Unveil the Power of All-in-One Skincare with Kerri Kasem and FACEM Beauty

0:02Hey guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy. This is your host Ekta. I'm really excited about our guest today and the wonderful brand that I'm going to introduce you all to because I've been using it's a great for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good for a good everything else and be like, no, this is it. This is working for me. So I'm really excited to introduce all of you. And I think you're going to fall in love with it as well when you try it. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce you guys to the founder of Faysom, who is a huge personality, Carrie Kasem.

0:45She's widely recognized as a 26-year veteran and radio personality. She's co-hosted huge shows, and I'm just so honored to be hosting her. So welcome, Carrie. So excited to talk to you and chat with you today. Bekta, thank you so much for having me on. I've been looking forward to this interview for a very long time and your show is just filled with so much information and such amazing guests. So I feel honored. Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh, the honor is truly mine. And I can't wait to learn about everything you've been doing, Carrie, like in your career, but also like everything that led to the creation of Face because, you know, I know how busy you are.

1:26So to make a skincare line on top of it, I mean, what was the journey of all that? Can you walk us down memory lane just to tell us about what led to the creation and the idea? Absolutely. So I, my hobby is anti-aging. I'm 52 years old and I, most of the time I get 35. That's most of the time where people put me. And I, I've been doing it since I started really with creams in my early twenties. And I remember meeting Carmen Electra and I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. I was 24 years old and her skin was glowing and she's just so beautiful. And she told me she used this vitamin C product and she, and I went, I literally went the next day and I got it.

2:12And I saw a difference in my face. And at 20, then a few years later, 27, that's when I started really diving into the radio frequency machines, the lasers, the IPLs, the different things that could really make your skin look good. And I just fell in love with that entire genre of anti-aging. And so when I was in my teens and my 20s, I was sunbathing on top of my mom's roof with baby oil. So I really destroyed my skin, destroyed. There were, yeah, brown patches and wrinkles. And I remember I had the 11s, like in my twenties, I'm like, what is going on? Why am I aging? Why? I couldn't believe it.

2:53And I destroyed my skin. So I started the vitamin C, it helped, but then I wanted more. And that's when I went into a little bit of Botox. I went into Thermage. I did my IPLs. I just started doing all these different kinds of lasers and it really worked. And so from there, I was trying different creams, different ingredients, what would help. And throughout my, you know, being from 27 to 52 now, I learned what works and what doesn't work. And I, you know, I would have all these serums, I would have these different kinds of products and they were, I mean, my skin routine would take forever at night, forever.

3:32And I'm like, wait, I want to make a product that has everything in it. And there were some products that were phenomenal that I could use that, but I'd still use like a bit of a serum because it dried out my skin or certain things for my neck or my, you know, my chest. And I just started giving when people would find out my age, they'd want to know what I was doing. And I would say, okay, I use this product. I use this product. This product is amazing. If you have dry skin. This product is amazing for oily skin. And for years, I'm talking 20 something years, I was giving advice and happily to everyone.

4:08Who are your doctors? What are the machines to the creams you use? And somebody said to me, you know, you're making everybody rich, but yourself. You're giving, you are selling everybody's product. Why don't you do one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it took years and years after. And I went, yeah, I need to do this. And so that's really how it started. No, I love that though, that you really have this very organic journey with skincare because a lot of times, you know, you notice brands and I mean, I asked myself this, I don't know if any other consumers that are listening and do, but I'm always like, what was your thought behind this?

4:48Because it doesn't feel like you ever had, you know, these skin conditions. Like a lot of times, like, for example, like acne treatments that I see on the market. And I'm like, somebody who made this doesn't even know what it feels like, you know what I mean? To have acne or to like go through the struggle and like have the whole journey. And so you can tell, you know, with products, like if they've really been made with that, like true, like, like introspective kind of, you know, angle. So I'm glad that you had this kind of personal journey, you know, with skincare before you launched your brand.

5:18That's pretty cool. Thank you. I did. And I, you know, I, I wanted to make something that I know a lot of celebrities and people, they like a cream, so they slap their name on it, which there's nothing wrong with it. If it's a good cream, great. But I wanted my own. I wanted to actually make it. And Angie Chacon, who's just an amazing woman and an ethical chemist. I did not know this about the beauty industry until I started that. You can say there's something like an ingredient in there, but it's 0.001 % and it doesn't do anything for you. And I thought that is just wrong. You're charging three or$400 for a cream.

