If you’ve spent any time exploring longevity, healthy aging or premium skincare lately, you’ve probably heard of glutathione. Often called the body’s “master antioxidant,” it’s become one of the most talked-about molecules in wellness. But what exactly is glutathione—and why does the body manufacture it in the first place?

This week, Carmine sits down with Dr. Nayan Patel—pharmacist, educator, founder of Auro Wellness and adjunct faculty member at the USC School of Pharmacy—to explore the biology behind one of the body’s most important endogenous defense systems. After spending more than three decades studying glutathione, Dr. Patel explains why this remarkable molecule is far more than another antioxidant, how it protects cells from oxidative stress, and why supporting the body’s own antioxidant defenses may be one of the most important investments we can make in healthy aging.

Together, they unpack how glutathione works alongside Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and other endogenous antioxidant systems, why oxidative stress begins inside the cell, what causes glutathione levels to decline over time, and why conventional oral and intravenous approaches have struggled to deliver glutathione where it’s actually needed.

They also explore the philosophy of prevention versus treatment, how diet and lifestyle influence our antioxidant defenses, and the decades-long scientific journey that led Dr. Patel to develop a novel topical glutathione delivery technology.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why glutathione is often called the body’s “master antioxidant”;

• Why every healthy cell manufactures glutathione—and what essential jobs it performs;

• How glutathione works alongside Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), catalase and other antioxidant defense systems;

• Why oxidative stress begins inside the cell—and why that matters for aging;

• Why glutathione levels naturally decline as we get older;

• Why getting glutathione into the bloodstream isn’t enough—it has to reach the cell;

• Why Dr. Patel believes prevention should become a central focus of modern medicine;

• And how nutrition, lifestyle and reducing toxic exposures may help preserve the body’s own antioxidant defenses.

Key Takeaway

Glutathione isn’t simply another supplement—it’s one of the body’s own essential defense systems.

Produced inside every healthy cell, glutathione helps neutralize oxidative stress where it begins while also supporting the body’s natural detoxification pathways. As Dr. Patel explains, healthy aging isn’t about finding a miracle molecule. It’s about preserving the body’s remarkable ability to protect, repair and restore itself—and giving those innate systems the support they need to keep doing the jobs they were designed to do.

Connect with Dr. Nayan Patel on Instagram at @dr_nayan_patel and on LinkedIn here. Learn more about Dr. Patel's work, his bestselling book The Glutathione Revolution, his podcast The Vitality Pharmacist, and Auro Wellness's topical glutathione technology at aurowellness.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

The Glutathione Revolution by Nayan Patel PharmD

Glutaryl Topical Glutathione for Longevity and Daily Defense

G Antioxidant Serum

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

Healthy skin doesn’t necessarily need more products, stronger actives or the latest trending ingredient. Sometimes, what it needs most is consistency—and a healthy environment in which to function.

This week, Carmine sits down with Dr. Brent Ridge, physician and co-founder of Beekman 1802, the goat milk skincare brand he built with his husband, Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Before entering beauty, Dr. Ridge practiced medicine at Mount Sinai and served as Vice President of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Today, he brings that medical background to a philosophy Beekman has championed for years: supporting skin health rather than constantly trying to correct it.

Together, they explore why the skin barrier went from an obscure scientific concept to one of beauty’s biggest conversations—and how over-cleansing, over-exfoliating and simply using too many products can leave otherwise healthy skin sensitized. Dr. Ridge explains why he still considers cleansing the foundation of healthy skin and how the surface microbiome contributes to the remarkable resilience that allows our skin to adapt to changes in its environment.

They also go deep on the science of goat milk, including how its oligosaccharides may help nourish microorganisms such as lactobacillus, why Beekman’s Bloom Cream was actually named for the concept of a microbial “bloom,” and the surprising oncology research that first led Dr. Ridge to investigate goat milk-derived exosomes years before exosomes became one of skincare’s buzziest technologies.

Carmine and Dr. Ridge also tackle one of beauty’s enduring assumptions: that expensive skincare must work better. Dr. Ridge explains why price and efficacy aren’t directly correlated, when paying more may be worthwhile, and why the texture, sensory experience and pleasure of using a product can still matter if they encourage something far more important—consistency.

Finally, they examine the increasingly blurred boundaries between medicine, wellness and beauty; the promise and risks surrounding peptides, supplements and emerging health trends; and why scientific language can empower consumers to understand their bodies while also making it easier to sell them things they may not need.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Dr. Ridge believes consistency is one of the most important principles in both health and skincare;

• How over-cleansing, over-exfoliating and using too many products can compromise the skin barrier and contribute to sensitization;

• Why the skin’s microbiome plays an important role in skin resilience and its ability to respond to a changing environment;

• How goat milk oligosaccharides may help support microorganisms such as lactobacillus on the skin;

• The unexpected oncology research that led Dr. Ridge to begin investigating goat milk-derived exosomes years before they became a skincare trend;

• How Beekman approaches innovation without chasing every trending ingredient;

• And, where Dr. Ridge sees both opportunity and risk as medicine, wellness and beauty increasingly borrow from one another.

Key Takeaway

Healthy skin isn’t necessarily the result of doing more to it. Dr. Ridge makes the case that the fundamentals—thoughtful cleansing, protecting the skin barrier, supporting the microbiome and, above all, consistency—may matter more than constantly chasing stronger actives or the newest technology.

Innovation still matters. But price, novelty and scientific-sounding claims don’t automatically translate into better results. The best skincare product may ultimately be one that respects the biology of the skin, delivers what it promises and feels good enough that you’ll actually use it consistently.

Connect with Dr. Brent Ridge and his husband and Beekman 1802 co-founder Josh Kilmer-Purcell on Instagram at @joshandbrent. Follow Beekman 1802 on Instagram at @beekman1802 and learn more about the brand’s pioneering work in goat milk skincare, skin barrier health and the microbiome at beekman1802.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

Beekman 1802 Bloom Cream

Beekman 1802 Milk RX Advanced Better Aging Cream

Beekman 1802 Milk RX Advanced Better Aging Wrinkle Serum

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

GLP-1 medications have transformed weight management—and introduced “Ozempic face” into the aesthetic conversation. But are GLP-1s themselves changing the face, or are we seeing the natural effects of significant weight loss unfolding faster than the skin can adapt?

This week, Carmine sits down with Dr. Daniel Gould, a board-certified plastic surgeon with a PhD in bioengineering and Section Editor for Regenerative Medicine at Aesthetic Surgery Journal. Dr. Gould has coauthored published research examining both facial changes associated with GLP-1 use and the role facial vectors play in natural-looking face and neck lifts.

