I’m not talking about product function or a new brand launch when I refer to “soft skin care.” I’m referring to clinically-backed, effective skin care imbued with the warmth and compassion of a trusted professional. Gabrielle Singh, a dermal therapist and founder of GC Skin Boutique and Cosmology Skincare, now Iyvos, has built her businesses and career on efficacy with heart. This human approach to clinically effective care is the premise of what soft skin care is.
People Make the Skin They’re In
“For me and the brand, we truly do believe that skin care’s one of the most personal forms of self-care. It’s how a woman can return to herself,” says Singh. Skin plays a crucial role in a person’s wellness outside of their regimen, especially where our faces are concerned. Our skin is enmeshed in every first impression, it’s a part of our identity, it’s the place where the rest of the world and us meet. With the level of importance we put on our skin, socially and personally, it’s no wonder that Singh and her team have created products that are intended to support the individual inside. “Among the quiet and the chaos,” she says, “it’s a quiet reminder that they matter.”
Singh describes her brand, Iyvos, as being where great science meets soul, and much like the complex inner workings of people, the brand has undergone some meaningful change in its history. Originally, Iyvos started out as Cosmology Skincare. Symbolic of where Singh was at the time of her career, she attributes the more medical feel of the brand to her clinical roots. At the time of our interview, she’s able to reflect on her 10-year career in the industry thus far. Being results-driven in nature, a clinical approach to efficacy manifested as a central part of Cosmology Skincare’s vision.
As she evolved and grew, so did the brand. Singh cites her transition into motherhood as a major contributing factor. “It [motherhood] sort of changed my passion to women’s health and anti-aging, and I think it was because I was going through that chapter myself. That’s when I started to truly see the women walking through my doors. It was their stories, their insecurities, the emotional weight that they carried through various conversations that changed me, not just as a practitioner, but as a woman.” That, she confirms, is where Iyvos was born. Her brand’s image softened, shaped by a stronger focus on empathy and garnering a genuine understanding of the woman behind the skin. As it currently stands, Iyvos has kept the clinical formulations and efficacy of Cosmology Skincare but is revitalized by the genuine connections it forges with Iyvos users. “You can still be healing and whole, and you can still be soft and strong. That’s the evolution of the brand, and that’s the evolution of me.” Many people view science as being too sterile of an environment to nurture compassion towards the people its advancements are meant to serve, but Singh says they’re strongest when together and that's what distinguishes soft skin care.
Building trust with vulnerable clients is an incredibly intimate business. “A lot of times, women will sit in silence when certain conversations take place,” Singh says, explaining how her connections with her clients have allowed her to peer deeper into the sensitive nature of her work. Throughout our time speaking, Singh has cited a major responsibility of hers as helping restore a woman’s confidence, with the topic of trust cropping up repeatedly. In addition to trust, though, Singh says it’s important to lead with integrity. She recalls her own struggles with cystic acne growing up and observes how saturated the market currently is with self-proclaimed miracle cures. Singh hears a lot about the lofty promises made through the market from the clients that seek her out; clients that oftentimes remind her of her own skin care journey. This is something that sits top of her mind with respect to soft skin care, she says, “I don’t feel comfortable over-promising and under-delivering. I like the opposite.” Many of us are no strangers to fighting acne—I can recall my own experiences growing up, being hollowly reassured by adults that “it’ll go away after a while,” but a while can be a long time when it’s your face and there’s no end in sight.
This is where we glimpse Singh’s solutions-oriented roots once more: at the heart of resolution lies a deep understanding of the problem. Singh has made educating her long-standing team the core of her leadership style, seeing as many of her team members have been with her since the very beginning (a testament to the trust and integrity Singh mentioned earlier!) Everyone on her team, even the positions furthest removed from the clinical nature of her work, aren’t so far removed at all. Her marketing and design teams are all in-house and have used their years of experience with Singh to refine Iyvos’ messaging so that people know exactly what they’re about.
Women, Wellness and the Cultural Moment of Skin Care
Cosmology Skincare started out as a unisex brand, and while Iyvos isn’t not that, women make up their primary demographic. Singh and Iyvos’ growth gleans a distinct connection between the brand and women’s wellness journeys. The portrait Singh paints of such a journey is one of great nuance, informed by her decade of putting in the work, both building the brand and meaningful relationships with the clients that seek her out. “It’s important to note that a woman’s wellness journey isn’t about the products, which, I know, that’s—” Singh gives a wry smile, “—seeing as I own a skin care brand, but it’s really about how she feels and how she shows up for herself in the life she’s moving through.” She goes on to list the major cultural shifts we’ve all observed and many have experienced: women are juggling careers, relationships and self-expectation while being bombarded with fantasies of perfection in a hyper-consumerist culture. Even wellness itself, she notes, is something women feel they must master, rather than do for their own benefit. Singh says simplification is key. “When I rebranded to Iyvos, I actually discontinued 10 products from my range.” Through simplifying the process, skin care and wellness become less of a chore or undertaking and more of something a woman gets to do. Singh notes that women’s issues evolve: hormones shift, priorities change and confidence comes and goes. It’s the role of skin care professionals to meet women wherever they are on that road.
The cultural snapshot of skin right now compounds the already perilously thin line women walk in that space of aestheticism and beauty. She needs to look spectacular and do so without any ethical drawbacks while making it look effortless. Transparency and sustainability have also entered the conversation and while ultimately good things, they sure don’t make the larger dialogue any simpler. Cue the over-saturated market again, and we get what Singh refers to as a mass fatigue. “They [consumers] don’t want to buy from brands anymore, they want to buy from people, they want things that feel natural and human.”
Singh encourages (soft) skin care professionals to dive deep into who clients are as individuals. Social media can be really hard on people, especially Gens Z and Alpha, so to the client who feels the crushing pressure to look perfect on every screen, Singh likes to share her own vulnerabilities, specifically through the same channels flooded with unrealistic expectations. “I posted a video that we shared on social media about my own experiences with childbirth and my marriage, and tried to start a conversation that would resonate with people in the hopes that it would open the doors for them to feel vulnerable with me.” She suggests being genuine with clients and confiding in them about their own experiences to craft an authentic connection. Additionally, celebrating gradual wins can go a long way, things like: continuing with treatments or feeling confident enough to leave the house without putting makeup on.
Skin is the matrix in which our health and identity interplay, and what better metaphor for an industry made of people nourishing and being nourished, of being vulnerable to one another and getting well. When asked what sort of person an ideal brand partner would be, Singh says thoughtfully, “someone who values depth, transparency and having a thoughtful connection with their audience.”
