Don’t give up on your skin.
You just need the right products, at the right time.
When I look in the mirror, I want to be happy with what I see. And, for the first time in over a decade, I finally am. But, there were many years I spent absolutely miserable and secretly thinking ‘maybe this is the best it will ever be.’
I know what it’s like to want better skin while worrying about what skincare will do to it. I have rosacea and my skin used to be so sensitive, it woud react to a compliment.
The stinging. The redness. The dryness I kept trying to moisturize my way out of. It was a vicious cycle that perimenopause, daily travel, and a life filled with mounting responsibilities was actively keeping me trapped in. I was SO over it. And so were all the women around me.
We deserve an approach that takes both our goals and our skin seriously and doesn’t make us compromise between cutting-edge science and cold water.
My own skin changed the way I formulate.
Seeing my skin improve with the skincare I created helped shape the philosophy behind Alchemy 21/12: put the barrier first and be deliberate about how you pursue results, with ingredients that address what your skin is experiencing now while building the barrier’s readiness for what we are going to give it in time.
That experience is personal. It’s also why comfort, hydration, and visible improvement belong in the same conversation here.
Jen Valenti
Founder, Alchemy 21/12
My personal experience. Individual results vary. Alchemy skincare is not a treatment for rosacea (but it sure does help it not look like absolute garbage.)
Why we leave retinoids out.
Retinoids can deliver results, but first you must pay. Pay with sandpaper-like dryness, peeling, extreme sensitivity and even more redness and irritation. This “break in” period can last for weeks to months! Why did we ever accept this?
For women who struggle to tolerate them, “keep trying” and “push through” can become an expensive, uncomfortable cycle, and can do a lot more damage than it corrects.
When I set out to change my skin, maintaining retinoid-free products was a non-negotiable. That has been done (twice, and if I’m really being honest, four and five times). What we do instead is focus on the opposite: CALM skin while we correct. Crazy, right? Turns out that works even better than retinoids.
By combining hydration, barrier-supporting ingredients, and targeted actives chosen for each formula’s purpose, we can transform skin at the cellular level. That is how the Alchemy Method works.
We pursue improvements in the look and feel of skin while making daily care a central part of the formulation. These objectives can actually coexist, and in fact.. they are soulmates.
Be conservative with disruption. Be ambitious about results.
A method that skin was made for.
The Alchemy Method brings four priorities together:
HYDRATE
Replenish moisture for skin that feels supple and looks less depleted.
CALM
Make comfort a priority, especially when skin feels easily overwhelmed.
STRENGTHEN
Support the moisture barrier that helps skin hold onto hydration.
SIGNAL
Use compatible ingredients, including selected peptides, growth factors, and targeted correctives like PDRN, to address inflammation, redness, depletion, and visible signs of aging depending on skin’s readiness.
It’s the philosophy behind the line. And your starting point can stay simple. How simple?
Start with THREE products that will change the answer to the question in the mirror in days, not weeks or months:
Barrier First Starter
This is the place to start if your skin is already in a cycle of sadness like mine was. It’s a simple, 3-step routine that addresses what your skin is experiencing now and prepares it for receiving your next ambition.
$138.00 USD
Shop Barrier First Starter
Cleanse
Our gentle foaming cleanser is expertly formulated to do what most cleansers couldn’t care less about. Does it cleanse? Of course. Does it sooth? You bet. Does it also supercharge osmolytes and create an army of microbiome defenders to wage your environmental battles? ALSO, YES. It connects both Calm and Strengthen in a way that most cleansers couldn’t care less about in a rinse off. Turns out.. they were leaving a big part of skincare on the table. Good… we didn’t.
“Tone”
Why is this in quotes? Because no one knows what tone means. But, in our EGCG + PAD Toner, toning means calming visible redness, reducing excess sebum, improving and reducing the appearance of acne, while simultaneously hydrating, brightening, soothing, and reinforcing the army we spun up with our cleanser. There is a reason multiple reviewers have referred to this as unicorn tears. I don’t make the rules, I just make the formulas.
Seal
Recover-Me Barrier Cream is like running the most delicious Hermes scarf across your face and wearing it out for the day. But, you can still see and probably not bump into things. It’s formulated to seal in the actives we gave it from the toner and the three steps work in unison to create a stunning front line of defense that will turn even the most irritated skin into a believer.
Transforming your skin doesn’t need 983598 products. It doesn’t need to be painful. It doesn’t need to look even worse while you are correcting it. That is last decade’s skincare. And we... are done with that.
You can care about lines, texture, and tone while caring about how your skin feels and looks immediately. You no longer have to choose between them.