Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on February 11, 2025.
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Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Welcome, everyone.
Go ahead and mute, but you're welcome to hop off mute if you have questions!
Customer: Hi, good afternoon.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Welcome, everyone. Hello.
everyone. Wow, everybody's so friendly today. A lot of times we have fun but the calls are really quiet.
So okay. I'm gonna give it just another few seconds and then we can get started. How's everyone's Tuesday so far? Thumbs up?
Customer: Good? Yeah, all good. Just getting prepared with everything. We're very happy to have this opportunity of observing how a decision works and all because we felt very curious about that.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah. That's awesome. I'm glad you guys are on, for others who are on who maybe aren't aware we have a couple of people who are on the call training and so you might see them having specific questions or questions that are coming from a different angle. So don't let that throw you off.
As we're getting started with that, let's use our time wisely. So let's get into it. So we are on a 90 minute consultation with Annmarie Skin Care this is a group consultation, but we hopefully will leave you feeling like all of your questions are answered And that anything you're wondering about, we, we can address for you as we're going throughout, we're going to have some spaces and pauses. So we can discuss things or talk about products, refer to specific products, things like that. You can also utilize the chat. I've got grace here with me and she's going to be largely Responding to questions. She might post a few links if we talk about articles or things like that.
So that will be the structure of the call. My name's Kate and I am a licensed esthetician. I've been a licensed esthetician for 11 years now. So I've had a lot of time working with skin and skin care and all the products. I worked with Annmarie Skin Care for a little over six years. So I feel a very comfy kind of bridging the two worlds and have had the opportunity to talk about products at great length so I can definitely offer info there. Like I mentioned, Grace is here with me. Grace, do you want to talk about you?
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Hi, everyone. I'm Grace. I'm the marketing assistant here at Annmarie. I've loved every second of it. A little bit about me, I'm in Seattle and it's windy and gloomy and gray. And then the only other thing I'll mention is I do have a bulldog. So if you hear her snoring at all in the background, I apologize in advance.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Cool. Well, let's dive in. Let's start to talk about Annmarie Skin Care. So before I even get into the products, I do like to talk about us as a brand, and for some of you, you maybe have known this information, or have this information, and then for others, it might be completely new.
Our company's been around for 15 years, and we're one of the first brands that really claimed being clean. I put clean in quotes. Because it's not a very regulated term. Clean can mean a lot of things to different brands. for us, it has been a high, high priority on ingredients, ingredient selection. Our inception came from Kevin and Annmarie. So Annmarie is an actual person. Years and years and years ago, they used to host a YouTube channel and it was this very health focused YouTube channel called Renegade Health. And. And their viewers would comment in the chats and on the comments of the YouTube videos and be like, what do you use on your skin? What do you recommend for your skin? And that really prompted this journey for both of them to look very deeply at their own products. Very deeply at, you know, how their products were made. And they kind of decided it wasn't, didn't fit their values. That's the short version. There's obviously a lot more fun that happened in between. But we have had quite a journey over the last 15 years, launching products, discontinuing products, listening to our customer base, seeing what people are longing for a lot of our products are a direct result of that. one of the most succinct captures of our brand values is the Made Safe certification. Grace, if you want to link that in the chat, Made Safe is a third party that tests our products. They test the ingredients that go into our products and they're verifying that everything is void of upwards of 8, 000 toxins. And so these are things from. Potential carcinogens to neurotoxins trace metals. They've got a thorough list that's continually being expanded, and they are keeping a high standard. We love being able to present the MADE SAFE certification because it is a third party that's verifying we're as clean as we always have been. Check out that link. I think that's a good info source there. What else? Our ingredients, so when we're selecting ingredients, we're looking for either certified organic, which is straightforward. These have been certified that their processes and anything that goes on to them is organic. Certified wildcrafted. And wildcrafted, what that means is we've got this plot of land. And they plant the herbs or flowers. Lavender is a great example. And then it grows without any human interaction. So, wildcrafted plants grow free and then we harvest it at the end of the season. The third would be, they're neither organic or wildcrafted, but they're usually pretty small farms or farmers. And we've highly vetted this supplier. They're either small enough that they don't really care about. Paying to become organic, or that's just not even on their radar at all. So a very high priority is placed on the ingredient composition of every product. We had a call earlier today and Rachel, who's our COO made the comment that we're nuts about ingredients.
And I feel like that was a really cute capture because we really are very thorough. if there's a change in a supplier. Or, the quality of the ingredients that we source from them. Then we switch suppliers or we switch the ingredient. We continue to evolve to maintain our quality as time goes on. Aside from the ingredients, we do package our products in this dark glass here. This is called Myron glass, and it is beneficial for a couple of reasons. First of all, with it being glass, it's recyclable, so we're not putting quite as many virgin plastics out into the world. It also, with it being this dark color, prevents UV exposure, and so we are able to get by without using synthetic preservatives or emulsifiers because we aren't exposing our product to sunlight, So they're either going to be in this dark glass, they could be in an aluminum, so the scrub, the shampoo, the body wash, these are in an aluminum. It is a BPA free lined aluminum, so there's no potential leaching there. The third potential would be cardboard. Our lip products come in cardboard, and a good sturdy cardboard, I would call that out, because some people worry that it's going to feel like a straw, like a paper straw, that gets mushy. It's a nice sturdy cardboard. So that's a little bit about who we are. We are leaping bunny certified. Everything is non GMO. Even if it's not certified organic, it's still certified non GMO. Before I start to talk about actual products and shaping routines, I'm curious if there are any questions that you can either come off mute and share or put in the chat that I can get answered.
Let's keep plugging along then. To build a routine when we're working with our customers and we're wanting to make sure everyone feels like they are getting the perfect fit. We're usually looking at a minimum of four products that can obviously be expanded upon, and that includes our cleanser, our toning mist, our serum, and our oil.