6:03And you're saying these ingredients are in there that are going to tighten the skin. They're going to help with texture. And they may a little bit, but you're not putting hardly anything in there. And to me, that's unethical. so when I started doing this cream I'm like no we need more than that it's like well that'll dry your skin out I'm like then put more moisture in there let's get this in there let's get the vitamin c in there let's get you know let's use the aloe let's use I mean I have my ingredients list but I and I know a lot of things she's explaining you have to be careful when you put them together and you have to make sure things are stable because vitamin c is not a very stable product.

6:40So we use most stable form of vitamin C and I, and it's sodium assorbal phosphate, and it is the most stable form of vitamin C. So if you, you know, it's not going to for two months, it's not going to break down and you're not going to get that, that product. Right. But there's, there's a percentage in there. It's like 3 % or 1 % or things that other chemists have looked at and said, wow, you use very active ingredients at a very, very, your percentages are very high. We don't see that in cream. Your cream should be three or$400. They've told me that. I've heard that from everybody who looks at my ingredients list.

7:20No, honestly, it should be because the results are fantastic. Like honest to God, like whenever, like, I feel like there's a lot of this like thought in this, in the beauty space, right? Where consumers are like, well, I want this instant fix for my problems, you know, and people have things like hyperpigmentation, or like, you know, crepiness, or they have dry skin or oily, whatever that is for them, they have that and they want an instant fix. And it's like, I always find myself telling people, there's no such thing, you know, as instant fix doesn't, it doesn't exist. And, and it doesn't, you know, scientifically, it doesn't.

7:52But when I really truly believe in my heart, like when a skincare product is made really well, and by really well, it's all of the things you just spoke about, you know, like making sure you're not skipping on ingredients and making sure that they're actually working together rather than against each other, because that's a real phenomena, you know, where the ingredients can cancel each other out. And like, unfortunately, consumers don't know this, you know, like it's never put out there. But like having that strong chemistry there in the formulation, if you can accomplish that as a brand, that will show you results in what we would consider as like instant results, because it takes about a week or two.

8:30and you'll start seeing like real benefits. And so when I tried your product, I mean, the cream was phenomenal. It was a one and done thing for me. You know, a lot of people think like if you're into skincare, like kind of what you touched on before that you have to have this elaborate routine, you know, with like three toners and like, I don't know, like five essences and a moisturizer and a serum. And, you know, and by then it's like you've saturated your face to the point of like, there's no reason now you're causing acne, right? So they believe that, that I have to go through all of this to get that glowing skin, that hydrated looking skin.

9:05And you don't, you really don't, but you do need a very well formulated product. And I think that's exactly what you've done here is like, I mean, it's very heavy hitting because you can tell that the actives that are in there are actually active, you know, like from a chemical standpoint. So yeah, it makes sense. When you told me before we started, you're like, yes, I've been using it. I've been using it, you know, for the last few weeks and I love it. It literally, you gave me like goosebumps everywhere. I've been so waiting to hear what you thought about my cream. And, you know, I've been on many shows and some people are like, yeah, I tried it.

9:41I'm like, well, trying it is not really using it. I want you to see what it does. Even after a few weeks, people see changes. The most incredible testimonials I've had are from 70 and 80 year olds. and they see the immediate difference because I do have a key ingredient that plumps up your skin right away and holds moisture. And not many people have it and it's serotonin. And I, you know, I wanted to call the formula, you know, happy skin, but somebody had it because I'm like, it plumps up immediately and it holds this moisture in, but then the other ingredients that I have in there for skin tightening really, really work.

10:22I mean, from microalgae to green tea, plant collagen, you know, vitamin C, there's, I mean, there's a, gosh, it's ingredients. It's called skin tight. And a lot of people don't talk about it because they don't want, oh, I don't want you to know my secret. I don't care. Like my cream works. There's a lot of creams at work and there's a lot of good creams out there and you, it's subjective. Find the one that works for you. I know there's been And a few people are like, oh my gosh, this is so active. It made my skin a little pink. I'm like, then don't use it every day. Use it every other day. But I've had some 70 and 80 year olds and I have this, I have the testimonials.