Together, they unpack what “Ozempic face” really is, including the loss of facial volume and structural support that can leave skin looking deflated, crepey or lax. Dr. Gould explains why nutrition, protein and essential vitamins become especially important when appetite and calorie intake decrease—and why patients may need to give their bodies considerably more time to adjust before pursuing an aesthetic treatment.

They also explore why adding filler can sometimes make the face larger without correcting descended tissue; how surgeons decide between filler, fat transfer, energy-based treatments and surgery; and why the direction in which facial tissue is repositioned can mean the difference between restoration and the unnatural, pulled look patients fear.

Finally, Carmine and Dr. Gould examine the beauty industry’s rush to turn the visible effects of weight loss into another problem consumers are told they need to fix—and why a healthier body, loose skin and all, should still be recognized as an extraordinary accomplishment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What “Ozempic face” actually is—and whether GLP-1 medications uniquely affect facial fat;

• Why rapid weight loss can leave the face looking deflated, crepey or lax;

• How inadequate protein and nutrient intake may affect the skin and the body during weight loss;

• Why Dr. Gould recommends allowing time for weight and facial tissue to stabilize before considering surgery;

• Why adding facial volume doesn’t necessarily correct tissue that has shifted or descended;

• What a facial vector is and why it matters for natural-looking facelift results;

• Why the aesthetic industry was so quick to market solutions for “Ozempic face”;

• And, how patients can approach aesthetic changes without diminishing the health achievement that weight loss may represent.

Key Takeaway

“Ozempic face” is not a single condition with a single solution. Significant weight loss can affect facial volume, structural support, skin quality and nutrition—and those changes may continue evolving long after the weight comes off. Before rushing toward filler, devices or surgery, patients should allow time for their weight to stabilize, protect their nutrition and determine whether the concern is truly lost volume, descended tissue or both.

As Dr. Gould emphasizes, the goal should not be to create a different face. It should be to restore the face naturally—if the patient decides anything needs to be corrected at all.

Connect with Dr. Gould on Instagram at @faces_by_dr_gould and at dr.gouldplasticsurgery. Discover his groundbreaking work at Gould Aesthetics on YouTube here.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

Book a Consultation

Good Day LA 2026 Plastic Surgery Results | Dr. Daniel Gould Plastic Surgery

Natural Beauty’s Back for 2026: Looking Human Is in Again

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We hear the word innovation constantly in beauty. A new ingredient launches. A familiar technology gets a new name. A product claims to repair, rebuild, strengthen or transform — and consumers are left to figure out which breakthroughs are real and which are simply very good stories.

This week, Carmine sits down with Nathan Puksta, founder of Filament Sciences, an R&D company developing proprietary technologies for professional haircare.

Nathan brings an unusually broad perspective to the conversation. Before becoming a founder, he spent nearly two decades inside beauty — including leadership roles at L’Oréal and Kiehl’s — and trained as both a stylist and an esthetician. Today, his work at Filament combines molecular development, consumer research and feedback from salon professionals to create technologies designed around measurable hair performance.

Together, Carmine and Nathan explore what genuine innovation actually looks like, why large beauty companies often optimize products for the average consumer rather than the outliers, and what smaller companies can learn by looking where the biggest players aren’t.

They also unpack how Filament develops proprietary molecular technology, why product format matters as much as the active technology itself, what consumers should ask when a brand claims to “repair” damaged hair, and why testing methodology may be more important than any percentage printed on the packaging.

The conversation also gets personal as two former Kiehl’s insiders revisit the brand’s unique approach to education, community and luxury — and consider why human connection may ultimately be one of beauty’s most valuable forms of scarcity.

Finally, Nathan shares where he believes haircare is heading next, from scalp health and hair growth to longevity and the changing biology of hair itself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Nathan believes luxury is increasingly about knowledge, experience and human connection rather than price;

• Why Nathan believes beauty has become increasingly commoditized;

• Why big beauty companies often optimize innovation toward the average consumer;

• Why the outliers in consumer data may reveal where an entire category is headed next;

• How Filament Sciences combines molecular research and consumer insight;

• How consumers can evaluate hair-repair claims more intelligently;

• Why “How did you test it?” may be the most important question consumers can ask a beauty brand;

• Why Nathan believes scalp health and hair growth will play an increasingly important role in the future of haircare;

• And, why “bond repair” may have become one of haircare’s most overused marketing terms.

Key Takeaway

Real innovation in beauty isn’t defined by how scientific a product sounds. It begins with identifying a meaningful problem, developing something genuinely different to solve it, and being able to clearly answer one deceptively simple question:

How did you prove it works?

Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @nathaninthelab. Learn more about the trailblazing work he and his team are doing at Filament Science on their IG at @filamentsciences and on the company website at filamentsciences.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

FILAMENT TS.02/Tt : Tensile Strength Hair Treatment Mask

The Power of Tensilyx™

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the biggest blind spots in beauty isn’t a new ingredient, procedure, or technology—it’s what happens after.

Every year, millions of people undergo cosmetic procedures, reconstructive surgeries, C-sections, cancer treatments, and other operations that leave lasting scars. Yet despite the emotional and physical impact scars can have, scar care has remained surprisingly overlooked by both the beauty industry and, in many cases, medicine itself.

This week, Carmine sits down with Jadis Montijo, founder and CEO of Motivo Scar Care, to explore why recovery deserves a much larger place in the conversation around healthy skin.

After undergoing gender-affirming top surgery, Jadis found himself frustrated by the scar-care products he was prescribed. When those products ultimately failed—leading to scar revision surgery—he partnered with renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Keith to rethink an entire category from the ground up.

Together, they explore why scars are far more than cosmetic; how they shape confidence, identity, and healing; and why recovery may represent one of beauty’s next major frontiers.

Along the way, Jadis shares his personal journey of transitioning, the unexpected path that led him into entrepreneurship, and why building Motivo has become about far more than improving scars—it’s about helping people move forward after some of life’s most significant moments.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why scar care has remained one of beauty’s most overlooked categories;

• How Jadis’s experience with gender-affirming surgery led to the creation of Motivo Scar Care;

• Why recovery often falls into the gap between medicine and beauty;

• How scars can affect confidence, identity, and emotional healing;

• What differentiates modern scar-care products from traditional approaches;

• Why nutrition, consistency, and overall health influence how scars heal;

• How plastic surgeons and dermatologists are beginning to rethink post-procedure care;

• And, why the future of beauty may be just as focused on recovery as transformation.