We do usually go further. In this call, we're going to talk about scrubs, we're going to talk about What else? The boosters, sunscreen, lots of other things, but a very skeletal routine includes those four products. I don't usually recommend going slimmer. Occasionally I'll work with someone who maybe moved from a bar soap or had one product going to four products is quite a leap. So, for those customers, I like to suggest that maybe we start with the serum and the oil and they finish out what else they've got, and then we'll continue to round it out over time. the serum and the oil are the most powerhouse products and best bang for your buck as far as whatever you're working on with your skin.
With that, let's start to talk about the products. Starting at the top, let's get into some cleansers. One of our cleansers is our Aloe Herb Cleanser. This is our best selling cleanser. This one is ideal for dry skin, for aging skin, and particularly supportive for sensitive skin. Francesca, I think I saw on your survey, you had mentioned maybe some aging skin, working on some pigmentation. So I'll also keep that in mind as we're going along here. The next one I'll expand on, but the feel of this one feels very soft. It feels almost like a lotion and liquid. Sometimes it's hard for people to understand how it's actually cleansing the skin. We don't use any sulfates, so nothing is going to bubble up. There's no sudsing that happens. And even in our shampoo, the feel is just different. With this one, we have a lot of aloe vera juice. When that mixes with water, there's this kind of saponified action that happens. So it's able to actually cleanse the skin at a deep level in a super, super gentle way. The skin feels very balanced when you rinse this off. Like a light balanced feel. It's not overly moisturized, but it's also definitely not stripped in any way. If anyone's in doubt and they're just not really sure going with the Aloe Herb Cleanser is a pretty safe bet. It likely is going to feel pretty good for your skin unless you are really, really oily. Otherwise pretty much any skin type can use this and enjoy it. And you'll notice this one has two sizes. Some of our cleansers do and some of our cleansers don't. This one does have both sizes. The 50 and the 100 ml.
But this is the Citrus Mint Cleanser. It's a gel based cleanser. So if you are someone who has oilier skin, or just runs really oily It's balanced in such a way that it cuts through excess oil without stripping the skin. This is one of the ones that we really like for oilier skin, for maybe normal combo skin. If anybody's breakout prone, this is one that we're going to probably direct them towards. And this is one that does come in the two sizes as well. I just don't have the small one here on my desk.
Now, shifting gears, you'll notice that these next couple have the black label on them. And this collection, this tan label, is called the Signature Collection. This black label is called the Wild Alchemy Collection. The Wild Alchemy Collection as a whole tends to be a little bit more laser focused as far as addressing signs of aging. So this is working with deeper creasing, this is going to be more supportive for fine lines, definitely more supportive for discoloration.
They, you know, how they're working will depend on the product, but generally speaking, if someone is reaching out and they're really concerned about addressing signs of aging. We're probably talking about at least one wild alchemy product. Maybe the whole routine, but at least one.
This is called our Phytonutrient Cleanser. And Francesca, this one I think could be a good one for you. The feel of this one is very rich and creamy, similar to the Aloe Herb Cleanser. It's got more body to it, one of the ingredients is a mango seed butter. It's a very kind of fatty feeling. So dry skin loves this. This also has our signature serum blend and is a beautiful floral combo. That's super helpful for the appearance of fine lines. This also has some malic acid. We've got a little bit of a dehydrated apple that adds some malic acid in here that really can be helpful for exfoliating and evening skin tone. Now, skin types that love this one, this is great for dry, combo, aging, especially more pronounced signs of aging. It's a little bit intense for sensitive skin. So, if I'm working with someone who has really sensitive skin, I'm probably going to go with either the Aloe Herb Cleanser or the next one that I'll speak to here. But unless they have particular sensitivity, they're likely going to do well with this one, the Phytonutrient Cleanser.
The last one here is the Restorative Cleansing Oil. This one is a blend of oils, so all of the others have been suspended in some variation of something a little more aqueous. All of the others, you apply them pretty straightforwardly. You wet your fingers, wet your face, get a little bit onto your fingers, and then massage it around. With this one, it's slightly different. There isn't anything in it that is going to bubble up or suds up. There also aren't any variations of aloe in here. It just feels a lot like rich oil on the face. The feel of this one, it's very moisturizing. I tend to only recommend this one if I'm working with people who are very, very dry. Or people who prefer to do two cleanses. They like to cleanse first and then do a second cleanse. Or if I'm working with somebody who wears a lot of makeup, this is a really nice one to help remove excess makeup on the skin. The application of this one, you can still do wet fingers on a wet face, but you can also do dry fingers on a dry face. I like that one a little bit better for removing makeup or any kind of buildup on the skin. Neither is necessarily right. They both are very functional.
They just feel a little bit different. when you remove this one, because it is a blend of oils, you sometimes feel like there's a little bit of oil left behind. If you're really dry, that's probably what you're going for. If that feels great and you love that one so you may not have any extra steps. If you're somebody who's maybe a little bit more combo or doesn't prefer that feeling, you can still come in with a second cleanse. you can use the aloe herb, you can use the Phytonutrient Cleanser, the phytonutrients are a really nice combination with that one. And just remove the excess oil, rinse it off, move on to the next step. So let's pause here and let's see if there are any questions about cleansing, the cleansers, any of that.
Okay. Let's keep moving, so after you've cleansed, whatever cleanser you've used, rinse your skin and pat it dry. If you are wanting to prioritize exfoliation, step into our exfoliation step. Now you don't need to exfoliate daily. This is one of the products that rounds out your routine. But it is important in your routine. And so we definitely recommend it. On some level could be once a week could be once every 10 days, depending on which one you go with. It could be more frequent. I'm going to get into this one here and then one or two others. And again, you know, we might leave a couple out just for the sake of time, but this one, this one is called the Radiant C Mask and Polish.