10:59If you go to faceomebeauty.com, you can see some of the testimonials. These 70 and 80 year olds are like, my skin is glowing for the first time in 30 years. I'm like, I love that. Or I feel like my skin, you know, it plumped up and I feel I have more confidence now. I'm like, I love that. These beautiful women are having these results that are making them feel better. And that's, honestly, even my 20s and 30s, when my sun damage started going away, I felt better. I didn't have to wear so much makeup. My skin was healthy. and I really wanted to give that to people and I didn't want everybody to have to have all these, like you said, all these different products.

11:49So that's a shelf full of like literally just serums, you know? Yes, yeah. It's called the one for a reason. It's Face-Em, the one, because that's all you need. I am formulating an eye cream. You can use it. People do use this under their eyes, but I am formulating. It's actually done. And it's another eye cream that Angie Chacon put together. That is going to be coming out soon, but we're in tests right now for it. Because I like to use it for a while. And I give it to my friends and people that have been using Fasem for the last year and a half. And so far, so good. They love it. But you can't use this product.

12:23People have used it under the eyes. I use it under the eyes for the last, you know, two years. And it does work. But I wanted something formulated specifically for the eye. And that's all it's going to be. We have some fun names for it. but uh we have the one and then you know the other one and then we have plus one I love it though I love it one two yeah it resonates I mean it's not like crazy stuff I mean I've like joked before on the show about like oh yeah there's like you know like Himalayan tree bark and like you know this one product and it's called like you know I don't know something ridiculous, right?

13:01Like, and that's all good and fine. And I understand people love their packaging, and they love their, you know, crazy ingredients. But at the end of the day, like, it really comes down to the science. And I really like that you brought up serotonin. Because one thing that, you know, I don't think a lot of consumers like we're finally getting to that place where we're coming, you know, we're turning the angle, you're turning the curve. And we're realizing that, you know at the end of the day there are certain ingredients that have not been played with yet you know like yeah we've got our humectants and we've got all of these products that are ingredients that help with moisture or for acne we have certain tried and true ingredients but when it comes to things that are you know neurotransmitters we don't understand them well enough and so when we apply them to something like topical skincare the benefits are I mean I can imagine them being extraordinary because they work all over the body.

13:56And serotonin is one of those hormones. And this is for our listeners that I'm saying this, it's one of those hormones that it really works everywhere in your body. Every organ has receptors for serotonin and it causes various effects, but it really plays into things like inflama aging, which we love talking about, you know, there's like these buzzy terms. I mean, Carrie, I'm sure you've heard them like, you know, inflammatory aging, microbiome, all the stuff that's buzzing right now. But then here's the thing, nobody talks about, well, how do you control that? You control it by, you know, looking into these other pathways and figuring out like, what does something like a neurotransferer do to the skin?

14:36Because that's available no matter what. Serotonin acts on our skin no matter what, whether we want it to or not. So if we can help that process along and, you know, kind of give our skin what it needs before it has to go to like extreme measures to get what it needs, that actually helps you out in the long run. And so I'm not surprised if that's really a big component of why, you know, your product works so well, because you're giving the skin what it needs, you know, what it's craving. So yeah, it's very interesting. Yeah, exactly. It is what it's craving. And that's what people say. And what I love about it too is I would find these amazing creams, like phenomenal cream, but I couldn't wear them under my makeup.

15:18It would be too oily. Like my friend has a cream that I just love. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm in love with your cream. This is the one cream I would have actually put my name on because she sources it from a farm and is amazing. It's great. But it's got a lot of oils in it, which makes your skin look glowy and beautiful. but I couldn't wear my, my makeup on top of it. And I wear a lot of self-tanner and it was taking off my self-tanner. I'm like, no, no nominal product. Oh my gosh. But I couldn't, there were certain things I couldn't do with it. And so I'm like, I need something that will go on, that will soak right in and you can wear makeup over it.

15:58It can be a base for makeup. And so I, I, that was another big thing that I wanted. And we, I think we did it. I think we hit it out of the park because I can wear makeup over it. My skin looks fantastic. The makeup stays on. It doesn't take my tanner off. So that was another thing for me personally that I wanted to create. It's kind of like a primer in a way. Like it's, I like that. Yeah. Because it's one step. That's why, like, it's like, you know, I think that's the most brilliant part about, you know, the cream is that it's one step. So your skin is getting exactly what it needs, but then you're not interfering with the makeup and the extra stuff that we want to put on top of our skincare like that's a huge topic actually you know in the in the beauty industry because people love either talking about skincare or talking about makeup they don't want to talk about both together because they know that there are problems we have not yet solved when it comes to you know what I mean like the synergy it's true yes yes it's very very true but I think it's absolutely brilliant that you did create this one beautiful hero product and did it thoroughly because you know at the end of the day like I'm a huge believer in the fact that you know I treat the skin like and I don't know how anybody else thinks of it but the way I think of it and I've said this before is like the skin when I'm thinking of it it's like a petri dish of cells and so when you're looking at that petri dish we put like in the lab we put like medium on top to feed those cells right and that's how I look at our own skin on the human body.

