The Skincarma® Pod

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 Skinca...

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 th...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 conversat...

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 ch...

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 necessar...

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...

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...

Acne is often treated as a surface-level problem — something to be managed with cleansers, serums, and spot treatments. But what if acne isn’t primarily a skincare issue at all? What if it’s a signal of deeper imbalances happening inside the body? In this episode, Carmine sits down with returning guest Dr. Katie Varman, a board-certified dermatologist who combines conventional dermatology with a f...

Superoxide dismutase — or SOD — is one of the most important antioxidant enzymes in the body, yet it’s rarely discussed in modern skincare. Often referred to as the “enzyme of life,” SOD plays a critical role as the body’s first line of defense against oxidative stress — a key driver of skin aging, inflammation, and cellular damage. For decades, however, SOD has been considered ineffective as an o...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down once again with cosmetic chemist and regulatory expert Mark Broussard to revisit one of the most significant shifts in the beauty industry: the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) — and why it’s only the beginning. Mark, founder and Managing Director of Desert In Bloom Cosmetics Lab, works directly with brands to formulate, tes...

On this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Angela Jia Kim, founder of Savor Beauty, to explore the deeper philosophy behind K-beauty – beyond the trends, sheet masks, and viral routines. Angela shares the piece of skincare wisdom passed down from her mother that shaped her entire approach to skin health: “Treat your skin like the most expensive silk on Earth.” Together, Carmine a...

The beauty industry sells aspiration, transformation, and perfection. But what does that culture do to the people building it from the inside? On this episode of The Skincarma Pod , host Carmine Montalto sits down with executive coach and former beauty industry leader Elyse Conroy , founder of Soul Makeup and creator of Beauty Career Lab. After more than a decade working inside the corporate beaut...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with materials scientist and inventor Eric Pressly and to explore the science of repair — and why rebuilding beauty from the inside out matters more than ever. Eric is the inventor behind some of the most influential bond-repair technologies in modern beauty , and the founder of Epres haircare and ePhD nail treatment. In this conversation, h...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Angel Olavarria — chemist, founder, and formulator behind Strive Skin — for a candid, deeply nerdy conversation about what actually makes skincare work. Angel didn’t enter beauty as a marketer chasing trends. He started as a DIY enthusiast reverse-engineering expensive vitamin C serums in his kitchen, eventually turning thousands of hou...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Evelyn Wang , founder and CEO of The Silverist , to talk about gray hair, ageism in beauty, and what it really takes to build a brand from scratch. After years inside major beauty companies like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder, Evelyn saw something hiding in plain sight: women embracing their natural silver and gray hair were being treated as...

What if “that’s just how it is” wasn’t good enough when it comes to childhood eczema? In this episode of the Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Jemila Alharazim , a Physician’s Assistant in asthma and allergy care and the founder of Ocean Olive , to explore how personal experience and clinical insight led to the creation of a new kind of eczema treatment for kids. For years, Jemila prescribed...

For more than 25 years, the U.S. sunscreen market has been frozen in time – while the rest of the world moved on to newer, more advanced UV filters. In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Carl D’Ruiz , one of the key figures behind the FDA’s proposed order to add a new UV filter to the U.S. sunscreen monograph – the first in more than a generation. Carl is a regulatory and s...

What if one of the most beneficial skincare molecules was already living on your skin? In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger and Mike Einziger, the husband-and-wife founders of Mother Science – and self-described citizen scientists whose curiosity-led research reshaped how we think about skin biology, antioxidants, and aging. Their journey began n...

Men track their workouts, optimize their supplements, and obsess over performance — yet mention moisturizer (especially one with SPF!) and the conversation suddenly gets weird. Why? In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Bob “Beauty Bob” Gearing , a men’s health and lifestyle writer and contributor to Men’s Health magazine, to unpack the quiet contradiction at the heart of m...

On today’s episode of The Skincarma Pod , host Carmine Montalto is joined by Shelley Hancock – a licensed esthetician, educator of educators, mentor, and author of Esthetic Success: A Seasoned Esthetician’s Journey Shelley’s career didn’t follow a straight line – and it wasn’t polished in hindsight. Before finding her calling in esthetics, she moved through multiple jobs, industries, and identitie...