This one's so supportive for a lot of different skin types. So a lot of people do really well with this one. It's a loose, dry powder that you can either shake into the palm of your hand or shake into a jar. You can use it as a polish by adding a little bit of water to it. I usually get the water on the back of my hand and let it drip. Into the product and then gently create whatever consistency feels good. If you're maybe drier or more sensitive, you might add more water so it's softer. If you're comfortable at any level, you might let it be a little bit grittier and not add as much water. then gently buff it onto the skin. So it's a gentle polish. And then rinse it off. You can also use this as a mask. One of the key ingredients here is French red clay. That French red clay is really helpful for this tightened feel to the skin, also very softening on the skin. And the application is not that different. you can either do the palm of the hand, a little pot, add water, apply it to the skin, And then leave it on as long as feels comfy. the bottle recommends around 15 minutes, but it's not something that gets really active and you have to rinse off at 15 minutes. 15 minutes is just kind of a guideline. then come in with water and rinse it. Here's where the product gets really cool. And this is where it applies to a lot of different skin types. You can also mix this into another cleanser, do a couple pumps, shake a little bit of the product in it, and then you've created kind of a textured cleanser, given your cleanser a little bit of a boost, likewise with the mask, you can mix this into a mask like the Illuminating Pearl Mask, we can talk about this one more in a moment
You can mix it with honey, you can mix it with yogurt, it kind of becomes this apothecary tool to round out a lot of different products. This is a great one to use as an exfoliant. I like to have it around for a lot of different reasons.
Another really good one is called the Kaolin Micro Exfoliant. If I said picture a facial scrub, this is probably what comes to mind. It's this very textured feel. This one uses a crushed bamboo stem. It's rounded so this isn't going to scratch the skin. It's fine enough and round enough polish that you get a lovely exfoliation. This one's a little bit deeper than the Radiant C. This one I would describe as a true exfoliant versus a polish. It gets a little bit deeper into the skin and if you are dry or sensitive you might not prefer this one. This one is great for most skin types but those two in particular find that it's a little intense. or they do it way less frequently than somebody who maybe has more normal skin.
This one here. Another one that I really love to talk about, and I think it would come down to whether you were on the sensitive side or not, but this is really helpful for the appearance of pigmentation. This is called the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant.
The feel of this one, there's no texture to it. This one is using a honey derived lactic acid, exfoliating the skin in that way. It does have a lot of activity so, if you run sensitive, you're probably not going to prefer it, but if your skin is fairly normal or comfortable, this is a deep resurfacing treatment. This is kind of the next level. So if we start with Radiant C, deeper is the Kaolin, even deeper is the Resurfacing Facial Exfoliant. It's a really intense exfoliant, but also balanced perfectly. The blend is a very cooling blend. We've got blue tansy. We've got cucumber distillate. We've got hyaluronic acid. All of these are designed to be immediately soothing and nourishing skin that might be activated with lactic acid that's in that. So, this is one that I don't necessarily suggest combining with other exfoliants. I wouldn't say, you know, use the Kaolin and then use this one right after. Some skin types could handle it, but I would let our customers decide if that felt like them. Generally speaking, what I recommend with this one is that you start with once, once a week, maybe once every ten days, to see how your skin responds. It's normal with this one to be maybe a little pink afterwards. You might feel dry the next day or the next couple days. It's not as intense as a chemical peel or something done professionally, but it is on the more intense side. I love it. I'm a huge fan of it. But you do have to have a certain skin type to really love it. We do have one other exfoliant, our Ayurvedic Facial Scrub, and I don't have that one on my desk, unfortunately. The consistency is very similar to the Radiant C, and I would say that's the lightest of them all. So it goes Ayurvedic, Radiant C, Kaolin, Resurfacing. The Ayurvedic is this Kind of herbal blend, and it's still a dry powder, you get your hands wet, you know, you mix water with it it's very fragrant, it's got a lot of spices in it that adds this really beautiful scent, it smells almost like food there's like a curried smell to it.
But great for really dry skin, great for really sensitive skin. If I'm working with somebody who reports that they can never use exfoliants, that it always hurts them or they dry out, then I'm probably going to still suggest the Ayurvedic. That's a really good one. From there, I'll get into masks, and then we'll pause again for some questions.
Masks, very similarly to scrubs, are not something that you would necessarily do every single day. But you're probably going to do it. At least once a week, our most popular mask is this one. This is the Illuminating Pearl Mask and it is gorgeous. It looks kind of ugly in the jar, but in person it's very kind of like sheen pretty.
It's got crushed pearl powder in it, which adds this beautiful luminosity to the skin. This is great for dry skin, sensitive skin. It's got some herbs in it, uva ursi that can be helpful for pigmentation as well. This is a nice one to have in your routine. Generally anytime I'm talking with someone who's getting married or they're in a wedding or they've got family photos, this one is one that I'm highly suggesting because it really just brightens up the complexion of the skin.
Another super popular one is this one, this is the Coconut Honey Mask. This one is a really simple blend. It's got coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and beeswax. The ratios are spot on, and the feel is very moisturizing. Anytime I'm working with somebody with dry skin, I am highly suggesting this one. This one gets really popular in the winter, as people's skin is a little bit drier. It feels really lovely. One more that I'll mention is this one. This is the Charcoal Cacao Mask, and this one is dark black. I'm not sure if you can really see. In the jar here, but it is very dark. So if I'm working with someone and I have the opportunity to either via email or over the phone, I always call it out just so that they know that they might want to pick a dark towel when they're using it or rinse it off in the shower because that charcoal is so pitch black. This one is great for combo skin. It's awesome for skin that is prone to aggravation, but can still run on the oily side. Great for clogged pores. The feel of this when you apply this is it does dry matter. And so there's this tightening feel that happens as this is kind of, the moisture is kind of absorbing out of it.
