The Art of Feeling Beautiful: Write Your Own Story Podcast

Jaclyn Luongo, LumEnvy Skincare VP of Business Development and Brand Partnerships, Featured on The Write Your Own Story Podcast

Podcast Transcript:

Betsy Leonidas: Welcome to the Write Your Own Story podcast. I'm your host, Betsy Leonidas, and the founder of the Write Your Own Story Company. Girl, I can tell you right now, you are definitely enough. Here, we value service, sisterhood, connection, laughter, and that super genuine keep it real, tell you like it is honesty. My hope is at the end of each episode, you realize you can do whatever it is you dream about and that you are not alone with what you struggle with. I'm hoping that you are snapping and clapping and hell yes in your way through each one of these episodes. So, if this tracks with you, let's get started. I'm so glad you're here.

All right, everyone. Welcome back to the latest episode of the Write Your Own Story podcast. I'm your host, Betsy Leonidas, and I'm so excited to be here with Jaclyn Luongo. Jaclyn, thank you so much for being here.

Jaclyn Luongo: Thank you so much. It's a great opportunity to chat with you and your audience. I'm so excited.

Betsy Leonidas: Absolutely. Today I want to talk to the women who want to look and feel their best, but we are so inundated with all of the trends, all the nips, tucks, shots, creams, all the things, and we're overwhelmed and don't know where to start. Today, we're going to talk about something that has so many women's head spinning. How to make smart, confident decisions in a world overflowing with beauty options. From at home devices, oh my gosh, I have way too many of those, to medical grade treatments now marketed directly to consumers, access has grown, but clarity really hasn't. So, today we're going to spend some time talking with Jaclyn, who has over two decades in the beauty and wellness industry, helping brands and practitioners and leaders navigate this evolving landscape with, this is my favorite part, with safety, education, and integrity. Today, she's helping us cut through the noise and approach self-care with intention instead of impulse.

Oh my gosh, I am telling you how many times I've been scrolling Tik Tok or Instagram and it's like right before bed and a new influencer with the cream and the neck and all the things. I'm like, I have to have it. I need that neck.

Jaclyn Luongo: I know. I know. We're all consumers. We all do it. We all have it in front of our faces all the time.

Betsy Leonidas: All the time. Oh, I'm so excited to hear both your perspective on like what's real, what's not, how to ground oursel, but also from the practitioner uh side of where responsibility lies. So, we're going to get into some really, really cool stuff.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yes. What a great intro. Thank you.

Betsy Leonidas: Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, okay. So, we are obviously living in a time that everything is, you know, sort of trending on social media and I think what we thought we used to have to go to the practitioner for now is like a click away. um how do we even tell the difference between what is marketed as clinically effective versus what is just like trending? Like there's just so much noise. How do we start to cut through this?

Jaclyn Luongo: There is so much noise and I also truly believe and feel strongly about the influencers that are out there that we are hearing from that really don't have the credential that I worked really hard for 20 years to have and that expertise of understanding skin, understanding aging, and most of all understanding ingredients. So, I mentioned before we started recording, I have an 18-year-old daughter. That generation is skin care like they are doing everything. Even that younger generation that, you know, I never had even though I was an aesthetician at a young age.

So, I always say read the ingredients before you want to jump on something. Look at the ingredients. That doesn't lie. and understand what those specific ingredients do because this celebrity or this influencer might be talking about it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's good for the conditions or concerns you have just because it's on trend and is best for your skin type or age. And understanding the foundation of it and the ingredients and the quality is really the first step. And I also think the second step is listening to those influencers that are actual credible aestheticians, medical providers, aesthetic nurses, anybody that's in that brand, you know, umbrella, I think is really important to hear what they have to say, see some before and afters of their patients.

