Our team began developing formulations in 2017. ATEM was concepted in 2018.

Similar to any independent R&D lab, we undergo extensive processes of developing and testing from harvesting, synthesizing, and processing to create our ingredients.

We are a female founded company and 100% POC.

ATEM thrives to constantly push the boundaries of what is considered specialized learning. ATEM is inspired by the exploration and seeking of insights in many disciplines, beyond the technical insights of skincare and cosmetics science. We believe this is why ATEM has been able to grow so remarkably.

In modern culture and the personal care and skincare industry, a plethora of companies exploit the knowledge gap of consumers in what they know (but want to know), versus what brands sell to swing things in their favor (let’s call it “pockets”). This is especially true in the clean beauty community, with many for-profit brands misinforming and miseducating consumers (more on this here). 

This is why ATEM was founded. ATEM skincare serves a purpose for the skin and mind, with fact-based, wise communications to be holistically wellness-centered and ever learning. 

Our promise as clean beauty makers is this:

We promise to build and maintain, market and sell our products with integrity.

We ensure the highest quality by emphasizing our formulations’ stability and producing our skincare in GMP certified facilities.

We constantly self-educate and strive to improve our comprehensive knowledge of both excellent and poor skincare, focusing on the evolving status, safety, and efficacy of ingredients with research and active support from the science community.

We are cruelty-free. While our company does not exclude animal byproducts in our formulation developments, our commitment to making any product is to value excellence, innovation, and integrity. We do our due diligence to ensure all animal sourced ingredients are responsibly and ethically sourced.

Our company believes that a product is not limited to its sole benefits or industrial function, rather through what it can provide for the emotional and mental capacity with intentional work and development.

Currently, 80% of our formulations are fully developed by our team. We are working towards our ultimate vision of in house product development and manufacturing. In 2020, we began to move some filling and packing processes in house.

In creating the SUPER, we were inspired by the multi-faceted, puzzle-solving nature of the Rubik’s Cube, especially in its formulation. To capture this influence, the packaging is inspired by abstract expressionism, paintings of German abstract artist, Ad Reinhardt, and the appearance of the Rubik’s Cube. Our jar is BPA free with easily removable labels for recycling. 

First Milk is inspired by a photo of an illustration of Bauhaus architecture and its play on the elements of line and light. We collaborated with Poland based graphic designer Jakub K., creator of the original illustration, to create the First Milk you see today.

Our Snō – Powder Wash is vegan. In our other products, we use colostrum filtrate, an ingredient form exclusive to our parent company. It is responsibly sourced bovine colostrum, which originates from the cow breast milk fluid, from a local farm in Cheongwon, South Korea that is HAACP certified.

Yes, we are “clean”.

At this time, no significant data demonstrates the toxicity of many of the following ingredients when they are applied in their purest form to the skin. Our skincare is Parabens, PEG, Phenoxyethanol, Synthetic Fragrances, Harmful Alcohols, Mineral Oil, Urea, and Benzophenone free.

Yes. As a law-abiding company, our products are safe for consumers to use and follow cosmetic regulation standards across the globe. 

We specially engineered all of our formulations to be sensitive skin-friendly, whilst emphasizing efficacy. However, every skin is unique, so it’s important to get to know your skin and what it reacts to!

It all comes down to the science of the interaction of the ingredients: 

It’s important to remember ingredient efficacy relates to penetration and not concentration. Regardless of the abundance of an active ingredient, it has to be powerful enough to penetrate past the outer skin layers and the epidermal barrier to reach the dermis, where collagen and elastin are synthesized. 

Peptides are small enough to penetrate the skin, though it is not always needed for skin restoration stimulation. Peptides alone are able to “signal” to the deep skin layers to produce collagen. With SUPER, the formulation ensures an appropriate amount of water content for greater penetration of active ingredients, including the peptide complex to stimulate collagen production and fight aging. Our cream is as effective as it gets! 

Nonetheless, peptide-based skincare requires diligent and continuous use to notice a significant difference as it can take a few months for stimulating collagen production. Most importantly, not all peptides are the same and certainly, not all anti-aging formulations work the same. Thus, it is crucial to read into the ingredients you’re paying a premium for. We’re glad you’re here to use the good stuff. 

Not necessarily! It depends on your skin type and is on a case by case basis. If you identify as having sensitive skin, we encourage you to spot test any new fragrant product before including it in your skincare regimen.

Though it sounds complicated, consider it as the uppermost layers of your skin that protect and act as a barrier against toxins, environmental stressors, germs, and more.

Worry not, dry skincare conventionally signals a product without a filler ingredient, such as water or glycerin to bond the ingredients together.

It depends on the formulation and product in question! Being dry does not indicate its stability or efficacy, although it does guarantee slower oxidation in the formulation if it is kept away from water.