Great for pulling things up. So, if you are oily or have clogged pores, it can help lift things, there's a lot of soothing that happens with the cacao, there's turmeric in it, there's some honey in this one so, yeah, great for that very combo, combo skin type. And again, the exfoliating and masking is about once a week. You can stack them, so you can do them back to back. That's perfectly fine. Or you can do them on different days, and that's also fine. After you've completed these products, we're going to get into our finishing steps. This is going to start with our toning mist. We have three variations. The toning mist is used to provide this burst of hydration and this burst of nutrition to the skin. It also is this really beautiful bridge between the cleansing and the serum step. All of our serums, which we'll talk about here in a moment, contain some variation of a humectant. And a humectant is an ingredient that seeks out moisture in its environment, pulls it to it so it can expand. When we use the toning mist, we're priming the skin for the serum. Can you get away with using the serum without the toning mist? You can, but the way it absorbs is a lot nicer.
You get this brighter more even penetration. Then you also get the benefits of the toning which they're each formulated uniquely as well.
This first one is called the Rosemary Toning Mist. This one's more ideal for oilier skin. Sometimes dry skin types, especially as the seasons change, can feel really oily. And you can still use this to mist over makeup if you get really oily or really shiny. And so that's nice. But this one has rosemary. This has neem. It has white willow bark also really helpful for breakout prone skin as well there.
The next one is our Neroli Toning Mist. This is a really popular one. The anchor of this one is a very lightweight aloe vera juice. We use neroli essential oil and some aspen bark. The neroli essential oil smells divine, first of all, but also is super supportive for the appearance of fine lines. So usually I'm recommending the Neroli Toning Mist if someone has maybe normal and aging skin, or they've got skin that's on the dry side, the final one here, is the Botanical Hydration Mist with Immortelle. This one is kind of the next level.
This one starts with two hydrosols, which are different. And a hydrosol, what that is, is it's this kind of watery runoff that happens when you're creating an essential oil. with steam. So you've got your plant, you've got the steam, there's this watery runoff that's got a little more body to it than just aloe vera juice. And so this is already much more moisturizing than any of the other two. For dry skin, this is ideal. This also has Four different types of chamomile and frankincense and super sensitive skin absolutely loves this one. This is a great skin soother, great for rosacea, great for contact dermatitis, really anything where the skin is irritated or inflamed. This is also super supportive for softening signs of aging. the hydrosols that anchor this one, we've got rose and immortal, and both of those are known. For their anti-aging properties. A lot of people go with this one. This is one that is pretty popular, especially with our demographic. They're able to combat signs of aging, provide a good amount of hydration and then especially if they get sensitive or ready to use that redness or irritation. So, again, that's the Botanical Hydration Mist. This one does only come in this larger size. So all of the toning mists only come in the one size and this is a little bit of a larger bottle than some of the others.
Customer: Hi Kate, nice to meet you. before you jump into a different product first of all, I'm loving all the collections. Just to prevent confusion about the toning mist on makeup, the comment you made on makeup, is it safe to say that it's a makeup sealer or just like a moisturizer to prevent foundation from cracking?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's a really good question. I don't know that I would call it a makeup sealer. There isn't anything in it that would stick makeup to the face, but it does sandwich really nicely. So if you use it after you cleanse, and then you use it after you've applied makeup, it kind of creates this freshness in the skin that is a great finishing spray more than a sealer. I don't know that it adds duration to the wear of makeup, but the wear of makeup is just that much more natural looking. And so I do like doing it on both ends.
Customer: To improve the complexion of the makeup and foundation. Noted. Thank you.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Happy too.
Customer: I have a question. Yeah, of course. Can the mist be used before exercise? Cause I know some people tend to use them to refresh their skin before they exercise. So can we recommend them or just one of them and it's special?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's a really good question. All of them are really lovely both before and after exercise. So after you've exercised the rosemary toning mist with the freshness of the rosemary is so nice. If you don't have time to shower, this is great. Right after you've worked out, you can also mist this one in your hair. And we don't usually sell it as hair growth. You know, booster rosemary is supportive for supporting hair growth, but this is just your information, but it is really helpful if your hair is sweaty. Misting it in towards the root there and then letting that air dry is a nice one. We have a lot of people who keep it in their gym bag for that reason.
Customer: Could you say that it prevents buildups caused by sweating or something like that?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I would say that it helps to kind of just absorb sweat. If you don't have time to shower, it can help to absorb some of that as you're going about your day. Any other questions before we keep moving?
Okay, let's get into serums. So we have quite a few serums and so I'll touch on all of them. We don't have to get into any of them deeply, but we can. So if you're listening and you're like, I really want more info about whatever, just ask. I want to start with this one. This is the Anti-Aging Serum. And this is by far our most popular serum. That one and the wild fruit, which we'll get into. But this one is popular enough that we did launch two sizes for it. So it's the only serum that comes in both size options. The 15 and the 30 milliliter size. And it's popular for a very good reason.
One of the anchor ingredients here is hyaluronic acid. hyaluronic acid is a very potent skin plumper. People usually notice the difference pretty quickly with the plump, full look to the face. the quick turnaround contributes to a lot of its popularity. There's not a huge lag time before they're starting to see a lot of the benefits of the anti aging serum.
This one I'm recommending for dry skin, aging skin, the appearance of fine lines. All of those kinds of concerns, the hyaluronic acid can be very supportive for. They've got both size options.
The next one is this one, this is our Citrus Stem Cell Serum. This one is anchored with stem cells.
It can be very helpful for the appearance of lift and the appearance of tautness of the skin. This also has a lot of brighteners. If the appearance of your skin tone is your concern or you're working with someone with this, this is one that we'll at least consider. It utilizes uva ursi, licorice root, almaberry, and a couple others that are very targeted brightening ingredients. So they work in a specific way where they build up on pigmentation and help to quiet down. This one does have the least amount of hyaluronic acid of all our serums so I often recommend this one if somebody's oily or has clogged pores. But, that doesn’t have to be the case. Usually if I'm working with someone who's reporting that they are working with parts of their face that are darker then I might go with this one, Citrus Stem Cell.
