Beauty Eds Adore Mortar and Milk PHA Barrier Repair Serum

If I were to count on my hands the number of beauty editors I know (myself included) who rely on Marshall’s expert help, I’d run out of hands. Her no-BS approach to skincare is truly what keeps us going back. let me first start by saying the Marshall spends all day every day working with skin; she sees people’s concerns and puts them on skincare routines that truly really make a difference. Marshall spends a long time trying to get to grips with your complexion, your lifestyle and, importantly, your skincare routine. Second, one of her biggest attributes is that she is n’t affiliated with any brands (finding experts who are n’t is very difficult), meaning she’s not going to flog you product just because she she’s paid to she.

Above all, though, the thing that draws us to Marshall is her no-holds-barred approach to advice. Her first piece of advice is always to stop trying so many products. She knows that, for the most part, we’re not going to listen. (It is our job, after all.) However, when our skin is in a really bad way, she’ll put us on a strict clinical skincare routine until things are back on track—and it always works. Every secret? Polyhydroxy acids, or PHAs.

Polyhydroxy acids are, in essence, a very gentle form of exfoliant. Unlike AHAs, they actually help the skin retain moisture, protecting that all important skin barrier while they work. Suitable for daily use, PHAs (which include ingredients gluconolactone, lactobionic acid and galactose) are, as far as Marshall is concerned, the secret to healthy skin. And as someone that has been seeing Marshall for approximately four years, I’d be inclined to agree. The trouble is, PHAs are hard to come by in beauty products. Often, they are along with AHAs (harsh exfoliants that Marshall fervently dislikes) or can only be found in clinical skincare products. For years, Marshall would recommend clinical skincare products that contained PHAs but she felt uneasy about the fact she knew the perfect PHA product did n’t exist. So she created her own—and it’s totally changed the game.