This is a repost of an article first published by Ethos
With science-backed, ethically sourced skincare solutions, there’s a reason Chase Polan’s Kypris products are your skin’s best bet for balancing hydration, protection, and combating the effects of heat, humidity, and sun exposure.
In the deep freeze of winter, there’s nothing more soothing than thinking about the arrival of summer and its long, warm, and endlessly sunny days. But how easily we forget the ways in which the heat and humidity can leave us frazzled — constantly dehydrated, battling frizzed-out hair, sweaty pits, razor burn, blotchy skin, and those tedious breakouts. Add too much sun to the mix and you’re surely scrambling between pots and jars to find the perfect skincare that can heal and repair while keeping your skin smooth and hydrated. It’s a near-impossible task.
For Chase Polan, founder and CEO of Kypris, the Phoenix-based luxury, high-performance skincare label with a gentle footprint, it’s all about the right intention and creating products that are scientifically proven to deliver on their promises. For more than a decade, Polan and the Kypris team have worked to marry the best nature has to offer with science-backed ingredients. “When our team of chemists and engineers craft our formulas we know the best, most beautiful results come from formulas built with well-tended ingredient sources and innovation paired with scientific consensus,” Polan told Ethos via email.
According to Polan, the beauty and power of Kypris formulas, which range from cleansers and serums to masks and SPF, are not just in the “what,” but the “how.” “We are extremely intentional with every single material we source,” she says. “For example, we do not source the least expensive or even most popular roses or CoQ10. Our roses are organic and biodynamically sourced from a woman-owned farm leveraging regenerative practices; our CoQ10 is certified, used across several health protocols, one of the most studied forms of CoQ10 by the NIH [National Institute of Health], and made using a technology that was originally developed at MIT.”
Polan says that, from the beginning, Kypris has always viewed sustainability as a social and ecological imperative. “As a certified B Corporation, we address the holistic challenge of sustainability and how ethical choices within a company and the products we create impact people, places, and beings — within our community of patrons and among the communities from which we source.”
For Polan and Kypris, that means a lot of considerations go into sourcing. “Great sourcing means great ingredients, which make excellent formulas and results possible,” she says. “Moreover, how is anyone supposed to feel good about their beauty ritual if it’s rife with exploitation — of people, places, or creatures.” That ethos put Kypris on a path of developing meaningful and traceable source relationships.
“When we source, we consider whether the grower is a farm — if so, what type of farm? A cooperative, women-owned, certified organic, biodynamic, biodynamic-adjacent, fair trade? Or, perhaps we are sourcing from a wild-crafting group. Is the operation related to an organization that supports women or another regenerative initiative?” Some of the ingredients in the Kypris supply chain are associated with programs that help women farmers get bank accounts, learn more about their trade, provide a guaranteed market of their goods, and help them become business owners with access to the money they earn. “We are passionate about transparency and supporting women which in turn helps to keep common forms of exploitation, like child labor and modern slavery, out of the supply chain.”
Polan says these commitments deliver uniquely excellent skincare results. She says the quality and combinations of ingredients are what make Kypris singular. “You’ve never seen skincare combine the power of nature and science like this.” But she says, even despite the commitments, it’s still a “wildly imperfect” system. But in most cases, she sees that as an opportunity and a unique selling proposition. “I think that’s actually a really important difference between us and what most other companies do,” Polan says. “We care enough to consistently look for the problems and either try to be part of the solution or make different, better decisions.”
So when I had questions about the balancing act of summer skincare, Polan was the only expert I wanted to talk with.
*This interview is edited for length and clarity.
Ethos: What are your “rules” for summer skincare?
CP: Keep hydrated topically — with a great hydrating serum, like the Kypris Antioxidant Dew & Beauty Elixir, and internally with electrolytes in water. Stay well protected with a giant hat, sunglasses, and an SPF you love to wear like the Kypris Pot of Shade: Heliotropic SPF 30. And make sure you’re making time and space for ample recovery — quality rest, getting morning sun, getting enough sun exposure so you’re building your Vitamin D — especially if you’re someone who tans easily or who is melanated (people with darker complexions generally have a harder time making Vitamin D and need more sun time to do so). Make sure skin is happy, soothed, and hydrated with a post-sun treatment mask like the Kypris Cerulean Soothing Hydration Recovery Mask. It contains 39 functional ingredients from a tetra-peptide to encapsulated antioxidants to an enchanting array of blue and green marine extracts to soothe and hydrate and recover the beauty of your skin.
