Science Of Skin 2026 - Explained & Winners

0:28Welcome to another year of Science of Skin. year for Science of Skin are representing a multitude of different characteristics that I think are incredibly important in an industry that prides itself on really kind of bridging the gap between true consumer-focused care and really advancing dermatological excellence. And so with that in mind, I want to dive into this year's winners. To start us off strong, I want to congratulate ELF for winning Science of Skin this year on an enterprise scale. ELF Beauty is absolutely revolutionizing the beauty space in so many ways and really making efficacious products that are accessible to the masses.

1:03I have never seen a company of the scale do this so consistently and I am always blown away by their dedication towards true innovation but always putting skin health front and center. So if you look at the e.l.f. portfolio you're going to notice the brands that they put their stamp on and get behind have an underlying theme in common and that is the skin health always comes first. It's great to have great innovation, but it's more important to have efficacy. And that is exactly what Elf demonstrates every single time they launch a product, every time they get behind a new brand, and anytime they put themselves out there in the space.

1:36And I think that's very unique because of the way they're positioning themselves in a very saturated market. So brands like Rode, Well People, Naturium, Elf Skin, all of these brands are something you can come to every time you don't know what to buy. So if you're looking for a great encapsulated retinoid product, you can go straight to Elle's portfolio. Anything like hyaluronic acid, a great peptide serum, azelaic acid, you know, just the tried and trues. This is where they really, really serve the skincare market. And they are always delivering on that promise of making amazing products at affordable prices that are always going to be there for consumers to lean on.

2:11Our next brand is taking exosome skincare to the next level. Exocellular is a brand that has really concentrated their efforts on the science of exosomes and understanding what truly makes exosomes bioactive and available for true regenerative potential when it comes to skin health. And so when I look at their product, there's so many boxes that they check off. For example, I asked them straight up for all of their data around characterization and they were able to provide very compelling evidence that they have checked markers such as CD81 and other markers that are usually found inside of the particles that confirm that they are actual exosomes.

2:46More importantly, they have actually encapsulated individual particles. And so what this allows for is shelf stability at room temperature. That is absolutely huge. If you're anybody in the aesthetic space, you know that exosomes lose their bioactivity when they are thawed and especially when they're sitting at room temperature. So what ExoCellular is doing is they are concentrating in the professional space, in the post-treatment space. And they're providing their consumers with data, real-time data as they grow and showing true efficacy every single time someone uses their product post-treatment.

3:18I am truly blown away by their evidence. I am truly blown away by their dedication to the science of regenerative medicine. And I really want to tip my hat to their entire team for putting together a platform that's going to advance this area of skincare. Next on our list is First Aid Beauty. I am so excited to celebrate this brand because they were one of the first to actually put barrier health front and center in the skincare space. Long before this was a category, First Aid was already serving the consumer that has compromised skin, eczema prone skin, rosacea prone skin, and they really made that a functional category.

3:51So if you look across their lineup, you're going to notice formulas that incorporate ingredients like 0.5 % colloidal oatmeal. And now we are learning how much benefit there is to using colloidal oatmeal beyond just reducing irritation or reducing, you know, sensitivity. I really think about what matters in skin health. The lineup that First Aid has created is absolutely just a shining example of how the skin actually works and what it needs day in and day out. I really want to applaud First Aid because they have not only introduced us to products that were meant for a more niche demographic, but they have now turned that entire category into one of the most trending and relevant categories in skin health.

4:30the next brand is hydrinity now hydrinity is very unique because it first established itself by rethinking one of skincare's most familiar ingredients which was hyaluronic acid however rather than viewing hydration as simply this cosmetic benefit the brand developed technologies focused on optimizing how hyaluronic acid supports things like skin recovery and barrier function and tissue repair so this really made them a favorite amongst a lot of aesthetic providers for post procedure care. More recently, Hydrenity has really expanded their portfolio beyond just hydration with innovations like their Retosome product, which is basically combining bretinaldehyde with an exosome-inspired delivery system that is designed to improve stability, penetration, and tolerability.