And this is just on the consumer level when we're talking about, you know, the retail. you're you're scrolling on Instagram, you're scrolling on Tik Tok, and then also the brands that are backed more by the clinical studies that they actually can share and they share openly on social media because that's where PDO Max and LúmEnvy Skincare was born from. You know, 10 years ago, we started as a thread company and our trainers are all medical providers, nurse practitioners, uh RNs that are injectors that we have a lot of estheticians in in the market as well. And so we brought something to market because that's what the demand was. And we started with the foundation of being that voice in aesthetics because we have that we really have that authority already and that the the retail product that we brought to market is just proof of us extending it to the consumer as well.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah, I love that. I I think what really like hit the nail on the head for me, of course, is to like slow up your decision- making, check your source, check the ingredients, do your research. But what really also struck out to me was like we have such control over our feeds even though we feel like we don't. If you like want to find if you are genuinely feeling like you need to explore this area, start following people that like truly are from an area of expertise who have worked for 10 to 20 years to earn their credentials, you know, versus what you're, you know, whoever makes the most engaging content. And that might need to be muted for a little bit because if this is something you're serious about and want to dive in on the research, I love that.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yeah, absolutely.

Betsy Leonidas: I doubt the answer is yes. But when you mention the ingredient piece, like you see some that are like full of all the syllables and all the consonants. There's just like a lot of consonants. Um and but then also you have the flip side that is like grape seed and and things that like are just from the earth. Is there a better way to lean like for effectiveness or is it

Jaclyn Luongo: I honestly don't think there is a better way to lean. It's more also for you. So what your concern is as the client, the patient, the consumer, something that might bother us is just that's something internal that you want to improve on or you'd like to diminish the appearance of. So as we age and you know, perry menopause, it's fine lines or it might be a little bit of pigmentation. So ingredients that help with those specific concerns, that's where you want to hone in on. Just these, you know, random ingredients that might be good for one may not be good for another. So first you have to identify where your concern is, where you'd like to improve, and then go from there. And that shifts, that changes as we age and as those concerns start to be more age management or be more optimal skin health where maybe were wearing less makeup to appear younger and just glowing skin. Like it it really does pivot at times.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah, it most certainly does. Like when did my neck become so much a part of the conversation?

Jaclyn Luongo: It happens. It's true.

Betsy Leonidas: It sure does. 44 is awesome. Just kidding.

Jaclyn Luongo: It is awesome. It is genuinely awesome.

Betsy Leonidas: It is awesome. It is. It's so good to be here. But yes. No, and I think that's that's so great to be able to just like again slow up, check in. What is really of your concern? Um, what are your thoughts about like the tools and the things that are available? Like everyone's got a red light mask. Like do we need to be doing that at home? Do we need to Is that like you know, that's the example that comes to mind, but feel free to take us anywhere.

Jaclyn Luongo: No, I I think I I love a red mask. Um a red light mask, LED masks. I think that making sure they're FDA cleared. Bey has one. It's the Valluxia mask. I tend to have more problematic skin. So from a personal level, I've had acne scarring. I have pigmentation from that. So blue light tends to help my skin more. where see within the realm of if you were a consumer you might not know that they've literally because everybody just thinks red red light but there are other lights in those masks and educating yourself on what the purpose is for those red lights is great um great to do just for yourself because is it a nice complement to what you might be doing in clinic if you have an aesthetician or a nurse provider absolutely Absolutely. It is I truly believe 50% of what you do at home is your success of that optimal skin health.

It isn't just one thing. So only doing product I don't think is enough or tools at home. I think seeing a provider for facials, educate, getting yourself educated about your skin, your skin type, and addressing your concerns, figuring out what those are with a professional. But I love a great LED mask. I think LEDs are wonderful for helping with the age management component, helping with the um healing aspect, uh specifically when um I'm talking about acne or problematic skin. And there's a lot of other tools too. There are Dermaplasion uh tools that we have one that also does microdermabbrasion that has a tip to it. But I've always believed since aesthetic school back in 1999 that we should be removing your vellis hair. So that peach fuzz is also getting in the way of your makeup looking as smooth and going on as nicely. your serums that you're spending money on that that is a way to remove your peach fuzz and your dead skin at the same time. Yes. So that everything looks better, looks glowy, looks more youthful and fresh.

Betsy Leonidas: I love this.

Jaclyn Luongo: So those are my two favorite tools for sure. And anything with LED lights are fantastic.

Betsy Leonidas: Everyone was just literally pen to paper, Amazon card out writing all the things like wait tell me more. But you know that also like I like the approach of yes, you should be seeing a clinical someone um if you have genuine concern but also like reinforcing with good behavior at home.

Jaclyn Luongo: Mhm.

