The Skincarma® Pod

One of the biggest blind spots in beauty isn’t a new ingredient, procedure, or technology—it’s what happens after.

Every year, millions of people undergo cosmetic procedures, reconstructive surgeries, C-sections, cancer treatments, and other operations that leave lasting scars. Yet despite the emotional and physical impact scars can have, scar care has remained surprisingly overlooked by both the beauty industry and, in many cases, medicine itself.

This week, Carmine sits down with Jadis Montijo, founder and CEO of Motivo Scar Care, to explore why recovery deserves a much larger place in the conversation around...

One of the most persistent myths in beauty is that aging happens entirely from the outside in. We focus on wrinkles, volume loss, skin laxity, and facial contours—yet rarely consider the structures beneath the surface that help support everything we see in the mirror.

This week, Carmine sits down with Beverly Hills cosmetic and neuromuscular dentist Dr. Arthur Glosman to explore what our mouths may reveal about the way we age, feel, and function.

Drawing on his background in dentistry, architecture, art, and design, Dr. Glosman approaches the mouth as far more than a co...

Ingredient savvy isn’t the same thing as ingredient literate.

We know to hunt for ceramides. We compare Vitamin C percentages. We scan for peptides, retinoids, and niacinamide. But when we turn over the carton and browse the full ingredient list, can we actually tell whether a product is well formulated—or whether we’re simply responding to clever marketing?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes back Annie Graham, cosmetic chemist and co-founder of Atomic Pom Labs, for a practical and refreshingly honest guide to reading skincare ingredient lists.

Annie explai...

One of the biggest shifts happening in skincare isn’t a new ingredient or breakthrough technology — it’s a growing realization that healthier skin may come from doing less, not more.

This week, Carmine sits down with Becca Zook, founder of Happi Rituals, to explore the growing movement toward simpler, barrier-focused skincare. After becoming frustrated with expensive products, complicated routines, and endless anti-aging promises, Becca set out to create something different — formulations built around grass-fed beef tallow, nutrient-rich botanical oils, and the belief that skin doesn’t need to be constantly corrected. It needs to be supported.

Toget...

One of the biggest misconceptions in skincare is that clearer skin begins with a better product.

While cleansers, serums, and prescriptions certainly have their place, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Katie Varman believes that for many people, lasting skin health starts much deeper — in the gut, on the plate, and in the everyday habits that shape our overall health.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes back Dr. Katie Varman alongside her collaborator and Skin Skin Academy co-founder, holistic chef, nutrition educator, and Le Cordon Bleu–trained chef Kimber Dean, for a fascinating conversation about thei...

One of the most fascinating questions in beauty has nothing to do with ingredients, formulations, or clinical studies.

It’s why we want what we want in the first place.

Every day we’re surrounded by images designed to capture our attention, shape our perception, and make certain products feel not only desirable, but inevitable. Yet few people ever stop to ask how that process actually works.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with photographer, director, and a—son founder Anderson for a thought-provoking conversation about luxury, branding, image-making, and wh...

One of the biggest misconceptions in aesthetics right now is that filler is a problem — the problem.

Spend a few minutes online and you’ll find countless videos blaming filler for everything from facial puffiness to “filler migration.” But according to board-certified dermatologist Dr. Kathleen Welsh, the real issue isn’t filler — it’s how filler has been used.

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Dr. Kathleen Welsh, founder of Bay Area Cosmetic Dermatology, alongside Roxanne Krempa, Director of Bay Area Body & Wellness, for a fascinating conversation about how aesthetic medicine is ev...

One of the biggest misconceptions in beauty is that innovation and newness are the same thing.

The industry launches thousands of products every year. New ingredients dominate social media feeds. New brands appear almost daily. But according to beauty industry veteran Shannaz Schopfer, more products don’t necessarily mean better products — and in many cases, they simply create more noise.

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Shannaz Schopfer, founder of The Beauty Architects and a beauty industry insider with more than 40 years of experience spanning product development, manufacturing, formulation, and bran...