Ethos: Let’s talk products! The Cerulean Soothing Hydration Recovery Mask is described as the ultimate summer rescue. Can you elaborate on that? Specifically, what are the ingredients and their functions?
CP: Summer is a time when we soak in lots of sun. We sweat. Our skin can become pink and dehydrated and even overwhelmed with too much sun. All that sweating and heat and dehydration can lead to hyperpigmentation and undesirable signs of photodamage. Even if we prepare our skin well to receive sun with SPF protection, hydration, and antioxidants, if we want to look our absolute best, we must support and care for our skin post-sun.
The Kypris Cerulean Soothing Hydration Recovery Mask is the ultimate post-sun and travel formula. This mask is soothing blue ocean alchemy to intensely hydrate and soothe your skin after time in sun or on an airplane. You can sleep in the Cerulean mask to bask in its intense hydrating ocean extracts, peptides, and antioxidants.
Ingredients include:
- Algae and Seaweed – an oceanic garden of extracts to enhance the appearance of refreshed, hydrated, happy skin.
- Wakame – a wild seaweed extract harvested from the Pacific that enhances the appearance of a refreshed, juicy complexion. This intensely hydrating active infuses skin with botanical Love and rarified glow.
- Sea Holly Stem Cells – a potent botanical extract collected from the ocean’s edge to refresh skin’s appearance, quench, and support the appearance of a luminous glow.
- Cherry Blossom Extract – sustainably hand-harvested in Provence and extracted to deliver a higher concentration of phytonutrients, cherry blossom extract soothes the appearance of dehydrated, sun-drenched skin, nurtures the appearance of skin’s delicate barrier, and diminishes the appearance of sun overexposure.
- Chaga – an adaptogenic, botanical treasure rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients to care for skin’s delicate barrier.
- Silver Ear Mushroom – a seemingly magical mushroom that holds hundreds of times its weight in water to drench even the most parched skin for an enhanced appearance of hydration
- Tulsi Flowers – an ultra-soothing fractioned extract of a well-loved adaptogen and botanical nervine to quiet the appearance of frazzled, weatherworn skin.
- Turmeric – an ayurvedic botanical treasure, lavishing skin with its many phytonutrient virtues
- Peptides – a biomimetic tetrapeptide that nurtures the beauty of skin.
- Encapsulated Superoxide Dismutase – a persistent antioxidant that soothes the appearance of sun overexposure and energizes the appearance of tired complexions.
Ethos: How does the Body Elixir: Inflorescence differ from other body oils, and what benefits does it offer for summer skin?
CP: Kypris Body Elixir: Inflorescence is a non-greasy, multi-functional body oil designed with a potency typically reserved for facial care. This golden, light oil features 12 nurturing, organic, wildcrafted, and co-op grown botanicals such as organic Sunflower, co-op grown Tamanu, wild harvested Prickly Pear (rich in vitamin E), Sweet Iris Stem Cells to help skin appear smoother, and Vitamin C Ester to support the look of glowing skin head to toe. These functional ingredients and botanicals are laced with the enchanting aromatherapy of hand-harvested, Moroccan Neroli and Sweet Orange leaving your skin delicately scented with spring’s most decadent citrus blossoms.
Ethos: What about the Beauty Elixir I: 1,000 Roses and Antioxidant Dew – Quench & Glow Facial Serum — What makes that a summer must?
CP: Beauty Elixir I: 1,000 Roses, is a moisturizing, multi-active beauty oil featuring a Bioidentical Antioxidant Complex of bio-identical CoQ10, Vitamin C Ester, and ethically sourced botanicals including biodynamic Bulgarian rose essential oil to diminish the appearance of dryness and sun overexposure for glowing, rose-petal-soft skin. We suggest blending your Beauty Elixir with Antioxidant Dew – Quench & Glow Facial Serum, a skin-lavishing serum with encapsulated antioxidants, nurturing amino acids, and an array of soothing botanicals.