Betsy Leonidas: Where do you think from like a practitioner's side the balance is of like you know women feel so much pressure to be so youthful and to do the latest trend and I like I you know I study women all day long and it's especially from a consumer perspective this is the this health wellness and appearance is like where we overspend and like um like crazy but from like a responsibility standpoint for the clinician when someone comes comes in and says they want all the things. Like what's that conversation like to be like this is real, this is not, this is pressure, this is like how does that how do you know if you've kind of like landed in the right space because that would be like an ideal conversation kind of thing.

Jaclyn Luongo: So it let it like actually listening to the patient, the client, and say you put a mirror in front of your face like what do you see? And so if they're listening to you, that's a good provider because they want to address the things that you are concerned about and letting the provider actually do their job. Because there's a lot of times a patient or you know any a client might go in and say, "I want this. I want filler in my lips. I want this amount like tons of threads, a full thread lift or this peel where it again may not be the right thing for you.

So, I say leading into it, asking the questions based off of the condition, the concern, and figuring out a solution. And the solution isn't always a very high ticketed price. It could be great quality skin treatments because you want before you do anything more advanced, you want your skin to be at its top health. It's hydration. even plastic surgery, like you want your skin to be in better quality because you're going to get a better lift. You're going to get a better everything if your skin is in good health from the starting point. Uh so there's layers to getting there and it does start with good skin care. It does start with that pace and I truly believe in the heartbeat of skincare whether you're using acids or vitamin A's or like in our instance we have salmon DNA. So those are things that you're feeding you're nourishing the skin that's specific for the concerns that you're trying to address and most of the time it is aging.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah, I know. It's like I just want a Benjamin button because because yes, I want to like look young and hot and all the things, but like I want the outside to match how I feel on the inside and I still feel so youthful and full of life and like I and when you look tired, you're like, "Wait, but I don't feel tired." Okay, yes, I feel tired. But you know what I mean.

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. And it's about hydration. It's about, you know, what your practitioner will recommend for you to do at home as well as in clinic. And again, I think more often you see a provider and you're doing the right things at home, you may see a difference just in that self and then you can build from there because I do think that they are more of a building block when you are trying to address um or have an age management plan.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah, my age management plan that we all have one. What do you guys have in your portfolio of products that you're just like super excited about? you've you've mentioned some really interesting things.

Jaclyn Luongo: I love all the tools. I I feel like that may not always be the first step. So, if you are, you know, just getting into skin care or more advanced treatments at home, that may not be the first step and that's okay.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah.

Jaclyn Luongo: Uh we have a glow between kit that is a really great kit that you use in between your treatments that you see your provider, your aesthetician. And there's sheet masks that have plant exosomes and hydration, PDRN, vitamin C. Those are simple to use and that's something that anyone at any age with any concerns could use. So it's very universal.

Betsy Leonidas: Love that.

Jaclyn Luongo: Um there is a glass skin serum that's in that box that kit as well. Um we'll link it in the um the notes. And then there is a stamper that is tiny tiny little uh infusion uh tip to this. It's called the Glowpin that helps to deliver the quality ingredients a little bit deeper. It's very comfortable and you do that a couple of times in between your services. It's like a facial at home that is safe and created by, you know, the professional market c created by medical providers and that's where the idea came from to begin with. We needed this.

Betsy Leonidas: Oh my gosh. Okay, I have a confession. I've literally only ever had two facials in my whole entire life.

Jaclyn Luongo: Did you love it though?

Betsy Leonidas: I did. I absolutely loved it. I was like, I don't know what's happening, but I feel so relaxed and I felt so glowy afterwards. Um, it was just like truly delightful and delivered great results. I I think that like I definitely should be doing more of them, but I am also like I am to your point like I am in the baby. I'm just I really enjoy skincare and I like makeup. Um, but I am like horrible about washing my face at night. Um, I don't know.

Jaclyn Luongo: But then you know you get into the routine and that's also you know from a sales standpoint from when I practiced aesthetics you can't start with now eight products you it will overwhelm you and then you won't do anything totally. So that's what I like about the kit and I say the sheet mask because everybody loves a good sheet mask and when you want to feel good or you have a little special occasion that you're leading up to like that's a nice way to treat yourself at home. and the serum on a daily basis. I think that adding those simple things, I think it gives you a little teaser of, oh, my skin really feels different when I'm using these products. And then it hopefully motivates you to learn more about exfoliating or doing some of those tools. And it's a gateway to just your skincare routine as my daughter calls it and she probably has 10 steps more than I do even at that generation. But absolutely they're they're wearing sunscreen every day and they are going to have glowing young youthful skin for a long time.