One of the most interesting questions in beauty right now isn’t which ingredient is trending — it’s who decides what becomes a trend in the first place.

In an industry flooded with marketing claims, ingredient buzzwords, social media hype, and now AI-generated content, separating signal from noise has never been more difficult. But beneath every launch, every trend, and every positioning strategy lies something much less glamorous — data.

In this episode of this Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Monieka Bos, co-founder of SKINSKOOL Beauty and CosmeticIQ, to explore the growing role of data intellig...

One of modern medicine’s greatest strengths is its ability to intervene. We can replace joints, bypass blocked arteries, remove tumors, resurface skin, and perform procedures that would have seemed impossible just a generation ago.

But what happens after the intervention?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes board-certified oculoplastic surgeon and Mendora Health founder Dr. Kami Parsa for a conversation about a question that rarely gets the attention it deserves: how does the body actually heal?

What begins as a discussion about skin health quickly expands into a much broader ex...

We tend to think about innovation in beauty as adding more — more actives, more steps, more complexity. But what if the next frontier in formulation is actually about removing something fundamental instead?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Small Wonder Co-Founder and CEO Stephanie Farsht to explore one deceptively simple question:

What if water — the foundation of most beauty products — is actually making them less effective?

Drawing from her background in strategy and innovation at Target, along with years teaching entrepreneurship and innovation at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Manag...

We tend to think about aging in beauty as a biological process — wrinkles, collagen loss, hormonal change. But what if part of the issue isn’t just what’s happening to the skin but how women are being seen in the first place?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with beauty industry veteran and founder of Skyn Iceland and All Golden, Sarah Kugelman, for a wide-ranging conversation about aging, identity, stress, menopause — and the evolving relationship between women and the beauty industry.

Drawing from decades of experience in beauty — from her early year...

We tend to think of skincare as something topical — ingredients, routines, products. But what if one of the biggest drivers of skin health isn’t what we put on our skin at all?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with board-certified dermatologist and founder of Stamina Cosmetics Dr. Marianna Blyumin-Karasik (Dr. MBK) to explore the growing concept of “stress skin” — and how chronic psychological stress may be reshaping the way our skin functions, heals, and ages.

Drawing on her clinical experience, Dr. MBK explains how stress signals travel from the brain to the ski...

We’ve been taught that skin needs damage to regenerate — that the path to better skin runs through controlled injury. But what if that entire premise is flawed?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with physician, formulator, and founder of Osmosis Beauty Dr. Ben Johnson to challenge one of the most foundational assumptions in skincare: that inflammation and injury are necessary to stimulate repair.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience and formulation work, Dr. Johnson makes the case for a radically different model — one centered on dermal repair, cellular signaling, and system...

We’ve been taught to trust SPF as the gold standard of sun protection—but what if that number isn’t as precise, or as reliable, as we think?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with BeautyMatter journalist Janna Mandell to unpack one of the most unsettling questions in skincare today: can we actually trust SPF claims?

Following her deeply reported investigation into sunscreen testing, Janna reveals a system shaped by human variability, lab inconsistencies, commercial pressure—and in some cases, outright manipulation. At the center of it all is a surprisi...

Everyone is talking about boosting NAD⁺.Almost no one is measuring it.

In the world of longevity, NAD⁺ has become one of the most talked-about — and most aggressively marketed — molecules.

From supplements to IV drips, the focus is on increasing NAD levels in the body. But there’s a fundamental question that rarely gets asked:

How do you know if your NAD actually needs to be boosted in the first place?

In this episode, Carmine sits down with Jari Närhi, CEO of NADMED, a Finnish health technology company developing one of the firs...

Acne is often treated as a surface-level problem — something to be managed with cleansers, serums, and spot treatments.

But what if acne isn’t primarily a skincare issue at all?

What if it’s a signal of deeper imbalances happening inside the body?

