Is It Magic or Is It a High-Powered Active?

Chemist Confessions’ take on the world of active ingredients.

After formulating skincare for over a decade, we can confidently say that active ingredients never seem to lose their mystery & sparkle. New ingredients churn out annually aimed to tackle hot skin concerns such as brightening skin tone, fighting wrinkles, and more. Unfortunately because of all the hype, more often than not you’ll run into ingredients that overpromise and underdeliver. You’ll come across many marketing claims that have gone too far, with some claiming to be the second coming of skincare Jesus despite a severe lack of evidence.

However, the good thing is that there are solid “high-powered” actives out there that do live up to the hype. We often see things start to go awry when skincare users are relying on the wrong actives to get those benefits or simply using it incorrectly in their routine. We’ll explain!

Let’s start with the basics. What is an active ingredient?

The main purpose of an active ingredient is to provide a long-term skin benefit. This can be anything from hydration, plumping, brightening, wrinkle-fighting, etc. That also means this arena of ingredients can be incredibly vast. We end up organizing all of these into tiers spanning from the most basic skin maintenance ingredients to high-powered actives. For example, we consider hyaluronic acid to be a very pedestrian, basic active. Its main function is really just to hydrate. Lower molecular weight HAs get tied to a lot of anti-aging claims, but we’ve found performance to vary widely and very few live up to their strong claims.

Then what’s a “high-powered” active?

We consider high-powered actives to be any ingredient that tackles more challenging claims such as wrinkle reduction, hyperpigmentation, and acne. These ingredients are clinically proven to deliver significant skin improvements. In fact, if we were to explain the mechanisms of how these ingredients provided these skin benefits, many of these would probably end up flirting with being classified as a drug. The FDA classifies any ingredient that results in a physical change in the skin or penetrates and functions at the dermis level to be a drug. The sad part is that most of the desired skin benefits we want, usually require targeting areas focused on improving collagen & elastin, which awkwardly resides in the dermis. Typical ingredients that fall into this category include: retinoids, AHAs, and vitamin C - ascorbic acid.

You can already sense that this arena comes with a lot of confusion and misunderstanding, so let’s discuss the good, the bad, and the awkward of high-powered actives. 

The Good & The Bad

Let’s start with the bad first. This category tends to come at a higher price point and there are a lot of proprietary skincare actives that can be disguised as high-powered actives when in reality the performance is actually pretty basic or even non-existent. The typical origin story sounds like it's the next best alternative to retinol or the new & improved vitamin C. But none of these claims matter unless it comes with some testing validation.

The good news is that a lot of good high-powered actives do come with a substantial amount of empirical evidence. Additionally, we give brands a lot of brownie points for performing clinical testing on their proprietary formulas which usually involves expert grading or instrumental measurements to give you a more concrete picture of performance.

Chemist Confessions top tip:

To spot a clinical test, results typically have lower numerical values and don’t use verbiage with any humanized action. For example: “99% saw an improvement in four weeks.” This is not a clinical test but a consumer perception study that had subjects fill out a survey after use. Hence the claim using the humanized verb - “saw”. Typical verbiage from a clinical study would be: “34% reduction in wrinkles after 4 weeks.” These types of studies are more objective & rigorous.

The Awkward

What most users and even brand founders don’t realize is that most of these high-powered actives come with a lot of quirks that really come out in formulas. Many aren’t that stable nor enjoy being in skincare formulas long term. This is why we have to say that your skincare is only going to be as good as your chemist.

Are Exosomes a “high-power” active?

Exosomes are a very new type of active entering skincare. These nano-vesicles are naturally found in human cells like our stem cells. What makes these interesting for the skin is that they can contain important components like proteins, growth factors, and lipids that are important to healthy cell signaling and overall skin health. Most of the initial research started in cancer therapy research but has actually made its way into in-office procedures and some skincare. In aesthetics clinics, exosomes can be directly injected or applied in conjunction with microneedling treatments. In-office exosome facials are typically used to treat dullness, skin texture, fine lines, etc.

Now when it comes to topical exosomes for home use, this is a really great example of a potentially “high-power” active. Keyword is potentially. It’s got the right origin story, based in some solid research, attempting to provide benefits at a cellular level that would immediately get classified as a drug claim. But the clinical data as a topical ingredient is not quite there yet. The main issue is that the field is just too new and the exosome sourcing is still questionable. The current sourcing of exosomes is via human platelets. That’s right, this ingredient is human-derived. There are some studies that look at topical exosomes as treatments for psoriasis and general photoaging, but the bulk of clinical research still resides in early stage animal testing. If you are curious, this is an arena where we would highly recommend shopping for products that have done their own clinical testing on their products.

Using “High-Powered” Actives in Your Routine

If you plan to use a heavy hitter in your routine, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, when shopping for skincare, try to prioritize any product with good clinical data. Considering these products tend to come with a higher price tag, clinical testing will give you the best sense of how the product can perform. This is especially true for newer technology such as exosomes.

Second, be sure to follow the instructions. There is such thing as too much of a good thing and we want to do our best to avoid anything that would cause skin irritation.

Chemist Confessions top tip:

Soothing serums are incredibly underrated and a key tool to help skin stay healthy and free from external stressors daily. Use soothing serums like Dieux Deliverance Serum & Chemist Confessions Aquafix Serum as the first step in your routine.

Finally, consistency is key! These ingredients are tested under protocols where subjects are using them up to twice a day, every day, for at least 4-8 weeks. But when you use the right “high-powered” active, it can be an absolute game changer in leveling up your skincare routine and achieving your skincare goals.