Key Takeaway

Scars tell deeply personal stories, but they shouldn’t define how we see ourselves. As cosmetic procedures, reconstructive surgery, and aesthetic treatments continue to grow, recovery deserves far more attention than it has historically received. This conversation reminds us that healing doesn’t end when the procedure is over—and that caring for a scar is ultimately about supporting the person behind it.

Connect with Jadis on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @jadismontijo. Explore Motivo Scar Care’s innovative scar-care products and brand ethos at motivoscarcare.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

Motivo Scar Tape Roll

Motivo Scar Tape Sheets

Motivo Intensive Repair Scar Cream

Motivo Advanced Early Scar Serum

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the most persistent myths in beauty is that aging happens entirely from the outside in. We focus on wrinkles, volume loss, skin laxity, and facial contours—yet rarely consider the structures beneath the surface that help support everything we see in the mirror.

This week, Carmine sits down with Beverly Hills cosmetic and neuromuscular dentist Dr. Arthur Glosman to explore what our mouths may reveal about the way we age, feel, and function.

Drawing on his background in dentistry, architecture, art, and design, Dr. Glosman approaches the mouth as far more than a collection of teeth. He sees it as part of a larger system involving the jaw, facial muscles, bite, sleep, inflammation, and overall health—and believes dentists may be uniquely positioned to recognize clues that other healthcare providers can miss.

Together, they unpack how chronic clenching and an unstable bite may place stress on the jaw, why worn teeth can change the proportions and support of the lower face, and what Dr. Glosman means when he describes restorative dentistry as an “internal facelift through the teeth.”

The conversation is also deeply personal. As a chronic migraineur who receives Botox in his masseter muscles and has experienced grinding, cracked teeth, and tooth loss, Carmine examines the possible relationship between jaw tension, TMJ dysfunction, and headache disorders.

Along the way, Dr. Glosman shares why he believes dentistry should feel more like hospitality than healthcare, how fear and shame prevent people from seeking treatment, and why simply walking through the door may be the most important first step.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What neuromuscular dentistry is—and how it looks beyond the teeth;

• How bite imbalance, clenching, and overworked facial muscles may affect the jaw, head, and neck;

• Why worn teeth can change facial proportions and reduce support for the lips and cheeks;

• What Dr. Glosman means by an “internal facelift through the teeth”;

• What the gums, tongue, bone, and other oral tissues may reveal about broader health;

• Why dental anxiety and past trauma can delay essential care;

• How comfort, listening, and hospitality can improve the patient experience;

• And, why dental problems rarely become less complicated—or less expensive—with time.

Key Takeaway

The mouth does not exist separately from the rest of the face or body. From bite function and facial support to inflammation, pain, and overall health, this conversation is a reminder that caring for our teeth may be one of the most overlooked parts of aging well.

Connect with Dr. Glosman on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @dr.arthurglosman. You can also contact his practice for an appointment on their website at arthurglosmandds.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

Ingredient savvy isn’t the same thing as ingredient literate.

We know to hunt for ceramides. We compare Vitamin C percentages. We scan for peptides, retinoids, and niacinamide. But when we turn over the carton and browse the full ingredient list, can we actually tell whether a product is well formulated—or whether we’re simply responding to clever marketing?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes back Annie Graham, cosmetic chemist and co-founder of Atomic Pom Labs, for a practical and refreshingly honest guide to reading skincare ingredient lists.

Annie explains why an INCI list is first and foremost a regulatory disclosure; what ingredient order can—and cannot—tell us; why effective ingredients may appear surprisingly low on the list; and why percentages, botanical overload, and hero-ingredient marketing can lead even experienced skincare shoppers in the wrong direction.

Carmine and Annie also compare different forms of Vitamin C, unpack the anatomy of a thoughtfully formulated moisturizer, and discuss why texture, stability, delivery, and the overall experience of a product cannot be judged from the ingredient list alone.

Then they put those ideas to the test by decoding three very different formulas: spa brand EPICUTIS’ Hydrobiome Serum, the $400 La Mer The Concentrate, and rhode Barrier Restore Cream—the best-selling moisturizer at Sephora.

The larger lesson is reassuringly simple: start with a cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen; choose products that suit your skin, budget, and routine; and stop shopping from a place of skincare FOMO. There is no secret ingredient everyone else knows about—and an impressive ingredient list is never the whole picture.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What an INCI list was designed to communicate—and why it is not a complete evaluation of a formula;

• Why the familiar “top ten ingredients” rule can be misleading;

• How low-concentration ingredients such as peptides still play a meaningful role;

• Why two Vitamin C products with dramatically different percentages cannot necessarily be compared at face value;

• What humectants, emollients, occlusives, emulsifiers, and preservatives contribute to a moisturizer;

• Why a simple ingredient list can produce an exceptional product—and a very long list can still underwhelm;

• How texture, stability, packaging, price, and the likelihood that you’ll use a product consistently should influence your decision;

• How to stop chasing the imaginary ingredient that will supposedly change everything.

Products Decoded in the Episode

• EPICUTIS Hydrobiome Serum — a minimalist, water-based formula whose texture and humectant system become part of the analysis.

• La Mer The Concentrate — a lesson in silicones, sensory elegance, instant cosmetic effects, luxury positioning, and exceptionally cohesive storytelling.

• rhode Barrier Restore Cream — an ingredient-packed moisturizer that brings humectants, emollients, occlusives, niacinamide, peptides, and barrier marketing into one conversation.

Key Takeaway

An ingredient list is a disclosure—not a performance review.

It may offer useful clues about a product’s base, structure, preservation system, and featured ingredients. But it cannot fully reveal the formula’s stability, elegance, delivery, tolerability, manufacturing quality, or suitability for your skin.

The smarter approach is to begin with four questions:

1. What is this product supposed to do?

2. Does that function match what my skin actually needs?

3. Can I comfortably afford and consistently use it?

4. Does the finished product feel good enough that I will keep using it?

That framing captures Annie’s recurring message throughout the episode: learn the basics first, experiment thoughtfully, and do not let ingredient marketing convince you that everyone else has discovered a secret you missed.

Follow Annie and Atomic Pom Labs on Instagram at @atomicpomlabs. Learn more about the trailblazing work Annie and Diego are doing at Atomic Pom Labs at atomicpomlabs.ca.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

EPICUTIS Hydrobiome Serum

La Mer The Concentrate

rhode Barrier Restore Cream

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the biggest shifts happening in skincare isn’t a new ingredient or breakthrough technology — it’s a growing realization that healthier skin may come from doing less, not more.

