What Chase Polan learned from formulating for reactive skin

Antioxidant Dew feels featherweight and releases its antioxidants slowly, and that choice sums up how Chase Polan formulates. Her Kypris line pairs co-op grown botanicals with peptides, stem cells and a bioidentical antioxidant complex, then asks users to mix serum and oil fresh. We read the claims for what a formula can show.

West Virginia soil, Florida sun and salt, New York pace. Polan credits all three regions for how Kypris sources and works. The line began in 2011 for functional medicine, naturopath, facialist and acupuncturist offices, from three serums and three beauty elixirs mixed into wax-free microemulsions. The core team counts seven people. The rate is near one product per year. The gentleness is operational, from amortizing climate related cost rises across the range to retaining vetted organic suppliers when exit would cost less.

She arrived without a beauty background. She studied math and art history, took organic chemistry with pre-med courses, modeled as a teenager, then founded an education company at 21 and led it for 11 years. When she moved to skincare she rejected a split. Clinical lines gave short term change with ingredients she did not want on people she loved. Health food botanicals stayed closer to nature but performed poorly and wore poorly.

That refusal still defines Kypris. Organic, wildcrafted and sustainably grown plants sit beside peptides, stem cells and a bioidentical antioxidant complex built by chemists and engineers and tested clinically, in glass with recyclable and post-recycled materials.

You call Antioxidant Dew your desert island pick, a very light serum with encapsulated antioxidants and amino acids. How can reactive skin get antioxidant hydration without irritation?

Antioxidant Dew is my direct reply to that problem. I sought quench and glow with no sting. So we selected encapsulated antioxidants for slow release, plus nurturing amino acids and a range of calming extracts. The texture stays featherweight. Hydration reads as intense. It works alone or blended with Beauty Elixir into an adjustable microemulsion for morning or night.

Our formulas are made for people who react to widely used actives. That makes dose central, form central, and companions central. Encapsulation stops strong molecules from reaching skin all at once. Amino acids help skin look smooth and comfortable. Calming plants ease the experience and leave a dewy finish. What we do to ourselves we do to the planet, and what we do to the planet we do to ourselves. Here gentleness is not dilution. It is design, tested and refined so sensitive skin can breathe with ease.

You started Kypris in 2011 with three serums and three beauty elixirs sold only in doctor offices for the first 18 to 24 months. Why start with functional medicine physicians, naturopaths and acupuncturists instead of retail?

I have loved skincare, the spa, and feeling held by natural wonders, whether at the beach or in my bath tub, since early childhood. As I started to formulate, I kept meeting people who were trying to conceive, pregnant or nursing, managing autoimmune conditions or cancer, or reactive to widely used actives. They were sensitive people seeking strong results with a gentle footprint.

Doctors offices seemed the honest starting point. Those practitioners listened first. They grasped solubility and size, how actives of varied solubility act in skin, which I had learned with Dr. Zoe Draelos. They allowed me to explain that each of our formulas is a small world unto itself, constellations of immense love and wisdom. We began with three serums and three beauty elixirs because I wanted people to blend what their skin required that day, not press one cream onto every face. Retail in 2014 and 2015 followed later, including our first spa at Royal Palms in Phoenix. By then we understood whom we served and how to teach the ritual with care.

You describe early clinical formulas as effective short term but made with ingredients you would not want on anyone you loved. What did you see on those labels that shaped the Kypris refuses, including no petroleum anything?

It truly felt that nature needed some science, but not without the spiritual rightness of integrity with each other and the land. I reviewed clinical lines and found petroleum derived bases and harsh systems that produced a fast result and demanded too much over time. I reviewed health food botanicals and found formulas nearer to Nature that were not very effective and did not wear well. Neither felt like love.

So I trained in formulation and selected a third path. We join regenerative botanicals with green biotechnology. Peptides, plant stem cells, a bioidentical antioxidant complex built by chemists and engineers, clinically tested, in glass with recyclable and post-recycled materials. We never skimp, and we never cut corners, ever. Cruelty free and ethical practices are the only way to make beauty. We have been cruelty free since day one. I could not live with myself any other way. That standard informs each lab decision and each field visit.

Beauty Elixir II uses Bulgarian rose oil from blossoms picked before sunrise on a woman owned biodynamic farm. What does that harvest choice change inside the bottle?

Everything, quietly. Bulgarian rose oil in Beauty Elixir I comes from hand picked blossoms gathered before sunrise on a woman owned biodynamic farm, and our elixir sourcing follows that same care. Petals gathered cool retain their scent. Hands gather more gently than machines. A biodynamic field runs as a living system, with care for soil, compost and rhythm through the seasons.

In Beauty Elixir II, Balancing Flowers, that rose meets our unique bioidentical antioxidant complex in a light, moisturizing beauty oil. The formula looks golden and feels fluid on skin. The scent smells fresh rather than heavy. For flower lovers, it supports glow and softens the look of excess sun and environmental stress. It can be worn alone or blended with Antioxidant Dew into a fresh microemulsion. When sourcing is tended, less fragrance is needed, less coaxing. The plant arrives intact and the skin registers that clarity.

