We meet: Terri Vinson of Synergie skincare

We meet: Terri Vinson of Synergie skin

Today I enjoyed macarons and morning tea at a fascinating talk by Australian bio-medical scientist and founder of Synergie Skin, Terri Vinson.

New Zealanders may not yet be familiar with Synergie as it has only been in New Zealand for a year, sold at Skin Institute and at Lucy & the Powder Room, but it’s been used by Terri for ten years and sold in Australia for the past seven. It’s a bio-active cosmeceutical skincare brand backed with the best of science and nature, in what Terri terms ‘clean science,’ a phrase she has secured the IP for, as it so sums up her brand. The skincare products are developed, tested and manufactured on site in Burwood Australia, and the company is unique in the industry in having completely vertical production from prototype to test batches to despatch. This means Terri can be fast and responsive to any changes she wants to undertake, as it’s all done under one roof. “I’m a little bit of a control freak and not happy with outsourcing!” she says.

Ethics and safety and holistic wholeness is of high importance to her. “I take the best of laboratory science, and nature. Some of these natural products on the market are lovely and nurturing but they’re not going to create a biological change in your skin.”

Here’s Terri Vinson’s philosophy on formulating skincare products. She has a ‘SEED’ principle which is an acronym for:

S – stability (ingredients won’t breakdown)
E – efficacy (must have a benefit to your skin)
E – elegance (must feel good and smell good to use)
D – delivery (active ingredients must be delivered to target cells)

The company slogan of Protect . Change . Nurture is on all the print material as a reminder of their values. Their products must PROTECT (from UV damage), CHANGE (clients need to see an improvement), and NURTURE (it is all cruelty-free.) In fact, to sell into China which has mandatory animal testing on foreign skincare and makeup, they mail order from Hong Kong rather than compromise their high standards.

Things they don’t put in are as important as things they do. They don’t use any parabens, instead, using a plant-derived preservative Caprylyl Glycol. They use a coconut-derived surfactant with very low irritant, and avoid chemical sunscreens that are oestrogen-mimickers. Terri told an interesting story of fish reproductive cycles disrupted in fish living nearer the seashore, from ingesting swimmers’ sunscreen.

Below: I can’t believe Terri is 51!

Let’s talk about something close to the heart of Synergie SKin: Vitamins. Everybody, Terri believes, should benefit from the use of these three Vitamins – A, B, and C.

A is a Regulator. It speeds up skin’s cell turnover (which is usually around 30 days for older clients) and can slow it down, for acne sufferers to 15 days turnover. However, the side effect of Retinoic Acid is dryness and flaking, so she uses Retinol Molecular, a thin film which doesn’t harm skin on its delivery as it’s enscapulated Vitamin A which penetrates effectively.

Vitamin B is a Multi-Tasker. This is the first product she developed, and the biggest seller. It has the highest level of niacinamide (13%) on the market. The first thing you notice on clients using Vitamin B is their skin produces Ceramides; they have a lovely hydrated look. It’s not a moisturiser but teaches your skin to do it better. It decreases sunspots, increases cell immunity to UV resistance, is anti-inflammatory, collagen-boosting, and good for acne sufferers.

Vitamin C is a Fortifier. It protects the skin against free radical damage. Free radicals include bad foods, toxic ingredients, and UV. They have unstable molecules, needing electrons in order to become stable, thus stealing them from cells. We need antioxidants, such as Vitamin C, to donate electrons to the free radicals instead. We should also take supplements, have lycopene (found in tomatoes), have green tea, and eat healthily. Ascorbic Acid is the purest form of Vitamin C, and the only form accepted by skin but it is unstable in water – it will go brown – known as oxidation. This is why you see some companies putting Vitamin C skincare in dark brown bottles to mask the fact that it has oxidised.

When should I use Vitamins A, B and C?

A and B are to be used together at night, and C in the morning, along with any acids (e.g. AHAs.) NOTE never mix acids with A and B.