This week, Carmine sits down with Becca Zook, founder of Happi Rituals, to explore the growing movement toward simpler, barrier-focused skincare. After becoming frustrated with expensive products, complicated routines, and endless anti-aging promises, Becca set out to create something different — formulations built around grass-fed beef tallow, nutrient-rich botanical oils, and the belief that skin doesn’t need to be constantly corrected. It needs to be supported.

Together, they unpack the marketing forces that shaped modern skincare, whether consumers are experiencing “skincare fatigue,” why barrier health has become one of beauty’s biggest conversations, and what makes beef tallow one of skincare’s most polarizing ingredients.

Along the way, Carmine shares insights from three decades in beauty, including why he believes sunscreen remains the most effective anti-aging product ever created and the secret skincare philosophy he learned from celebrity aesthetician Angela Caglia.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why skincare routines have become increasingly complicated;

• The science and controversy behind beef tallow skincare;

• What “bioavailable” ingredients actually mean;

• Why healthy skin may require fewer products than you think;

• The difference between fighting aging and supporting healthy skin as we age;

• And, how beauty marketing has shaped the way we think about skincare for decades.

Key Takeaway

Whether you’re a minimalist or someone with a ten-step routine, this conversation is a reminder that healthy skin isn’t always about doing more — it may simply be about giving your skin the support it actually needs.

Connect with Becca on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @happi.rituals. Explore Happi Ritual’s beef tallow-infused products and brand ethos at happirituals.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

Happi Rituals RENEW + GLOW Face Mousse

Happi Rituals SOOTHE + HEAL Face Mousse

Happi Rituals FIRM + MOISTURIZE Body Mousse

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the biggest misconceptions in skincare is that clearer skin begins with a better product.

While cleansers, serums, and prescriptions certainly have their place, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Katie Varman believes that for many people, lasting skin health starts much deeper — in the gut, on the plate, and in the everyday habits that shape our overall health.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes back Dr. Katie Varman alongside her collaborator and Shine Skin Academy co-founder, holistic chef, nutrition educator, and Le Cordon Bleu–trained chef Kimber Dean, for a fascinating conversation about their new program, Clear Skin from Within.

Together, they’ve created a practical 90-day roadmap that combines functional dermatology, nutrition, cooking, stress management, and lifestyle medicine to help uncover the root causes of acne. Rather than simply treating breakouts, the program helps participants identify the foods, environmental triggers, and daily habits that may be contributing to inflammation and skin imbalance.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Varman explains why education alone often isn’t enough, why functional medicine complements — not replaces — traditional dermatology, and how the gut-skin connection influences everything from acne to overall health.

Chef Kimber shares her own remarkable healing journey and explains how cooking can become a powerful form of self-care, making healthier eating realistic, enjoyable, and sustainable — even for busy people.

The conversation also expands beyond acne, exploring food sensitivities, migraines, nervous system regulation, processed foods, hospital nutrition, and why both guests believe the future of medicine will increasingly bring healthcare professionals, nutrition, and community together.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why acne is often driven by much more than what’s happening on the surface of the skin;

• How the Clear Skin from Within 90-day program helps identify individual acne triggers;

• The surprising connection between gut health, inflammation, and skin;

• Why elimination diets work — and how foods can be safely reintroduced;

• The foods most commonly associated with acne and why they affect everyone differently;

• Why stress, sleep, and nervous system health can influence skin just as much as diet;

• How Chef Kimber uses food, cooking, yoga, and mindfulness as tools for healing;

• And, why the future of skincare may depend as much on what’s happening in the kitchen as what’s happening in the bathroom cabinet.

Key Takeaway

Healthy skin isn't built by a single product or a single ingredient. It's the result of countless daily choices that influence the body's internal environment. Dr. Katie Varman and Chef Kimber Dean remind us that when we nourish the gut, calm the nervous system, and build sustainable habits around food, we’re not simply treating acne — we’re supporting the long-term health of the entire body.

Connect with Dr. Katie Varman on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @shineskinacademy. Connect with Chef Kimber Dean on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @chefyoginikimberdean and @happyfoodmeals.

Explore the Clear Skin From Within program here and enjoy a complimentary gut-skin lesson here.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

Clear Skin From Within 90-Day Program

Shine Skin Academy Homepage

Free Gut-Skin Lesson

Chef Kimber’s Protein Brownie Bites

Chef Kimber’s ADHD Smoothie

Eating for Sun Protection

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the most fascinating questions in beauty has nothing to do with ingredients, formulations, or clinical studies.

It’s why we want what we want in the first place.

Every day we’re surrounded by images designed to capture our attention, shape our perception, and make certain products feel not only desirable, but inevitable. Yet few people ever stop to ask how that process actually works.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with photographer, director, and a—son founder Anderson for a thought-provoking conversation about luxury, branding, image-making, and what he calls the mechanics of desire.

Drawing on a career that spans fashion, beauty, celebrity campaigns, and the landmark launch of Fenty Beauty, Anderson shares how his early artistic training evolved into a deeper understanding of how aspiration is constructed — and why the algorithm may have changed where desire lives, but not how desire works.

Together, Carmine and Anderson explore why luxury brands continue to influence modern marketing; the distinct creative strategies behind founder-led, heritage, K-beauty, and science-driven skincare brands; and the unique challenge of creating desire for products whose benefits often take weeks or months to become visible.

The conversation also examines the growing tension between clinical proof and emotional storytelling, the role imagery plays in shaping consumer perception, and why building a memorable beauty brand requires far more than simply producing more content.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What Anderson means by “the mechanics of desire” and why luxury brands have understood it for decades;

• Why the algorithm changed where desire lives — not how it works;

• How founder-led, heritage, K-beauty, and science-driven brands each sell beauty differently;

• Why skincare presents a unique creative challenge compared to color cosmetics;

• The relationship between imagery, copywriting, and consumer psychology;

• Why luxury branding is built through image, symbolism, and repetition;

• What today’s beauty brands often misunderstand about creating aspiration;

• And, why producing more content doesn’t necessarily build a stronger brand.

Key Takeaway

Consumers rarely fall in love with a product because of a single image, headline, or scientific claim. They fall in love with the meaning that brands create over time. Anderson reminds us that while platforms and algorithms will continue to evolve, the psychology of desire remains remarkably constant — and the brands that understand that distinction are the ones that endure.

Connect with Anderson on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @byandersonx. Discover his work at a—son on IG at @ason.agency and on his agency website at a-son.agency.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Explore more:

a—son case studies

Anderson’s portfolio

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the biggest misconceptions in aesthetics right now is that filler is a problem — the problem.