17:25You want one layer of whatever product it is that is working for you. And you want to put it on and let that product work, you know, because that's what's going to lead to long term results. Like you're not going to get results by just bombarding your skin and then saying, okay, well, I don't know what works, because I've used 15 products. And now I can't narrow it down. You know what I mean? So like, that's, it's a big thing. And it's a lot of the questions that we get at Skincare Anarchy, a lot of you chime in and ask us for recommendations. And my biggest recommendation is that alone. You know, it's like, find that one product that's going to work for you, that's going to do it and then stick to it.

18:05Exactly, exactly. Find what works for you. You know, I hope this does. And for the most part, people love it. Like I've, we've sold thousands of jars. And we've had a couple, literally two or three people say it's too active for me. And I get it. I get it. And it's not going to be like, but I would rather have it be too active than, Hey, it didn't do anything for me. I don't, I haven't had any of those, any of those complaints. And I love that. And it's okay. I get it. But I'm, I really wanted to sell to someone and to sell to the, the person that was like, I, my skin needs help. I need help. And I'm willing to go, you know, the three months to see if that works.

18:51And I always say, don't change, stick with one thing. If you bought it, unless it's giving you rashes or something's happening, stick with it for three months, at least three months. And so that's what I'm seeing. And I'm seeing, I love it because I've, I've given my cream to beauty bloggers and it's always such a huge compliment when they've tried everything, but they come back and ask me for a second jar. Yeah. Yeah. It works. It really does work. Like, I mean, honestly, like I, when we were talking before the, before the recording, like I, I really was blown away that this one product gave me the results I was looking for.

19:29Like I try products all the time and it's like literally hit or miss, you know what I mean? At this point, like I can kind of tell at this point with my skin, like, is it going to work? Is it not? And your cream was immediately, I was like, I really like this. And I, I've had this weird skin type like I don't know what your skin type is but like for me it started oily when I was younger and it kind of stayed that way in certain areas like I guess people say t-zone but for me it's just random areas of oiliness and I was really worried about that I won't lie to you like at first I was like okay it's a moisturizer so I can't really you know for me a lot of times I can't use them usually I just do serums you know or like a really light moisturizer but when I used it I was like oh wow this feels amazing like it felt like nothing was on my face And so that immediately to me was like a home run.

20:15And then when I kept using it, I would, you know, my biggest concerns that I always try to target are obviously like, you know, just looking more youthful, looking more glowy and awake, but then also light hyperpigmentation, which I always am battling, you know, because skin of color, we all know it. We battle this every single day. And then also under eyes, you mentioned that you're coming out with a new product, but I was using the one under my eyes as well, like on top of my eyelids under my eyes. And it was just doing the job. It was getting it done. And I was not oily throughout the day. I did not need to like go and like use a blotting paper, which happens a lot for me personally, you know.

20:51And so when I can see that, I can physically see that my skin is responding like that. That means that it loves it. It's loving what I've put on top of it. So it really, really hit home for me. And so I really hope people out there, you guys, you need to try it. You need to try this cream. And it's going to really change the way you think about skincare products. Oh, I love that. Thank you. Thank you. And I do have, right now, the cream is$149, but I'm doing promotion. And it's going to be, if you put in the code, if you go to face some beauty.com and you put the code pay79. So anybody listening, you just put pay79, it goes to$79 for you.

21:34So until the supplies last, we're actually rebranding, same name, same formula, but we're doing a little bit of a different logo. And I love it. I'm very excited about it. So we're going to, until the surprise lasts, it's pay 79. Yeah. Okay. Pay 79. I'll make sure I put that in our show notes as well so that all of you listening can access. But I want to ask you, you know, I really want to ask you this question because you've been in the media industry for so long. And I know that like things have changed, right? Over time. Like obviously like people's perception of beauty and like the way people, I guess, interact with beauty, you know, that's changed.