Betsy Leonidas: I love it. I love doing it right. Um does your daughter do does she get ready with her friends on FaceTime and then does she get unready with her friends? My 12-year-old does.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And it's amazing, which I think it's smart. I like that there's a younger generation that sees the quality of self-care.

Betsy Leonidas: Yes.

Jaclyn Luongo: That's a big win because my generation, we're both 44. We didn't really learn that. Like we had very little product to use as we were navigating through hormonal issues and now we're on the back end and like we're we didn't have that. So, I love that there is the products, the ingredients out there that really help to have a better trajectory and the knowledge of not wearing SPF and and the damages of not wearing SPF. I think that they're more knowledgeable about those free radicals and what it can damage the skin. So, they're smart. They're doing their serums and they're doing their lights and all the things. So, I'm happy to see that next generation taking really good care of their skin to start.

Betsy Leonidas: I love that perspective. I'm not going to lie, when Adeline first got into it, I was like, "Oh god, the internet has got her. YouTube shorts have got her." But like it I love that she does. It's like it's a way for her to connect with her friends. It absolutely is selfcare, self-care. she really values her skin um just as like she values all the other parts of her, you know, like she takes care of all the other parts of her body. Like it isn't um you know, I think for those of us to your point who like kind of in our generation, we started all this a little bit later and feel like we're playing catchup and you know, sunspots and Moses and all the things that we're doing, you know, where I think they're very much I so for all the parents out there who are like, "Oh my god, my daughter is obsessed with Sephora." Like, yes, we're all going broke because of it, right? I do love the fact that they're so in tune with their skin, what works, what's important, what self-care is.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that it does create less damage so that you're not fixing it later down the road. And I these sheet masks are great for a younger generation. The Dermaplasion is great for any any age bracket. Like there's so many different things that you can start with and be simple and that's very universal to uh you know whatever condition or whatever concerns you might be trying to address or just improve and it feels good to do it for yourself. That's the other part is it does you know there could be a routine when you're using your LED mask and you're create you're looking forward to that that's a reward for you to just pause for a moment.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. Gosh. Right. Just pause, rest, do a little something something for you.

Okay. I think you know, we've talked about what does a healthy practitioner relationship look like? I love that. to be like, "Okay, here's what you really need to tell me about your goals. Let's listen. Let's calibrate. Where do you really need to spend your money?" I love it when they tell me where I don't need to spend my money to. That builds trust for me big time.

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. Absolutely. For sure. You're not ready for that or we don't need that. Let's prioritize this. That's a true provider because they want to keep you long long term and that's to do it because they're being honest with you from their expertise, right?

Betsy Leonidas: And then also if a clinician said to me exactly what you said to be like listen if you're not like a skincare girly I'm not going to give you eight products at home like you're never going to do them. Let's start and when you get excited because you love your self-care routine you can come back and we can build on it. I think those are green flags as we say in the dating world.

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. Absolutely. Good green flags right there.

Betsy Leonidas: I love it so much. But I would love to talk about and we've talked about like how does a clinician balance what I'm so curious about too is this is more of like a business question. What is driving the progression of skincare trends and and technology? Is it consumer demand to be like I want this or is it advancement in technology that is then kind of brought to the consumer lens like what is driving one of the because I feel like consumer us women are so loud in this category.

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. And I think that the generation that we are that permenopausal, menopausal, we are the loudest because we are now dealing with these concerns that nobody taught us about.

Betsy Leonidas: Yes.

Jaclyn Luongo: Nobody taught us about pigmentation or wearing sunscreen every day many years ago. You know, some were in tanning beds. Some were, you know, using products to enhance the tan. So I think that's the loudest group of you know consumer out there.