Spend a few minutes online and you’ll find countless videos blaming filler for everything from facial puffiness to “filler migration.” But according to board-certified dermatologist Dr. Kathleen Welsh, the real issue isn’t filler — it’s how filler has been used.

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Dr. Kathleen Welsh, founder of Bay Area Cosmetic Dermatology, alongside Roxanne Krempa, Director of Bay Area Body & Wellness, for a fascinating conversation about how aesthetic medicine is evolving beyond volume alone.

Drawing on nearly three decades of clinical experience, Dr. Welsh explains why she believes the backlash against filler is actually a backlash against overfilling, how social media has distorted public perception of injectables, and why today’s most natural results come from treating aging as a multi-layered process involving skin, fat, muscle, and structure.

Together, Carmine, Dr. Welsh, and Roxanne explore the rise of Emface, the role muscle loss plays in facial aging, the importance of prevention, and why sunscreen remains the single most powerful anti-aging intervention available.

The conversation then shifts into one of the most intriguing developments in aesthetics today: Exomind. Dr. Welsh and Roxanne explain how this neurotechnology is helping patients address stress, anxiety, focus, and emotional well-being — and why caring for the whole person may be becoming just as important as treating the face itself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Dr. Welsh believes people aren’t moving away from filler — they’re moving away from being overfilled;

• What “filler migration” actually is and why it may be widely misunderstood;

• How facial aging involves changes to skin, fat, muscle, and even bone structure;

• What Emface is and how it helps support the underlying architecture of the face;

• Why prevention remains the most effective anti-aging strategy;

• The surprising role sunscreen plays in long-term facial aging;

• What Exomind is and how it supports neuroplasticity, focus, and emotional well-being;

• How stress, anxiety, and mental wellness increasingly intersect with aesthetic medicine;

• And, why the future of beauty may be less about chasing perfection and more about supporting overall health.

Key Takeaway

The future of aesthetic medicine isn’t about finding a single miracle treatment. It’s about understanding aging as a structural, biological, and even emotional process. Dr. Welsh reminds us that the best outcomes come from prevention, thoughtful intervention, and treating the whole person — not simply chasing volume, trends, or quick fixes.

Connect with Dr. Welsh and Roxanne at Bay Area Cosmetic Dermatology on LinkedIn here and on Instagram @bayareacosmeticdermatology. Discover their cutting-edge treatments – including Emface and Exomind – on the Bay Area Cosmetic Dermatology website at weloveskin.com (or via the links below).

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Cutting-edge treatment links:

Emface

Exomind

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the biggest misconceptions in beauty is that innovation and newness are the same thing.

The industry launches thousands of products every year. New ingredients dominate social media feeds. New brands appear almost daily. But according to beauty industry veteran Shannaz Schopfer, more products don’t necessarily mean better products — and in many cases, they simply create more noise.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Shannaz Schopfer, founder of The Beauty Architects and a beauty industry insider with more than 40 years of experience spanning product development, manufacturing, formulation, and brand building.

Drawing on decades of experience — from growing up in her father’s skincare business in Switzerland to launching her own brand and advising manufacturers and founders around the world — Shannaz offers a candid look at what happens behind the scenes of modern beauty.

Together, Carmine and Shannaz explore why some ingredients lose effectiveness before they ever reach the skin, how social media and low barriers to entry have transformed the industry, what founders consistently underestimate about launching a brand, and why genuine innovation has become increasingly difficult to find.

They also discuss sustainability, packaging waste, ingredient trends, alcohol-free fragrance, the rise of Korean beauty, and the growing tension between experience and disruption in an industry obsessed with what’s next.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why having an ingredient on an INCI list doesn’t guarantee efficacy;

• What most founders misunderstand about launching a beauty brand;

• How social media transformed the pace of beauty innovation;

• Why Shannaz believes the industry is producing too many similar products;

• The hidden challenges of sustainable packaging;

• What excites her most about the future of fragrance;

• And, why experience remains one of the most undervalued assets in beauty.

Key Takeaway

The future of beauty isn’t about launching more products. It’s about creating products that genuinely solve problems, earn loyalty, and stand the test of time. In an industry increasingly driven by speed and novelty, Shannaz reminds us that quality, integrity, and experience still matter.

Connect with Shannaz on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @shannazschopfer. Explore her work with brands and manufacturers through The Beauty Architects at thebeautyarc.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of the most interesting questions in beauty right now isn’t which ingredient is trending — it’s who decides what becomes a trend in the first place.

In an industry flooded with marketing claims, ingredient buzzwords, social media hype, and now AI-generated content, separating signal from noise has never been more difficult. But beneath every launch, every trend, and every positioning strategy lies something much less glamorous — data.

In this episode of this Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Monieka Bos, co-founder of SKINSKOOL Beauty and CosmeticIQ, to explore the growing role of data intelligence in modern beauty. Drawing from a proprietary database of more than 60,000 beauty products and years of human-verified ingredient tracking, Monieka offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how brands monitor competitors, identify opportunities, track ingredient adoption, and navigate an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Together, they discuss the difference between clean data and AI, why ingredient trends like exosomes, PDRN, and NAD+ often become more complicated than their marketing suggests, and how brands balance innovation, positioning, and transparency in a market where thousands of products launch every year. Along the way, they explore what consumers actually care about, why some ingredients become enduring successes while others quickly disappear, and whether greater transparency is truly improving the beauty industry.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Monieka Bos went from practicing law to building SKINSKOOL Beauty and CosmeticIQ;

• Why AI is only as powerful as the quality of the data behind it;

• How brands use data to identify ingredient trends, benchmark competitors, and refine product positioning;

• Why ingredients like exosomes, PDRN, and NAD+ are generating so much attention right now;

• The difference between marketing ingredients and meaningful formulation choices;

• How beauty companies track competitors — and why many still rely on surprisingly manual methods;

• Why transparency remains one of beauty’s most complicated and misunderstood topics;

• And, what separates brands that succeed from those that quickly disappear.

Key Takeaway

The future of beauty won’t belong to the brands with the loudest marketing claims — it will belong to the brands that can combine data, insight, creativity, and trust. As AI accelerates the pace of information, clean data and human judgment may become more valuable than ever.

Connect with Monieka on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @moniekamaria. Explore Skinskool on Instagram at @skinskool and discover Skinskool’s Beauty Alternatives Finder at skinskoolbeauty.com

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

Skinskool Beauty Alternative Finder

Skinskool Excellence Award Winners

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

One of modern medicine’s greatest strengths is its ability to intervene. We can replace joints, bypass blocked arteries, remove tumors, resurface skin, and perform procedures that would have seemed impossible just a generation ago.

