Acne Deep Dive: Candida, Mold, Heavy Metals, Pore Clogging Ingredients, Hair Care, Diet Soda & How To Order At Restaurants w/ Clearstem Founders Danielle & Kayleigh (Pt. 2)
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Before you change your diet or go eliminating anything, check your makeup, your hair care, your all skincare for pore cloggers because you will find culprits in there and that's the first thing to eliminate and replace. This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. Hi everyone, welcome back to the show. Today we are talking all things acne. I

I talk a lot about acne and skincare on the show because it's something I have struggled with for over 10 years. And today I'm bringing back two of Powell's favorite guests of all time for a part two. We are welcoming Danielle and Kaylee from ClearStem. If you haven't already heard part one, I highly recommend you go back. It's the perfect intro to this episode. We covered all the basics the first time we spoke. And today we are going to get more advanced

I have had a whole journey since speaking to them and I've had, you know, really good moments with my skin and really figured out what works for me, but also some really hard moments. So we talk about that as well. We talk about candida and mycotoxins and mold and how that can really impact your skin. We also talk about heavy metals. We talk about their acne lab program and how you can actually get results on what's going on on the inside. Common problems they see in patients' lab work.

fasting blood sugar and cortisol and how that might be affecting your acne, how to approach caffeine if you have very acne prone skin, recommendations for eating out and what you can order to help your skin. This was a good one for me and it's something I've really been struggling with. Diet soda and how it could be impacting our skin, pore clogging ingredients to look out for, retinoids and purging. Is retinol the right thing for you? Microneedling do's and don'ts.

Zip patches, do they actually work? Perioral dermatitis? Yes.

makeup brand recommendations and acne safe hair care. We really get in depth today. A lot of products are recommended. I highly recommend you get a pen and paper out. This was a really good one and I left feeling with so much more knowledge and you know tips to use on my personal acne journey. I really hope you guys enjoy the show. Just a reminder to subscribe, leave a review. Love you all so much and let's hop right in. Danielle and Kayleigh, welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness.

Thank you. So happy to be back here. I know. I'm so excited. This is our part two episode. If you guys have not listened to part one, highly recommend you go back. It's the perfect introduction. I feel like we covered all the basics in that episode. And now we're going to kind of dive into the part two more advanced stuff.

I have kind of been on a whole journey since I last spoke to you guys. Started working with Emily Morrow, who I believe you guys partnered with for the Acne Lab program. Yes, she's our Acne Lab specialist for our Acne Lab panel division. Which I really want to talk about. And that...

unveiled for me a whole slew of internal problems, which I feel like we all kind of knew was occurring. Candida, mycotoxins, mold. So we'll talk about that. But first, I'd love to discuss why you guys decided to launch the Acne Lab panel testing and what it's done for the brand. This has been a dream since almost day one. So

If anyone listening to this has listened to part one, you know that we started because Danielle owns San Diego Acne Clinic and she helps people get clear who are struggling with acne. And that's really where Clear Stem was born.

But the other part of that, aside from topicals and then removing internal triggers, there's a certain percentage of people that are dealing with something more intense going on inside. And they can switch all their products over. They can remove all pore clogging ingredients. They can be using the best skincare for their skin. They can be exfoliating. They can remove all the known acne triggers. And they're still dealing with acne. And if anyone listening has dealt with that, you can feel it inside of you. You're like...

something is wrong. Something is off with my body. And maybe you've experienced going to doctors and dermatologists and being handed prescriptions and just say, oh, let's see if this will work.

and you know in your heart and you know in your body that something else is wrong. And there's a percentage of people who are struggling with acne that are dealing with that, and we wanted to service those people. And for a long time, I mean, all of our work with ClearStem was very one-on-one for a long time. Like in the beginning days, we'd hop on Zoom calls with people to go over their routine and what they were doing, and we would send people out to get lab work done

when we realized there was more of an internal problem. Both people for ClearStem and then Danielle would send people out for San Diego Acne Clinic. And the same patterns came back over and over again. We'd see, and that's actually why we created the MindBody Skin Supplement. But then there was other things that needed very different protocols. Like you said, Candida.

Mycotoxins, mold, all of these different things that needed a more individualized approach to it. And that's not something Danielle and I could do one-on-one. So we were thinking, how do we help the most people understand what's going on with their body? And Emily Amaro and I had been friends just through the space, the wellness space in general for years. And she was really passionate about root causes of acne through blood work.

And we all met and we're like, how can we make this happen? What kind of lab panel can we develop and formulate that really tackles all the root causes? So when people get their lab work back and then we have someone evaluate it for them, one of our acne lab specialists,

they can actually uncover and see what's going on and not feel like they're in this endless cycle. So when people go through it, they get the regular blood work back, the same blood work you'd get from a doctor. And then our acne lab specialists look at it very specifically through an acne lens.

and they develop protocols. And what you get back is the patterns they found for your root cause of acne. And then everyone who goes through the acne lab panel gets gifted three months into our membership where they can meet with other women who are also going through the same thing. We have videos in it, Emily and one of our other acne lab specialists, Hannah will do office hours in it. They do masterclasses in it to be able to answer questions. There's an ongoing feed and it's

It's actually, it's grown so much, it's really fun to see all the women in there helping each other. Like if someone's going through a protocol and a purge, it's like, oh, don't worry, mine only lasts about two weeks. This is what I did to help. And it's really encouraging to see. So we wanted to create this lab panel work

at scale for acne, but also create this community of people that could service and help each other. Yeah. The membership is like the biggest part of it, I feel, because how many times have you gone to a medical appointment and you can come as prepared as possible? Like I used to show up to mine with like a list of questions and not only could they not answer most of them, but we didn't have time, but then I'd get home and I'd be like, oh wait, I wanted to ask them this.

Or wait, I just tried this new supplement and I feel like it's making me better. I'd like to know why. Or this other supplement where I feel like it's making me worse and I want to know why. And then you're left nowhere. So you leave with more questions than answers. And the membership, people are like helping each other left and right. And like seeing that exponential growth and exponential level of assistance and light bulbs going off is like it's been the most satisfying thing ever. And it's what was needed. Yeah.

I, it was my favorite thing that I think I've ever seen because I talk so much here about lab work, internal problems. And the question was always like, where can I get this lab testing done? And I feel like you guys have given women the autonomy to find out on their own without needing to have that like gaslighting doctor appointment. They can just go on the website and order it and figure out what's going on. And I,

I applaud you guys. I thought that was a really great move. And I always mention it on the podcast because people ask so many times, like, how can I figure out what's going on? Have you noticed a reoccurring problem pop up in this lab work? Like what's something that you're seeing all the time with your acne patients? Yes, we meet with our acne lab specialists once a week and I am like ready with questions. I'm like, what's going on? What are the patterns? Has anything shifted? Because I'm so curious.

especially as we have more and more people taking the lab test. And the interesting one was off the charts heavy metals. Oh my God, I had that. Off the charts. Like to an alarming amount where like Hannah on our team will be like, like, I've never seen this before. And so heavy metals. And I think the really sad part of it all is she's like, I've never seen women so sick.