When you combine the two products, you’ll create a Kypris micro-emulsion by pairing 5 drops each of Beauty Elixir I: 1,000 Roses with Antioxidant Dew — Quench & Glow Facial Serum. The oil and the serum combined at your fingertips before application result in a customized cocktail of moisture (from the oil) and hydration (from the serum) for happy, glowy skin.
When we think of summer, we think of sun and SPF to help filter UVA and UVB. We don’t think about heat, dehydration, and redness and how we can more holistically support our complexion. The Kypris Beauty Elixir and Antioxidant Dew are the perfect blend of golden moisture and intense, soothing hydration to be worn during the summer.
Ethos: How does the Pot of Shade: Heliotropic – SPF 30 & Primer provide gentle yet effective protection from UVA and UVB rays without clogging pores? How does this product compare to other SPF products?
CP: Wearing most SPF formulas is usually terrible. It stings, makes skin look greasy, irritates your skin, can make you break out, and can make your make-up pill if you try to apply any over it. The Kypris Pot of Shade: Heliotropic – SPF 30 & Primer is a bit of a magical creation that addresses each one of these common concerns. At Kypris, we think people should be able to expect more from their SPF. The Pot of Shade is made with the same Hawaiian sea algae found in the Antioxidant Dew and infused with 20 percent sustainably sourced, encapsulated zinc oxide. You will find the Pot of Shade is hydrating, soothing, and wears like velvet on skin so your complexion glows but is never greasy. Make-up wears so well over it, make-up artists regularly use this formula as a make-up primer. This is one of our best-selling items all year round.
Pot of Shade: Heliotropic – SPF 30 & Primer features:
- Non-nano, non-irritating, sustainably sourced zinc for broad spectrum SPF 30 protection.
- Sweet Iris Stem Cells to enhance the appearance of a juicy, smooth, and luminous complexion.
- Tamanu, an organic, co-op-grown seed oil that imparts a beautiful glow.
- Chaparral, one of Earth’s oldest living plants that yields wildcrafted extract rich in botanical wisdom and lignans.
- Local, organic Sunflowers that deliver a wealth of fatty acids and beta-carotene.
- Hyaluronic Acid for deliciously hydrated skin.
- Sea Algae offering a burst of soothing hydration for soft, supple skin.
Ethos: What makes the Puff of Love Anytime Moisturizer particularly suitable for summer use?
CP: Puff of Love is a nurturing, anytime, medium-weight moisturizer infused with nature’s most loving botanicals and green biotechnology’s most kind actives including Love in a Puff, Hemp (an organic botanical oil that nurtures the beauty of skin’s delicate barrier), Bacillus (a fermented ocean extract that moisturizes and hydrates skin to enhance radiance) and Ectoin (an extromolyte that supports skin’s beauty in the face of environmental stress).
Puff of Love is the perfect “lazy” skincare ritual piece. You can simply cleanse your skin, apply Puff of Love, then your SPF and go. The nurturing blend of botanicals and functional ingredients in Puff of Love means you’re moisturizing your skin as well as optimizing an array of beauty benefits like glow, soothing hydration, and enhancing the look of a brightened complexion.
Ethos: What are your go-to tips for skin that’s had too much sun, even burned?
CP: Sunburns are no fun! Besides being painful, many don’t realize that photodamage is an alteration to your skin’s DNA. This is why sun damage can lead to skin cancer.
If you or someone you love gets too much sun, besides avoiding more sun, not “helping” your skin to peel if your skin does peel, you must take very gentle care of your skin. Absolutely do not apply any exfoliants. Use a gentle cleanser, like the Kypris Cleanser Concentrate, and our two most favorite skin-soothing remedies are the Kypris Beauty Elixir and Cerulean Soothing Hydration Recovery Mask. Douse yourself in Beauty Elixir — multiple times per day if you like. The Bioidentical Antioxidant Complex, pomegranate, black raspberry, and prickly pear will help to soothe your sweet skin. The Cerulean Soothing Hydration Recovery Mask will help to replenish the look and feel of glowing hydration and soothe the look of upset. PApply each of them multiple times per day as needed.
