Episode 301 - Home treatments vs professionals

Valerie George (0:00)

Hi, I'm Valerie and you're listening to The Beauty Brains.

Welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetics industry. This is episode 301 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romnauski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romnauski (0:25)

Hello Valerie, it's good to see you're off the road now. It was a long drive you had there, but we'll talk about it in the chit chat.

Valerie George (0:31)

Yeah. Well, we're both back from vacation, so we're going to spend some time to connect together, talk to our fans and answer some questions about how do magnetic eyelashes work?

Can red light make your hair grow?

What home treatments are as good as what you would get from an esthetician? And is it fine to cut your hair at home? But first, post vacay chit chat.

So I just got back from a drive to Florida. I was speaking at a conference there about leadership in the lab space. It was really cool to meet scientists from different disciplines, but Mr. Cosmetic Chemist and I drove there, and then we drove back.

Perry Romnauski (1:10)

Driving is like, it's like what, one state away? No, that's like thousands of miles. How far was that?

Valerie George (1:17)

Literally across the country, it was like 2,900 miles to Miami.

We brought Kukla with us. Kukla is our dog, and we made sure she touched the ground in every state.

Perry Romnauski (1:30)

That's nice.

Valerie George (1:31)

She peed in every state for sure.

And no, we just had a good time. We took off roads, we tried to see the countryside, we worked while we were remote. It was fun.

Perry Romnauski (1:42)

Well, that sounds like a fun trip. I actually did a trip to Kansas City. It was a nice driving trip. And you know what the biggest challenge of that was?

Valerie George (1:50)

What?

Perry Romnauski (1:51)

Finding somebody to take care of the Kit Kat.

Valerie George (1:53)

Yeah, tell us about your new kitty.

Perry Romnauski (1:55)

Yeah, so we got this new kitty at the shelter. His name was Ted.

Valerie George (2:01)

Okay, did you keep it?

Perry Romnauski (2:02)

I expanded it. So now his name is Ted Theodore Logan. Theodore Logan.

Valerie George (2:07)

So his name is Ted Ted Logan.

Perry Romnauski (2:11)

Well, it's Theodore Logan. Theodore Logan is his proper name, but it's Ted Theodore Logan. Have you seen the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure series?

Valerie George (2:20)

Yes, yeah.

Perry Romnauski (2:23)

Actually, the name I wanted to go with, but this was kind of nixed, was Cat Pernicus.

Valerie George (2:30)

No.

Perry Romnauski (2:31)

You know, like, no.

Valerie George (2:32)

Yeah, Copernicus, yeah. Okay, that's good. She said no.

But, you know, Bill and Ted's is cool, because I think Ted has some good hair.

Perry Romnauski (2:41)

Oh, yeah, he definitely does. And this cat is like a fluffy, fluffy, fluffy guy.

So we have a cat, and I found out one of the Porchkitty crew, a cat that I called Tuxedo, who I thought was a boy cat. It looks like he's pregnant, so.

Valerie George (2:58)

Oh.

Perry Romnauski (3:01)

So I think I have to catch these cats and get them spayed or neutered, so.

Valerie George (3:04)

Yeah, that would be great. I'd help support that. I definitely would. Yeah.

Well, let's head over to some beauty science news. We have a big show to cover today. Good day.

Perry Romnauski (3:18)

All right, what did you see on your travels?

Valerie George (3:21)

Well, I did notice a celeb launch, and I feel like we talked about this one before, maybe like last year when we saw the news first breaking, or maybe we saw a trademark come through. But Scarlett Johansson's line is in Sephora, at least that was the big launch, and her line is called The Outset, in case you weren't sure. It has a micellar cleanser, a vegan collagen serum, a squalane-based moisturizer, a niacinamide night cream, and a vitamin C eye cream. And according to Scarlett Johansson, the Outset delivers exactly what consumers want.

A clean, non-irritating line of essentials, that's the everyday foundation for great skin.

Perry Romnauski (4:04)

Sounds exciting. I mean, so it's a skincare line, right? And she has good skin, although all movie stars do, don't they?

Valerie George (4:13)

Well, if they don't have great skin, they cover it up, that's for sure.

Perry Romnauski (4:18)

I wonder if you have to use special makeup for to appear good on film. Like, do you get special reflectors or anything like that?