to healthy, glowing, radiant skin is having a balanced microbiome. So we designed some cocktails or complexes of fermented ingredients that we feature in every single product.

5:52But you asked, you know, what is different about this brand? Because there are so many brands out there, so many natural and clean brands, but I can summarize it with a few bullet points. And the first one will be that almost every single formula that we have includes fermented ingredients or biotics, like we call them, which helps balance the microbiome. And there are some brands that are doing that right now, but we started doing these in 2018, several years ago. The second one is that every single formula has clinical trials to back them. And third, we have a natural certification called Natru that backs all of our claims, meaning all of our products are 100 % natural.

6:45So it's formulating with biotics, it's having clinical trials and every single formula and being 100 % natural. That's really cool. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, it's interesting because this industry of like the microbiome, you know, it's, it's, I think it started off as a buzzword, you know, and I, I've, I started a lot in the skincare space where it started emerging, but I think we've really refined the understanding over, you know the last few years I would say in terms of how can we truly incorporate microbiome you know forward like approaches in skin health and so for me I'm very interested in the in the component that has to do with fermentation and you know anything that results in the healthy bacteria being populated on the skin surface you know so that's where I want to learn a little bit more about how does that play into like the product development process?

7:44I'm going to get that in in a minute, but I just want to mention something that you were saying about, you know, the microbiome being like a buzzword, but you know what has helped a lot that we are all familiar with the gut microbiome. You know, we all know that we have a gut microbiome made of bacteria that exists. So I think that before the word bacteria had a very negative connotation. But now that we understand more about that, you know, we have this microbiome in different parts of our body that has different type of bacteria and controlling that it's the key to healthy and balanced skin.

8:25It's that we start to understand a bit more why is it important to formulate with fermented ingredients, which is what you're asking about. Why fermented ingredients? Why are we formulating with fermented ingredients? And we have three types of biotics. And this is what we call it at Amala, you know, biotics. And we have probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics. So probiotics are typically living microorganisms, such as lactobacillus, which is an ingredient that you usually see in skincare. So this can be summarized as living microorganisms. That's what probiotics are. Then prebiotics are typically considered the food or the substance that keeps these living microorganisms alive.

9:19And then postbiotics are the byproducts of fermentation with probiotic bacteria. So when you have a product that has these three probiotics prebiotics and postbiotics, it's the perfect cocktail for your skin to thrive. Now, why do we formulate with biotics? And there is a list of things. First of all, for protection, because I've been mentioning that in your skin's microbiome, you have bacteria. And this bacteria, there are two types of bacteria that you have in your microbiome. We call the taurus bacteria and the native bacteria. There's a bunch of things that you can do to balance that bacteria in your skin.

10:09So if you want to balance it without using topical probiotics, you eat healthy, you stay hydrated, you work out, you manage stress levels, but the easiest way to do it is using topical biotics. It's like a protective layer against harmful pathogens that can be living in your skin. It helps your immune system support because the microbiome interacts with the immune system, helping them regulate and support its function. So it protects, it helps your immune system, it also regulates your pH, and it also helps your skin development because the microbiome plays a big important role in the maturation of the skin and conditions such as disorders that may come from environmental factors.

11:08So I think that formulating with biotics help not only to balance the microbiome, but also protect your skin. And that's why we decided to include them in our formulations, because we believe that that's the only thing that you need for your skin to thrive. yeah no that makes sense i mean i think that it's very fascinating you know this pre post uh you know biotic idea because i think a lot of times people get confused in terms of what that means i see a lot of supplement companies i feel like preying on individuals you know based on these terms and it's really important to understand them you know definitely for general consumers so thank you for walking uh through that with us um i want to actually ask you a little bit about i I guess shifting to nutrition, because I feel like nutrition is something that although we talk about skin health so much, and I'm sure you've seen this, like everywhere on social media, you'll see product recommendations, you know, people are like, oh, this works and this works.

12:10But very few people are talking about the role of nutrition in overall like skin health and wellness. And so I would love to ask you about some things like, you know, the foods that are beneficial for skincare. Like, you know, can you give us a few examples that are really important for a holistic beauty routine? Yes. I mean, tying everything together. And I was just in a seminar at one of our spas in California where we did a seminar about the gut health, the skin health. And we had a chef that was focusing on foods with fermented ingredients like kimchi. because I believe that like yogurt, kimchi, fermented ingredients play a big role, not only on nutrition, but also on your skin, as I was mentioning.