In this episode, Carmine sits down with returning guest Dr. Katie Varman, a board-certified dermatologist who combines conventional dermatology with a functional, root-cause approach to skin health.

Together, they explore the gut–skin connection — and how diet, the microbiome, inflammation, hormones, and even environmental exposures can influence the developmen...

Superoxide dismutase — or SOD — is one of the most important antioxidant enzymes in the body, yet it’s rarely discussed in modern skincare.

Often referred to as the “enzyme of life,” SOD plays a critical role as the body’s first line of defense against oxidative stress — a key driver of skin aging, inflammation, and cellular damage.

For decades, however, SOD has been considered ineffective as an oral supplement due to its instability in the digestive system.

So what happens when that problem is solved?

In this episode, Carmine sits down with François...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down once again with cosmetic chemist and regulatory expert Mark Broussard to revisit one of the most significant shifts in the beauty industry: the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) — and why it’s only the beginning.

Mark, founder and Managing Director of Desert In Bloom Cosmetics Lab, works directly with brands to formulate, test, and bring products to market — giving him a front-row view into how cosmetic regulation actually functions in practice. In this conversation, he breaks down what MoCRA truly changed, and where critical gaps still exist...

On this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Angela Jia Kim, founder of Savor Beauty, to explore the deeper philosophy behind K-beauty – beyond the trends, sheet masks, and viral routines.

Angela shares the piece of skincare wisdom passed down from her mother that shaped her entire approach to skin health: “Treat your skin like the most expensive silk on Earth.” Together, Carmine and Angela unpack what that metaphor really means in practice – and how a gentler, barrier-respecting approach to skincare contrasts with the more aggressive, results-driven mindset often seen in Western beauty.

The conv...

The beauty industry sells aspiration, transformation, and perfection. But what does that culture do to the people building it from the inside?

On this episode of The Skincarma Pod, host Carmine Montalto sits down with executive coach and former beauty industry leader Elyse Conroy, founder of Soul Makeup and creator of Beauty Career Lab. After more than a decade working inside the corporate beauty world, Elyse now helps high-performing women navigate leadership, burnout, and reinvention.

Together, Carmine and Elyse unpack the emotional architecture of the beauty industry — and why so many successful professionals quietly struggle be...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with materials scientist and inventor Eric Pressly and to explore the science of repair — and why rebuilding beauty from the inside out matters more than ever.

Eric is the inventor behind some of the most influential bond-repair technologies in modern beauty, and the founder of Epres haircare and ePhD nail treatment. In this conversation, he explains the molecular science behind repairing broken keratin bonds in hair and nails — and why most beauty products focus on coating damage rather than truly fixing it.

Together, Eric and his...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Angel Olavarria — chemist, founder, and formulator behind Strive Skin — for a candid, deeply nerdy conversation about what actually makes skincare work.

Angel didn’t enter beauty as a marketer chasing trends. He started as a DIY enthusiast reverse-engineering expensive vitamin C serums in his kitchen, eventually turning thousands of hours of experimentation into a science-led brand built on restraint, transparency, and real-world performance.

Together, Carmine and Angel unpack:

Why many men’s skincare brands underdose actives — or avoid listing concentrations altogether;

The trut...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Evelyn Wang, founder and CEO of The Silverist, to talk about gray hair, ageism in beauty, and what it really takes to build a brand from scratch.

After years inside major beauty companies like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder, Evelyn saw something hiding in plain sight: women embracing their natural silver and gray hair were being treated as an afterthought. Instead of formulas designed specifically for natural gray hair — which loses melanin and behaves differently than color-treated blonde hair — brands were simply relabeling purple shampoos...

What if “that’s just how it is” wasn’t good enough when it comes to childhood eczema?

In this episode of the Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Jemila Alharazim, a Physician’s Assistant in asthma and allergy care and the founder of Ocean Olive, to explore how personal experience and clinical insight led to the creation of a new kind of eczema treatment for kids.

