LÉ Blog

Vitamin C serums is probably one of the most popular products with countless new launches every year. Their lasting popularity make a lot of sense! Simply put, Vitamin C (specifically ascorbic acid) is one of the most validated actives in the skincare world for its clinical benefits. It has been proven to prevent free radical damage, brighten hyperpigmentation, and even boost collagen production. But given vitamin C’s popularity, it’s only gotten MORE difficult to choose the best vitamin C se...

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Since one of the chemists is now preggers, we can no longer avoid this can of worms. It’s time to tackle the topic of pregnancy-safe skincare and what that even means! We admit that the main reason for avoiding this topic for as long as we have is because, 1. This discussion is still best decided with your doctor. And 2. The data behind any sort of pregnancy-safe claims is sparse at best. Knowing this, let’s try to go through some of the data and why pregnancy-safe skincare may or may not mat...

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Restoring your “skin barrier” seems like a pretty hot skincare buzzword right now – and it’s actually for good reason! As much as we love our high-efficacy actives like glycolic acid and retinol, our core skincare philosophy is to always first have your skin barrier care down pat before diving into the other more glamorous skin concerns. But what even is skin barrier function and how do you take care of it? The good news is, you’re probably already doing a lot of things that are good for your...

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We’ve been dragging our feet on this topic for a while! The main reason we have been avoiding the big eye cream question for so long is simply because the data here is depressingly sparse. The few studies that exist in the eye cream category can lack logic or have lackluster results. All in all, not the most scintillating or uplifting of skin concerns for us to talk about. However, we can’t ignore the fact that eye area concerns are a big topic. Plus it happens to be a personal concern of our...

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Retinol’s popularity has only continued to grow in the past few years with no signs of slowing down. And for good reason! Of the actives out there, it comes with quite a resume of data behind it for reducing wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and even a little acne assistance. However, with that popularity comes a lot of confusion. Choosing the right retinol product can already be complicated, but on top of that, there’s a whole slew of “retinol alternatives” available on the market. In fact, if yo...

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There’s an ingredient that's probbbaaabbbly not quite on your skincare radar yet - but we think it’s worth considering. The ingredient is called Silymarin (sih-lee-mae-rin), and comes from the extract of milk thistle. You'll find it on the ingredient list as "Silybum Marianum Fruit Extract", usually in a handful of clinical brands such as Skinceuticals, PCA Skin, and Dr. Dennis Gross…. And most recently our very own Mr. Reliable 2.0! Silymarin is a potent antioxidant with anti-inflammatory pr...

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In this blog post: How helpful are acne cleansers? Is there such thing as over-washing? Cleanser Formulation for Dry Skin Cleanser Impact on Rosacea Why Personal Cleanser Preference is Valid Chemists' Skin Type & Cleanser Preferences Takeaways References It would be nice if there was some scientific formula that could tell us what cleanser would best suit our skin. Most of us have spent a fair part of our adult (and young adult) lives jumping from one brand to another, hoping to find the magi...

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*Updated as of 5/17/2022 When you start dabbling in actives, you’ll easily fall into the rabbit hole of what you can and can’t layer. One of the complicated aspects of trying to figure out actives layering and why brands may not even be able to give clear answers is simply the fact it hasn’t gone through enough testing to truly know. Not to mention, the formulas these actives sit in can add another layer of complexity. The good thing is there are some active combinations that have been looked...

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Good old anti-aging retinol promises so many benefits. Yet for many (Gloria included!), it’s a temperamental little guy that can wreak havoc on your carefully maintained skin barrier. This means there are always new, buzzy ingredients promising the same glitz and glam of retinol without the snake molting, angry skin onboarding phase. One of the hottest ingredients in this category is bakuchiol, often marketed as “plant-based retinol alternative”. So! What does the science say? Can it ACTUALLY...

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In our final podcast episode of 2021, we dedicated the meat of the episode on a chemical exfoliants update. That’s the alphabet clan of PHAs, AHAs, and BHA, and it resulted in a lot of curiosity about PHAs. Though PHA research is still relatively new and not as well-studied as classic glycolic acid, there’s still some really exciting data that validates it’s use as an exfoliator. In fact, we like gluconolactone so much we use 30% of it in our Baby Steps exfoliating treatment! So let’s do a de...

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