13:02So if I were to include something in my diet, you know, to have a balanced gut microbiome and a balanced skin, first of all will be plants and whole foods. It will be some type of food that includes fermented ingredients like kimchi, like yogurt. And I think topical, I mean, ingestive probiotics also help. So there are a few brands out there that I think they're doing a great job in doing vitamins with pre-probiotics, but they have clinical trials to back up their claims. And I think that's very important in this industry, because as you mentioned, there are so many skincare brands out there. There are so many food brands out there that it's very easy to greenwash.

13:54And, you know, if you add one natural ingredient, then you're claiming that your whole brand is natural. But for consumers, they're like, how do we know if this is true or not? And I always tell them, look at the certifications they have or look at the clinical trials that they have. because even with clinical trials, you know, you can do 30 people survey, ask them 30 questions, skew the question, and then you say we have, you know, clinical trials, or you can do it with a third party, a lab that you work with, and they perform the clinical trials for you. And these are the ones that you should trust.

14:35Yeah, no, I think that's really interesting that you mentioned that because I think when people think of natural beauty for some reason they don't think of clinical trials and I don't know why because it's like no matter what the skincare company is claiming to be it still needs to be rooted on evidence you know like there needs to be some sort of a like a base you know in terms of this is why this actually works and here's the proof and I think sometimes this is what I've noticed at least you know I'm just voicing what I've noticed is consumers I get they get lost in this idea that oh if it's like in the realm of clean beauty or natural or organic we don't have to worry about things like clinical trials because they somehow lump that into this category of like clinical grade skincare or medical grade but really it's not true you know at the end of the day you want every single product you're putting on your face to have some data behind it you know there needs to be some criteria so I'd love to learn about Amala a little bit more if you could tell us about the products and some of the studies that you guys have done testing yes and i'm so glad you mentioned this because we take a lot of pride on the way we formulate and we are very intentional in the ingredients that we add to our formulations so we are a biotic based brand meaning as i i've been saying that there are fermented ingredients biotics in every formula except for the oils because fermented ingredients are water-based and the oils are oil-based so they don't work together so except our oil which is the eliminating oil we have fermented ingredients or biotics as we call them in every single single product as i said every formula has biotic ingredients but also talking about clinical trials every time we decide to develop a new product, we make sure that the active ingredient supplier has clinical trials at the active ingredient level.

16:38So to give you an example and to talk about one ingredient, we have three, four, five different alternatives to retinol in our products. mud bean being one of them that's a an ingredient that we love at amyla because mud bean is a natural alternative to retinol so if we wanted to do an anti-aging product with natural alternatives to retinol there is a process that we need to follow because one we have a natural certification and this natural certification is very strict that it looks at the extraction level of the ingredients. So every ingredient supplier that we work with need to have sustainable practices.

17:24So once we choose an ingredient, we also want to make sure that that ingredient has clinical trials so that if we decide to put it in our products, we know that it's going to work. Once we're done formulating, then we do clinical trials on the product. And depending on the function of the product. If we're doing an anti-aging product, we do tests on hydration. We do tests on wrinkle depth. We do tests on firming. So you also mentioned about how do we formulate? And when I'm talking to our team members or I'm at seminars, I always tell them, I see our formulations as some sort of smoothie. Every product has a base, like every smoothie has a base.

18:11whether it be water or milk or juice. So the basis of our products are biotics or fermented ingredients. So we start with a complex. Every single product has a complex. Let it be an anti-aging complex. Let it be a nourishing complex. Let it be a soothing complex. And then we have a strong fermented ingredient, depending on what we want to claim. If we want to develop a soothing moisturizer, we choose a fermented ingredient with soothing properties and so on. If we want to do a brightening product, we choose a biotic ingredient with brightening properties. And then once we have our base, which are the biotics, the fermented ingredients, we start selecting active ingredients.

18:57And as I said earlier, we're very intentional with the ingredients that we put in our formulas. us. So we always pick at least three that will serve a purpose. And every single active ingredient has clinical trials to back them. And then we close with a natural preservation system, kind of like a full circle. You know, we start at the top with fermented ingredients, and we close at the bottom with preservatives, which is a cocktail that we created with fermented ingredients that also helps with the preservation. A lot of brands use alcohol, you know which is great to preserve the products but it's very harsh to your skin so that's kind of the way we formulate that's interesting so you use like fermented ingredients as preservatives as well that's really cool yes and that's what makes our formulation slightly different we have our own cocktail where we use radish root ferment is one of the ingredients that we use for the preservation system.