And they're just they're living their daily lives. It's not like they're sick in a hospital bed or on bed rest. It's like normal women going through their lives. But underneath it all, like they're dealing with rashes and acne and skin issues and brain fog and bloating. And it's just getting out of control. She's like, I've never seen numbers that look like this. What was alarming to me after working with Emily is that I consider myself really healthy. Like this is...

I live, eat, breathe health. Like it is a top priority for me. And even I had heavy metals, mycotoxins, candida. I can't even imagine someone who maybe isn't as aware of all the tools that I have. And I was thinking, you know, this perception that maybe seafood is a healthy choice. And I was eating salmon.

Very regularly. Me too. Like every other day. Literally for years, like every day, every other day. Because we think it's a healthy option. And then seeing these heavy metal overloads, I was like, that is weighing down my liver and that's affecting my hormones. Like it really is all connected. And I think it's important that we talk about that because how would we know? Yeah. Yeah.

Did you see anything other than heavy metals reoccurring that you think people should be aware of? Yes, actually. One of the things that we do test for that is not generally evaluated in a typical Western medicine appointment is fasting blood sugar.

Fasting blood sugar and cortisol are incredibly important. So that's why our lab, you want to do it first thing in the morning. You do it fasted, which means you can have water, just don't consume anything. And your cortisol should be... There's ranges for the disease range, which is what you'll be evaluated for in a Western medicine appointment. And then there's actual optimal healthy ranges, and that's what we analyze for. Then there's also fasting blood sugar. If it's really high, you know that something is probably off with the liver.

or something might be off with your digestion, perhaps when you're eating carbs, like things like that. So learning what those are and how to make little modifications in your diet, even if you don't change what you eat, but when you eat it can have a huge cascade effect on your overall wellness. And that's the kind of things people are learning in these office hours and through the masterclasses and through their work with Emily.

You mentioned cortisol. I think we talked about this last time, but I want to revisit. How do you guys approach caffeine in the morning? So,

So it's better to wait. Okay. Until after you eat. Until after you eat. Yeah, wait about an hour. There's a lot of research that shows if you have caffeine upon waking, it can kind of keep your cortisol levels high. Also, you just don't – caffeine is addictive. We all just need to be like really real about that. And the more you have it to get out of bed in the morning, the more you're going to psychologically need it and crave it.

So make sure that you're handling the psychologically addictive aspects of caffeine just for your spiritual well-being, but also for your physical well-being, having it later and being hydrated first. I always put a low, low, low sugar or no sugar creamer in mine. I don't do black coffee. I'm not that savage. But generally, most people, when they're having coffee, they're also getting a ton of sugar. So you're getting two addictive substances at once that give you a spike and an inevitable curation.

crash. So really understanding what you're consuming and how

how much caffeine you're consuming and how much sugar you're consuming and when is really important to just like get a sense of what changes need to be made. If you have protein first or protein in your coffee, that's great too. You can get a like unflavored bone broth protein and mix that in. You can also do like a spoonful of cashew butter first just to get some healthy fat in your system. And also we love apple cider vinegar in the morning first before you do anything because then even if you do have sugar with your coffee, it won't hit you as hard.

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Yeah. And then you guys have mentioned warm water with lemon. Yes. Yes. You can get that like the apple cider vinegar in the morning with water or warm water with lemon to start your morning just to get that one drink in before your coffee can be really helpful. And it is crazy how much warm water with lemon wakes you up in the morning.

Oh, for sure. And like a little pinch of salt. You're like, oh my gosh, I have energy. It's very interesting. And it can be a fun test. Like we like to make everything a game. It's like instead of being like, oh my gosh, I have to give up coffee or I have to remove it cold turkey for whatever reason. Make it a game. Like, oh, I'm going to test out just how I feel drinking warm water with lemon with a pinch of salt every single morning and just test it.

And because you like, you don't have to stick to one thing. You can jump around. You can find what works for you. I think we're all on the King coffee train too. Like that's made the biggest difference for my health. I got a facial the other day and I just come back from traveling. And the woman I was getting a facial from, she was like,

how does your skin look so good while you travel all the time? And of course, I have amazing clear skincare routine. If we're talking about the other things to it, I travel everywhere with my King Coffee and my daily basics that I put in it. And I no longer go to coffee shops. I'll make it at the hotel and just have my King Coffee, my daily basics. And I genuinely think that has kept my body functioning really well while traveling a lot and my skin for that matter. I have

say every time so i'm having a flare-up right now i wish you guys had seen after i worked with emily i had clear skin naturally for the first time in 10 years for months and i was like most amazing feeling really feeling myself and i was like yes like finally i was like i guess i'm not acne prone anymore no like literally no um moved to austin my routine got kind of messed up i was like eating rx bars in the van we drove drove from l.a to austin

My skin was like, what the hell? And everything kind of came back. So now I'm very much on the journey of like, I need to go back to what I was doing. I was doing the warm water with lemon with salt. She told me that was good for liver detoxing. And I was doing the king coffee and I was not getting coffee out.

And guys, for context, I think they've heard me talk about King Coffee before like a million times. But it's basically like a mushroom coffee, but it really is quite delicious. Like it really tastes like coffee and it's much lower caffeine. Yeah, the company has been around forever. And so you might go to their socials and be like, what is this company? They're not a brand that's led through social at all. They're more through the practitioner network. So they work with a lot of naturopaths, practitioners. So and they're very heavy internationally in the health space.

And so they're not like this new trendy mushroom situation going on. They have a lot of clinical studies beyond their medicinal amount of Ganoderma reishi spores. And they have a couple other different spores and fruiting bodies in each of their coffees for different feelings. Like there's one that's definitely a little higher in caffeine and more for focus. But

it can be a very healing coffee. There's a lot of people who have autoimmune conditions that are taking it, a lot of people that are dealing with other diseases and you can just go on their website and go to their practitioner. So I'm not speaking necessarily on behalf of them, but it's something to look at. If you're someone that loves coffee and it's not something you want to quote give up, just try it out and try how you feel. Give it a week or two.

And then it's interesting because when you go back to regular coffee, at least for me, I am so jittery, so anxious. I'm like, is this what I was doing before when I was having coffee at a coffee shop almost every single morning? And it's just it's it's fun.

Like you just get to feel the difference in your body. And I think when you can feel those moments of being intuitive with your body and know what works and what doesn't work, it's exciting. Totally. Oh, okay. I went off track doing this, but now I know what I can get back to. Yeah. I love that. And I just think knowing and then making your own decisions is the most powerful thing. Yeah. Everyone's going to wild out once in a while. Yeah. If I'm having a shit day, I go to Panda Express and get orange chicken. Yeah.