But I also think that what's what's happening with aesthetic medicine is it's kind of shifting back to more regenerative and that more of the building blocks. So that progressive instead of that quick fix because there really isn't one anyways or the treatments out there that are very long downtime. No one has time for that. You know those long-term peels or the laser treatments, the energy devices that um are quite intense. You have to plan your weeks around if you are going to do a procedure like that. That's what we love about um non-surgical thread lifts because there isn't as much downtime um or even just doing like I said those quality skin treatments. So regenerative being able to build on your own skin health doing those daily tasks that are helping with the health of your skin. uh and it's it becomes sort of habit you know from sunscreen to using a serum every day using your sheet mask on a weekly basis. So, it's not always even from a provider standpoint, it it is I don't think it's always now the what's the next shiny thing, what's the next new treatment, the new trend because that's a trend isn't also sustainable.

Betsy Leonidas: Totally. From a business perspective, I'm sure. Yeah. Exactly. Perspective.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yeah. Exactly. So from a business perspective, you know, getting the new energy device that's hundreds of thousands of dollars and then it's not a cool treatment anymore six months down the road isn't sustainable really. And so that's really where skincare will never go out of business. It's always going to be a fast growing industry and there's going to be a demand for it. um especially as the generations continue to do self-care. But it's it's more progressive than that burn it off, peel it off, long term, long downtime periods. Like this is something that you do and you're treating yourself, you know, more slow slower but getting there at the same. So slow and steady kind of wins that glow or that youthful look and looking like yourself still.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. When do we need those big burn, long downtime, super peel, scary looking, but also I'm sure very effective. But when like when do we need those really

Jaclyn Luongo: when your collagen starts to black? When you start to see that those fine lines and that's different for everyone depending on your makeup, depending on um your skin health and if you did sit in the sun. So that's different for everyone, but that's ultimately the cause of aging is just losing your volume, losing your collagen, right? And how do you do that? How do you create that um regeneration of it? And threads is definitely a a great way to be more regenerative, but we also with the right skin care. So it can't be just one one path. you you need to really check all of those like just have that routine and prepare the skin for it and um be resilient and um have your skin be more resilient as you um do more treatments. So I wouldn't put an age on it. It's really when you start to see it yourself and your concerns and um I started off young maybe because I was in the industry, but I also really did it progressively.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. Right. I think that that is a key one is to like progress, try the thing, see if you really need to get there kind of thing. Um can you tell us more about threads? Like I I I know about eyebrow threading, but again, you're talking to just an itty bitty baby when it comes to skin care here. I mean, I'm in I never ever regret washing my face and putting on my under eye and my vitamin C and my moisturizer. I'm like, I'm a queen. It's like exercise. You never want to do it, but then when you do it, it's like, oh, I feel so much better. I do. I feel set up for success the next day. I feel ready to roll. I'm like, but I just turn into such a pumpkin at night. But I'm I'm a work in progress. I'm not a lost cause yet.

Jaclyn Luongo: That's that's great news. Um what what I love about Threads and I've been exposed to PDO Max many many years ago with a dear friend of mine that was a provider and it was just coming on the market. It was about eight or nine years ago and I was uh able to just observe the treatment that was happening and was fascinated by by it and then she started sending me the results of that patient three months later, six months later and I was wowed like this is amazing and ultimately what threads are doing they're bio stimulators And they are where your thread is placed. Ultimately, it's a pedio suture. It's literally a suture. And it's a thread that absorbs into the body just the way a suture would.

Betsy Leonidas: Wow.

Jaclyn Luongo: And what happens is the as it absorbs, collagen produces where it was placed. So there are different uh levels or different planes that you use more smooth which are um a little bit more of a topical thread that you would use for more of that volume like I do them around here. And then there's lifting threads that are a bit deeper and that do help to lift. And that's something you graduate into potentially or uh it might be a treatment you do in between or right before 10 years before you might get a facelift.

Yeah. So, it's sort of that in between. And it's amazing that we have that. And it's your own body producing the collagen instead of filling it with something or overproducing yourself. Like, you're naturally producing that on your own. And I love that. I love that we also have it in a topical form that can be micro needled into the skin with um the Afterlow, which is our PDO powder uh serum and hyaluronic acid. And you get to really address everything. So that topical glow, you're getting that boost of collagen, helping with that elastin, and that is ultimately what the concern for aging is. You start to lack that collagen. Fine lines and wrinkles are caused from lack of moisture and ju just we start to lose it and produce our skin cells less often and collagen less often as you age.