The next one here, this is the Probiotic Serum with Tremella and the probiotic serum with tremella is definitely the funkiest smelling. The tremella mushroom is a hydrator and it's a very soft, very gentle hydrator. So we have a lot of it in here, but it's got a little bit of a mushroom edge to it. sometimes I'll call that out if people are wondering about the sense of things. This also has in it a probiotic complex and an olive leaf ferment, and the probiotic complex and the olive leaf ferment, are very helpful in nourishing the good bacteria of the face. So the intention with this is to really help to bring your skin back into balance. This is a nice one for rosacea. anybody who's got a lot of inflammation or irritation in the skin. Really anything where the microbiome, the surface, this area is feeling thrown off This is supportive for dry skin. The next three are part of the, Oh, I see. You have a question? Yeah, let's get it.
Customer: Before you jump into a different product, I'm reviewing that product specifically the one you were just talking about. Probiotic Serum with Tremella. We were earlier having a discussion about the serums, and it wasn't 100% clear as to what the difference between this one says elixir and the other. I don't know if you could elaborate a little bit on that.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, I'll do my best. I will say that the elixir definition has been more honed as time has gone on. And so for us, It's a more concentrated variation than a serum. The probiotic serum is still a serum and then it's got this concentrated focus on discomfort or unbalance. That's an earlier launch of ours in the serums, they're largely interchangeable. They're a little bit more focused in a certain area, but it's still serum. So it's providing hydration, supporting addressing issues in the skin, all of that. So I'll ask if it feels clearer when we've talked about the boosting elixirs, and then we can expand upon it there. Okay.
Customer: Fair enough. Thank you.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: The next couple serums are part of the Wild Alchemy collection. This is the Wild Fruit Serum. The Wild Fruit Serum is kind of top shelf as far as addressing signs of aging. This has a broad array of ingredients to work with signs of aging. This has uva ursi, targeting areas of the skin that may appear darker. This has a lot of hyaluronic acid. This has some stem cells in it as well. Again, stem cells for the appearance of a lift of the face. This has resveratrol, which helps smooth skin. This also has in it kakadu plum which is where we get the scent and where we get the name. Kakadu plum is very vitamin C rich and vitamin C can be very helpful for the overall brightening of the skin. It's different from one of our ingredients targeted to help brighten like Uva Ursi because this one is going to help with the overall tone and complexion. The Wild Fruit Serum is the next level if I've been working with someone who's used the anti aging for a long time and they're ready to take the next step or if they're coming to us and they're articulating more pronounced signs of aging and wanting to be a little bit more direct in addressing it, then I'm going with the Wild Fruit Serum.
So that's another really popular one. We have discussed launching a larger size because we see not just a high purchase rate with it, but a high repurchase rate. And so, and yes, Francesca, this one helps with all of your concerns, which is why it's so popular because it addresses signs of aging from so many different angles.
The next one is our Activated Night Serum, This one is for nighttime wear only, for a couple of reasons. So, first of all, the main ingredient in here is called our Bioactive A Complex, and the bioactive A is essentially a retinol alternative. There's a lot of research behind retinol and how it interacts with the body, how it can interact with your hormones, and even just how it interacts with your skin, it weakens skin over time. So we wanted to offer something that is still helping for the appearance of a smoothed, lifted, taut look to the skin but that wasn't working against the body the way a retinol does. So this is a soft, super smooth one, very supportive for a lot of signs of aging.
And the greater blend of this is also working to address signs of aging. It's a night serum because the bioactive A is an exfoliant. If we use this and then go out into the sun, you can be more tender or responsive to the sun. we want to make sure, especially if somebody is working to fade pigmentation, if they're working with the appearance of fine lines, that we're protecting their skin as much as possible because they can undo a lot of damage really quickly.
So with this one, we're wearing it only at night. It's got this really rich, creamy texture that works with your body's rest and repair cycle. When you're sleeping, you're hopefully hitting REM sleep, and your pores will expand a little bit, your skin's very softened. This works both on reducing pore size, but also on putting this very powerhouse of superoxide dismutase, astaxanthin there's a tremella mushroom and hyaluronic acid in this.
It's working to address signs of aging from a lot of different angles, but you're getting this quick exfoliation with the bioactive A. Anything else about this one? Yeah, I mean, the big thing with this one is making sure that you wear your sun love the next couple mornings, And that you're protecting the skin. It is for nighttime wear only. Occasionally I'll work with somebody who maybe has more sensitive skin, but they'd like to try it, which can still absolutely be done. We just want to start a little bit slower. So we might start with maybe two nights a week, maybe three. Just letting their skin kind of get acclimated before we increase the usage and they may stop at three nights a week and that's perfectly fine as well. Let me see if I can get any questions answered before I talk about our boosters.
Customer: I do have one question in regards, well, of course, the products when it comes to the collections that you have, like the Wild Alchemy and the white level one is it recommended or would you recommend to mix and match some of the products or can you only go by one type of collection?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: That's a perfect question. So you can very much mix and match the signature collection. This white label collection addresses different skin types. We've got products for oily skin. We've got products for normal skin for aging skin, the black label wild alchemy collection. This is largely focused on signs of aging, it's common for some people to use. You know, a couple pieces from The Signature, a couple pieces from Wild Alchemy. You don't have to stick with just one. There isn't much that's going on that you wouldn't want to use together. There is one specifically that I'll call out when we get to it, but otherwise everything can be used interchangeably. It's a very synergistic collection. All of the collections they're just kind of different in their formulation in their focus and to expand upon the wild alchemy collection a little bit more. We usually use more exotic or harder to source ingredients in that collection. So we make less at a time. We also have a couple more steps involved in the process. We might use, like copper infused water as an ingredient that has to steep a little before it becomes a finalized ingredient and that can all add to it being part of the wild alchemy collection as well.
Customer: Nice. Thank you.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: You're welcome. Let's get into the boosters here. We've got a set of three called the Concentrated Boosting Elixirs designed to tailor someone's routine more perfectly for their skin.