My drink of choice is a martini. Same. I like stock up on the General Tso's chicken because it's like orange chicken. There's something about orange chicken, General Tso's chicken that's so good. It has sugar in its pride. Yes, exactly. It's nice to hear that you guys aren't perfect all the time because-

with acne, I've had acne for so long, there is this shame, like I have to really be so disciplined to make my skin clear. Like that's just the truth. It's so much work all the time. It's almost hard to wrap your head around, like, why can't I just be a normal person? You know, like when I go out and about in the world and people are eating pizza or even just like

ordering regular at a restaurant, there's maybe like a little dairy on it. That will mess my skin up. And to wrap my head around this idea of needing to be someone that never eats dairy, never eats gluten, can't get coffee out, can't really have sugar that often. That's a tough thing to get past. And I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to accepting it. But, you know, I used to break out and completely spiral and be like, what's wrong with me? Like, I don't understand. But now I'm kind of seeing

I wanted to ask you guys about this with candida and heavy metals. That's a long process to get rid of that kind of stuff. Long protocols. So the fact that I'm breaking out again now, like how long do you guys think this will take once I get back on routine? Yeah.

Usually a rebound is it will happen faster and you can get back to that place faster because your body isn't as far off as you were when you first tried it. That's what I've seen. I've been doing this, doing specializing in acne hardcore for like 10 years and I've worked with every different case you can imagine. So the first hill to climb is always the hardest.

And then we test, we take liberties, we start flipping. And subconsciously, we're probably just testing it to see what we can get away with. That's what humans do. So then you're like, okay, this is my threshold. Let's get back to this good place again. And sometimes it's just timing wise too. Like if you are under a lot of stress and you're building companies like so many people in this room are, sometimes you just have other priorities. And you're just like, okay, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to do my 80% best this month because I have other shit to do. Yeah. And that's okay. And then you focus hard on it. It's kind of like with weight loss. I'm sure you can imagine you can't be hardcore all the time. Yeah. And it just comes down to loving yourself regardless and at least being informed. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you guys have recommendations of ordering at restaurants for the acne prone girls? Yes. I'm actually on a very strict diet right now because I'm working separately with this endocrinologist. I'm doing like a six month program with her because hormones rule so much and they are so mysterious. So,

So I'm working with this endocrinologist and we've been doing hardcore elimination for the last like six weeks. And a lot of it I already don't eat like gluten, dairy, and I really avoid sugar. But we had to cut all of it out, even sugar substitutes. And then we've also eliminated all grains at this point and shellfish, stuff that I – like I eat shrimp like pretty much every meal, right? So I'm basically just eating two servings of cooked vegetables with every meal including breakfast and then clean grass-fed protein. Mm-hmm.

Beef usually? Not always because I find that's just so hard to do when you're on the go and stuff. So I actually really love sea bass. I've been making sea bass. I'm actually doing more chicken salad than I've ever done before. It's just easy to digest kind of stuff. I'm trying to be simple with my system. And that's why they want you to do the cooked vegetables too because they're easier on your system than raw vegetables.

But I feel amazing. And to answer your question, when I'm at restaurants now, it's really difficult. So just basically the fish option with no dairy and a side of vegetables. Every restaurant will have that. Do you tell them you're allergic to dairy? Um...

It depends. Yeah, generally for dairy, I will. I'm not truly celiac, so I won't say that about gluten because then they have to like change the fry oil and it's like a whole thing, right? But I generally will tell them it's a dairy allergy just so that I don't have to pick the cheese off and worry about that. Okay. Okay, that's good to know. It like...

When I'm at restaurants, I get nervous to say I'm allergic to dairy, but I know if there's dairy on it. Other than butter, I'm okay with butter. Butter's fine. I eat so much butter. So much butter. I eat a ton of butter. It doesn't have the same insulin growth factors that the actual milk has. It's just the fat pretty much. And that one's okay. The messengers are in the proteins and that's in the milk itself and the cheese. And I think asking at the restaurants, you can almost build that muscle, like build that confidence muscle there.

And I remember I would get so nervous. Like I went through the darkest part of my health when I was almost 10 years ago. I was 24 years old. And...

I was on a protocol for almost a year and it was so challenging to the point where I'd eat before going out with friends because I couldn't eat anything. And then I built my confidence up and it's like, no, I just rearrange things on the menu all the time. And it's nice because I'm at a point of my health now that I can be a tiny bit more lax. So with cheese, I can allow

like a goat cheese or something on it or a sheep's milk, but I will say no to the other cheeses. I'm still very sensitive to gluten extremely. And I'll have a lot of other issues just besides acne if I eat gluten. But it's just confidence around it of just –

almost not caring what they think and just asking for what you want and sticking to it. Yeah, and don't, the servers just want to make you happy. As long as you're grateful and you treat them as a human doing their job and you're like, thank you so much. This was delicious. And you leave a good tip. Everybody's cool. Yeah. It doesn't, I think, I think it's hard for people to like, you know, see themselves as high maintenance or something, something like that. It's like a little bit of an identity change, but a nice server just wants you to be happy. What's your guys' take on diet sodas?

If I...

The only time I drink Diet Coke is on airplanes for some reason. I don't know why. It's because they always come through and offer. Me too. And that's the only thing. Me too. Because you want a little treat. Yeah, exactly. But I don't want to eat the airplane food. So I'm like, let me get a Diet Coke and I'll eat my own food. Gives you the little fizzies. Yeah. Yeah. But I know there's things in there that we don't want. For sure. Yeah. So I'll do a club soda first the first time they come around. And then as my treat, I'll do a little bit of Diet Coke. I mean, it's not heroin. Yeah. Come on.

For me, I'm a very big picture person. So it's like, hey, when you want to have something here or there and you truly treat it as a treat, go for it. Have whatever that vice is to you. Like for me, that's like when I want a glass of alcohol, I'm leaning towards martini. If you're like vice of drink is Diet Coke, go for it. Like it's all, it's kind of all on the same like level playing field. Do you know what I mean? And the best protocol is the one you're going to stick to. Yeah. But overarching, I don't like to keep anything in the house.

and I like to break habits. So for instance, I'm going to use David, my boyfriend, as an example. He's the perfect example for this. So our lazy night dinner is going to the hot bar at Erewhon because you can get like the combo plate where anyone listening, you can get like a protein in two sides. And it's our lazy dinner because we are sadly in walking distance, which is really dangerous. I know. I've seen you guys there multiple times. Yeah. It's very expensive. I know. It's like if I didn't thaw out the meat and it's like a whole thing, we're exhausted. So...

We go and he had a huge habit of every single time he'd get an Olipop, he'd get a gluten free cookie and he'd get a bag of chips. And it was it was such a pattern for him. It was something he looked forward to. And it was just every single time. And when we had conversations about how he'd feel and, you know, his he doesn't deal with acne, but anything that we're talking about on this podcast that flares you up, he deals with sinus issues. So that's how it comes for him.

So I was like, let's, I was, he's like asking for my advice. I'm like, next time we go, let's pick out two out of three of those. You have the lollipop, the cookie and the chips. Just pick two next time. And slowly we weaned it down to none. And he literally just said this to me two days ago. He was like, it's been probably two or three weeks of when we go to Air One, we just get our food. No, no.