But what happens after the intervention?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes board-certified oculoplastic surgeon and Mendora Health founder Dr. Kami Parsa for a conversation about a question that rarely gets the attention it deserves: how does the body actually heal?

What begins as a discussion about skin health quickly expands into a much broader exploration of recovery, nutrition, inflammation, and the remarkable biological intelligence of the human body. Dr. Parsa shares how a seemingly minor finger injury sent him down a years-long rabbit hole into wound healing research, nutritional science, and the protocols used in burn units and intensive care settings to support recovery.

That research ultimately transformed not only his approach to patient care, but also his understanding of medicine itself.

Then life delivered an unexpected twist.

While preparing to publish his book Heal, Dr. Parsa discovered he had a 100% blockage in a major coronary artery and would require open-heart surgery. Suddenly, the surgeon became the patient, forcing him to apply the very principles he had spent years studying.

Together, Carmine and Dr. Parsa explore why nutrition remains one of the most overlooked aspects of modern healthcare, what critical care medicine can teach us about healing, the relationship between inflammation and recovery, and why supporting the body’s internal repair systems may be just as important as any procedure, treatment, or topical product.

At its core, this is a conversation about what happens when we stop viewing healing as something medicine does to us — and start recognizing it as something the body is designed to do for itself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How a finger injury unexpectedly transformed Dr. Parsa’s approach to medicine and patient care;

• What burn units and ICU teams understand about recovery that much of healthcare overlooks;

• Why nutrition plays a critical role in wound healing, tissue repair, and surgical recovery;

• How inflammation influences both skin health and overall health outcomes;

• Why many physicians receive surprisingly little nutrition education during medical training;

• How Dr. Parsa’s own open-heart surgery reshaped his perspective as a surgeon;

• The connection between skin repair, collagen production, and nutritional support;

• And, why the future of skin health may depend as much on supporting biology from within as treating skin from the outside.

  ---

Key Takeaway

Healing is not a passive process.

As Dr. Kami Parsa explains, the body is constantly working to repair, regenerate, and restore itself — but that process depends on having the resources it needs to do so. While modern medicine excels at intervention, recovery is often treated as an afterthought.

His journey — from surgeon, to researcher, to patient — offers a powerful reminder that healing doesn’t begin when symptoms disappear or a procedure ends. It begins when we create the conditions that allow the body to do what it has been designed to do all along.

Sometimes the most important question isn’t how we treat the problem. It’s how well we support the body’s ability to heal from it.

Connect with Dr. Parsa on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @kamiparsamd. Explore Mendora Health on Instagram at @mendorahealth and discover Mendora’s products and brand ethos at mendorahealth.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

Mendora - The Skin Repair Formula

Mendora - The 7-Day Skin Reset Cleanse - Download for Free

HEAL: Your Recovery Blueprint with 100+ Healing Recipes for Surgery and Injury by Kami Parsa MD (Author)

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We tend to think about innovation in beauty as adding more — more actives, more steps, more complexity. But what if the next frontier in formulation is actually about removing something fundamental instead?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Small Wonder Co-Founder and CEO Stephanie Farsht to explore one deceptively simple question:

What if water — the foundation of most beauty products — is actually making them less effective?

Drawing from her background in strategy and innovation at Target, along with years teaching entrepreneurship and innovation at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Stephanie explains how she approached beauty not as a traditional founder, but as a systems-level problem solver.

The conversation explores the hidden trade-offs inherent to conventional water-based formulations — from ingredient degradation and oxidation to the need for preservatives — and why powder-based products offer a fundamentally different approach to potency, stability, and performance.

Together, Carmine and Stephanie unpack the science and philosophy behind Small Wonder’s powder-to-lather haircare system, including the challenge of preserving active ingredients in their most stable form, redesigning packaging from the ground up, and rethinking how consumers interact with products in the shower.

But the episode also goes beyond formulation science into broader questions around innovation itself: why truly disruptive ideas often require rethinking the entire user experience, why sustainability should be a byproduct of smart design rather than a marketing headline, and how failure became one of Stephanie’s most important tools as a founder.

At its core, this is a conversation about challenging assumptions — and reconsidering whether beauty products are being designed primarily for convenience, tradition, or actual performance.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why water-based beauty products may compromise ingredient potency over time;
• How oxidation, degradation, and preservatives impact formulation performance;
• Why powder formulations help preserve active ingredients in their most stable form;
• How Small Wonder redesigned not just the formula, but the entire shower experience;
• Why packaging can function as part of the efficacy system — not just the aesthetic experience;
• Why consumer behavior change is often the biggest hurdle in product innovation;
• Why sustainability alone rarely drives consumer adoption in beauty;
• And, how the future of beauty may increasingly center on intentional, systems-level design rather than endless product launches.

Key Takeaway

Sometimes the most meaningful innovation doesn’t come from adding more — it comes from questioning assumptions that no one else thinks to challenge.

As Stephanie Farsht explains, Small Wonder wasn’t built simply to create a more sustainable product. It was built around a deeper question: what if the conventional way beauty products are formulated is inherently limiting their performance?

That shift in thinking led not only to a new type of haircare formula, but to a complete reimagining of packaging, user experience, and ingredient stability itself.

The result is a broader reminder that true innovation rarely happens by optimizing the existing system. More often, it happens when someone is willing to redesign the system entirely.

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @sfarsht. Explore Small Wonder on Instagram at @smallwonder.world and discover Small Wonder’s products and brand ethos at smallwonder.world.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

Small Wonder Signature Shampoo & Conditioner Set

Small Wonder Signature Shampoo

Small Wonder Signature Conditioner

Small Wonder Magic Perfecting Serum

SURI 2.0 Electric Toothbrush

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We tend to think about aging in beauty as a biological process — wrinkles, collagen loss, hormonal change. But what if part of the issue isn’t just what’s happening to the skin but how women are being seen in the first place?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with beauty industry veteran and founder of Skyn Iceland and All Golden, Sarah Kugelman, for a wide-ranging conversation about aging, identity, stress, menopause — and the evolving relationship between women and the beauty industry.

Drawing from decades of experience in beauty — from her early years at L’Oréal to pioneering the concept of “stressed skin” with Skyn Iceland — Sarah reflects on how internal wellness has increasingly shaped the way we think about skin health. She also shares the personal health crisis that ultimately inspired Skyn Iceland and helped introduce the idea that psychological stress could manifest physiologically in the skin.