5:13And so they're really bringing this idea of delivery science being front and center to mainstream skincare. I really, really like that because we are now entering a market that is focusing so much on things like regenerative ingredients when it comes to skincare formulations. And so when you look at ingredients like that, you cannot leave delivery science behind. It has to evolve in parallel with that. So I'm really excited to celebrate Hydrogenity for this reason and for putting delivery front and center. It would not be science of skin if we did not celebrate a brand that is putting the microbiome front and center.

5:46So next up is Hypothesis Bio. Now this brand was founded on the belief that the future of dermatology lies in precision microbiome engineering. So rather than relying on broad spectrum antimicrobials that are eliminating both the beneficial and the harmful bacteria on the skin surface, the company really developed a new system. That is their patented enzyme technologies that are designed to selectively target disease-causing microbes while preserving the skin's healthy microbial ecosystem. So when you look at, for example, TPC-01, which is their eczema product, and then the Cut02, which is in their acne products, they're both utilizing independent bioengineered enzymes that will specifically go and target microbes such as Staph aureas or C.

6:28acnes, respectively. And so this is very important because this type of research in academia rarely gets translated into the mass consumer space. And it's very difficult when you do translate it because producing something in a lab and seeing the results in a lab is very different than creating it in a way that consumers can benefit from just at-home products. And so when I look at what Hypothesis Bio is doing in the skin space, this technology-first approach represents a broader shift. And that shift is towards biotechnology in skincare. And I cannot applaud that enough. I am all for biotech in the skincare space because that is really what's going to bring things to the next level.

7:07It's really going to revolutionize the sophistication of the products that are available to consumers who might not have access to a dermatologist, who might not have access to going for all of their checkups the way we would ideally want them to, you know? So we need these kind of options that are going to almost serve as adjunct therapies in some way to what's already available in the pharmaceutical space. Our next winner is a brand that started in the professional space. So dermatology was a brand that started behind the scenes. They were formulating for dermatologists, for plastic surgeons for decades.

7:39And what the founders realized was that we are creating products that are amazing, that patients are loving, and they are not actually available to normal consumers. So this is really important, right? Because when you look at skincare, a lot of the products that are carried in some of the most sophisticated clinics across the globe are products that a lot of times we don't even understand in terms of like, how does the formulation actually move the needle for whatever condition they're meant for? And so dermatology has really democratized this kind of thinking when it comes to what's available in the skincare space.

8:09When I look at their products, such as their needle-less collection, this really reflects the industry's growing interest in supporting things like collagen production and extracellular matrix health. So rather than pursuing things that are trend-driven or ingredients that are popping up every day, dermatology really hones in on this is what works and these are the latest technologies, but here's how we're going to make them so that every dermatologist that uses this or that recommends this is going to be impressed by the efficacy above all else. So I really applaud the brand for that. I really applaud them for sticking to this ethos and making sure that all of their formulas are something that any physician can look at and say, yeah, this makes sense and this is something that I would recommend.

8:48Our next brand is actually creating a brand new category in skin health. XOMD was founded by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen Dayan and board certified dermatologist Dr. Sabrina Favi, and they both recognize that the effects of healthy skin extend way beyond what we see in the mirror. Drawing on decades of clinical experience and research in facial aesthetics, they created the brand around an emerging concept that they're calling mood pseudicals. So the idea of mood pseudicals is that improving your skin health may also influence things like confidence levels, emotional well-being, social connections, but that's not all.

9:21They're actually rooting everything in very, very serious physiology and biology by looking at the effects of oxytocin on skin. And so by observing the current research around oxytocin, XOMD has been able to create their patent pending OX factor technology. And what this does is it really looks at obviously the physiological benefits of working with a brand new pathway and a brand new signaling system. but it also creates a new category of products that are advancing psychodermatology. And so psychodermatology, I think, is one of those fields that we're going to see more of in the next few years as people start to become more aware of what their skin health is actually impacted by.

10:03And so I'm very, very excited to watch XOMD redefine the space and create a brand new category. And I really can't wait to see what's coming next. Next up is Muesli. Muesli is such a unique platform because it was truly founded to address one of dermatology's biggest challenges, and that is providing patients with access to personalized prescription strength treatments for chronic skin conditions without the barriers of traditional in-office care. So for example, by offering things like telemedicine with physician-guided treatment plans, Muesli is able to transform how patients receive care for conditions like melasma, for acne, hair loss, rosacea, and even photo aging.

