What happens when two beauty industry veterans with decades of experience come together? In the case of Victor Casale and Joy Chen, Pure Culture Beauty was born.
Victor Casale, Co-founder & Chief Scientist of Pure Culture Beauty, has been internationally recognized as a leading beauty chemist for over 30 years. From formulating the original MAC Cosmetics products (many of which are still sold today!) to launching Cover FX, his beauty resume is as impressive as it gets.
Co-founder Joy Chen is a clean beauty expert who spent the past two decades championing clean ingredients without compromising performance.
A match made in beauty heaven. While the pairing isn’t surprising, we had to find out: why focus their talents on custom beauty? Why now?
According to Chen, three out of four people use skincare that is not right for their skin. “We are unique in many ways, including our skin, yet the industry tries to sell one product to satisfy this diversity for the sake of efficiency,” says Chen. “We decided it’s best to start with each person’s unique skin condition and lifestyle, then personalize products for them.”
It’s why the brand pairs a quiz with their at-home skin test kit that measures your skin condition.
The kits include two tests: a measure of your skin’s pH (the health of your skin barrier), and a measure of your skin’s oil production of your skin, (your skin type). You log in the results on your Pure Culture Beauty account. “We then combine the skin test information to your pollution and breakouts levels, skin sensitivity, your skin goal desires, and fragrance preferences.” You get personalized formulas that are guaranteed to work on your skin.
Custom formulas also help reduce waste. “Currently, people use trial and error to find skincare that works for them, creating waste, unnecessary spending, and environmental damage,” Chen explained. “We believe Pure Culture Beauty’s personalized model can take the guesswork out of skincare.”
Not only does Pure Culture Beauty create custom formulas for different skin types and concerns, they create them with an ambitious “clean without compromise” ingredient standard, employing a more extensive list of banned ingredients than most existing regulations.
“ Our clean standard is based on four criteria. It has to be safe, natural (the source comes from a natural extract), ethically sourced (fair working and wage conditions), and sustainable (all ingredients must be biodegradable and processed in the most efficient way possible),” Chen told us. And since our skin changes over time, due to external factors like weather, age, and environment, “the custom products are meant to work together without any conflicting ingredients that can damage your skin.”
One less thing to think about? Yes, please.
“Additionally, Victor hand selects each ingredient that is used in our custom formulas,” Chen clarifies. “This is very rare for any brand to be so involved in formula creation. It’s incredible to have someone like Victor to be making the selection.”
What’s next for Pure Culture Beauty? Pure Culture Beauty expects to see personalization expand from skincare to bodycare and cosmetics, and hope to continue to advance microbiome testing. “This is only the beginning,” says Chen.
Ready to give custom skincare a try? Beautylish recommends Pure Culture Beauty Custom Cleanser, Serum & Moisturizer Kit.
