What I didn't expect was that changing it would fix the skin I'd been fighting for years. Here's what happened, and the two things we ended up making.
For years I treated my skin like a problem to be solved.
I chased it. I tried every intensive treatment, one after another. Spending money felt like taking action, like I'd eventually find the solution.
Sometimes my skin would settle for a week or two, but it always flared again. So I'd switch products and add treatments, and the cycle started over.
My skin had a wonderful habit of breaking out right before events. I spent 15 years worried about pimples.
I had a cupboard full of half-used bottles and a face I felt like I was fighting. I thought I just hadn't found the right product yet. I had the whole thing backwards.
Then we decided to start a family.
The road there wasn't simple for us. But somewhere in it, I started questioning everything I was putting on my skin and into my body. If I was this careful about everything else, why was I still layering on things I couldn't pronounce and couldn't trace?
So I stopped. I stripped my routine back to almost nothing and paid attention.
“My skin calmed down. The chasing had been the problem the whole time.”
Not because I'd found something stronger.
My skin settled because I'd finally stopped overwhelming it. Once I gave it less to react to, it started behaving like skin that was looked after instead of skin under attack.
That changed how I thought about all of it. I didn't want more steps. I wanted fewer, and I wanted to trust every one.
This is where Reid comes in.
He reads ingredient lists for fun, which sounds like a joke until you live with it. When we went looking for a pared-back routine we could both stand behind, he kept hitting the same wall. The “clean” products still carried a red flag or two. And a good ingredient counts for little in the wrong ratio, or when you can't trace where it came from.
We didn't want marketing. We wanted formulas that worked together, from sources we could name. When we couldn't buy that, Reid started making it.
The same few ingredients kept coming up.
When I started reading labels properly, I saw them everywhere. Synthetic fragrance. Parabens. Phthalates. They sit in a lot of skincare, including plenty that calls itself clean.
There's a growing body of research looking at how some of these ingredients interact with the body's hormonal system, and those questions are taken seriously enough that I didn't want them anywhere near what we made. Pregnancy sharpened that for me. If I was rethinking everything else going in and on my body, my skincare wasn't getting a pass.
So we left them out. No synthetic fragrance, no parabens, no phthalates. That was where we started.
Two products. That's the whole range, on purpose.
Macadamia, castor, MCT and a touch of rosemary extract. A few drops massaged into dry skin lift the day off without stripping it. No tight feeling afterward. Skin that feels clean and still comfortable.
Macadamia and jojoba oils, beeswax, sea buckthorn, black seed oil, vitamin E, chamomile, calendula and rosemary. A pea-sized amount melts in and gives skin the lipids it uses to hold onto water, so the barrier stays supported.
Cleanse, then restore. Morning and night. That's it.
The two work as one routine. The oil takes the day off, the balm puts back what skin needs to stay supported overnight and through tomorrow. Most people start with both, which is why we put them together.
Shop the Barrier Support Bundle
Two products against a cupboard full.
| Élaument Routine | A typical routine | |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanses without stripping your barrier | ✓ | ✗ |
| Replenishes the lipids the day removes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Oils matched to your skin's own | ✓ | ✗ |
| No fragrances or essential oils | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free from parabens and phthalates | ✓ | ✗ |
| A complete routine in two products | ✓ | ✗ |
| Australian made and owned | ✓ | ✗ |
| You recognise every ingredient | ✓ | ✗ |
Collected independently through Judge.me
My post partum skin was in desperate need for some rejuvenation. As a lover of essential oils and natural products, this is it. My skin instantly feels more hydrated, radiant and healthy.
I've been using both for about a month and I'm so happy. My skin is hydrated without being greasy, and it's such a good feeling knowing I'm not putting any nasties on my skin.
The softest my face has ever felt. I feel like I don't need to wear makeup.
We're four friends and new-ish parents, short on sleep and fussy about what goes on our families.
Élaument is where I landed after years of getting it wrong. Fewer ingredients, nothing to hide, made to do their job. I use these every day, and I'm grateful every day that they work as well as they do.
If you're tired of waking up and hoping today is a good skin day, I understand that better than most.
Stop hoping for good skin days.
Start expecting them.
Start with the routine.
Everything your skin needs. Nothing it doesn't.
Barrier Support Bundle · $139.50