The Skincarma® Pod

Just because we can optimize our appearance — does that mean we should? We’re living in an era when looking younger, feeling better and supposedly reversing biological aging have become part of the same conversation. From looksmaxxing and injectable peptides to exosomes, NAD+ and increasingly sophisticated cosmetic procedures, the pursuit of beauty has evolved into something much bigger: the pursu...

Is the sun really our enemy — or have we been missing half the story? Episode 100 of The Skincarma Pod is a particularly special one for me. When I first launched this podcast, my friend Dr. Jen Haley was the very first person to say yes to being a guest. I was still figuring out how to do this whole podcasting thing, and Jen showed up with the generosity, curiosity and enthusiasm that have made h...

There’s a moment in the life of almost every successful beauty brand when growth gets complicated. More consumers. More channels. More creators. New leadership. New generations. New expectations. And suddenly the question isn’t simply how do we grow? It’s what do we protect as we grow? This week, Carmine sits down with Irena Kojouharova , a senior beauty marketing executive, brand strategist and f...

There was a time when beauty brands controlled the message. They created the campaigns, retailers and magazines amplified them, celebrities endorsed them, and consumers largely followed along. Then social media changed everything. Today, a beauty brand can invest millions in marketing only to discover that a creator filming a 30-second TikTok in their bathroom has more influence over what consumer...

Every beauty brand seems to be talking about longevity. But are we actually changing the way we think about aging — or have we simply found a more appealing way to market anti-aging? This week, Carmine sits down with Dr. Jenelle Kim, a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, ninth-generation practitioner of traditional Korean medicine, founder of JBK Wellness Labs and author of The Korean Art...

What if some of what we recognize as skin aging begins not only with declining collagen, elastin or facial support—but with the diminishing cellular energy available to maintain and repair them? This week, Carmine sits down with David Suzuki, President and CEO of Bio-Therapeutic, the Seattle-based skincare technology company founded by his father in 1974. A licensed skin therapist, inventor and se...

What happens when decades of clinical skincare expertise meet the wild plants of Jackson Hole — and what can that teach us about how aggressively we’re treating our skin? This week, Carmine sits down with Kendra Kolb Butler , founder of Alpyn Beauty, the Jackson Hole skincare brand pairing clinically proven ingredients with sustainably harvested mountain plants. Before founding Alpyn, Kendra spent...

What does it take to inherit a skincare brand — and then prove that its future belongs in your hands? This week, Carmine sits down with Margot Grant Witz , Vice President and third-generation steward of Elizabeth Grant Skin Care, the family- and female-led Canadian beauty company founded by her grandmother in 1948. Elizabeth Grant’s remarkable story began after a World War II injury left her with...

Hair loss is often treated as a cosmetic problem—or simply accepted as an unavoidable consequence of genetics. But what if we’ve been asking the wrong questions all along? This week, Carmine sits down with Jared Reynolds —biochemist, molecular biologist, founder of Zenagen and ACTIIV, and a scientist whose research has focused on inflammation, receptor biology and scalp health for more than two de...

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, fo...

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. Ridg...

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...

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 proprietar...

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...

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 ma...

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, C...

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 routine...

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...