This set of three includes this first one here, which is called hydrate. This is a mix of hyaluronic acid, peptides, and then a little bit of aspen bark. This is a super, super simple, simple blend. The hydrate's used to plump up the skin, help with the appearance of fine lines and provide hydration. The next one is called Brighten. Brighten is a very concentrated amount of vitamin C. It's a shelf stable vitamin C. A lot of vitamin C's that are on the market that exist in skin care products, they start as a powder. And then when they get mixed into the blend for the product, they peak in activation. by the time they make it to the consumer, they're either not active at all, or they're already starting to turn and go rancid. This one is shelf stable as long as it's used within the time frame. We've got expiration dates printed on the bottom.
This also has sea buckthornberry in it and sea buckthornberry is a particular berry. That's very antioxidant rich and really supports vitamin C's integration. This one's used for brightening the appearance of the skin. This helps to even out the overall tone, even out the overall texture. This is great for pigmentation. discoloration, uneven tone, uneven texture. The third one is our Revitalize. This is called Revitalize and this is a concentrated form of the bioactive a complex and again that bioactive a is that retinol alternative. The feel of this one is definitely more intense.
the others, and I'll talk about how to use them. But this one in particular definitely needs to be mixed into something else. All of them do, but sometimes we fudge it. This one is uncomfortable directly on the skin. And that's by design. All of these are very concentrated formulations to boost the product to add this in, you know, concentrated elixir into the blend to boost whatever other products they're adding it to. To swing it back to this one, the Revitalize, this one is great for anywhere you would use a retinol. So with discoloration, with fine lines, with large pores this can be used. And again, this has astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is another very, very antioxidant rich support. Now how you use these, all of these want to be mixed into something else. You can mix it into your serum. You can mix it into your oil. I know people who mix it into a mask. All of these are perfectly fine. My preferred way to do it for myself is to mix it into my serum. I find that that's the thinnest. It's the smallest molecule size. It gets so deep into the skin. So that's how I like to wear it. But oil is also great. I will start with my serum. I'll do maybe two pumps. in the palm of my hand, and then I'm opting for whichever booster I'm going with. The hydrate can be used with either. The hydrate can be used with the Brighten. The hydrate can be used with the Revitalize. So I could do a drop of the Brighten, or excuse me, a drop of the hydrate and drop of the Brighten. That's a great combination. The Brighten and the Revitalize do not want to go together. So we typically recommend the Brighten is the morning booster, and the Revitalize is the evening booster. They don't, like, implode or anything crazy. They just both kind of decrease the activity of either one. So they cancel each other out. So it doesn't harm the skin, but you're not getting the most potent. variation of it. The revitalize is only overnight and for the same reasons as the activated night serum, because it is incredibly active. It increases the photo sensitivity. So you're a little more prone to sun. So we do that one in the evening overnight. The other two can be used either. if you're taking a night off of the revitalize, you can use the brighten in the evening. It's perfectly fine.
The hydrate, you can use that whenever. We also sell the Hydrate on its own. So if you've tried the set and you use a ton of the hydrate, but not very much as the others, you can invest in that one individually. Also the Brighten, you can invest in that one on its own. I do like the set of three. I find that most skin types are able to use all of them, and most skin concerns benefit from all of them. The Revitalize is not sold on its own right now. So that one you gotta get in the set. This is where I wanted to swing back to the difference between a serum and an elixir, the elixirs are a more concentrated variation with a laser focus in some direction. Some serums are also elixirs and some elixirs are just elixirs. Does that feel like that answers that for you,
Customer: Yes, it did clarify it. Thank you.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Any other questions about the serums or the boosters before we keep moving?
Customer: For the elixirs, are they supposed to use them daily or two times a week?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, any of those could be correct. So if their skin type can handle it, usually somebody who's maybe more normal can do it every single day. If there's somebody who's on the more sensitive side, they might do it one day of the week, take a couple nights off, do it another night of the week. And there's a little bit of exploration within that also. they might find that they can use the Brighten most days, but the Revitalize, they only do that once a week. So there's some exploration to be had, but technically they can use it as often as feels comfortable for their skin.
Yeah, next, facial oils! You may have noticed by checking out our products that we don't really have traditional moisturizers. We don't have creams, we don't have lotions. We use oil as the form of moisture and we do this for a couple reasons. The first one is, it's actually quite hard to craft a cream or a lotion that still embodies all of our brand values. Because we don't use synthetic emulsifiers and preservatives, it's hard to create this blend that stays a certain consistency and doesn't go rancid over time. So that's part of it. We aren't opposed to creams or lotions. We just haven't landed on one that fits. The other thing is that oils are a very superior form of moisture. your skin naturally produces oil, and it always has unless you have a particular condition, But probably up until puberty, you didn't really mess with your face too much, and it felt comfortable. Everyone naturally is going to have a different amount. Some might have more than they want. Some might have less than they want. But everyone has it. opting for an oil, especially oils that are as clean as ours, really help to provide this supplemental moisture to the skin.
So, it is being absorbed and utilized by the skin, not just sitting on the surface. And that's what we run into a lot of the time with creams or lotions that we explore or try. They really do just sit on the surface, whereas oils actually can integrate into the skin and then your skin feels comfortable.
It feels moisturized. It feels balanced. You know, we've got quite a few that are working with the skin. So the other thing that we notice is as that's happening, whether I'm working with my 20 year old customers all the way up to my 90 plus year old customers, is that using oil as a form of moisture, your skin takes on this very beautiful radiance as this glow to your skin, whether all the fine lines are gone, whether every pigmentation has been faded, that's not necessarily it. Everyone just looks very healthy. The skin looks really healthy.