For years, Jemila prescribed topical steroids to eczema patients while hearing the same question from parents: Is there a gentler alternative? When her own son developed eczema, that question b...

For more than 25 years, the U.S. sunscreen market has been frozen in time – while the rest of the world moved on to newer, more advanced UV filters. In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Carl D’Ruiz, one of the key figures behind the FDA’s proposed order to add a new UV filter to the U.S. sunscreen monograph – the first in more than a generation.

Carl is a regulatory and scientific affairs leader at dsm-firmenich, and has spent nearly two decades navigating shifting regulations, Congressional mandates, clinical trials, and evolving FDA requ...

What if one of the most beneficial skincare molecules was already living on your skin?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger and Mike Einziger, the husband-and-wife founders of Mother Science – and self-described citizen scientists whose curiosity-led research reshaped how we think about skin biology, antioxidants, and aging.

Their journey began not in a traditional lab, but on tour, when Ann Marie noticed a strange, brightened pattern on her skin. That question sparked six years of rigorous scientific investigation into the skin microbiome, oxidative stress, and a naturally occ...

Men track their workouts, optimize their supplements, and obsess over performance — yet mention moisturizer (especially one with SPF!) and the conversation suddenly gets weird. Why?

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Bob “Beauty Bob” Gearing, a men’s health and lifestyle writer and contributor to Men’s Health magazine, to unpack the quiet contradiction at the heart of men’s skincare — and why language, simplicity, and habit matter more than products.

Bob shares his personal skincare journey — from severe teenage acne to building a routine in adulthood that actually sticks. He’s become an i...

On today’s episode of The Skincarma Pod, host Carmine Montalto is joined by Shelley Hancock – a licensed esthetician, educator of educators, mentor, and author of Esthetic Success: A Seasoned Esthetician’s Journey

Shelley’s career didn’t follow a straight line – and it wasn’t polished in hindsight. Before finding her calling in esthetics, she moved through multiple jobs, industries, and identities, searching for work that truly fit. Along the way, she faced doubt, generational expectations, and a defining moment when her father expressed a fear that she might never find her passion.

That moment – and t...

In this special mic-flip episode of The Skincarma Pod, roles are reversed. After a standout conversation on skin microbiome health, Dahlia Devkota – former Allure beauty editor and founder of Editrix – returns to the podcast to interview Carmine, the creator of The Skincarma Pod and Skincarma Blog.

What follows is a free-flowing, unfiltered conversation that traces Carmine’s more than 25-year career in beauty – from department store counters and legacy brands to his time as the first-ever in-house copywriter at Kiehl’s, and ultimately to creating Skincarma.

With no script and no guardrails, Dahlia asks the questions...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine sits down with Alisa Lask, CEO of Rion Aesthetics and the medical-grade skincare line Plated Skin Science. Together, they unpack what’s real – and what’s hype – in the fast-emerging world of exosomes in skincare.

Alisa shares her path from Midwest beginnings and a career across Eli Lilly, Allergan, and Galderma, to leading a regenerative aesthetics company built on platelet-derived exosome technology – a category Plated helped bring into the skincare conversation.

Carmine and Alisa dive into:

What exosomes are (Alisa’s simple “text messaging system” explanation);

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, celebrity facialist and master aesthetician Angela Caglia joins Carmine to break down the truth behind stem cell skincare, growth factors, and what “regenerative skincare” really means. Angela begins by sharing her origin story – from Visalia, California to Paris and New York, and a pivotal moment with Barbra Streisand that sparked the launch of her namesake brand. She goes on to share how her cult-favorite Cell Forté Serum helped propel Angela Caglia Skincare into the luxury biotech spotlight.

Together, they demystify human-derived stem cell conditioned media, explain how it differs from plant ex...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine is joined once again by Mark Broussard, an industry expert who sits at the exact intersection of cosmetic chemistry and regulatory compliance – two distinct disciplines at the heart of brand building.

