In modern culture and in the personal care and skincare industry we’ve observed a lot of companies exploiting the knowledge gap between what customers know (but want to know) versus what companies are selling to swing things in their favor (let’s call it “pockets”). This has led consumer communities  into a lot of misinformation and miseducation, and we see that happening in the clean beauty space in skincare especially (you can read a lot more on this fascinating trend and phenomena of consumers and the public propagating illusory truth (truth that’s perceived like truth, but is actually not at all truth here).

At ATEM, we urge you to conduct your own research online & offline whenever you are making a purchase decision or action for your skincare and wellness, exclusive of any blog review  or article. While platforms with aggregated recommendations, solutions, and/or products are easy ways to consume information, they are not always the right information for you and your specific needs (this includes us, too!). When it comes to the health of your skin, your mind, or your life, we believe that journey starts first with you becoming aware of your conditions and your needs. Then intentionally allow the external information to serve you.

• Am I considering the unique needs of my skin? Do I know what my needs for skincare are? Am I aware of my skin’s problem points, and the attributes of my skin that are absolutely great?

• Am I approaching skincare buying knowing what I need or adopting a trial and error style?

• Is the information I’m relying on largely fact based or based on storytelling, buzz, other people’s perceptions, or bias?

• Do I really need this?

• Am I buying something just because it’s popular? Could I be following the herd?

• Am I discontent right now over the state of my wellbeing and health? What choices am I making to take control and improve it?

Beauty Within – a very friendly YouTube channel hosted by two passionate women. The channel is a great resource for skincare education such as learning appropriate ways to approaching and using skincar, how to settle on a facial regimen that works for your needs, how to apply different skincare products, and understanding the formulations behind the products you are putting on your faec.

Environmental Working Group Database (EWG): look up any ingredient you are curious about regarding a cosmetic here and it will show you where the ingredient stands in terms of toxicity or how “clean” it is

EWG’s ingredient database is as close to a non-partisan database you’ll get on looking to see which ingredients are clean or how toxic they might be. This database impartially ranks ingredients from a score of 1 to 10 on risks spanning cancer, developmental & reproductive toxicity, and allergies & immunotoxicity.

We highly recommend you head over to the following destinations where you can learn more about mental models, think better, live better, and make smarter decisions (ie. how you’re making purchases  or buying skincare as a consumer!).