So with all that, let's get into the oils that we have. I'm going to start with this one. This is the Anti-Aging Facial Oil. This again is a very popular one. The Anti-Aging Serum, the Sun Love and the Activated Night Serum all kind of dance between being best sellers. Sun love is obviously more popular over the summer. The Anti-Aging Facial Oil is our richest oil. This one is anchored in a beautiful jojoba. We start with our anchor oil, and then we steep into that oil whatever herbs or plants or seeds we are using. And it stays at a low heat, so in case anyone's concerned about seed oils we aren't using rancid seed oils in the product, but we also are steeping seeds around, I think it's 95 degrees, but it's one that they watch very closely (Read more on seed oils here!). This particular heat level, and that is what helps keep everything very nutritious as well. With the anti-aging, we've seeped into it broccoli seed, chia seed, goji berry, all of these are being used and integrated to help to support the resiliency of the skin. So what that can do is that as you're using it and as your skin is integrating it, it helps to support this faster bounce back so that as you make all of your facial expressions, everything returns back with a little bit more fullness, you know, especially as we age, it can start to slow down. And so this helps to maintain the bounce back and restore the skin. This is the richest of our oils, and if I'm working with anybody who is dry or trying to get as much moisture as possible, I'm going to go with this one. This is a really popular one for dry skin and aging skin.
This is the Wild Alchemy Collection product. the Rejuvenating Facial Oil. Very much like the Wild Fruit Serum, this is top shelf. We've formulated this one differently. When we were brainstorming what to do with our oil for the Wild Alchemy Collection, we were like, how can we create an oil that is as active as possible, but can still be worn morning and evening? And that's where we landed. We've formulated it differently. We did a bit of steeping. This starts with jojoba, that rich oil. But then we added active ingredients into the final blend directly. This is the only facial oil that has that. And so it has butterfly pea flower, blue tansy, and mongongo oil. The mongongo oil is incredible for softening the skin. Definitely black cumin seed in here. I'd have to refresh on the other specific ingredients, but this one is awesome for signs of aging. The only potential pause maybe would be if I have somebody who is, really, really sensitive.
It's not uncommon with this one to start it and for skin to kind of have little tiny breakouts around the nose or mouth. They usually look like little white heads, but that's the skin adjusting to the antioxidant composition in this. As long as it's not uncomfortable and really just in those areas, then I assume it's not a reaction, just the skin catching up with using a product that is as pure and active as this particular oil. Some people will alternate. you might have someone who uses this in the evening only, or they use it a couple nights a week, and then they've got another oil they use. This also has a higher price point, and sometimes people will invest in the extra oil to help extend the life of this one, which is normal as well. But yeah, that's this one.
The next one is kind of swinging back to the signature collection. This one's called the Herbal Facial Oil for Normal and Combination Skin. This one uses grapeseed oil. It's a little bit lighter. It's got herbs to help balance the skin if somebody's truly normal and that's, you know, their skin type is just very even, then this is helpful in keeping it very balanced. But if it's combo, maybe oily in the T zone or dry in the cheeks, this helps balance the oil to water so everything feels comfy.
The next one here is our Herbal Facial Oil for Oily Skin. This one is pretty straightforward as far as who it benefits. It starts with a very lightweight hazelnut oil. It's a drier feeling of oil and sometimes that description can be helpful if you're working with someone who doesn't feel like they want to put oil on already oily skin. It really takes the oil cutting through the oil. Like that combination is really ideal. This is also really supportive for breakout prone skin.
a lot of times I'll recommend this as a spot treat. If I'm working with somebody who, like I've got a little guy hormonally right now, I'll apply this right before bed, and it's very helpful with the size and the redness of breakouts. But even if they aren't breakout prone, just overall oily skin benefits a lot from this one.
Our final one, this is the Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin. You can probably figure out who benefits from this one. Some things to note about this one, we've got herbs in here like squalane and satya inchi that are really helpful for soothing skin. We have excluded any essential oils. Almost all of our products, if not every one of our products, has some variation of essential oil in it by, with intention. It's used because it fits the focus of the product. But we know that sometimes essential oils can be activating for really sensitive skin. I also recommend this one for anyone who wears a lot of eye makeup as an eye makeup remover. It's a great makeup remover. And then I want to add this one here.
This is our Sun Love. Now, I will mention it with the moisturizers because some skin types If they're normal or combo, you can get away with using this as their morning moisturizer. Most people, and most of the people that I work with, they do use both, myself included. So they still do their oil and then they do the Sunlove on top of it.
This is our sunscreen product. It's an SPF 20. A lot of times we get questions about whether that is enough SPF, we always answer yes, a sun protection factor of 20 means that it's blocking 95 percent of UV rays. When you get to SPF 30, it's blocking 97, SPF 50 is blocking anywhere from 98 to 99, nothing will claim 90 or claim to block 100 percent other than some clothing items, but no skin care product, my opinion is that if you are investing in anything above SPF 50, you're probably just paying for their marketing the SPF 20 in this allowed us to have the perfect amount of zinc oxide that it's still a sheer formula. So zinc oxide has this reputation for being very white cast, and when you apply it to the face, it can feel really chalky, and can feel really gloppy. We didn't want that, and so we really worked with the ratio to get it just right. The zinc oxide in this is a non nano zinc oxide, which means that the molecule size is large enough that this does not penetrate into the body. There's no risk of zinc getting into the bloodstream in any way, but still applying beautifully to the skin. This product has a really lovely glow. Sometimes I'll put this on even if I'm not going outside or if I'm doing a call or I have a live event that I'm doing where I just want to have an extra boost of glowiness, I'll put it on. But there's some buriti fruit oil and pumpkin seed that will help to moisturize the skin. It is a little bit white cast when you first apply it. I always like to call that out, but very quickly it sheers out and then it just looks like your skin's super glowy and healthy. I don't experience whiteness or an off color look once it absorbs. So yeah, that's the sun love and the packaging's actually changed a little bit. I do have two more products that I want to mention and then I'll pause again for questions. Most of the facial products.
This one, this is our Fruit Ceramide Eye Serum. I'm going to talk about eye products here. We have two. This one is a very concentrated little treatment. It's got a lot of peptides, a lot of ceramides. We've got stem cells in it. I usually recommend this if I'm working with somebody who's talking about drooping or decreasing around the eye.