19:59Wow. I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know you could actually use them for preservation, which makes sense though. Right? I mean, they're food. So we call it like a whole circle, fermented ingredients at the top and then at the bottle with a preservation system. Now one product I do want to, Dalia, I want to ask you about this one. I love this product. It's the retexturizing gel aqua peel. Oh yes. Amazing. Like amazing. My skin feels so smooth after I use this peel it's like at home like it feels like something that I would go to like a like an actual facialist you know what I mean and get done and that's how my results are it's phenomenal and for anyone out there who's looking for a good exfoliating product and a peel like product this is it like this is so good but tell me more about this one Dahlia like how did you guys come up with the idea and like just the I guess the big heavy hitting ingredients in this yes absolutely and I I think this is a very underrated product in our portfolio, which should be a hero because it's an amazing product.

21:03Yeah. And you know what's the beauty of it? It has a very high concentration of AHAs and BHAs. And they, of course, come from a natural source. And that's what when you you're applying these, it also has a beautiful color, you know, this pinkish mask. you leave it on for 20 minutes you remove it and your skin is buttery soft and you know why we decided to create this this this mask um badly in the skincare industry when you're trying a product you want to see immediate results you know but i tell everybody consistency is the key like if you want to lose weight and you eat one healthy meal you're not going to lose weight if you want to run a marathon if you run one race you're not going to be ready so i think with skincare it's all about consistency you know using your moisturizer your sunscreen every day but this product we're like you know we want to give the people what they're asking for which is uh something that they put on they remove it and they see immediate benefits so that's why we decided to create this peel, which is actually a mask that peels away all of the dead skin so that your skin is glowing and it has this very soft touch after you use the mask.

22:28So as I mentioned, the key ingredients here are AHA and BHAs. They come from a natural source. We have willow bar extract and we also have rye bioferment besides the cocktail of biotics that we have, which are detoxifying to purify your skin. That's cool. Yeah, no, I feel like this one, the reason it really stood out to me also was because, and this is probably because of the fermented, you know, ingredients you're using is like, it really makes your skin feel different than any other like exfoliating treatment because it's very nourishing. So when you're done using it, like your skin is like really well exfoliated and it's very smooth, but it feels very well moisturized too like it feels as if you have you know like balanced like a skin is balanced so I really enjoyed that component of it because a lot of times when I use anything that's meant to be a peel or meant to be an exfoliator like a chemical exfoliator I always get like some sort of redness or some little bit you know what I mean of irritation and I can't stand that because for me as soon as I see redness on my face I'm like oh I don't like that product yes no yes yes this is very unique it didn't give me any redness nothing like that it was just like it did the job and it really left my skin feeling very hydrated very nourished and so I was very curious about this you know in terms of what you did when we when we talk internally about this product we always refer to it like being a chemical pill at home without the chemicals and without the downsides yeah it is that that is I swear to you people that are listening to this you should give this product I try because it's it's only 88 bucks yeah and it works so good yes if you were to go to the spot because we did the analysis you know we're like this is a chemical peel at home in a bottle and we did the study you know how much it will be we wanted to go to a spy in New York or LA to get a chemical peel it's like in the 400 500 and these you get like so many treatments out of it so it's it's an amazing product it really is immediately after the first use no I absolutely love it and I feel like it really pairs well there's another product the collagen boosting peptide mask it pairs really well with that as well so like us yeah you can use this and then you can put on the mask and you just have a really great like at home facial that you're doing and I feel like people I feel like now women are realizing that there are so many ways to like kind of take care of your skin.

25:03And I feel like exfoliation is one of the most important steps in your routine, because you're you want to get those dead skin cells off, you know, and you want to really nourish that new layer of skin that your body is constantly turning over. And, and at home options. I mean, yeah, like, you know, they're out there. But again, there's redness, there's irritation, there's all these things that come into play, you know, and I feel like you guys have kind of discovered a magical recipe, you know, in that way. It really works. And I you walk away feeling like you went and got a facial. So I recommend it to all of our listeners, if you're tuning in, and you're looking for two great products, you know, for that purpose is the retexturizing gel aqua peel, and then the collagen boosting peptide mask, both of those paired together, they're going to give you like, literally a facial at home.

