If you’re an avid reader of NewBeauty or just a casual surfer of our site, you’ll probably spot some repeat names here and there. Testing, reviewing and featuring hundreds of skin care and beauty products in a given year, we’ve found we return to the tried-and-true heroes and standouts in the brands we love, brands you love and brands experts love. And when it comes to the total systems that dermatologists love to recommend, it’s all about the efficacy, respect in the skin-care space and insane results. And there’s one that our experts can’t get enough of: the Jan Marini Skin Care Management System ($330).
The fully comprehensive skin-care set is recommended consistently for a reason, and we sat down with founder and skin expert Jan Marini herself to learn exactly why we can’t get enough of her management system.
Introducing the Jan Marini Skin Care System
“It’s truly transformational,” Marini says, introducing the system. “It’s transformational whether you have fine lines or large pores, whether [you have] discoloration or rosacea. It’s a solution for every single person.”
That’s a huge claim to make, especially in an era of bespoke, curated products and personalization systems. But Marini doesn’t do it lightly.
The Science of the Jan Marini Skin Care System
To explain why the Jan Marini Skin Care Management System keeps winning dermatologists over, we need to talk ingredients. Luckily, that’s something Marini loves. “I could speak for two hours on glycolic acid,” she jokes.
If we use glycolic acid as an example, we can start to see why she believes this system is for any skin concern. This acid appears in a lot of skin-care formulas for a reason, as it gently resurfaces the skin and functions as a moisturizer. For the third product in the system, Bio Clear Face Lotion, it’s the star ingredient.
“Glycolic acid is prescribed for acne; it’s prescribed for rosacea,” Marini explains. “It’s also a pigment-lifting agent and one of the best resurfacing agents we know of for fine lines, wrinkles and pore size. But it also has a very tiny molecular weight. It’s so small, in fact, that it can actually reach the deepest point of the follicle.”
Bio Clear’s formula also incorporates salicylic and azelaic acids to “support” the superstar ingredient. “When you put those three together, I’ve just never seen an at-home product so dramatic.”
Give It 100 Percent
There are a lot of great key words and ingredients we look out for as beauty and skin-care consumers. We’ve trained ourselves as buyers to Where’s Waldo our way through a product until we collect enough of those good words: Moisturizing, gentle, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, retinol, squalane.
The thing is, when it comes to ingredients, just being on the label isn’t always enough.
“We all love to hear that we can answer all of our problems with one product,” Marini says. “I’m here to tell you that is just not true. If I’m putting a formula together, I have 100 percent to work with. Not 105 percent and not 120 percent. Just 100. When almost 50 percent of your formula needs to be water, because you can’t bake a cake without liquid, that means you have even less to work with. Then you have binders, emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilizing ingredients and then your actives.”
It stands to reason, then, that if you’re trying to put every active you can into your skin-care formula, you’ll just run out of room.
“Oh you can still put them on the label,” Marini says. “You just won’t have enough of a percentage to be beneficial.”
The other problem is that some actives just don’t belong together, and could result in a poor formula.
“If I want to use glycolic acid, I need a pH of about 3.25,” Marini explains. “But if I want to use retinol, I would need a pH of 5.”
The Solution Is System
Since there can’t be a one skin-care product to rule them all, Marini’s approach was all about creating the best combinations of ingredients in a few powerful formulas that could all follow each other.
The cleanser and facial lotion employ gloycolic acid to deliver that deeply penetrating cleanse and pack in moisture. The serum that serves as step two, C-ESTA serum, takes the brightening power of vitamin C and makes it lipid soluble, while DMAE works to give you a more lifted look. The Transformation Face Cream is backed by the Transforming Growth Factor (TGF) beta 1 to stimulate collagen. The sunscreens employ an oil-capture system to encourage more sunscreen use, while SPF 30 and phytomelanin work to protect your skin.
“It is really about creating platforms for technologies,” Marini says. “Does it hydrate? Yes. Does it fill that need in your routine? Yes. But it’s so much more than that.”