Mark is the founder and managing director of Bloom Cosmetic Test Lab, where he guides brands through MoCRA compliance. And, if you caught their last episode together (episode 45), you know that he’s also the founder and master chemist of Desert In Bloom Cosmetics Lab, where he’s developed more than 600 products over his career.

With his ex...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes Clara Cárdenas, co-founder of Pipa Skin Care, a breakout brand committed to providing age-appropriate skincare for pre-teens.

Clara shares her journey from her early career in Venezuela to her experience at Facebook, and how her passion for skincare led her to create Pipa with two childhood friends – Kristina Kubler, an esthetician with two decades of hands-on experience, and Corina Pfeffer, a mathematician turned designer turned logistics savant.

Pipa was born of a simple but universally relatable moment: Kristi’s daughter, Pipa, hit that age where she w...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine is joined by Dahlia Devkota, founder of Editrix, a trailblazing skincare brand that emphasizes the importance of the skin’s microbiome to overall skin health.

Dahlia shares her journey from beauty editor to entrepreneur, highlighting the innovative scientific research behind her products, which utilize post-biotics to promote healthy skin. The conversation delves into the Editrix brand’s unique four-step system and the significance of maintaining a balanced surface microbiome.

In their engaging conversation, Dahlia and Carmine explore the evolving landscape of beauty standards, the science behind truly effe...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine is joined by Brian Ecclefield, Founder and Managing Director of Validated Claim Support, the clinical testing lab setting new standards for ethics, accuracy, and transparency in cosmetic claims.

Few topics have shaken the beauty world this year quite like SunscreenGate – the scandalous revelation that the SPF validation tests behind many popular sunscreens may have been manipulated, falsified or simply fallen short, leading to careless, even dangerous mislabeling – and haphazard sunscreen product recalls.

There’s nobody more uniquely qualified to explain how we got here and where we’re heade...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes Blair Lancer, CMO of the groundbreaking clinical brand Lancer Skincare.

For nearly four decades, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Harold Lancer has defined what healthy, glowing skin means – powered by his iconic Lancer Method. What began as a spark in Dr. Lancer’s Beverly Hills practice – where the world’s most recognizable faces have lined up for The Lancer Glow – has become a global skincare brand rooted in the science of simplicity.

Today, his legacy continues through his daughter Blair, who serves as Chief Marketing Officer and the bridge betwe...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes Maya Myers and Tzvi Ginzburg, husband-and-wife dynamic duo and co-founders of All Moringa. From farm to family, Ghana’s rich soil to your morning smoothie, Maya and Tzvi are spreading the power of the Miracle Tree. They’ve turned a shared passion for wellness, sustainability, and family into a thriving wellness brand built around one extraordinary plant: the Moringa oleifera. Indeed, they’re growing wellness from the ground up.

Listen in as Carmine digs into their story, delves into the science, and draws out the soul of the Miracl...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes Allison Taylor, co-founder of Le Prunier, the California-born organic beauty brand redefining what luxury skincare can – and maybe should – be. From a fourth-generation plum orchard in Northern California to the curated collections of Credo, Neiman Marcus and Goop, Le Prunier is proof that beauty can grow from the ground up. Carmine and Allison explore the magnificent journey of transforming their family farm into a range of luxury skincare, the exceptional benefits of the brand’s proprietary plum oil, and the reimagining of sustainability rooted in the farm’s decades-long practices. Their co...

In this episode of The Skincarma Pod, Carmine welcomes Alicia Lindner, co-CEO of Annemarie Börlind, the pioneering natural skincare brand founded by her grandmother in Germany’s Black Forest in 1959. Representing the third generation of a visionary family business, Alicia is carrying forward her grandmother’s mission to merge nature and science to create high-performing, natural skincare that’s both ethical and effective. Under her leadership, Annemarie Börlind is positioned as a global benchmark for natural beauty — rooted in sustainability, powered by cutting-edge botanical research, and guided by her grandmother’s timeless philosophy: “If I can’t eat it, I won’t...