Betsy Leonidas: Yes, indeed we do. And this is so interesting because when you think about filler, um you worry about where it will distribute to and will it be even and all the things, but if you do threads and it's your own production of collagen, like theoretically your body is going to produce it at a natural rate that like your sides will match like you know it's is that kind of

Jaclyn Luongo: No, it is. Then you're really mapping out where you're placing the thread and you're talk like the provider talks with the patient about it and you make a plan and then sometimes six months later you go back you revisit you might need to boost a little bit or you might need a series of some of these topical skin treatments like LúmEnvy which is PDRN salmon DNA or a topical uh afterglow which has that hyaluronic acid and the u pio powder which is ultimately like a thousand smooth threads in a vial that is micro needled into the skin.

And maybe micro needling is something that you start with before you get into all of that. If any of that sounds scary, micro needling is a game changer. Really anyone that is concerned about texture, glowing dead skin or just looking to have a more youthful appearance and micro needling helps to channel in those high active ingredients like the PDRN that I was talking about and uh vitamin C. The ingredients that you need to look out for as you start to educate yourself on age management. Glutathione, niainamide, vitamin C is very brightening.

Betsy Leonidas: Yes.

Jaclyn Luongo: Uh and that PDRN, those are ingredients that are going to help to boost your collagen and help with brightening and helping the skin glow.

Betsy Leonidas: Incredible. So, does micro needling actually help collagen regenerate or it's just the infusion of product?

Jaclyn Luongo: Typic the power is really in the infusion of the product. um unless you are trying to resurface with uh acne scarring and then it does help with resurfacing in that sense because you're first causing injury to the skin and then your skin is healing. So, it is producing new collagen and new skin cells because you have that goal in mind. you know, from a standpoint of um us as as a company, we don't go that deep with micro needling where it's quite comfortable with a 0.5 depth or just more topical and the point is let the ingredients do the work.

Betsy Leonidas: Oh, I love that. I love that. How often for threads do you have to get them like redone? You know, I think Botox is like that lasts what, four months tops. Like threads last much longer.

Jaclyn Luongo: Threads can be a year and a half to two years. Sometimes you're doing a boost at that point or maybe some smooth threads, the ones that um really help with just that bio stimulation. You're going to hear that word more often as we progress into the louder per menopausal menopausal women out there that need solutions. Um that is a great solution. Anything that's bio- stimulating is going to help us, you know, gain back that confidence in ourselves and um a little bit of the volume that we've lost over the years.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. Volume, gravity. So sad. RIP. Um okay, but this is very helpful. And again, like sometimes I like go into freeze mode because people talk about all the things that they do and like I'm just I'm maybe I'm a slower dabbler, but this is really helpful to be able to like put them into buckets um and to talk about what a trusting relationship with a clinician looks like.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yeah. And it's the stepping stones and again I think it becomes overwhelming because then you don't do anything and I don't want that for anyone because I do think that there's so much out there that is great and is very helpful in the slowing helping to slow down the appearance of the aging process.

Betsy Leonidas: Mhm.

Jaclyn Luongo: So going slow and steady and reading and not following the trends as we started with is is important. I think that you know finding those voices that you trust.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah, absolutely. What is one misconception about how women approach beauty and aging that you wish more consumers understood?

Jaclyn Luongo: I would say the brands that are out there from like a retail level that are the luxury brands. I I think that you need to again read the ingredients like understanding what's in those products. They might have beautiful branding, beautiful packaging and you know spokespeople, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to have ingredients that are even going to help the needle to move in your goals for your skin. So, I think that's a bit of a misconception. You know, if it is this luxury brand, then it must be really great. I would always, and I always will, spend my money on clinically driven ingredients. And also, you know, Korea definitely sets the trends with beauty and there's ingredients from Korea that are amazing that come to market and then we finally get our hands on it. And those ingredients are the ones that I've seen do the most over 25 years in the industry is when Korean skincare has an ingredient, a method. That's where sheet masks were created. Like it's it stays.

Betsy Leonidas: It sticks.

Jaclyn Luongo: It sticks.

