Paula’s Choice Philosophy: Transforming Skincare Routines
At Paula’s Choice, skincare is not just something we sell—it brings meaning to our lives, knowing our products are helping people feel more confident and beautiful every day. We always have—and always will—take the science of skin and our formulations seriously, and we celebrate what we do every day.
A bit ofhistory on how Paula’s Choice started: What began as Paula Begoun’s personal quest to find products that would work for her own skin problems, evolved into a mission to uncover the truth and learn the facts about skin and skincare as a whole. What she discovered was remarkable and fascinating, so Paula decided to share that information with the world. Since then, after writing more than 20 books on skincare (many translated into other languages), making media appearances all over the world, and creating the product review website called Beautypedia.com, Paula feltthat she hasaccomplished much of what she had set out to do, with teams all over the world continuing these efforts with gusto and enthusiasm.
Paula’s Choice Skincare, launched in 1995, was born from Paula’s passion for formulating the best skincare products possible for a wide range of skin types and concerns. We are wholeheartedly dedicated and committed to helping you have the best skin of your life. How we go about making sure we live up to that commitment is distinctive and unique in the world of skincare—it’s what sets Paula’s Choice Skincare apart in a way that will help you transform your skin for the better in ways you never thought possible!
Skincare Principles We Follow
The skincare principles we follow, both in providing advice and in formulating our products, are —
Skincare must always be gentle. Any product or ingredient (natural or synthetic) that irritates the skin (e.g., fragrance, harsh scrubs, rough cleansing brushes, sensitising plant extracts) promotes aging, disrupts its microbiome, increases redness and dryness, and/or makes oily skin worse, should never be used.
Sunscreen is indispensable. If sunscreen for face is not part of your daily skincare routine, you won’t have the best skin of your life in the long term. Spending time in the sun increases both your risk of skin cancer and early skin aging. To decrease the risk, you must regularly use sunscreen with broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher.
It takes more than one ingredient and more than one product to have and maintain healthy, young-looking skin. As the largest organ of the body, the skin has a complex, multifaceted composition that visibly deteriorates as the years go by. Given that complexity, the skin needs more than any one ingredient, however good it may be, to look its best. Think about it like your diet: Green tea is healthy for you, but if you only consume green tea, your health will quickly suffer.
A comprehensive skincare routine is the key to having beautiful skin. Your selection of specific products for your skincare routine, based on your skin type, such as normal, dry, oily or combination, and on your specific skin concerns, is incredibly important for taking the best care of your skin. Skin concerns that are complicated or advanced require an assortment of special products with focused ingredients that research has shown can renew and revitalise. We wish one or two products could do it all, but that just isn’t possible.
A primary need of skin is to be resupplied with ingredients that have been depleted by time and by sun exposure. Every skincare product you use should contain a combination of valuable skin-replenishing and skin-restoring ingredients to fortify and renew your skin every day while also addressing your specific skin concerns. Skipping these vital ingredients will leave your skin deprived and unhealthy-looking.
Safeguarding skin against environmental damage is imperative. To truly safeguard your skin and keep it young and flawless requires advanced blends of powerful antioxidants to diminish the visible toll that pollution and city life have on the skin.
Exfoliation is a must. Gently and naturally exfoliating skin can virtually sweep away the signs of aging and sun damage; that’s why leave-on AHA and BHA exfoliants are a cornerstone of Paula’s Choice Skincare. These brilliant products retexture the surface of the skin by removing built-up, thickened layers of dead skin, which are caused primarily by unprotected sun exposure. This type of exfoliation in your skincare routine can even produce phenomenal anti-ageing results overnight, as well as unclog pores and promote a more even skin tone.
Research has repeatedly shown that the gold standard ingredients for treating acne are benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid (BHA). The research also makes it clear that using abrasive or drying products is devastating for problem skin. Our CLEAR acne treatment products are formulated based exclusively on this information.
Packaging matters. Almost all the brilliant, essential ingredients skin needs to break down in the presence of light and air. That’s why we don’t use jar packaging for these types of formulas: When you take the lid off a jar, it lets air in, and those wonderfully beneficial ingredients steadily become ineffective, eventually going to waste.
As skincare research progresses and new discoveries are made, our product formulations advance too. We are never satisfied with the status quo. We are excited when new research reinforces what we already know, and when it helps us improve our formulations and create new products that work better than anything else you have used before.
Skincare is a balance between giving people what they want and what they need. Sometimes those two objectives don’t coincide, as people sometimes want what isn’t good for their skin, such as purchasing anti-aging products in jars, using fragrant products or harsh scrubs, not wearing sunscreen, using expensive products that are poorly formulated, and so on. We will never make products that are bad for the skin just because it’s the in-trend thing to do.
At Paula’s Choice, we know exactly what it takes to have beautiful, healthy, younger-looking skin. Simply put: The science of skin and skincare is the starting point for everything we formulate. We endlessly read medical and scientific journals for research related to every aspect of skincare. It is this analysis, from over 35 years of work, that provides the basis for every product we create and the skincare routines we assemble. All our efforts are aimed at you having the best skin of your life, which is why we love what we do!
Learn more about skincare concerns.
Shop Paula Choice’s skincare essentials for oily skin, dull skin and dehydrated skin.
References for the information above
Life Sciences, May 2016, pages 126-134
Journal of Clinical Aesthetic Dermatology, January 2016, issue 1, pages 25-30; December 2013, pages 28-36; and September 2012, pages
18-23
Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Volume 902, 2016, pages 61-81
Dermatology Research and Practice, February 2015, ePublication
Journal of Dermatological Sciences, January 2015, issue 1, pages 28-36
Aging Research Reviews, January 2015, pages 8-21
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, July 2014, pages 177-184
Pharmacology Review, July 2013, issue 14, pages 97-106
Clinics in Dermatology, July-August 2011, pages 360-376