No sodas, no chips, no cookies. He was like, I have never felt better in my entire life. I can breathe. I have energy. I sleep better. And he was like, I don't understand. Like, it's just because I took out those three things. He was struggling to put it together because he doesn't come from like, you know, our crazy obsession with like wellness and health. And he was like, I didn't realize how much just those little additions were impacting me.

Something that I've been trying to do on my wellness journey with my skin and my overall, you know, gut issues is limiting the amount of caffeine I'm drinking every day. I was drinking a lot, a lot of coffee, like three a day. And I think it was having a really negative impact on my cortisol, my anxiety and my skin.

So I recently switched to the Peak Non-Darker Coffee Alternative. I have been drinking Peak for a long time. I've been using the crystallized teas and the matcha. I discovered it when I lived in New York and I find it to be so delicious. And I love the fact that it eliminates the idea of a tea bag. Non-Darker is the only coffee replacement designed for women. It's a delicious morning ritual that nourishes rather than depletes. It has cacao that activates metabolism, combats bloat and curbs sugar cravings.

It has slow release caffeine that is proven to sustain energy with no jitters or crash and combat sluggishness. And it has functional mushrooms and adaptogens to promote hormonal balance, which we love. It controls hormonal acne, supports clear radiant skin and regulates PMS and mood. I love the fact that

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That's wild. And isn't it funny how it shows up differently for everyone? Like my husband does not have acne, but he has like gut problems. He'll feel it in his stomach. He'll get lethargic. It really, and for me, it just comes out on my skin. So it kind of is a blessing because it stops me from eating bad things because I don't want the acne. And I like you mentioning Olipop. I love poppies. I think the brand is amazing. I love the founder. But for me personally, I think they're delicious. I wish I could have them, but I was having them quite regularly. And I...

it has sugar in it. Like at the end of the day, it is a soda. So I had to remove those. I was doing the same thing, but with Kin. I was having a Kin almost every single day. I was having four. And then, yeah, we were obsessed. We were obsessed with Kin. And like, don't get me wrong. I haven't tried it. Again, branding, like where like, I love them. So this is no shade, but,

the point of it, the poppies, the lollipops, the kins, any of these beverages that are just, it's liquid calories and it's liquid ingredients. And so it's going to shoot through our system. We're not like chewing it, digesting it. And so it's going to affect our bodies in a really intense way. And I noticed as soon as I cut out the kin, my body like tightened up. I felt less bloated. I was, I was,

having a lot of health issues because I was just having a carbonated beverage with a lot of ingredients every single day. So it almost at some point, it doesn't really matter what it is. But when you're drinking a packaged canned beverage, there's a lot of ingredients in it that are just

going right through you in a liquid form and just not being digested properly or it's things that our body doesn't even know what to do with. Yeah. Because it's like where in nature can it find those things in liquid form? Like it just doesn't exist. So our body is just a little confused. Anyway, we've talked a lot about internal problems, which is I could geek out on all day.

I want to talk about pore clogging ingredients. I feel like this topic is really popping off right now in skincare, in makeup. We're kind of all realizing as a society, and you guys knew this already, but clean doesn't always mean clean.

actually clean. It's like a marketing term, right? So talk to us about what pore clogging ingredients are and where should we be like looking out for them? I love this question. So we're the ones making this topic pop up. We don't shut up about it. We don't shut up about it. You're like, we're the reason. You heard it here first. Yeah.

So I love that you're mentioning this clean does not mean acne safe. It just flat out does not mean acne safe. And people get duped by this all the time because, you know, in our head we think clean and yeah, that should mean free of poor cloggers, but it doesn't. It means free of like endocrine disruptors and toxins and things like that.

that are also very important to eliminate, but it doesn't have anything to do with acne. You can have the cleanest routine ever and be using things that have like organic shea butter and shaman blessed coconut oil. It's still gonna break you out because it is thicker than our natural oil. And that's as simple as we need to be thinking about it. So pore clogging ingredients. So acne is both internal and external.

Anyone who tells you differently does not know what they are talking about. So internal we touched on and we really dove into it on episode one. But external is where people really need to have that crucial attention to detail. And we made that simple for them. So when you are using a product topically and it has any filler agent that is thicker than your natural oil, it can clog your pore and you will break out relentlessly.

like relentlessly forever, even if you're doing everything else right. So eliminating these is the crucial step one. You copy and paste the ingredients into the ingredient checker that we designed on our website.

Hit enter. It'll tell you in red if there's a pore clogger. This is the number one thing you do before you change anything else. Before you change your diet or go eliminating anything, check your makeup, your hair care, your all skin care for pore cloggers because you will find culprits in there and that's the first thing to eliminate and replace. And

everyone listening I know this feels like a task and it is a task but it is so worth doing like sitting there and putting everything in I probably should go back and do mine again because I didn't use your guys's the first time I think I used more of a vague one and I think I need to go back and really check but I always use clear stem and I love and trust your guys's brand I my husband's mom uses it now which I absolutely love she was like what is that orange bottle you're always using and I'm like oh my god it's

clear stem cleanser, obviously. But anyway, I really think it's super important. What does...

What do pore clogging ingredients do other than give us acne? They create dullness in the skin and they prevent the skin from being able to quote breathe. So even if you don't have acne and you just want to age well, because ClearStem is equally anti-aging and anti-acne. That's why we talk about this so much. Because even if your concern is just primarily anti-aging, if you're using things that are kind of weighing in your pores and like taking up too much space and interfering with

sweating and interfering with other nutrient absorption from your other skincare, it's going to have a negative impact on how you age. So letting your skin, you know, keep it as breathable as possible. Just think of it that way. And eliminating things like coconut oil, for example. It's extremely thick. It's a wax at room temperature. It doesn't go in your pores. For some people, it's their holy grail for like maybe like 10, 15% of the population. For the rest of us, it's just not the best thing, right? So really,

eliminating those can help your skin do its own natural processes better and allow for better absorption of everything else you're using like anti-aging ingredients such as peptides right you want those to have full access to your skin and be able to penetrate as much as possible so removing the things that are too thick will help for better penetration of the good stuff what i love about

your guys's brand what I love about clear stem is the fact that you have both struggled with acne and I always say this but I don't trust anyone's advice if they haven't had acne oh yeah if you haven't gone through I won't even hire anyone at the clinic who hasn't gone through it wow hard hard stop all of our employees too everyone has dealt with skin issues and acne on our team because they have to be one of our core values as a company is being one with the cusp

So if someone in the DMs and emails, whatever it is, pouring their heart out with their struggle with acne and the mental state that they're in, then they need help. Someone who hasn't struggled with acne can't feel that empathetically. They can't be in their shoes empathetically.

And we want everyone's, no matter what department they're in, if they're creating content, if they're writing copy, if they're designing a landing page, if they're talking one-on-one with the customer, we need our employees to really be in the mindset of what our customers are going through. Yeah. And I'm actually grateful. So I'm way more acne prone than Kaylee is. She went through a very, very severe episode of it. Mine is like long-term, runs in my family on both sides, well into people's 70s. Like it's nuts, right? Wow.

