Podcast

It’s time to give our skin barrier some spotlight. But wait! When you start going down the rabbit hole of moisturizers, you stumble on some very odd formulation. So let’s go through some recent product launches and see if we can figure out what exactly we want in a moisturizer and how to make sense of the wild ingredients and claims. 1:10 | Brand News: Chemist Confessions might be getting a new look! 0:47 | The News: Questionable Sunscreen Articles, Celebrity Routines, and New Tech 17:30 | De...

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For 30 days, the chemists decided to trial 30 different sunscreens for texture, wear, and wash-off using a UV camera. We ended up learning a lot through this journey so let's discuss! Who were the winners? losers? and what new sunscreen habits did we pick up? Let's talk about it! 0:50 | Nice Words We Didn’t Pay For 5:35 | The Meatz Pt. 1: Summarizing US Chemical, Minerals, and Tinted Sunscreens 28:29 | Animal Corner: The Stubby Squid 34:58 | The Meatz Pt. 2: International Sunscreens and Other...

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Since one of the chemists reached a major life change, it’s finally time to dabble in the world of “pregnancy-safe” skincare. It’s not a surprise that this is a realm that doesn’t have a lot of regulation and not a lot of testing. So let’s go through what data IS available and how the chemists would navigate skincare during this more delicate time of life. 2:04 | Brand News: Wrapping up our Sunscreen Challenge and NYC travels 7:51 | The News: Customizable sauces, social media regulation, and ...

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Cleansers are a pretty good hybrid of an art and a science. Aside from a few basic criteria like gentleness and cleansing power, why you like a cleanser can get pretty personal. This makes shopping for a cleanser pretty difficult, but you have us! And we’ll try to put some logic to this world, so let’s do it! 1:07 | Nice Words We Didn’t Pay For 4:35 | The Meatz Pt. 1: A brief history of surfactants and where the technology is headed! 26:16 | Animal Corner: The Binturong 29:24 | The Meatz Pt. ...

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Let’s decode the mysterious world of cleansers! One of the most personal skincare product categories around where the science doesn’t quite link as well to product success. So how helpful are cleanser claims? And how well do they lead to your next holy grail cleanser? Let’s get into the bubbly, soapy, madness! 0:52 | Brand News: Our 30 for 30 sunscreens challenge has kicked off! And a product update? 6:42 | The News: Beauty Metaverse, NFTs, and product launches 24:36 | Decode That Claim: Clea...

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Let’s get into acne and how to build a solid acne routine. We discuss the research side where groups are looking into the microbiome, bacne, and even acne for people of color! We discuss how to assess your breakouts and how to build a proper acne routine. These are all critical pieces of knowledge to have as many of us tackle this stubborn and what feels like never-ending skin concern! 0:45 | Nice Words We Didn’t Pay For 6:33 | The Meatz Pt. 1: An Acne Update: Microbiome, Diet, Truncal Acne, ...

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It’s time for our annual recap on acne. A ~$9 billion dollar industry with thousands of touted acne products. Unfortunately this category sometimes gets a pass when it comes to proper claims because everyone rides the OTC salicylic acid claim. That means it’ll take a little decoding to really know what claims are legitimately helpful for post acne marks (and not just hyperpigmentation). Let’s do this! 0:57 | Brand News: Trade shows and major sunscreen content coming! 4:00 | The News: Curology...

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The sun is here! This means it’s time for us all to brush up on our sunscreen habits and make sure we all know what to look for when shopping for sunscreens. But the sunscreen landscape is vast and there are so many types to choose from: fluids, lotions, droppers, sprays, sticks, and foams?! Does this mean we have to apply these differently? How well does the touted “2-finger rule” hold up? So much to get into! 0:46 | Nice Words We Didn’t Pay For 5:44 | The Meatz Pt. 1: We did the test! “How ...

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Sunny days ahead! That means it’s time to roll out the sunscreen content and we definitely had to start with sunscreen claims. The category has exploded into all sorts of formats and now we’re seeing brands get fancy with them by adding actives as well. So what does this mean? Is this how we decide which sunscreen is better? Let’s get into it! 0:52 | Nice Words 8:14 | The News: Big Money Acquisitions, More AI Stuff, and New Launches 20:56 | Decode That Claim: Sunscreens with Actives…do they m...

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It’s time to get into the Eye Cream Meatz! A topic we’ve been avoiding for far too long. The main struggle is that the biology is complex and the research is sparse, ultimately leading to a confusing product landscape with just one too many vitamin C eye creams to choose from. We’ll walk through the eye cream category and help assess what makes for a better/best eye cream or…an eye cream that needs a whole lot of faith!

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