Episode 340 - Tattoo skin care, mixing retinol, biomimicry and more

Perry Romanowski (0:01)

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

Hello, and 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 cosmetic industry. This is episode 340 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:31)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:32)

It's been a little while since we've connected, but travel will do that.

Valerie George (0:36)

And summer break.

Perry Romanowski (0:38)

Oh yes, summer break. Well, on today's show, with all new content, we're gonna be answering questions about whether biotechnology is gonna revolutionize the beauty industry. Do products designed for tattoos actually work? Is it okay to mix retinol with regular skincare products?

And does poly-L-lactic acid work as a topical ingredient? But first, Valerie, what's going on with you?

Valerie George (1:05)

Just been very busy with the summer, with projects, with travel. You've been traveling.

Perry Romanowski (1:11)

I have been traveling, yes.

Valerie George (1:14)

I just got back from a show in Las Vegas for work called Cosmoprof Las Vegas. It's a professional beauty show, meaning for nail technicians, for products sold in spas, products sold in salons, that kind of stuff.

It's turning into a bit more of a consumer beauty show, not just the professional world. But when I was there, I saw Jenny McCarthy.

Perry Romanowski (1:38)

Oh, you did?

She did. Jenny McCarthy. Now, she's some sort of actress. You know what I remember about Jenny McCarthy? What I remember about her most?

Valerie George (1:47)

What?

Perry Romanowski (1:47)

It's like when the internet was just first starting out, she was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most downloaded picture on the internet for a little while.

Valerie George (1:58)

Wow, yeah, that's a sign of the times. Well, I was like, oh my gosh, Jenny McCarthy, is she starting a beauty line? And then I forgot, she already has one.

Perry Romanowski (2:09)

She does?

Valerie George (2:11)

Yeah, it's called Formless Beauty, and it's more like a lip gloss, eyeshadows, that kind of stuff.

Perry Romanowski (2:20)

Okay.

Valerie George (2:21)

But she was there with her crew, looking at hideous packaging booths.

Perry Romanowski (2:27)

Well, you've got to do something in the beauty industry to make your product stand out. First, you could be a celebrity.

Next, you could have packaging changes, a brand name, a story. But the hardest thing to make it stand out is to make your products perform differently, especially for color cosmetics, right?

Valerie George (2:45)

Yeah, there's not much you can do. But that's what happened with me in the last couple weeks, aside from some production nightmares, sweating my butt off in the heat.

Perry Romanowski (2:57)

It is hot here in the US. Well, you know what happened to me when I...

So I went to Colorado. You know, it was like a nine-day trip when we drove. And when I got home, a fabulous trip, by the way, I went to see the Taylor Swift concert, and that was an amazing experience. There's like 70,000 people in this football stadium, and everybody knew all the words to all the songs. Well, except me, but...

Valerie George (3:24)

Oh, you know the words. Come on.

Perry Romanowski (3:26)

No, I know the words to some of the songs. But these people knew like every word to every song, and they were screaming at the top of their lungs.

But they did some really cool stuff, and I have to say, what an impressive performer. She was on stage for, you know, over three hours. She did like 44 songs, took no breaks, and she did like, you know, 12 or a dozen costume changes. Like she would disappear during a song and come out as some new outfit or something, but it's a pretty amazing show, I gotta say.

Valerie George (4:01)

It has to be exhausting, wow.

Perry Romanowski (4:04)

I know, but it was a lovely place, and I did not know like the stadium bleachers in a football stadium that are made out of concrete could actually shake and rumble. I was a little worried the place was going to come crashing down.

Valerie George (4:16)

You're a Swiftie.

Perry Romanowski (4:18)

Oh my God. I got Swiftieitis. Well, anyway, you know what happened, so I get back from this trip, and guess what's in my yard?

A new batch, a new batch of kittens.

Valerie George (4:32)

Oh my goodness. I thought you've been capturing and fixing all of them.

Well, there was someone dropping these off like a kittens, like, you know what guy is going to take care of my kittens?