Right. So I break out a lot more frequently, but I'm also like the perfect guinea pig to help teach other people. I had a crazy episode, not the facial I was just talking about. A few weeks before that, I had another facial because I love just trying out new places. I wish I could go to San Diego Acne Clinic every single day.

Me too. I should just have a mobile clinic and just drive to people's houses. I would love that because I'm like, oh, that would be sick. I've seen people like personal trainers do these little trailers. You should do that. Oh, that's sick. Like a cute clear stem trailer. You know what I mean? Oh, shit. Okay. I love that idea. I would attend. So I went and got this facial and I was just going for more lymphatic work, buccal massage, all of those things. And...

you know, I was trying to be cool and relaxed and not like hyper check every single product she was using on my face. I asked her ahead of time, is there anything with pork clogging ingredients? I listed off some of them. She's like, no, no, no. Like, okay. And normally I grab the bottle and I look and I'm like, I'm just, I'm going to be a cool girl today. I'm going to be

It's like you're talking about like eating the RX bars and you're like, I'm just going to relax. I'm a normal girl. I'm a normal girl today. So it's just being chill, relaxed. I ended up breaking out so bad from that facial. Come to find out the exfoliating mask she used had shea butter in it. So like my skin's being exfoliated and cleaned out and then shea butter driven so deep into my pore because exfoliation, something, another topical cream, she had shea butter and I'm like, oh,

So I ended up having like five cystic ones. This was like three weeks ago around my cheeks. And I was like, oh, I haven't dealt with that in a while because I am so hyper aware of everything causing acne. But I just go right. I went right back into the mindset. I'm like, all right, instead of getting really down about this, I'm going to put myself on a protocol. And that was more external because this one wasn't caused from internal. So I

I did our exfoliating mask. We have a little diamond buff tool. I buffed around it. And then I did our sulfur spot mask, which I hadn't got because we just launched our sulfur spot mask a few months ago. So I hadn't gotten to try it on my skin while I was actively breaking out. I tried it when I didn't have acne. And oh my gosh, Danielle. Danielle whipped this up in the lab. It's insane. It's insane.

I was showing this on stories and I'm like, I know I'm biased and like we created this product, but like, oh my God, I'm like shocked by my own product that we have because I got, so I have really fair skin and so I can have pigmentation leftover from acne for weeks and weeks and weeks. Me too. And I use the sulfur spot mask two or three days in a row and then so many pumps of cell renew because cell renew can help a lot with the pigmentation. Yeah.

And I got my cyst to flatten in two days and all the pigmentation was gone within a week. Wow. I was like, what? Okay. So that's the hack. That's the hack. And so it's like you have your internal and your external protocol. We talked about the internal one. It's like, all right, got to whip it into shape for a few days for a week. Let me get everything back in shape. And then same with external. Like if you break out from poor quality ingredients, you have your little protocol. And I was like,

I'm not going to get down about this. I'm just going to get right to the protocol. I'm going to zap these and we're going to be done. So it felt good having the confidence of knowledge in that of like,

This sucks. I don't want to have to deal with these, but I'm going to get rid of these. Do you sleep in the sulfur treatment? You can. I do. So it's a spot and mask, and you can use it a lot of different ways. So you can treat... I love to tell people you can treat different areas of your face wildly differently. Like your forehead's the most perfect patch of skin I've ever seen, right? Thanks, babe. Thanks, babe.

But you have your hot zone is what I call it, right? So you can, if you're chilling at home, you can just leave that on, that zone, all day and then have a moisturizing mask on your forehead or an eye patch mask on. Like different zones of your face should be treated accordingly. So you can leave the mask on proactively for like, say, like 30 minutes. Think of it like a clay mask on steroids, right? So you can do that for 30 minutes and then rinse it off and then continue with your normal routine. Or you can leave it just on spots, layer your makeup on.

over it or you can leave it um overnight like a lot of people just break out right on their jawline you can do your whole skincare routine and then just leave the spot mask on your entire jaw overnight okay and that's awesome so play around with it we want everyone to become their own personal esthetician and test things out and really learn like oh i can do two layers of this and my skin loves it or i should do my clarity every other night that's my perfect you know my perfect

regimen. So yeah, there's different ways to use everything. And the mask is extremely versatile. Okay, I love that. I'm definitely going to do that because I am such a like hair down type of person. A lot of people are. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That makes me feel better. So I asked the girls if they had questions for you. And I saw a couple things keep popping up. Retinoid. I feel like it's a huge topic on TikTok. What's the view on retinoids? They're all different. I mean, if you get like a really low strength

You know, let's call it a vitamin A appropriate, like a more, you know, gentle one. And it's in a formula that is, you know, also has some calming ingredients. It might make you purge a little bit. You might like the benefits, right?

pretty much all retinols are going to make you purge, by the way. Is purging good? It depends. So when we're purging in a detox, like an internal detox scenario, yeah, it's coming out one way or another and we're forcing it out. And if you're acne prone, it's going to come out through your skin versus like, say you were purging, you were doing a cleanse protocol, but you were really prone to anxiety. It would show up as anxiety, right? So in that context, yes, it is part of a means to an end. Purging in skincare is sometimes necessary, sometimes not.

So back to the types of retinol. So if you're using one that's gentle and it's appropriate for your skin, you might get a little bit of a purge and it might go away for you if you're not that acne prone. Great. You're one of the lucky ones. If you go and use one of the prescription ones, the prescription retin-A or prescription tretinoin, those are known to create nasty purges. And there's two different kinds of it. One's a gel, one's a

cream. The cream white one usually has an ingredient called isopropyl myristate, which is like one of the worst pore clogging fillers that exists.

So what I have seen in my 10 years of doing this and my own personal experience, right? When people start using that one, they get a nasty purge. Their skin is very red and irritated and the purge never stops because their pores are getting refilled with the filler agent that that thing is made of. Gives me so much anxiety. It's crazy. It's interesting when we talk about it and we post on Instagram and there's reels about it.

We have a lot of people in the comments that are like, "Thank you so much for saying this. I couldn't use any types of retinols. I couldn't use the prescription version. I didn't know what was wrong with me because my best friend could use it, but I couldn't. And I tried to stick it out through the purge, but it just crushed me. It crushed my mental health and it just did not work for me. I thought something was wrong with me. Thank you for saying this. This changed my life." And then there's a whole other grouping of people that are honestly kind of nasty in

- If I'm being honest. - Retinoid warriors. - They are literally retinol warriors and they are so mean, so nasty in the comments that we are simply educating about both sides of the story. It's like, there are people that cannot use it the same way. Like there's some people who are highly allergic to vitamin C. There's some people that are like, there's very specific ingredients that some people just cannot use for their skin and that's back to bio-individuality. But when you're talking about pore cloggers,

Like the acne community is not going to be able to use those products that contain it. But it's just been interesting to see how activated and angry people get when we speak out against prescription retinols. In reality, we're just speaking to the people that want to feel heard.