10:42And at the real core of their approach is this customized prescription therapy model. So rather than relying on like a single active ingredient or just a single type of formulation logic, their formulas are combining clinically established treatments, including things like hydroquinone, tretinoin, transaxamic acid, azelaic acid with other prescription agents. So they're selecting what your skin actually needs. And you're always doing this under the guidance of a dermatologist that is available to you through this wonderful telemedicine platform that they've created. For us, what really distinguishes Muesli is its ability to pair these prescription therapies with ongoing physician oversight.

11:18And so I cannot stress this enough when I say there are so many people right now that just simply do not have access to dermatological care. Whether it's because you live in a rural community and you don't have a dermatologist anywhere near you, or maybe because the dermatologists that are available and practicing near you, their appointments are so booked so far in advance that you can't even get to them. So These are real concerns right now in this field. And so having a platform like Muesli alleviates a lot of the routine issues that many, many consumers face. The next brand is Kate Somerville.

11:50Kate Somerville is a brand that has just been tried and true for as long as I can remember. And I know a lot of people resonate with that statement. It really began when Kate herself spent decades caring for patients with complex skin concerns in her LA skin health experts clinic. And from all of that experience, she created a brand that was really meant to change the skin in a positive way. I have said this before, but some of my favorite brands of all times have actually been created by estheticians because the way the estheticians look at the skin is so different than any other professional in this space.

12:21They're able to understand like what is actually going to make your skin glow, what's going to really move that needle when it comes to seeing results and maintaining those results over time. And so if you look at Kate Somerville as a brand and their portfolio of products, it starts being apparent that every single thing in there is really meant to solve a actual problem for the consumer. For example, Exfolicate is a product that absolutely, I think, was a game changer in the industry because it really helped popularize the concept of multimodal exfoliation. It was combining things like alpha hydroxy acids, beta hydroxy acids, fruit enzymes, and also physical polishing agents into one single treatment.

12:59And so when this kind of product came out, it made the industry kind of rethink what exfoliation really means. And so these kind of concepts keep reemerging over and over again as you go through the entire product lineup under the Kate Somerville brand. I really, really believe that if you look at what is going to actually change things like dullness, uneven skin, rough texture, it really comes down to a handful of really great ingredients. but more importantly, it comes down to understanding when to use them and how to use them. And I think a brand like Kate Somerville has just been such a shining example of how to formulate and how to kind of push the industry forward in a way that always puts efficacy first, always puts the consumer first, and make sure that the skin need is actually addressed and we're not selling marketing.

13:43Next up is a brand that is coming from deep understanding of peptide technology. Routine Skin was not a brand that just wanted to create another peptide serum. No, they are a company that stems from another business model that is really rooted in the understanding of the science of peptides and understanding what actually works. So when you look at routine, they are really honing in on GHK copper. And so GHK copper right now is super trending, but it's trending for the wrong reasons, because a lot of the formulas out there are not focusing on what really matters. For example, the percentage of actual peptide you need in a formula for it to go and act on things like wound repair and, you know, regenerative side of skincare and regenerative side of skin healing.

14:25So that's exactly what sets routine apart because they're coming from the actual space of creating peptides. They're not buying their peptides from other companies and hoping that it just works. They have actually tested these sequences. They've understood what's going to work, what's efficacious, what are the percentages we need to be looking at. And so all of this understanding is culminating into their skincare brand. And so I'm very, very excited to really celebrate routine because I think when it comes to real buzzworthy ingredients, especially when they're coming out of really deep science like wound healing or regenerative medicine, it's very important that we get that right so that consumers do not get desensitized to the true potential of these kind of formulas.

15:03And that's it, guys. That's 2026 Science of Skin. I hope you enjoyed my little brief breakdown of what each of these brands is doing in our skincare space and why it really matters. I really urge you to go check them out on our website. You can find us at www.skinanarchy.com. Make sure to let us know in the comments of this post or chime in through email about what your favorite brand is. And if you want to nominate somebody for next year, definitely shoot us an email. Thanks so much for listening and I'll be back with our next episode.