Who here remembers way back in the 1990’s when the tech giants of the time were hailing the beginning of the “Information Age”? 

Well, they were right, the era in which we live is dominated by information. 

Everywhere we look it’s search engines, social media influencers, computers the size of children’s toys, and advertisements embedded into our computer screens. We are constantly soaking in information. 

Some of this information feels very much like learning, the sort of “smart” kind of information we were used to a long time ago. What active ingredients are in your skincare? What do they do and how do they do it? How do you, as a consumer, get the most out of using them?

Other types of information feel much more trivial, but still carry a lot of weight. What kind of water does your favorite celebrity drink? Did you hear about the celebrity that “makes her own” funny smelling candles? What are the habits of the people that we watch in television and movies when they aren’t on screen? Can we close the distance between us and them by mimicking their behaviors?

All of this is just to say, there is more information than ever before. And this information is easier to get than it has ever been. But is it good information? And how do we know if it is or not?

Influencer Flashback: 1994

A long time ago (in 1994) there was a boxer that was very famous. 

Well, actually, it was more like he was famous, but time had passed him by. He signed a deal to associate his name with an electric grilling device that regular people, just like you, could buy and use at home on your kitchen counter. He did a series of popular commercials where he demonstrated the device. 

It turned out that while his boxing days were long behind him, he was a great showman and the commercials were fun to watch, and the device wasn’t bad either. A lot of people bought the device and it was a big hit selling more than 100 million units over the course of nearly three decades. You can still buy the latest versions of the electric grill at your big box store. 

The boxer, George Foreman, made a lot of money selling regular people electric grills.

It used to be that at the end of a famous person’s career, if they were in need of some quick cash they could make money by putting their name on a brand. This was beyond just a celebrity endorsement. When George Foreman started selling electric grills, the device itself bore his name.

Celebrity Influencers and Skincare Products

With the rise of social media in the Information Age, the gap between the lives of the celebrities that we admire and our ordinary selves at home has contracted. At least that’s often how it feels. We can go on our phones now and look at a screen and know where Gweneth Paltrow eats lunch. 

Celebrities have capitalized on this. They know literally how much their own fame is worth and they’ve begun cutting out the middle-person and instead of renting their reputations to companies they have begun marketing their own brands. And nowhere more so that skincare!

The celebrity skincare wave has migrated from a trend into a phenomenon. And why shouldn’t it? Celebrities are often presented as being professionally beautiful. It makes sense that someone might want to follow the tips and tricks of their favorite star to look and feel their best.

But at the end of the day, what do celebrities really know about skincare formulation? 

About as much as George Foreman knows about electrical engineering. The electric grill he so successfully promoted was actually invented by a person named Michael W. Boehm. 

Do we really imagine that skincare influencers are going down to the lab and saying: “My product needs more epidermal growth factor! Make it happen!” We don’t think so. Probably these brands are developed by companies that want to move a large amount of product but that aren’t interested in building and maintaining their own brand. The celebrity or social media influencer that puts their name on the product becomes the brand, the personality becomes the message.

Hiking Up the Label Value

How do they do it?

Well, if you follow influencer based skincare you’ll probably notice a lot of buzzwords surrounding certain products. That’s not by mistake. 

Consumers understand that the nature of celebrity feels kind of shallow and insubstantial. Using a product “just because” an influencer does might feel kind of vapid. But if there is a solid reasoning behind it, a foundation in science and formulation, the sale is much easier.

So a lot of influencer based skincare trade on the power of particular ingredients. Have you ever heard an influencer refer to an active ingredient as their “favorite”? We have. It makes a lot of sense to bring attention to what makes your product work, and everyone who has to advertise something does it.

But as we often point out at Skin Actives, the ingredient in question must be present in a density scientifically proven to affect your skin positively. If it’s not, well then, you are just paying for the nice feeling of being associated with your favorite star.

At Skin Actives Scientific all of our products are formulated to make sure that the active ingredients meet the following criteria:

1. The active has been proven to affect skin in a healthy way in peer reviewed scientific literature.
2. The active is present in the formulation in a quantity that, if used appropriately, will have a healthy affect on your skin.
3. Your skin has been proven by science to be able to safely absorb and utilize the active via topical application.

Now, you might think that is a common sense approach to skincare formulation. 

But that doesn’t mean everyone does it that way. 

Because of the laws that surround what a company must disclose on their labeling, it is possible to put an active ingredient in a formulation in such small amounts that it doesn’t actually do anything to promote your skin’s health. But, the name of the active is still on the label, and (again, because of the laws surrounding this sort of thing), advertisers can point to the purported activity as to why the product works.

Long story short: don’t just take your favorite influencer’s word for it. We love our influencers. Whether they are on podcasts, social media platforms, reality shows, or movies, their options have a profound ability to affect our opinions and therefore our actions. 

That said, make sure that you buy your skincare products based on science and efficacy, not on popular opinion. Make sure you know who is making your skincare and why they are making it. Make sure you buy your skincare from someone that you trust.

After almost 20 years in the skincare game, Skin Actives is happy to hold your confidence. Thank you Skin Actives Family!