Yeah. That are like, I've tried this and it destroyed my skin. It destroyed my mental health. I never stopped purging. We don't want them to feel alone and we don't want them to feel bullied into, oh no, you just didn't use it right. Or you didn't use it for long enough. It's like, no, it didn't work for their skin. They didn't like it. It just, it destroyed their skin. And so we want to make those people feel seen and heard in their own experience. Yeah. And a lot of, you know, we, it's not like us versus the dermatologist, right? Like we don't want to be positioned that way, but

Dermatologists have a very specific set of playbooks and a very limited set of tools that they're able to use. Antibiotics, birth control, spironolactone, topical retinols.

There's some other stuff mixed in, but those are the big ones, right? And then Accutane when all of those fail. So those are the people that vehemently defend the status quo because those are the only tools they have. They literally can't go over your products with you. They don't have time in the appointment. They're not trained on nutrition for acne. The average MD gets about 19 hours of nutritional education per

in their entire career. And it's all about contraindications for prescriptions, like don't have grapefruit if you're on statins, like that kind of thing. It's not anti-inflammatory eating. It's not egg white sensitivity for a certain part of the population affecting their lymphatic zone. None of that gets talked about. So there's just a lot of people get so activated because the information is pretty siloed depending on what angle you're coming at this from. Totally. And we just like to explain to people why they might be having a certain experience.

So important. And I think when these trends pick up on TikTok, it spreads like wildfire and you almost feel like, oh, I haven't tried that. Like, is that something I need to try? And as an acne prone gal, I see these things and get tempted. But most of the time I don't react well. So I appreciate you guys speaking to that.

On the topic of purging, something that I've found that makes me purge really bad that I wanted to pick your guys' brain about is microneedling. And I know it's so beneficial because

is it worth doing if it's making me break out this bad? You're not supposed to do micro... So I love that question and I'm sorry you're having the experience. I actually just got microneedled two days ago and I pushed the appointment because I was having a little bit of breakout from a makeup that I got done during a photo shoot. It was breaking me out a little bit. So I actually pushed the appointment. If you are past...

the breaking out stage or you're in a stage where you're not really breaking out, then microneedling is fantastic. If you're still in the throes of a breakout cycle, hold off. I've microneedled people for years and what I'll do is because I'm an acne specialist, right? Almost everyone's having some sort of issue with acne. What I'll do is I can go around the area and I'll just treat that area with a little bit of peel. Okay.

Okay. So, but I won't touch the area that's actively breaking out. Like you could do your forehead and your cheeks and be totally fine. I highly doubt you'd purge there, but if it's in your hot zone, you're going to purge. Okay. I did it when I wasn't breaking out. Really? Yeah. What did they put on after you? After it, sorry. What did they put on? Cause I, the balm that they give me, I throw it away. It was called, it had some scientific name, not isotope. It was like

Do you want to, for your audience, let's look up the ingredients to that balm and see if that's what was actually causing it? It was like a liquidy. She said it was great for healing. I mean, potentially you're right. Do you recommend doing nothing after? So we use our Selvernu serum. Our Selvernu serum is actually so gentle that it can be used as a microneedling solution. Wow. So I just use a ton of that. And then that, and I do with PRP and the good places will send you home with a little to-go vial of your PRP.

So the first two nights, I'm just doing Cell Renew and the PRP. And then after that, I'm just doing our hydrating products. If you need a balm, which, you know, you should have that if you're like doing like a laser treatment or your skin's really compromised.

is actually okay for very acute situations and it won't break you out. Okay. PRP is blood. It's where they take your blood, they spin it and they get the platelet rich fibrin or platelet rich plasma. There's PRF and PRP. But yeah, it's basically from your own blood. Okay. Cause I've never been given PRP. Oh,

Oh, I think you would like that. Yeah, that's my I now won't do microneedling unless it's PRP because with how pricey it is, you get more of a benefit from PRP than you do just an average hyaluronic acid solution. Yeah, it kickstarts the healing response that you're ultimately banking on. You know, all of these treatments, you're doing a controlled inflammation technique to get the healing response. Like you inflame yourself at a four, you heal at an eight, you net the four.

Does that make sense? Right. So a lot of times where these go wrong is you're not amplifying the healing process directly after. And the 48 hours post any procedure is crucial. Crucial. Right. So having a practitioner who really understands your skin and can help make sure that that window is optimized right after the treatment. That's the fun thing to really dial in. And PRP is a big part of that. OK, so next time I go, I will get the PRP.

Yes. And SPF is so, so important in all the day. I mean, always. It's important every day, but especially in those following days after PRP. And if they send you microneedling, if they send you home with one, make sure that you are quadruple checking those ingredients because 99% of the time SPFs are going to have pork loggers in them. So, I mean, we have our UR Sunshine, we have our Sunny Side. You can use those, but any non-pork logging SPF is fine. That is a...

not a chemical-based sunscreen. So you want to be looking for zinc, no pork loggers, and that's going to be your safety sunscreen for after. You're pretty much not going to find that anywhere but us. Just get You Are Sunshine. It's the best sunscreen ever made. I use You Are Sunshine every single day. It's the best. I made it to be the best. I don't leave the house without it on. I also use it when I'm going to an early morning workout because it has a little bit of a tint and it just makes me feel like a little cuter than me.

Yeah. Oh, you know what you can do to mix a little bit of your makeup in there. I use loose powder and I have some liquids. You can mix both in there and make your own little custom CC cream. Boom. It really is the best. It's like one of my top three products from you guys. The Lips and Cutes, the Gentle Cleanser and the You Are Sunshine. All so healing. So restoring for the skin. Obsessed. Okay, wait, would you guys ever make zip patches?

Like, what's the feeling? Why are you laughing? No, I love your excitement. We've talked about this for like two years. Yeah, yeah. We've talked about it a lot. And I also love your excitement. It brings me joy. Okay, fine. We'll do it. Mari said we have to do what we're doing. Okay, because I like them simply because it stops me from touching. Yeah. And I am such an anxious picker that I need to cover them.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And they also make me feel a little bit more confident if I'm going to a workout and I'm like breaking out really bad. I put the zip patch on and I almost feel better about it. I totally agree. I think as far as like benefits of healing acne, there's not much. But to what you said, the most important valuable part of them is it helps you from not

touching it and especially the ones that are skin tone it just blends right in so you can't see it and you can even do a full makeup routine over it and you cannot even notice that someone has one on when they're that skin color yeah we're big proponents of those anything that's going to add value to your routine and stop you from picking is fantastic right um they do some of

do you have a little bit of a healing property too? Like they can draw out the impurities. For cystic ones, they can be somewhat helpful, but for like the little whiteheads, yeah, they're super helpful. Okay. Whether we're going to make them, I don't know. I feel like it's been done before. I'm such an innovative mindset. I'm like, no, someone's already done it. I'm not interested. Well, I would be a customer just so you know. Thank you. I also had a lot of questions about, I want to say this correctly, perioral dermatitis.