22:09I mean, I've watched it change, you know, as just a normal consumer. So I'm sure, I mean, from your perspective, like what have been some things you've noticed that have like shifted or, you know, when it comes to skincare or beauty? You know, the, I have to say is the clean products and that I love. I can't tell you how much I love that. The cruelty-free product is so important to me. I was vegan for 24 years. I'm a strict vegetarian. I don't think we need to keep testing and torturing animals. And there's so many products now that are royalty free. And they even have that little bunny. And I've seen that in the last, you know, 15 years.

22:47And I love that. I love that we're using clean ingredients, healthy ingredients, ingredients that are healthy for the skin and body. Your skin is your biggest organ. So what you put on it is going to go into your body. And there's so many chemicals that we are affected by every day from being in your house and like literally chemicals off of a rug, chemicals off of the paint. There's chemicals everywhere and we're bombarded with chemicals. And to put something on your skin that has more chemicals, I really don't think that that's good for you. And we're seeing a lot of people with autoimmune. I had Lyme disease for 11 years.

23:27And my journey through health was really to trying to find not only food that was not processed and organic and getting all the chemicals out of my body, but what, what am I putting on my skin? What am I putting in my makeup? Right? So I've seen this trend and I absolutely love it. I'm in a lab right now. I switched to a lab that doesn't allow any ingredients that are not reef safe. I, that standard is so unbelievably high. So this woman, Autumn Blum, who created Stream to Sea, it's a product that is just beautifully done. And it's for people who are outdoorsy and she's a scuba diver. And she just saw what these products and what products that are not reef safe, products that are toxic, were doing to the oceans and to the reefs and to you as a person, like just putting this chemical stuff on you.

24:22And she's like, nope, I'm not going to do that. I want to create a completely clean reef safe product. So she will not allow any products into her lab. Even if they come off like the list, like something might be reef safe now and she's learning all this. And next year, it's not. That has to go. You can't create your product there anymore if you're going to use it. So we're at the highest standard of clean, non-toxic green products. And I love this trend. I love it. People do not realize what you put in your skin goes into your body. And so that was, you know, being sick for so long and finally, finally healing it three years ago.

25:04I didn't know, I didn't know you had, you had to deal with Lyme disease for that long. That's crazy. It was horrifying. And it was like wrong diagnosis after wrong diagnosis. And I mean, I went from like healthy to exhaustion, pain, rashes, bad skin, hair falling out three different times. Yeah, it was awful. So my exhaustion level was horrible. So I just did everything I possibly could to eat right and use super clean products. And I'm just very happy that that trend is so big. Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's such a solid point too, because now more than ever, I mean, medical data supports it as that like, there's so many people with autoimmune disorders too now, than there were like 20 years ago.

25:53Like, it's crazy to see how many cases of, you know, just, for example, like Hashimoto's or like, you know, any kind of lupus, right? I mean, people have all of these like skin conditions because they have these autoimmune disorders. And you brought up Lyme disease. That's why I'm bringing this up because it kind of, I mean, Lyme disease, it puts your body through hell, you know, basically. And, you know, it's very similar to a lot of these autoimmune disorders that I see a lot of. And, and what happens is the skin becomes very sensitized, you know, and so that to me also speaks volumes to your product that you went through that and you created something that is non-toxic and, you know, non-toxic also that word, it has so many different meanings now, I feel like for so many people, but what you described to me, that's a very good representation, you know, of what it should mean is, is, is it really safe?

26:45Like, are these ingredients really safe? And that's what I think a lot of consumers, there's a big black box right now in our industry about, you know, what's what is considered good and what is considered bad, you know, and a lot of people have gravitated towards this clean beauty movement because of that, because there's no, there was never transparency. And now they're finally, there are people are finally asking questions and saying, Hey, listen, I have an actual sensitivity, you know, so you need to tell me what's in your product, what's going on, and where did you get your ingredients? And I'm so happy to see that too.

27:17So I agree with you. That's a huge shift. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. What's yours? What do you see that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Tell me what you see. No, I think it's very similar to yours, honestly. I mean, the clean beauty thing is really big for me too, especially as a scientist. You know, I think that for me, it's mostly the science and how it plays into that. Because at the end of the day, like science can mean so many different things to so many different people. And unfortunately, it's always meant something very medical, very like, kind of like sterile feeling, you know what I mean? But like, I've seen a lot of science emerge in these beautiful, you know, ways, whether it's a brand or like an approach to formulation, or whatever that might be.