The PELA SKIN Difference

Before PELA SKIN, the available skin care offerings were fragmented and cumbersome. Skincare was either formulated with lots of harsh and aggressive ingredients that caused temporary gratification but created ugly skin irritation with just regular use, or ‘farm-to-table’ all-natural products that didn’t deliver the visible skin improvements that we sought.

During my own research as a youth for skin care remedies for my mother, I came across Nuns in ancient Greek monasteries utilizing the ancient skin care principles of the once cosmopolitan capital of the known world, PELA. The nuns’ teachings showed me the principles of working with the skin’s natural states, and through my research ultimately led to my first formulations that helped me solve my mother’s skin problems and do so for those all around me.

My PELA SKIN cosmeceuticals are created based on the best of both worlds, the ancient Greek royal skincare principles and modern and sustainable science to succeed women’s needs of a modern lifestyle. To that end, I am also bringing PELA SKIN to you with help from subject matter experts including dermatologists and estheticians, and women’s focus groups, which is people just like you to ensure that our products are not just safe, but effective for the needs of your skin in modern life, as well.

Many years ago, I saw firsthand from my mother how bad skin can make you second guess everything you do and and how frustrating and demoralizing can be. Knowing this, I work hard and focus to ensure that those who choose PELA SKIN have the very best skin care products available right now to help them look beautiful and feel confident!

The PELA Principles embodied in each product are:

Functional Fusion

The nuns, my mentors who have been carrying on the legendary principles of ancient royal Greek skincare taught me the principle of formula balance, which was the key to achieving superior and nourishing skin without causing irritation. We use the healing power of the sea with sea actives to nourish skin and rejuvenate signs of youthful looks. We balance these sea actives with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant super botanicals from the mountains and islands. The combination provides consistent anti-aging results while minimizing irritation from day to day stressors.

Bio-Compatible Skin Care

The most advanced skin care ever would not do you any good if the body did not accept it. This is a common issue with skin care today where non-bio-compatible skin care products cause irritation, redness and sensitivity, or they are not effectively absorbed by your skin. Our skin care is NEVER tested on animals but each ingredient is extensively researched for bio-compatibility and our new products are tested on the founder’s face first, and afterwards on his close family members, and afterwards on willing humans belonging to our early innovators’ focus group, and the result is responsible skin care with the best results!

Aerospace Inspired Quality

During my time working on NASA projects and other aerospace research institutions, I adopted the highest quality standards to keep safe aircraft carrying each time hundreds of souls. I apply the same unsurpassed quality assurance standards to our final products. We also batch test, we test new packaging compatibility, we test everything. Its no secret that other brands' lapses in quality assurance have resulted in skin irritation and sensitization.  We apply higher standards than other brands which may hurt our bottom line but we are strong believers that you, our valued customer are worth the best product possible.

No Fads

Our pledge is that EVERY ingredient has its purpose. It's an open skin care industry secret that brands take old products, put few droplets of the latest fad ingredient(s) and then call it a new product, but unsurprising the result on your skin is the same, as always! Every ingredient we use has an established track record of performance and safety, and is included in amounts necessary to make visible improvements on your skin. This keeps us from riding the profits of the latest fads but we think its worth the trustworthiness that comes from providing you with the most powerful and safest products!

Performance & Well-being

We always start with you in mind, our valued customer and prioritize you in all our products. Other brands focus on providing cutting edge performance even if that performance comes out of (potentially) toxic chemicals that can irritate skin, make it sensitive, and may alter your hormones. We aim to provide the best performance without harming your health, avoiding toxic and even potentially toxic actives. We believe skin care is a reflection of health so our skin care is high performance, making you look your best and also bettering your overall well-being.

The PELA SKIN "No" List

It is in our core philosophy, and we take special pride for providing you with a peace of mind and delivering superior skincare products based on safety and sustainability for your utmost well-being. We review rules and regulations and scientific studies from the US, the European Union and other countries to get early hints of potential toxicity of various ingredients. We do such a thorough investigation of our active and inactive ingredients and exclude any potentially toxic ingredients from our skincare formulas.

We have excluded thousands of potentially toxic ingredients, which fall under certain chemical families. The below list represents some of the families or products with potentially toxic characteristics that we exclude from our formulas.*

The "No" List

Parabens, formaldehyde, formaldehyde releasing agents, sulfates (SLS & SELS), phthalates, petrolatum (no USP), mineral oils (no USP), talc, drying alcohols, oxybenzone, synthetic fragrances more than 1.0%, Toluene, Benzene, Phenoxyethanol >1.0%, BPA, Octinoxate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Hydroquinone, Acrylamide, Styrene, Methoxyethanol, Resorcinol, Acetonitrile, Butoxyethanol, animal fats, animal oils, Carbon Black, Black 2, Thimerosal, Sulfonamides, Aniline, Aniline salts, Aniline halogenated compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, Thiurea and its derivatives, Hydrazides and their salts, Atropine and its salts, Dichloroethanes, epoxyalkyls, Bezalkonium Chloride, Triclosan, Triclocarban.

*Having worked for decades, as a senior PhD Chemist, I have to clarify that not 100% of all ingredients that fall under a specific family can be either 100% safe or 100% potentially toxic or toxic. New synthetic routes, advanced fermentation processes and new toxicological studies are carried out every day around the world, which may lead to changing the “characterization” of certain ingredients, and that is why we continuously follow and review such scientific developments to help and keep you safe by using the safest ingredients. In contrast with many other skincare brands that their founders and their teams lack scientific expertise and try to somehow learn about ingredients’ potential toxicity not from academic Chemistry textbooks but heavily rely on vague and unconfirmed information and misleading marketing lingo reported on questionable online resources or magazines. In contrast, my high level of Chemistry (Ph.D degree) and research and patent experience comes in, which I daily use it along with my judgement to create the most potent, safer and cleaner skincare products for you, our valued customer!