The conversation then shifts to All Golden, Sarah’s newest venture focused on the needs of Gen X women navigating hormonal change, thinning skin, collagen loss, and shifting identity during perimenopause and beyond. But rather than centering menopause as a problem to “fix,” Sarah makes the case for a more expansive vision of “well-aging” — one rooted in vitality, relevance, authenticity, and self-perception.

Along the way, Carmine and Sarah unpack the beauty industry’s longstanding blind spot around women over 40, the disconnect between marketing and lived experience, and why today’s consumers are demanding products — and narratives — that better reflect how they actually feel.

Whether you’re interested in longevity, hormonal skin changes, or simply the future of beauty itself, this episode offers a thoughtful look at how the conversation around aging is finally beginning to evolve.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Sarah Kugelman’s personal health crisis led to the creation of Skyn Iceland and the concept of “stressed skin”;
• How perceptions of aging — especially for women over 40 — have shifted culturally over the last several decades;
• Why many women feel unseen or misrepresented by the modern beauty industry;
• How hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause impact skin thickness, barrier function, collagen, and hydration;
• Why menopause skincare is about more than dryness — and why the conversation is still evolving;
• How All Golden approaches well-aging through both product innovation and cultural positioning;
• Why Gen X consumers represent one of the beauty industry’s greatest overlooked opportunities;
• And, how the future of beauty may increasingly center on longevity, vitality, and authenticity rather than “anti-aging.”

Key Takeaway

Beauty doesn’t stop mattering as we age — but the way we want to be seen often changes.

As Sarah Kugelman explains, today’s women over 40 aren’t looking to “turn back time” so much as they’re looking for alignment: between how they feel internally and how they’re reflected externally. That shift has implications not just for skincare products, but for the language, imagery, and assumptions that have historically defined beauty marketing.

The result is a broader rethinking of what aging in beauty can look like — less about decline or invisibility, and more about vitality, relevance, and continuing evolution.

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @sarahskyn. Explore All Golden on Instagram at @allgoldenbeauty and discover All Golden products and brand ethos at allgolden.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

All Golden 360° Firming Eye Patches

All Golden Peptide Power Serum

All Golden Root Changer

All Golden Hair Wand

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We tend to think of skincare as something topical — ingredients, routines, products. But what if one of the biggest drivers of skin health isn’t what we put on our skin at all?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with board-certified dermatologist and founder of Stamina Cosmetics Dr. Marianna Blyumin-Karasik (Dr. MBK) to explore the growing concept of “stress skin” — and how chronic psychological stress may be reshaping the way our skin functions, heals, and ages.

Drawing on her clinical experience, Dr. MBK explains how stress signals travel from the brain to the skin through what’s known as the mind–skin axis — triggering inflammation, disrupting the barrier, accelerating collagen breakdown, and even altering how skin responds to treatments.

From the surge in stress-related skin conditions she observed during COVID to the development of her adaptogen-based skincare line, this conversation explores a more integrative view of dermatology — one that connects biology, psychology, and skincare in a way that feels increasingly relevant.

Along the way, Carmine and Dr. MBK unpack the science behind adaptogens, the emerging category of neurocosmetics, and the role of the skin not just as a surface — but as a signaling organ in constant communication with the nervous system.

Whether you’re dealing with breakouts, sensitivity, or simply noticing changes in your skin during stressful periods, this episode offers a deeper look at what might really be going on beneath the surface.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How chronic stress impacts the skin through the mind–skin axis and hormonal signaling;
• Why dermatologists are seeing more “stressed skin” — from acne and rosacea to dullness and accelerated aging;
• How inflammation, barrier disruption, and collagen breakdown are linked to psychological stress;
• What adaptogens are — and how they may help regulate skin responses through multiple biological pathways;
• What neurocosmetics are and how they aim to influence both the skin and the nervous system;
• How hypochlorous acid functions as a multi-purpose, clinically backed ingredient for stressed or reactive skin;
• Why post-procedure skin can serve as a model for understanding stress-induced skin vulnerability;
• How skincare rituals — including texture, scent, and repetition — may influence the nervous system;
• And, why a more holistic view of dermatology may be necessary to fully understand skin health today.

Key Takeaway

Stress isn’t just something we feel — it’s something the skin responds to in real time.

As Dr. MBK explains, the skin is not an isolated organ, but part of a larger communication network involving the brain, immune system, and hormones. When stress becomes chronic, that signaling loop can drive inflammation, disrupt the barrier, and accelerate visible aging.

The implication is clear: skincare alone isn’t enough — but it can play a role. By focusing on resilience, regulation, and recovery — both topically and systemically — we may be able to support the skin not just in reacting to stress, but in adapting to it.

Connect with Dr. MBK on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @dermwithstamina. Explore Stamina on Instagram at @staminacosmetics and discover Stamina products and brand ethos at staminacosmetics.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

STAMINA INTENTION MOISTURIZER

STAMINA MIST

STAMINA MASK

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We’ve been taught that skin needs damage to regenerate — that the path to better skin runs through controlled injury. But what if that entire premise is flawed?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with physician, formulator, and founder of Osmosis Beauty Dr. Ben Johnson to challenge one of the most foundational assumptions in skincare: that inflammation and injury are necessary to stimulate repair.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience and formulation work, Dr. Johnson makes the case for a radically different model — one centered on dermal repair, cellular signaling, and systemic health, rather than exfoliation, resurfacing, and inflammation.

From his critique of retinoids and lasers to his emphasis on vascular supply, fat pad loss, and ingredient delivery, this conversation explores a more holistic — and at times controversial — view of how skin actually ages and regenerates.

Along the way, Carmine and Dr. Johnson unpack the limits of ingredient penetration, the rise of growth factors and exosomes, and the growing conversation around the gut-skin connection.

Whether you agree with all of his conclusions or not, this episode challenges the conventional playbook — and asks a bigger question:

Are we trying to repair skin the wrong way?

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Dr. Johnson believes skin does not need controlled damage to regenerate;
• His argument that retinoids may deliver short-term benefits with long-term tradeoffs;
• Why collagen loss alone doesn’t explain visible aging — and how vascular decline plays a role;
• The emerging importance of facial fat pads in structural aging and volume loss;
• How GLP-1 medications (“Ozempic face”) may accelerate fat pad depletion;
• Where growth factors, cytokines, and exosomes fit into regenerative skincare;
• How signaling molecules may work through receptor activation and follicular pathways, not just direct penetration;
• Why many popular ingredients — including hyaluronic acid and peptides — may function primarily as “plumpers”;
• Dr. Johnson’s perspective on the gut-skin connection, including links between acne, rosacea, and digestion;
• Why he believes Candida, toxins, and microbiome imbalance may be driving common skin conditions;
• And, where marketing continues to outpace science in skincare — from lasers to longevity claims.