This is a really supportive boost for helping both of those. It is a serum consistency, so it's going to feel thinner. I usually apply it either before or after my facial serum. Both are fine. But you do want to apply it before the facial oil because it's that very thin, aqueous feel to it.
This is the Anti-Aging Eye Cream. This one is richer in its consistency. This has a broader array of ingredients. We've got a lot of moisturizers in here. We've got CoQ10, which is helpful for keeping this area very strong. A big component of this one is cucumber distillate, and cucumber distillate is very helpful for puffiness under the eyes.
It's a really good soother for under eye puffiness. We have some stem cells in here as well. And so, this one you can apply either before or after your facial oil. I typically do it after, It looks kind of shiny around the eye but some people make it work. Both are fine, both are great ways to go. I recommend both for everyone, even as a preventative, but if I'm working with someone who's asking which one. I usually recommend eye cream. the eye serum really wants the support of the cream over the top of it. You can use the eye cream without the other one, and that's perfectly fine. But the eye serum really wants the richness of the eye cream, to round it out. If I'm doing just one, it's gonna be the eye cream there's a lot more products we could talk about. We've got shampoos, we've got body wash, we've got Hair serum, but I want to see what questions we might have.
Customer: I do have one question. About the Sun Love product, it covers all different types of UVs
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: yes, it is a broad spectrum, which means UVA, UVB, UVC blocking.
Customer: All right. Thank you.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: of course.
Customer: I've been into the comments on the page, and some customers say that they have a product for a while, they've been loving it, and they repurchase it, and they think the formulation changed. Do you guys change the formulation in a period of time or it's because maybe the package was compromised because of the environment and that it's the feeling of the change of the formula or? Yeah, that's my question.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: The reason that a product might feel different, there could be a lot of different things going on.
We do change the formula every once in a while. Usually with a good reason. We don't just change it because we prefer it. It's oftentimes, like, the suppliers change their standards or an ingredient doesn't fit within our values anymore. Then we might change the formula. That's absolutely happened. Sometimes what can happen it can be exposed to higher temperatures, but if it sits in higher temperatures, this is so common in like Texas we like in July where it's like the package gets delivered. It sits right out in the sun that can affect it. also because we make our products in small batches and because we're working with either wild crafted or organic, plants get to grow really freely. It's not uncommon for scent or color to be a little bit different from product to product. We compare it to wine, like when they're growing grapes year over year, one year might have this kind of consistency versus one year might have another kind of scent or feel or taste. It's similar. Now, we know, to maintain our brand quality, really shoot for it to be as close as possible. But color and scent can change a little bit from batch to batch. It's still the same ingredients. It just can feel a little bit different. So, any time I'm working with someone that's reporting that we're asking a lot of questions, you know, did it sit on the porch in which case we would just re, reship their package obviously, we're watching to make sure that they're not saying this every package they send to us, but we've got a lot of flexibility of making it right or maybe we send it to a different address maybe they'll get it at their work address right away versus at home something like that so, so, yeah, it would just be a deeper inquiry as far as, like, What maybe is going on with their product and what could have attributed to that.
Customer: I was wondering what is the best way to store the products to keep all the quality and improve the product.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: So all of the products will come with an expiration date, printed on the bottom of the bottle. And so, as long as they're using it within that time frame, it can stay on their counter. It can stay in their bathroom. We don't recommend that anything sits in a window sill, excuse me, or like. right in front of a window. The bottles look black, but when you hold them up to the light, they're actually violet. There's a little bit of light that can get through. And for that reason, we don't want it right directly in the sun. Otherwise, the counter's fine. You know, the desk is fine. If you have somebody who is, you know, they've purchased like, Six of a serum.
They just love it so much. And it was on sale. They might have more products than they can use before it expires. In which case we recommend that they store their access in the fridge and I think it's hard to say exactly how much time it adds to the product. I've got products that I've used from a couple years ago that are still in the fridge and they're perfectly fine. It's harder for us to necessarily like back anything that's technically expired, but. They likely are going to get more time if they store excess in the fridge. Once it's time to use it, they can keep it on the counter. They don't have to keep moving it from the fridge and then putting it back So yeah, so generally wherever, or in the fridge are great ways to, to store the product.
Customer: Thank you.
Customer: When it comes to using a gua sha, I know it's supposed to be used with oil, but some people use it with a face wash. What oil is the most common, recommended to people when they purchase a gua sha?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, that's another great question. So, it's true. You can use it with anything that provides slip on the face. The facial cleansers are really common because they're really quick. You can really just slip this into an existing step in your routine. But, if we're doing a more intentional routine, I love to pair it with this one, the Rejuvenating Facial Oil. I find that if you're taking the extra time to do a full Gua Sha routine, like going with the highest quality oil really just boosts the whole experience. So that's my favorite, but any oil is fine.
You can use Anti-Aging, you can use one of the herbal facial oils. any of the cleansers are good. What I recommend with the gua sha is that they slip it into their routine at least five minutes a day as a baseline and then give themselves another 30 minute session. Once a week. Sometimes it ends up being every two weeks, but that's what I would shoot for to get the maximum and quickest results with the Gua Sha. That'd be what I recommend.
Customer: It's supposed to add more oil to their routine or just keep with a few drops that you use daily? Is the skin prepared to put that much oil into the face?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, that actually brings up a good point. So with their daily routine, when you're using an oil, you usually only use about half a pump to a pump. And that's enough.
For the entire face and neck, you don't need very much when I do the gua sha, I will do sometimes up to three pumps. And that's because I also do the full front of the neck and the back of the neck. And I also want to make sure that I've got enough slip to move it throughout the entire routine. You could do two pumps. You really want to make sure that the skin's not dragging at any point, because you can do more damage than good. Start with less for your morning, in and out daily routine, but for the longer routine, you'll do a little bit more.
I don't hear any other questions, but if something does come up, you can email us.
Customer: It was really good. Thank you so much for the information.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay, well, I'm going to close it out. If you need anything, just holler. Thank you.
Customer: Bye.
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