What is that? It means unexplained skin irritation around your mouth. So there's not really one thing that causes it. It's a general term for a rash around your mouth, essentially. So perioral, like the perimeters of your mouth. And then dermatitis is like inflammation of the skin. And that can look like little bumps, can

It can look like a rash. It can look like dryness. It's just basically irritation and whatever flavor that arrives for you. It can be caused by a lot of different things. It can be caused from chemical reactions a lot of the time, like things in, like say, like some people get it from chemical sunscreens.

It can be from things like parabens. It can be from toothpaste sometimes. It can be from lip products. There's also a lot of internal triggers, but those are so wide ranging. Gluten, I will say, is the culprit. Gluten's on the scene of the crime for almost every unexplained skin issue. Even vitiligo. Even vitiligo. It's always on the scene. Gluten can make that worse. I have a client with that and she knows. I've seen it. Wait, what is vitiligo? Vitiligo is where you completely lose pigment on patches of your skin. Wow.

Yeah, it's a big deal. And gluten could be the reason. Gluten absolutely affects us. We track it. Wow. So yeah, gluten is at the scene of the crime making everything worse. It's like...

It's so yeah. Red handed. Okay. Yeah. But that is one of the more frustrating ones. Our products actually have been known to help with that. Alyssa, Alyssa Lynch actually talks a lot about she didn't really have acne, but she did get that. And our products are the only things that have been helping. That's because we put anti-inflammatories in all of our products. Which I love. Great thought behind that. Yeah.

Back to the pore clogging topic. I had a lot of girls asking and I'm pretty curious. Do you guys have any makeup brands that you would recommend that are non-pore clogging? Yes. Our OG from the very beginning is Priya. Okay. I just placed a very large Priya order. Good. You're the color warm beige. Oh, that's good.

I think I got one bit. Yeah. It's going to look perfect on you. It's going to look so, maybe a little bit of caramel sprinkled in there for like if you have self-tanner on to help balance it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We are obsessed. And that's spelled P-R-I-I-A. Yes. And you can't, she's a small women-owned business, but she's an acne specialist who follows the exact same ethos. Oh my God.

God, I love that. Yeah, so she's not going to reformulate with nasty stuff because that's what happens all the time. I'll recommend a brand, it's fine, and then it's not fine anymore. Armani Luminous Silk used to be

It's not safe. And there's an ingredient in it that's called hexyl lauryl and it's popping up more and more on poor clogging list. And if you're super acne prone like I am, it does clog me up a little bit. Most other people are fine with it. So it's there's a there's always a scale. It's never 100 percent yes or 100 percent no most of the time. But Priya is 100 percent safe.

Yes. I've also... We found two others that are more in the liquid form that I've been trying out. I've tried Euphoria. Youthphoria. I just ordered that too. Yeah, I've been trying Youthphoria, which is a great liquid. And then one I've really been loving, it's by the company called Make Beauty. And it's very specifically their Dew Skin Tint. Again...

And Priya, every single thing she sells is always acne safe. A lot of these other brands we're talking about, we have to pick and choose what products and they could potentially reformulate one day. So...

always triple check. But I've been loving the Make Beauty one and that's the one I've actually been mixing into my You Are Sunshine to create this like glowy, seamless foundation that I've been absolutely loving. And then, but Priya, it's, I know we're like talking about it so much, but they have these calming ingredients in it and your skin just radiates truly when you wear it. Yeah. You can go to bed with a full face of Priya makeup and wake up better the next

day. Yeah, it's all like really calming, insane ingredients. Are you guys friends with her? I know her just professionally, but I can't, I wouldn't say friend. You guys should collab with something. I know. She's in Western, or sorry, she's in Eastern PA in like a really tiny town, like two hours outside of Philadelphia. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay. Well, I did just do a whole

order of new because I'm having this breakout yeah and I did have George what is it luminous silk yeah that was in my makeup bag for my podcast days and now photo shoots yeah well I got this question actually the other day because I love to get my makeup done for weddings and some like photo shoots and I just I think it's a fun little treat when when I can get it done

And usually I have them use the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk. And I check some of the other products. But, you know, some are like iffy ingredients. So, again, back to the protocol. I always put myself on like evening protocol. Anytime I have my makeup professionally done, I end the night by doing our pregame mask and then our clarity serum. You do want to make sure anyone listening to this that your skin is benign.

built up to do both at the same time because they are very exfoliating. So for someone listening that's new to exfoliation, you might just want to do pregame mask and then all hydrating ingredients after or lightly exfoliate then use Clarity. But my skin is very built up

to exfoliation. So I am able to handle both. So I do a pregame mask. I do Clarity, let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes to activate. And then I follow with a ton of hydrating products. And I can usually zap anything that's in the pore just because I'm like exfoliating, clearing everything out right after my makeup. Yeah. Clarity is like the biggest game changer of the entire Clear Stem lineup. It's a mandelic acid blend that also has turmeric.

and a little bit of vitamin, excuse me, a little vitamin C. So the mandelic acid is like the Goldilocks of acids. It will physically travel into your pore and dissolve the clog. The clog is made from makeup. It's made from dead skin cells. It's made from oil. It's just basically like a waxy plug and you have to use an acid to break that down.

Benzoyl peroxide does not break it down. Retinoids don't break it down. They do other stuff that might help, but in order to unclog your pore from things like this, Clarity is what you would use. Okay.

I know you guys have two exciting launches coming up. Are we allowed to talk about them? Yeah. Okay. Let's do it. Let's talk. I want to hear what they are. We have a lot, actually. We'll start with? We'll start with the two that are like coming up in the next couple of months. Okay. Acne safe hair care. Finally. Finally. And it's not just acne safe. It's salon quality bomb.

It's extension safe, like blowout perfection, like what you want from your hair care, except it's now acne safe. This is like revolutionary stuff. From day one, our biggest question we've gotten asked for a product that we don't carry is what is an acne safe shampoo and conditioner that I can use? Because conditioner is a huge culprit. And so over the last six, seven years, we've recommended so many different brands. Some of them reformulate. So we have to recommend more. And it's just been...

It's been chaos because we have to provide that answer to our customers. But so many of these companies are reformulating and they're no longer acne safe. So finally, we have our luxury line of acne safe hair care. I gave up actually on trying to find good hair care because I use some that I think are okay, but they're not perfect. So this is like a godsend for people like me. We need to get you some. Yes. It's literally being filled like next week and we'll have it at our warehouse.

You know that Lady Gaga quote that's like original, never been done before, iconic, like that is this. I am so excited. Thank you. We're so excited just to serve that person who someone might not struggle with acne on their face, but it might be around their hairline, behind their ears, on their neck, down their back. And then for the people who do struggle with it on their face, it'll be heavy on their sleep side. That's so cool.

that's when you know it's coming from hair products. So there's actually a lot of men that break out on their scalp too. So one of our good friends, Zena, she's a makeup artist. She was just telling me the other day when she was asking about what new things we had coming up and I was sharing about the hair care and she was like, oh my gosh, both my boyfriend and I struggle with breaking out on our scalp from hair products.