Key Takeaway

The skincare industry has long relied on a “damage-to-repair” model — but Dr. Ben Johnson argues that true skin regeneration may come not from injury, but from supporting the skin’s biology: improving circulation, preserving structural volume, optimizing signaling, and addressing root causes beneath the surface.

Whether or not you agree, one thing is clear:

The future of skincare may depend less on forcing the skin to react — and more on understanding how to help it function.

Connect with Dr. Ben Johnson on LinkedIn here and on Instagram here. Follow Osmosis Beauty on IG at @osmosisbeauty— and explore Osmosis products and brand ethos on their website at osmosisbeauty.com.

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product links:

Osmosis STEMFACTOR

Osmosis RESCUE

Osmosis PURIFY

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

We’ve been taught to trust SPF as the gold standard of sun protection—but what if that number isn’t as precise, or as reliable, as we think?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with BeautyMatter journalist Janna Mandell to unpack one of the most unsettling questions in skincare today: can we actually trust SPF claims?

Following her deeply reported investigation into sunscreen testing, Janna reveals a system shaped by human variability, lab inconsistencies, commercial pressure—and in some cases, outright manipulation. At the center of it all is a surprising truth: there is no such thing as a perfectly precise SPF number.

From labs being given “target” results to brands unknowingly relying on flawed testing, this conversation explores the structural issues behind one of the beauty industry’s most trusted categories—and why accountability is far more complicated than it seems.

This is not an anti-sunscreen conversation. It’s a reality check on how sunscreen works—and what it can (and can’t) promise.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why SPF is an estimate—not an exact number;

• How in vivo testing introduces variability—and opportunity for manipulation;

• What “too perfect” results reveal about faulty data;

• How brands, manufacturers, and labs share (and blur) responsibility;

• Why many brands and founders may not fully understand their own testing reports;

• Why lawsuits—not regulators—may be the real enforcement mechanism;

• Why SPF 30 vs. 50 differences are often less meaningful than consumers think;

• And, what actually matters: application, reapplication, and behavior—not just the number.

Key takeaway:

SPF isn’t a lie—but it’s far less precise, far more variable, and far more vulnerable to manipulation than most people realize. And while the system behind sunscreen may be flawed, the answer isn’t to stop using it—it’s to use it smarter.

Connect with Janna on LinkedIn here and on Instagram at @janna_mandell_writer. Explore her deeply sourced and insightful journalism for BeautyMatter here.

Publications in BeautyMatter by Janna Mandell:

Is Everyone Lying About Their Spf Claims? It’s Complicated (Published April 7, 2026)

The Real Sunscreen Scandal Isn’t In Australia. It’s In The Lab (Published October 3, 2025)

“Big Sunscreen”: When Misinformation Fuels Extremist Conspiracy Theories (Published June 22, 2025)

—

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™

Everyone is talking about boosting NAD⁺.
Almost no one is measuring it.

In the world of longevity, NAD⁺ has become one of the most talked-about — and most aggressively marketed — molecules.

From supplements to IV drips, the focus is on increasing NAD levels in the body. But there’s a fundamental question that rarely gets asked:

How do you know if your NAD actually needs to be boosted in the first place?

In this episode, Carmine sits down with Jari Närhi, CEO of NADMED, a Finnish health technology company developing one of the first clinical blood tests designed to measure NAD levels accurately and at scale.

Together, they explore the science behind NAD — what it is, what it does in the body, and why it has become central to the longevity conversation. But more importantly, they unpack the measurement gap that has shaped the entire category.

For decades, NAD has been notoriously difficult to measure due to its instability outside of cells — meaning much of the conversation around boosting NAD has been built on assumptions, not data.

That’s where NADMED comes in.

By developing a laboratory assay capable of measuring multiple forms of NAD in whole blood, they’re opening the door to something that has long been missing in the space: objective insight.

This episode reframes the NAD conversation — not as something to blindly optimize, but as something to first understand.

You’ll learn:

• What NAD⁺ is and why it’s essential for cellular energy and metabolic function;
• Why NAD exists in multiple forms — and why that matters for measurement;
• The role NAD plays in processes like DNA repair, cell signaling, and aging;
• Why NAD has been historically difficult to measure in blood;
• How instability and degradation have limited real-world testing;
• What NADMED’s breakthrough assay does differently;
• How and when NAD testing is being introduced into clinical settings and the U.S. market;
• And, what it could mean to finally bring data and accountability to the longevity space.

Key takeaway:

The conversation around NAD has been driven by the desire to optimize — but without measurement, optimization is just guesswork.

Before you try to boost your biology, it may be worth asking a simpler question:

What are you actually working with to begin with?

Connect with Jari Närhi, Co-founder and CEO of NADMED, on LinkedIn here. Learn more about NADMED and their breakthrough NAD+ testing protocols and where to get tested at nadmed.com.

Follow Skincarma on Instagram and on TikTok. Catch product reviews of Carmine’s top picks of the best skincare on the Skincarma Blog. You can also connect with Carmine on Substack and LinkedIn – and explore his extensive work in beauty on the Carmine Montalto INK website here.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and/or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Substack, or Spotify to help Carmine reach more curious listeners.

Product reviews on the Skincarma Blog:

Explore the Best Sunscreens for Face here.

Explore the Best Retinol Face Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Vitamin C Serums here.

Explore the Best Niacinamide Serums here.

Explore the Best Acne Treatments here.

Explore the Best Anti-Aging Creams and Serums here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin here.

Explore the Best Face Creams for Oily Skin here.

The Skincarma® Pod is where indie beauty meets fearless curiosity. Hosted by Carmine, his podcast pulls back the curtain on the beauty industry with sharp insights, candid interviews, and a healthy dose of irreverence. From deep dives into ingredient science to raw conversations with dermatologists, brand founders, and industry insiders, each episode is a no-BS exploration of what really matters in skincare: how to attain and maintain healthy skin. If you’re obsessed with products, passionate about transparency, and love calling out hype, this is the place to learn, question, and glow smarter.

The Skincarma® Blog is written and curated by skinfluencer, skincare junkie and Brooklyn writer Carmine Montalto. With 25 years of expertise in beauty across every category, Carmine has helped build multiple consumer brands from the ground up. He’s named 100s of skincare, haircare & makeup products – some of which are probably in your bathroom cabinet right now! And, he’s tested 1,000s of products, the best of which can be found reviewed on his blog at skincarma.com.

With the right skincare routine including sunscreen...You CAN change your skin’s destiny!™