Our Editor Reviewed Augustinus Bader For Three Weeks

I spend an excessive amount of time speaking about how “outdated” I’m, when, at 38, I’m actually not. (In accordance with NPR, the common life expectancy for an American lady in 2020 was 77.8 years, so I’m nearly precisely on the midway level.) However women of a sure late-30s age know that we occupy a singular house within the growing old spectrum — whereas we’re hardly at loss of life’s door, we’re undoubtedly not younger anymore. A few of us who’ve ignored our pores and skin for many years — and completed downright abusive issues like smoke, de-prioritize sleep, devour extreme quantities of sugar, and willingly cultivated solar injury (*raised hand*) — are realizing that our pores and skin is altering. And when you’re a 38-year-old lady trying to flip again again tiiiooome just a bit bit, you’ve in all probability heard of Augustinus Bader.

The science-backed skin-care brand was based in 2017, however information of its energy traveled to me organically via an lively group chat comprised of my 5 greatest associates from highschool, the place subjects like household, the Kardashians, and skincare are bandied about. When the Augustinus Bader dialogue first surfaced, before-and-after selfies had been shared over iMessage, displaying a exceptional change in my associates’ pores and skin texture, tone, and general brightness. (My associates additionally communicated alarm in regards to the value tags — the brand’s hero product, the Cream, retails for an eye-popping $280 for 50 ml.) Earlier than lengthy, the model began popping up elsewhere — on social media, at trusted magnificence retailers like Sephora, and proper right here on Refinery29, at all times accompanied by glowing accounts of how its suite of merchandise had the power to fully overhaul pores and skin.