Mother Science’s Dark Spot Serum Took 6 Years To Create
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Mike and Ann Marie Einziger didn’t set out to be beauty brand founders. Mike is the co-founder and guitarist of Incubus and Ann Marie is a classically trained violinist and former science teacher. But more than six years ago, a spot on Ann Marie’s back and tons of scientific curiosity caused the married couple to switch gears. They recently launched Mother Science’s Molecular Hero Serum, a dark spot corrector that features Malassezin, a compound they discovered. It’s a new way of looking at dark spots and just might be the solution you’re looking for.
“I was in India and I had a condition on my skin called tinea versicolor,” Anne Marie tells STYLECASTER. It’s caused by an overgrowth of a common yeast that lives on everybody’s skin called Malassezia furfur. “In trying to characterize what was going on with my skin, I wanted to understand why was that skin brighter?” she continues. “Why was it unable to be burned by the sun?”
Anne Marie hypothesized that a “metabolite is probably responsible, and it’s going to be a new metabolite.” Most of the literature at the time, Mike says, postulated azelaic acid was the cause of these pigment changes. But they weren’t convinced. The couple brought in a team of leading scientists—including Pearl Grimes, MD, a board-certified dermatologist who is the head of the Vitiligo and Pigmentation Institute of Southern California. They discovered that not only was Malassezin the cause of the spot but it was actually doing good things for the skin.
“That’s one of the things that really differentiates us from everything else on the market, is that we truly have something new, we truly have something that took six and a half years to characterize with top-level scientists who work in this field and in this space,” Ann Marie says. “And the scientists go from people who really understand molecular chemistry and formulation to dermatologists who specialize in pigmentation like Dr. Pearl.”
Mike says starting a brand was the last thing on their mind. They just wanted to dive into the research and see what it is they discovered and what it could do to the skin. “And we were making these discoveries, we were running all these clinicals,” Ann Marie says. “We were doing biopsies on people’s skin and everything that you can possibly do, not a normal clinical cosmetic test.”
They went on to publish two papers, one in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and in the Journal of the Academy of American Dermatology. They then launched the Molecular Hero Serum because they knew it would make a difference in people’s skin.
“Through all of our data, we found that Malassezin visibly fades hyperpigmentation in three ways: reducing excess melanin production, decreasing melanin transport to the upper layers of skin, and minimizing melanin transfer to the keratinocyte skin cells,” says Dr. Pearl Grimes. “Malassezin is also able to help improve the skin moisture barrier. “
Dr. Grimes notes that Malassezin has ten times more antioxidant power than vitamin C. “Most brightening ingredients are tyrosinase inhibitors. Malassezin is not a tyrosinase inhibitor and works through a novel mechanism to target hyperpigmentation,” she says. “Because of this, Malassezin is very effective at reducing the appearance of dark spots with efficacy seen starting at two weeks, much quicker than most brightening ingredients.” She says that those who use hydroquinone to target dark spots often see a rebound of hyperpigmentation when they stop using the product. “Malassezin does not cause any rebound hyperpigmentation while being very well tolerated and non-irritating,” she says.
There’s so much more to come from the brand but for now, they’re focusing on Molecular Hero Serum, which just might finally remove your stubborn dark spots.