You tell customers to mix 2 to 5 drops of serum with 2 to 5 drops of Beauty Elixir for a wax free microemulsion. What does that small palm ritual do that a wax heavy moisturizer does not?

I prefer blending serums and beauty elixirs into a wax-free microemulsion to relying on a wax-heavy base as the central offer. A microemulsion joins oil soluble and water soluble actives so skin can take up both hydration and oil based nourishment in one light layer. It feels breathable. It layers well. It allows adjustment with the season, with travel, with your cycle. Dry winter mornings may call for more oil. Humid August evenings may call for more serum.

Make friends with molecules. That phrase guides me. Science and spirituality are two faces of one coin. When botanicals steeped with intention meet precise biotechnology, pleasure and performance arrive together. Power and gentleness can exist at the same time. I want the full sensory pleasure of your Beauty and Being, not a heavy seal that sits on top and calls it care. The palm turns into a small lab, and the ritual stays alive.

Cleanser Concentrate pairs cooperative grown moringa with wildcrafted prickly pear and fermented ocean extracts in a creme that does not foam. Why begin the ritual with a concentrate that does not foam?

A good cleanse should leave skin soft, calm and ready, never tight. With cooperative grown moringa, wildcrafted prickly pear, and fermented ocean extracts, this rich Cleanser Concentrate clears the day without stripping. You apply a small amount to damp skin, massage, then add serum and oil. I use it in both my morning and evening rituals because it sets the tone for everything after.

Foam can satisfy and still suit delicate skin poorly. A creme concentrate allows cleansing botanicals and fermented ocean extracts to work while skin retains comfort. Moringa adds a green, garden richness from co-op fields tended with care. Prickly pear is wildcrafted and sparing with water by nature, used to sun and scarcity. The sea ferments bring softness and slip. Roots hold. Soil feeds. Harvest matters. That jar holds the full philosophy, used slowly over time.

Make friends with molecules.

Chase Polan

You spent 18 months earning B Corp certification in 2024 and you say you put operations and production first, marketing last. What did that audit require you to prove, and why absorb climate driven cost increases rather than switch suppliers?

The way I built the business was operations and production first, and only in the last couple of years did we consider marketing. B Corp certification reviews social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency across supply chains and operations. The 18 month process required us to record what we already did, from vetted organic growers to glass packaging with recyclable and post-recycled materials and steady cruelty free systems.

We prefer to amortize climate driven ingredient cost increases across the line than leave vetted organic suppliers. Farming is volatile now. Harvests shift. Prices rise sharply after a drought or a flood. If we depart when a co-op struggles, we lose knowledge, quality and trust built over years. We are not going to conserve our way out of our social or ecological pickle. We need to support and practice responsible innovation. That means peptides and stem cells where plants need support, slow development of about one item a year, no fast churn, and long field relationships that hold through hard seasons.

Glow Philtre pairs pomegranate pith enzymes with thalassic sea extracts to refine and add luminosity, and you have said you use it midweek while working. Why was pith, rather than juice or seed oil, the right part of the plant.

I love the overlooked part. Pomegranate pith enzymes in Glow Philtre are an upcycled part of a food ingredient rather than an edible portion that could raise food prices. The pith refines, softens and adds luminosity without requiring new farmland or taking food from the table. Joined with thalassic sea extracts, it clarifies while keeping skin comfortable and smooth to the touch.

I apply it midweek while working because ritual should fit a real day. Use as a treatment mask, then rinse and return to serum and oil. Skin appears clearer, smoother, more lit from within, with the look of pores softened. I am an animist. I believe the energetic essence of everything is as real as any other measurable part of it. Beauty created from Beauty is more than a slogan to me. It is sourcing, chemistry and respect in a single gesture, repeated weekly.

Closing note from the desk

What remains is method. Polan links love and pleasure to encapsulation, solubility and harvest hour without vagueness. The spiritual phrasing points to a supply chain where growers are known and petals are picked cool and on time.

Kypris aimed to show luxury could stay gentle, science could serve nature, and a small team could hold standards while growing slowly. Read closely, that claim is coherent. The microemulsion in the palm is the testable part, and the field record behind it is why it persists.

Product spotlight

Cleanser Concentrate, 98 dollars. An opulent, non-foaming creme and the intended cleanse with co-op grown moringa, wildcrafted prickly pear and fermented ocean extracts. Work a small amount over damp skin morning and night, rinse well, then follow with serum and oil for a soft, calm base.

Antioxidant Dew, 98 dollars. A featherweight serum that bathes skin in encapsulated antioxidants, nurturing amino acids and soothing extracts for quench and glow. Apply 2 to 5 drops alone or blended with Beauty Elixir to form a fresh microemulsion that supports hydration and the look of smooth radiance.