Betsy Leonidas: Wow. Okay. Because that's what my TikTok feed is like. Okay. Korean skincare has been gatekeeping this or whatever it may be. Like, okay. I was like, are we just saying this because you want me to buy it or are we for real? For real?

Jaclyn Luongo: No. Well, I think a lot of um really great raw sourced ingredients, you know, really start with um the Korean market and Korean beauty. You know, you have to be wary of where you're getting everything and trust your manufacturer as well, but I I do believe um they they see it and they they perfect it. It's it's definitely um some ingredients that have come out of that have been and concepts have um changed the the beauty world for sure.

Betsy Leonidas: I love that. If you could challenge one beauty standard, what would you challenge? What do you

Jaclyn Luongo: I would say love yourself more. You don't necessarily have to look 20 years old. That's not that I don't want that to be the goal of anyone really at any age. It's it's when you feel good, you look good. So, whatever makes you feel good. If the lips make you feel good, if the brows a certain way make you feel good, go for it. But I think that saying this is beauty, it's so relevant. Like, it's so should be just what you feel is beauty.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah.

Jaclyn Luongo: On the inside, not what's outside. So, do what you feel makes you beautiful or look your best.

Betsy Leonidas: I love that. It really gets to be a one of one. I say all the time in my life to my kids, to my best friends, to the female entrepreneurs that I help coach, it's like we all need to keep our eye on our own paper.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Do what's best for you that makes you feel a certain way and feel better.

Betsy Leonidas: If you could say anything to clinicians, if everyone were listening and you wish that you could say one thing or, you know, what would you want to talk to them about?

Jaclyn Luongo: I would say a lot of it has to do with trends. you know, not always moving on to the next device before you become expert at this one thing. I think that there's just so much in the industry that we can get our fingertips on and like we get it. We we learn something new. We're always it's always evolving. It's amazing how much the beauty industry and aesthetic industry changes. But sticking to a passion and you can't be great at everything. So, I think that for me, I would always prefer to go to someone that's niche at XYZ threads.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah.

Jaclyn Luongo: Or filler or facial skin care. So, that's how I would lead my decision making in finding the right provider. If they're great at laser, stick with that.

Betsy Leonidas: Oh, I love that. I love that. It's like I mean truly, you know, like we don't if you go haven't for everybody have a sports injury and you're going to the knee doctor, you don't want to go see the hip doctor for your knee. Like

Jaclyn Luongo: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It makes sense. Yeah. And there's a lot of paths to take. There's a lot of buckets to be in in this industry. There's the energy device, there's, you know, injectables, there's peels, there's skincare, there's aesthetics itself. It's it's a huge range. Um, and there's a lot of different opportunities to be niche in any of those.

Betsy Leonidas: And if you could say anything to the younger generation, what would you say?

Jaclyn Luongo: The ingredient piece. Understand your ingredients. You know, understand what petroleum is.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah.

Jaclyn Luongo: understand your SPFs and understand why, you know, a 16-year-old would not need retinol.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah.

Jaclyn Luongo: You know, so I think that that's important to understand ingredients to skin concerns and conditions and why and what it treats. I think that's that's important and I think I've taught my daughter that to understand, you know, certain ingredients are not necessary. If you don't have acne, you don't need benzyl peroxide. If you don't, it's it's important to understand your own skin and understand the ingredients that help to maintain it.

Betsy Leonidas: I love that. Actually, you've got my wheels turning in a major way. I'm like, I think every mom is like, you know what? I'm just going to like just go check out her vanity real quick. So, okay, we've talked about retinol. If that probably is not necessary, if they're too young for acne or just don't have acne, they don't need the benzol. What was the I know

Jaclyn Luongo: peroxide is is more for acne skin and the retina or the vitamin A is too young. It could it it could cause more damage because it might sensitize your skin. It might irritate you more and and your skin isn't as thick and as you when you're younger. So, it's it's definitely depends on where you're at with your skin concerns that then that changes. So, it's not like you'll never use vitamin A. I think there's always room for that down the road.

Betsy Leonidas: How's vitamin C for our girls?

