FALL SKIN-CARE GUIDE
When True Botanicals signed the actor and director Olivia
Wilde as its “Chief Brand Activist” in 2017, it seemed like
a clever play on the more standard brand-ambassador
title. But as Wilde has used the platform to become
increasingly vocal about potentially harmful ingredients in
personal-care products, the idea has gone from a moment
to a movement based around radical transparency. “This
is the future,” says Laura Dern, who joins Wilde and Joker
star Zazie Beetz in True Botanicals’ newly formed Band
of Activists, a program that debuts this month whereby
all three women will amplify the critical conversation
around exposure to toxins in our skin care. A longtime
environmentalist who has worked with organizations such
as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Dern
was compelled to join True Botanicals due in part
to its commitment to Made Safe—a rigorous third-party
certifying body that checks personal-care products for
over 5,000 potentially harmful chemicals. “It’s more of a
long-term investment,” Beetz says of engaging with a brand
that encourages her to advocate publicly for changing
beauty standards—and bringing the efficacy of products
such as True Botanicals’ skin-plumping Renew Repair
Serum to the drugstore. “It’s important that quality like
this is one day accessible to everyone.”—FIORELLA VALDESOLO
Bioengineered Beauty
THE INNOVATION:
As the associate director of
materials development at Bolt
Threads—a stylish, vegan textile
laboratory just north of Oakland
where an honorary lab coat
hangs for Stella McCartney, one
of its earliest clients—biomedical
engineer Lindsay Wray, Ph.D., is
Silicon Valley’s own Peter Parker.
While it might “sound like science
fiction,” spider silk is
actually stronger than
the material created by
silkworms, according
to Wray. In developing
Bolt’s proprietary method
for growing synthetic
spider silk, she realized its
possibilities in skin care.
“It seemed so obvious,”
the 33-year-old says of
the fact that at the
molecular level, B-Silk,
as Bolt Threads’
bioengineered silk protein is called,
is similar to collagen and elastin,
so the body readily accepts its
regenerative benefits. Earlier this
year, Wray became the chief
science officer of Eighteen B,
Bolt’s first internal complexion
brand, which incorporates the
18 power-packed amino acids in
the synthesized ingredient into a
weightless hydrogel moisturizer,
a rich cream, and, as of
August, a new serum that acts as
a carrier to seal moisture in and
as a barrier to keep environmental
aggressors out. “It’s a platform,
not a one-trick pony,” Wray adds
of B-Silk’s infinite potential as
a sustainable ingredient, in which
there is no shortage of interest.
Among its early adopters is
McCartney herself. Adds Wray,
“She’s one of our biggest fans.”
—m ack enzi e wag o n e r
MATERIAL GAINS
THE SYNTHESIZED SILK
PROTEIN IN THE NEW
FIRM+REPLENISH SERUM
MIMICS THE SKIN-
BOOSTING BENEFITS OF
COLLAGEN AND ELASTIN.
True Botanicals’
Band of Activists
THE FACES:
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
THE NEW PROGRAM
GIVES LIKE-MINDED
WOMEN A STAKE IN THE
COMPANY—AND A FORUM
TO VOICE THEIR OPINIONS
ON CLEAN BEAUTY.
VLIFE
90 OCTOBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
TOP: AURELIE PELLISSIER ROMAN; GETTY IMAGES, BOTTOM: PATRICK DEMARCHELIER.
VOGUE,
SEPTEMBER 2015.
