Skin Care Innovator Jan Marini On Aging, Rosacea & Her Biggest Business Blunder
Jan Marini helped pioneer the use of glycolic acid and stabilized Vitamin C in skincare products. Courtesy photo.
With over 30 years of experience as a skincare product innovator, Jan Marini knows a thing or two about looking good.
As President and CEO of her own skin care line, Marini was among the first to use ingredients like glycolic acid to dramatically improve the skin's clarity and texture, as well as a stable form of Vitamin C to replenish and renew skin mottled by the sun. As the use of these kinds of advanced ingredients permeated the industry, skin care products evolved into a whole new league.
"Years ago, women were more concerned with covering their skin in order to hide imperfections. This was understandable because there were far fewer efficacious topical agents. Today, the emphasis is on showing beautiful, glowing skin - not hiding it under opaque makeup," Marini tells StyleList in an exclusive interview.
When pressed to choose her one favorite skin-saving product amidst a shelf full of loves, Marini turns to her best-selling Bioclear lotion, which combines glycolic, salicylic and azaleic acids to polish and refine skin.
Jan Marini's Bioclear is a best-seller and personal favorite. Courtesy photo.
A lifetime treating women's biggest skincare concerns has given Marini a unique perspective, and one condition that affects over 14 million Americans stands out to her as the most mistreated of all.
"Rosacea is the least understood and often inappropriately treated skin disorder. It's a disease of unstable blood vessels and a chronic inflammatory disorder. Too often, rosacea is simply looked at as very sensitive skin. Individuals are urged to apply botanicals or so-called 'sensitive' skin ingredients. These are often the very topicals that can aggravate rosacea," says Marini.
Instead, Marini looks at rosacea as a multi-dimensional disorder that should be treated on a number of levels - with a topical anti-inflammatory cream leading the charge.
Marini has also had her share of business experiences, one of which included a controversial product that was pulled from shelves by the FDA. Age Intervention Eyelash contained the same bimatoprost growth ingredient that current maker Allergan uses in Latisse, though Jan Marini hadn't received FDA approval for the sale of the product, which the FDA deemed a drug.
"Nothing can prepare you for the media storm that occurred. The good news is we never did anything that was illegal, unethical or unsafe. It reinforced, for me, that it is always best to respond to adversity with grace and in a straight-forward, completely transparent manner," says Marini.
Marini's lash discovery helped pave the way for an entirely new sector of lash growth products in the industry, with imitators still sprouting. Refusing to be beat, Marini came out with another version called Marini Lash, which didn't need FDA approval to launch because it doesn't contain any drug ingredients. Instead, the product is a blend of peptides that stimulates eyelash growth.
The one battle Marini is happy to fight is the one against aging, for which she has some time-tested advice.
"Resurfacing is a term I use to describe a product or products which address the visible imperfections that we all obsess about such as acne, rosacea, wrinkles, large pores and discoloration. On a deeper level, topicals can boost collagen production, discourage the output of excess pigment and help the skin to repair damage and generally look and act much younger," says Marini.
Now that's a prescription we're happy to cash in.
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truthbetold, 4-05-2010, 5:43AM
And, since when was it not ILLEGAL to sell a DRUG as a COSMETIC???
After you finish that one, answer about UNETHICAL...
Bimatoprost has ALWAYS been classified as a DRUG by the FDA - long before it was added to eyelash products..
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