The Science of Beauty: How Bleeding-Edge Biotech Is Transforming How We Look
The next wave of skin care products is being informed not by farm-grown ingredients or age-old rituals but by cutting-edge biochemistry and climate research discoveries. After years of wellness being the be-all and end-all in the grooming realm, savvy customers have grown tired of dubious anti-scientific claims and one-size-fits-all solutions. Put another way, using coconut oil to moisturize everything, or slathering sea buckthorn gel over your dark spots no longer passes muster. (And neither does the advice that the key to looking better is to just relax.)
The most exciting skin care, fragrance, and grooming companies on the market have homed in on these breakthroughs—the kind supported by years of lab development and legitimate clinical trials—to deliver everything from perfume to serums that give our body, hair, and faces real results.
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We talked to three very different companies at the forefront of this trend: SickScience, which develops products based on exosomes; Air Company, which makes a carbon-captured ethanol fragrance; and Neurae, whose neuroscience-based approach targets the effect emotions have on how we look.
Consider them the three vectors of where science is most exciting, and, as an added bonus, your hair will look thicker, your face will look brighter, and your body will smell better than it ever has.
SickScience
SickScience—a young line produced by a biotech research company based in Istanbul, Turkey—is turning out some of the most exciting exosome-based products. Its first product, ShapeShift V-Line Jaw Defining Serum, which is clinically proven to reduce the appearance of a double chin, sold out in 3 hours following a Today show appearance and quickly amassed a waiting list of about 3,500 people. Its newest product, PowerCycle Scalp Treatment Serum, is no less exciting—and launched on April 29.
The company was founded by a pair of PhDs: Polen Koçak-Denizci and Merve Yildirim-Canpolat. Their backgrounds are in bioengineering and technology, and much of their research for a decade was around stem cell production, regenerative medicine, and the application of exosomes in cancer treatment. But they also found that such products can be particularly effective at solving dermatological concerns. “Exosomes are the FedEx cargo of molecules,” Polen Koçak-Denizci tells Robb Report. “They carry proteins, lipids, and small genetic contents, and are nano-sized so they can easily penetrate the dermis.” Their goal was to crack the code in cellular renewal, turning their cancer research into a beauty biohacking phenomenon with a technology they call NX35.
For PowerCycle, that means using plant exosomes—garlic and wheat—and bioengineered biotin, which work at the molecular level to deliver coded messages that naturally increase hair follicle production in as little as 4 weeks. The before and after photos are compelling cases that their native Istanbul might soon need fewer hair transplants.
“The last thing you want to do is market science. Our proposition is, this is not an ingredient story. It’s a technology story,” says Tyler Heiden Jones, a former La Mer executive who co-created SickScience after meeting Koçak-Denizci and Yildirim-Canpolat at a conference. “People want to know what’s in it for me.” So the researchers have been focusing on products that address hyper-specific concerns. Their next act is body serum that they’re joking is Ozempic in a bottle. Better sign up for the wait list now.
Air Company
Your new favorite fragrance has top notes of orange peel and fig leaf, so it’s zesty and fresh. “But as it develops, a lush floral scent comes forward with the heart notes of jasmine, violet, and azalea. Finally, we wanted the base to be warm and rich—stemming from a blend of velvety musk and smoky tobacco, it has a cozy yet sophisticated overall scent,” says Gregory Constantine, CEO and co-founder of Air Company.
But it’s not just the shape-shifting of the scene that will lure you in. It’s a sophisticated fragrance, yes, but it was designed to educate fragrance lovers about sustainable production. Air Eau de Parfum is the world’s first carbon-negative perfume.
The company’s proprietary Airmade technology “mimics the process of photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide, water, and renewable electricity into a suite of carbon negative and neutral fuels and chemicals for consumer and industrial products,” says Constantine. Its products also include the first FDA-approved CO2-derived food, Air Vodka; and the first 100 percent drop-in sustainable aviation fuel made from nothing but CO2, water, and renewable energy, Airmade SAF, which already counts JetBlue and Air Canada as customers.
It’s a beautiful proof of concept demonstrating that solutions to climate change exist in practically every industry. “We’re able to develop our perfume by capturing CO2, combining it with green hydrogen to transform it into an alcohol mixture, and distilling the mixture to yield carbon-negative ethanol,” says Constantine. “Then all you need is scent oils that are slowly hand-mixed with water and voilà… the world’s first carbon-negative fragrance.”
Neuraé
The French beauty company Sisley Paris has been using the power of plants in its ultra-high-end products since the 1970s. But its new line, Neuraé, takes the idea of plant science to a new level. The offering—which includes a serum, a cream, a balm, an emulsion, and three roll-on fragrance oils—is based on using neuroscience to change our moods, so that the way we feel can help change the way we look. Call it fighting emotional aging.
If skin care products of the past focused on defying genetic aging, Neuraé is about how our emotions transform our face. (The name comes from combining the Greek word neuron, a reference to the nervous system and the brain, with AÉ, for Activated by Emotions)
The products have been in the works for 10 years, according to Caroline Bertrand, the brand’s head of active ingredients and scientific communication. Research has shown that the skin and brain use neuromediators, such as dopamine and serotonin, to communicate. So when there are high levels of dopamine and serotonin, the skin looks balanced. But when they’re low, skin looks damaged. For example, tiredness can manifest as heavy eye bags and lack of muscle tone; sadness can look like a dull complexion and mouth lines; stress produces muscle tension and fine lines. Each product is tethered to a routine for a specific targeted emotion. The énergie routine improves skin firmness, Joie was been designed to revive your skin’s glow, and Sérénité can help soften wrinkles.
Neuraé’s development process included testing people’s responses to the formulas for a variety of effects, including physiological changes, an emotional self-assessment, blood pressure, facial analysis, and even brain activity. “We have the capability to energize, be happier, and de-stress,” says Bertrand. “That’s a real impact on our emotional state.” And you can see it on the face first.
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