Collection: Age Defense

Three formulas for skin that has started to show its history, built around the ingredients with actual evidence behind them, at strengths you can use without a week of peeling.

Retinol is the most-studied ingredient in this category and the one most people give up on. Ours is encapsulated in liposomes and ships in an airless pump, both for the same reason: free retinol arrives all at once, which is the spike that produces the burning in week two. Encapsulated retinol releases gradually. The same retinol, spread over hours instead of minutes.

Around the eyes, where the skin is roughly a third as thick, peptides do the gentler version of the same job. Matrixyl 3000 works on the look of fine lines without the adjustment period a retinoid demands, which means you can use it daily from the first day.

And during the day, kojic acid with hyaluronic acid: one for the look of uneven tone, one for hydration that holds.

All three are fragrance-free and made in the USA in small batches. Give any of them eight to twelve weeks before you judge them; skin turnover is four to six weeks, so the first cycle is invisible by definition.