25:53So yeah, a huge fan. Love it. thank you and i i think you said it right i think the key of these products are the biotics because what they do it's they balance your skin they hydrate your skin so they don't don't remove all of the good oils that you have it doesn't strip your skin away um so when you're done using these products you still feel nourished and hydrated which is what a lot of the harsh pills do that they strip away from everything you have on your skin and that's why the redness tried the advanced firming complex as well I like that product a lot it's it's I feel like it's a one and done product you know and I I'm curious about that one actually because I don't really need much else when I apply it so what is the science behind that the advanced firming complex that's actually our best seller worldwide oh wow okay yes it is it's the best seller worldwide Why?

26:48Because it has everything in one small bottle. So we start with the biotics. You know, we, I don't know, I've talked about this, but we created one antioxidant complex specifically for amela. And this antioxidant complex is a biotic ingredient, a fermented ingredient. And we work with the lab for a long, long time. We're like, you know, we want to have a biotic complex that is proprietary to amela that we want to include in most of our products. So we worked and developed this antioxidant biotic complex, which we used to call the Living Beauty Biotic Complex. And we include it in almost all of our products.

27:31So the advanced firmin complex has this complex of antioxidants that were made just for amela. And we have a bunch of good ingredients in there. We have acai stem cells with ferric acid. we have two different types of peptides we have oils and butters so i think it's if you were to use only one product in your whole skincare routine it will be this um because it's a very lightweight i mean it's not very lightweight i think it's in the middle it's lightweight but not too lightweight moisturizer that you can use day and night but if you pair it i don't know if you have the advanced firming concentrate which is a very lightweight vitamin c serum yeah yeah i do that's that's a good one too if you pour those two that's all you need wow all you need i can see that because when i tried this one the firming complex i was really blown away by it that's why i said it's like a one and done product so like you can really just use this and you'll be good like it's really nourishing for your skin it's really it's very balancing so i don't think you'd need many products with it you know in terms of like people love to layer and stuff so

28:49i wanted to go back to your point on clinical trials because you mentioned you know give me some examples of clinical trials so for this one product we did i i believe four different clinical trials about hydration fine lines and wrinkles firming smoothness and they were all in the high 90s and we did this with the lab in Germany and we took pictures of people it was 30 and 60 days I had to go to the lab fill a questionnaire take pictures and the results are incredible wow see I love that I love that you guys are doing that because I really believe in that you know if you're going to create a line that's founded on you know nature and it's founded on these principles of like, you know, basically natural organic beauty, right?

29:40I really think that you have to show the data, you know, and I think when brands don't show that data, it becomes kind of like a turnoff. What are you hiding? What are you hiding? And what are you not telling us? And, you know, and really, it comes down to formulation. That's what it is, you know, because if you can tell me why you formulated the way you you did and why what your thought process was then you have data to back it up that to me that still falls under the realm of like clinically tested skincare you know it's not it's like a big umbrella i feel like and people have made these subcategories but really it comes down it boils down to very simple principles you know which is test the products show the data you know give consumers something to shop uh you know like with confidence with, you know what I mean?

30:30And so that matters in the long run. So I love that. I love that you guys are so forward thinking in that way, you know, and I know your formulas are very safe. They're very natural. And I really love that, but I love that you have that data for me to fall back on, you know, for reference. Thank you. And we, you know, every time we work with a partner and they request the trials, we're happy to share everything that we've done on the products because we're very transparent on how we formulate we disclose all of the ingredients that we have in the product because here in the u.s um if you were to include fragrance in a product you don't have to disclose the ingredients that you have in that fragrance because they're proprietary to the brand but we do you know every single ingredient that we have in the formula is disclosed we are happy to share the clinical trials and it has happened you know some customers was like show me your clinical trials and we're like here they are uh and then yes because it happens you know it depends on what country the customers are from but you know china thinks things very seriously when it comes to skincare so we've gotten a few requests when they request documents and we're happy to provide because we have nothing to to hide that's awesome i love that no it's a really great brand and i thank you so much for coming on to the show and sharing it with us i think it's a really really solid option for anyone out there that's tuning in and you guys are looking for really natural based products that are going to be efficacious they're not going to break the bank they're going to work I think this is a solid option and there's so many great products in the lineup we listed I think three of them and really highlighted three of them but you guys can check all the the whole line out just go to amlabeauty.com we will be linking all the information in our show notes definitely keep an eye out for that and if you have not already please check out our link in our instagram bio for where you can shop all of our episodes so we'll have everything listed on that shelf and you guys can shop the whole brand there if you want so thank you so much for tuning in and i will be back next time hey guys so i hope you love that episode please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform We are available on so many different platforms.

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