She was like, I cannot wait for this. And those are so painful. If you've ever broken out on your scalp, it is like the most gnarly, intense pain. I've never had that. I've actually never had body acne ever, which is so weird because I'm so acne prone. You're so lucky. It's super annoying. I feel like I'd rather have it on my body than my face. You say that, but then imagine not having to like, I have to like think about what I'm wearing

like anything backless, like half my wardrobe, like sometimes doesn't get used. I guess the gross is always green. Yeah. Right. Cause I, um, was, um, I got extensions and I needed to care for them a certain way. So my hair girl would put this like treatment oil in and I would get like cystic acne on my back every time. So yeah, it's a thing and it's, it,

At least with your face, you can cover it up. Yeah. And you're so freaking pretty anyway. It doesn't matter. You can't have it all, Mari. Thanks, babe. Everyone has their thing. Yes, always. If I've learned anything, everyone has their fucking thing. Always. And for me, it's the acne. But I appreciate you guys doing this, like, also from a standpoint of making it like a luxury spa moment for the hair. But it's not like a head and shoulders. Yeah, it's not some, like, dandruff, like, medicated stuff.

situation that makes you feel like shit. It's actually amazing and it smells fantastic. Oh, this is so needed. Okay, what else is coming? The spritz.

Okay, wait. Okay. Moment. Moment happening. Tell me what this is. So it's going to be called skin spray all day. That's the lab sample bottle. Yeah, guys, this is not the packaging. It's actually this really beautiful lavender color because it's a flower extract in there. So it's loaded with antioxidants, magnesium. We love magnesium. Right? Peptides, which everyone loves peptides. And then it

And then it has a plant derivative that helps with UVA, UVB, and blue light protection. And then it also acts as a makeup setting spray. And the main event in it is hypochlorous acid. So it's like those repairing mists, but with 10 times more activity in terms of anti-aging and antioxidant and blue light protection. So I could put this on post-makeup.

So it's an all day thing. So literally how I use it is I get out of the shower. First thing I spray it. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I spray it because it wakes you up and you're going to see that in a moment. Okay. Do it. Oh my God, guys. How does it smell so good? I'm obsessed. I'm like, it smells amazing. Yeah, it smells really, really good. I really went for it. And it has that cooling effect. It feels so good. Oh my God. Wait, I literally need a spray right now. I have here. Take, unless I use the whole thing.

It's like I see you. It's almost like when your mouth starts watering when someone's eating something else. Like that's how I like watching you do it. I like felt this like addiction in me be like, I need to spray it right now. Oh, I'm hooked on it. I felt it. It's like when you watch the tutorials and you're like, oh, that looks lovely. It feels amazing. Yeah, I need to do it. It's so cooling. Is it something I could do? So after I horseback ride, I like want to –

It would be perfect for that. The hypochlorous will help maintain the cleansing kind of feeling that you want. That's what the hypochlorous will do. Okay, love. And then it acts as a makeup setting spray, so you can do that throughout the day. And there's also the UV protection, even blue light. And then on bare skin, the hypochlorous is great, and the peptides and magnesium are just fantastic. Oh, my gosh.

Oh my gosh, guys. Revolutionizing the skincare industry. All the products have like four different uses. Wow. Which we love. I'm literally rationing the tiny sample I have left because I've been like working my lab sample down and I allow myself to have it like every other day. Like when you've been a good girl. Yeah. Like, okay, I can treat myself because I'm like, I can't wait till it comes out and we have more and more. When do these come out? This one is...

probably May. Our problem is we have too much in our pipeline and we can't even launch. We have like two years worth of stuff in our pipeline, right? So we have to space it out. Hair care is next. That's going to be in a month. This one's going to be a month after that. And then we have a sleep magnesium product coming out that also has inositol in it, which is

really important for people with PCOS and for anyone with acne because it helps regulate blood sugar. I'm taking a nose tool every day right now because I'm trying to get pregnant as well. And I'm just trying to like balance everything out. So I love that too. Okay, we can't wait for those launch dates. And also guys, we've talked about a ton of products here. If they want, they can use Code Pow, correct? Yes. 15% off all ClearStem products. Can they use it on the acne lab? They can.

They cannot. We currently don't discount the acne lab at all. Just products. Yes, just products. Yeah, that one is truly more of a medical thing. Like we can't, there's not a lot we can even do in terms of like crafting specials. And so it's like, it's, it's, it's, um,

we don't want it to be viewed as something that people do because they get a discount on it. Like it really needs to be perceived as an investment because there will be changes that need to come with it. So, and it really is the best investment guys. Like I highly recommend get your products. As I said before, my favorites are the cleanser, the lips and cutes and the, you are sunshine sunscreen. So, but check everything out. The pregame mask is also incredible. Um,

So guys, I think we are at the end. Is there anything else we want to mention?

We definitely tackle all the good stuff. We tackle all the good stuff. You know, I'd love to leave everyone with the final feeling of viewing acne as a good thing in your life. As hard as that is because we know more about our bodies. We're on this journey where the inflammation at least is front and center and it's not silent. Silent inflammation will kill you in the long run. It will shorten your life. It can show up as diabetes instead of as acne if you're, you know, not regulating your blood sugar and eating things that are, you know, spiking your glucose all the time, right?

You want to look at the benefit of this in terms of the knowledge that you're gaining and the intentionality that you have when you're looking at ingredient decks and choosing what to put in your body. You're about to be a mom. Looking at labels is going to benefit your kid. You know how to look at labels now. Imagine all the stuff you're not going to feed your child because of what you've learned.

So there are massive benefits over the course of your life that you wouldn't get if you didn't have this journey and to just notice those and be grateful for those all the time. And just remember, sexy people get acne.

Yes. Period. I love that. Guys, where can they find you? Where can they find ClearStem? You can find us everywhere. ClearStem Skincare. But actually, by the time this episode comes out, we might just be ClearStem. So because we're launching hair care and we're very holistically looking at acne, which is not just topicals,

skincare anymore. It's all Aries Body. It's the Acne Lab panel. So we're going to be ClearStem moving forward. So it will be ClearStem.com, but any of them will still route to ClearStem no matter what. And then across all social platforms, ClearStem, ClearStem Skincare. And then you can find Danielle at Danielle the Acne Guru and myself, Kaylee Christina. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. And congrats on your UK launch. I love watching that for you.

It was so fun to watch and be a part of. Oh my God. It was really, really crazy. It was so exciting. It was epic. Thank you guys. Love you both. Love you. Love you. Thanks for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favorites at marielawelland.com. It will be linked in the show notes.

This is a Wellness Out Loud production produced by Drake Peterson, Fiona Attucks, and Kelly Kyle. This show is edited by Mike Fry and our video is recorded by Luis Vargas. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Mari Fitness. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. See you next time.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.