Why I carry he Skincare I carry and nothing else
The Bare Philosophy
The products at Bare are few and they are deliberate. Here's the personal story behind why ingredient safety isn't a trend or a talking point for me, and the standards every product we carry has to meet.
It started with my own skin
When I was in aesthetics school, my skin was consistently inflamed. I struggled with acne, dermatitis, reactivity I couldn't pin on anything obvious. I was doing everything I was being taught to do, but instead of getting better, I was getting worse.
It wasn't until I started going deep on ingredient labels that I found what was driving it: gluten, present in multiple products I was using daily on both myself and clients. As someone with celiacs, this was a major no-no. Once I removed them, my skin changed significantly. And not gradually either! In a way that made it impossible to ignore the connection between what I was putting on my body and how my body was responding.
That experience made me someone who reads every label. Hey, I already do it for food, why not skincare too? Only that just made me extremely skeptical of formulations most people accept without question. I was shocked at what I was seeing in some of the most popular brands. It planted the conviction that the products I recommend to clients would have to meet a standard I'd hold myself to first.
Then it became something much bigger
In late 2017, my sister was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain cancer. As the original beauty pro in the family, and the woman who taught me how to do my makeup, you can probably understand this hit hard. She fought hard, as was her nature, but unfortunately lost her battle in June of 2018. In the time during and since, I've spent countless hours in the research trying to find an answer because I needed to understand. And what I found is a body of evidence connecting certain chemical compounds common in conventional beauty products and perfumes to serious health consequences, including neurological harm and cancer, that I can't look past.
What the research documents:
A 2018 report by the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners found that fragrance chemicals made up the majority of compounds linked to harmful chronic health effects in tested beauty and personal care products — and that most are hidden under the single word "fragrance" on ingredient labels, legally protected as a trade secret. Documented effects include cancer risk, hormone disruption, genetic mutations, and neurological harm.
Separately, published research has found that certain fragrance compounds are capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier — meaning what we absorb daily through our skin and through inhalation has the potential to reach and affect brain tissue directly.
Sources: Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Right to Know: Exposing Toxic Fragrance Chemicals in Beauty, Personal Care and Cleaning Products (2018); Preston-Martin et al., Journal of Neuro-Oncology, "Beauty product-related exposures and childhood brain tumors in seven countries" (2005).
I'm not here to tell you that any single product caused my sister's cancer. The science of causation is complicated, and I hold that complexity honestly. I will tell you she was exposed regularly to beauty products on a large scale (and always smelled fabulous) and that cumulative daily exposure to compounds with documented carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting potential is not something I'm willing to be casual about. That means for myself, or for anyone who trusts me with their care.
Losing her turned what was already a personal conviction into something permanent. It is the reason ingredient safety is not a marketing position at Bare. It is the foundation.
I made a decision that I would never carry or recommend a product I hadn't fully vetted, one I wouldn't use on my own skin, or one I couldn't stand behind completely. I've had every personal reason to take this seriously.
What every product at Bare has to meet
Nothing makes it onto our shelves without clearing all of these:
Barrier-safe formulation
The skin barrier is the foundation of everything. It affects how skin heals, responds to treatment, and ages. Any product that strips or chronically sensitizes it doesn't belong here, regardless of what else it claims to do.
No endocrine-disrupting ingredients
Certain preservatives, synthetic fragrances, and UV filters have documented hormonal activity. As both a skincare and hormone health practice, this is non-negotiable. We're not going to support someone's hormonal health internally while undermining it through their daily products.
No high fragrance loads
Fragrance is one of the most common sensitizers in skincare. It’s also one of the most common hiding places for undisclosed chemical compounds. It adds nothing functionally and introduces risk we're not willing to accept.
Clinical performance
We're not interested in what a product claims on its packaging. We're interested in what it does on real skin, consistently, over time. Everything we carry has been used and evaluated clinically.
A clear role in a simplified routine
Every product has a defined job. If we can't articulate exactly where it fits and why it belongs, it doesn't make it in. No shelf-filling, no novelty, no redundancy. I hate waste.
The brands we carry and why I chose them
IS Clinical
Pharmaceutical-grade formulations built around clinically validated actives. IS Clinical bridges the gap between cosmetic and medical-grade skincare delivering real, measurable results at the cellular level without compromising barrier integrity. Their antioxidant and growth factor technology consistently performs at a level most consumer brands can't reach.
Ourselves
A clean, intentionally formulated line built around skin health fundamentals with no unnecessary ingredients, no hidden fragrance compounds, no compromises. Ourselves earns its place here because it meets our ingredient standards cleanly and performs consistently across a wide range of skin types. Not to mention it has been blowing top brands out of the water in clinical comparison trials for improvement in skin health and appearance.
Epionce (select products)
We carry a limited selection from Epionce, specifically the products that earn their place in our barrier-first philosophy. Epionce's research-backed approach to barrier repair and skin health makes certain formulas genuinely useful for clients whose skin needs intensive support, particularly those recovering from over-treated or sensitized skin.
The Bare Effect (Our brand)
Developed in-house specifically for adult acne and to fill the gaps I couldn't find filled anywhere else. After years of knowing exactly what my clients needed and struggling to find products that met both the clinical and ingredient standards I required, I built it myself. Every product in The Bare Effect line has a defined role, a clean formulation, and a clinical rationale behind every active ingredient it contains. It's the most personal expression of everything this practice stands for.
On the rare occasion something doesn't work
Skin is individual. Occasionally, a client will have a sensitivity to a specific ingredient. This isn’t because the product is poorly formulated, but because bodies are complex and allergies are real. It's rare, and I'm genuinely grateful for that, but when it happens, we adjust. That's what a relationship-based practice looks like.
What I can promise is that no one will ever react to something we carry because we didn't do our homework. The vetting is thorough. The standards don't move. And the reason behind all of it is personal enough that I take it seriously every single time.
Want to know which products belong in your routine and why? That's the conversation we have at every skincare consultation.