In contemporary urban lingo, 'basic' relates to being uninteresting, unoriginal and simply unexceptional. However, Dr Vincent Candrawinata told the Indie Pioneers podcast that his goal was for his brand APSKIN to become the ultimate “basic skin care brand”.
He explained that to be basic was to be beneficial to all types of skin, from pubescent teen skin to weakened mature skin. More importantly, it means being financially accessible to anyone.
“I remember when I first came to Australia as a student. Coming from Indonesia where there’s high humidity, my skin really suffered. But as a student, I didn’t have a lot of money so buying skin care from the big brands was not affordable for me,” said the brand’s founder and technical director.
“When I created APSKIN for the first time, I wanted one product that could do almost everything at a cheap price.”
Candrawinata elaborated that his drive to provide an effective solution to skin problems like acne, eczema, or skin ageing, stems from people’s tendency to trivialise skin issues.
“Unlike cancers, autoimmune diseases, or lupus, acne will not kill you. But do not think that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. As someone who suffered from acne and rosacea, I can tell you it takes a heavy toll on your social life, your mind, mental well-being, emotional state, and even your career.”
While the founder might think of APSKIN as a basic brand, the technology behind it is anything but simple. The brand uses activated phenolics, the “holy grail” of antioxidants, he said.
As part of his PhD research, Candrawinata developed a natural and effective way to extract activated phenolics, which before was only extracted with chemical solvents like ethanol.
According to Candrawinata, our bodies tend to reject activated phenolics that are made with the help of chemical solvents.
“This is the reason why the absorption rate of products that are made using chemical solvents or synthesised in the laboratory, the absorption rate is only 3% to 5%. Using our technology, it is up to 97%.”
With this powerful active now at his disposal, Candrawinata has developed a range of skin care products and is in the midst of developing more products he believes can add value to the current line-up
To find out more about APSKIN and Vincent, check out the podcast above or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more.