Jaclyn Luongo: I like vitamin C. There's a lot of vitamin C that is also buffered so it's not too spicy on the skin. Um not a fan of using fragrance in product or, you know, all those extra dyes and things that make a product look pretty. I think there's, you know, there's a lot of them out there on the market. Um, I like slow and steady and I like simple and just learning. There's apps out there. There's a lot out there to understand. Um, you know, I love nioinamide. I think it's a great skinincare ingredient for that regeneration and helping to hydrate. It's a nutrient for the skin just like vitamin C is and glutathione that really helps to feed the skin. That's the other piece. I think younger generations always want to kind of strip your acid mantle and and you almost become more sensitive or their skin gets sort of red. It becomes more irritated and then your oil sometimes starts to produce more than it needs to if you're constantly stripping your your oil.

Betsy Leonidas: That's so helpful. Yes, absolutely. you know, and like like you said, the have these girls educate themselves, but from a parent perspective, like I just want to go pop in her room real quick and be like, I'm just going to scan the back real quick, make sure we don't have any major concerns. So, I like that it's like looking for fragrance and dyes, not our favorites, right? Like um and then some of the like more harsh sort of layer peeling kind of things. Um trying

Jaclyn Luongo: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it's good to know what is in what you're using. Just like good to know what we're eating. You know, it's the same thing. You want to look at the labels, right?

Betsy Leonidas: I know. And like this. I love I so appreciate your message around slow and steady and simple where I think if you look at this category as a whole, it feels anything but slow and steady and simple, but that you really do have the ability to do that. Um.

Jaclyn Luongo: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's why we made a kit because a kit also is here. This these are your three steps. This is what you need to help really make a difference in your skin because you don't need all of this extra all the time. You you really don't. It's it's almost not necessary. So, I think when it's kind of created for you with those simple steps, I think that that gives you that kind of regenerative approach versus quick quick isn't always the right way to get there.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. My gosh. And then sometimes the maintenance that comes with quick quick, like you've just leveled up in a way that you're like, "Oh god, good luck."

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely.

Betsy Leonidas: Is that kit sort of prime or just particularly good for pmenopause girlies out there?

Jaclyn Luongo: I think it's really great for anybody for brightening and for hydration. So, absolutely, it's great for us. Um, I love the sheet mask when I'm feeling like my skin is tired or just needs a little bit of a boost. Like, I love the sheet masks for that. And then the daily use of the serum. So, it's great for that. But I also think it's really wonderful. the the glass skin serum is is great for any age really because it just has those great hydrating ingredients to it.

Betsy Leonidas: Yeah. And again, like I think I love also the script flipped of like it's not fixing, it's just take it's tending to and taking care of something, you know, like you do your gut and your body and your muscles and all the things like your face too deserves to be loved and not punished for being right.

Jaclyn Luongo: Exactly. We kind of forget like that sometimes is a secondary thought, but yeah, you know, we our skin is our largest organ. We need to take care of it.

Betsy Leonidas: Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh my gosh, this has just been so insightful and so refreshing um and like genuinely motivating. Um if people want to learn

Jaclyn Luongo: Oh, I'm so glad too.

Betsy Leonidas: If people want to learn more from you, if they are curious about threads, if they want to, you know, where can we find more information from you?

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. So we have websites um piomax.com uh and when it comes to the consumer piece we have LúmEnvy Skincare and also Instagram. Uh we have lots of providers that are nationally throughout the country that do amazing thread treatments. Uh and my Instagram handle is Beauty tomorrow. I'm Jaclyn. I am happy to chat with anybody and and make recommendations. Um specifically with LúmEnvy Skincare, there's a lot that consumers can purchase, you know, through the website and um there's some great before and afters. So, you know, just know and trust that um it comes from the professional market and uh we brought that with with a lot of testing and a lot of uh understanding the demand before we did bring it to the consumer.

Betsy Leonidas: I love that. I love that. Slow, steady, choiceful, strategic, all of my favorite words. Jaclyn, thank you so much. Your perspective was just an absolute breath of fresh air and I love chatting with you.

Jaclyn Luongo: Thank you, Betsy. It's a pleasure and I'm going to send you a Glow Between kit. I can't wait to hear your feedback.

Betsy Leonidas: Yes, absolutely. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Thank you.

Jaclyn Luongo: Absolutely. I know you're going to love it.

Betsy Leonidas: You guys share this episode. Truly, I think all of us, you know, when I think about the range of ladies listening to this show, we're all skincare heavy. We're all thinking about, you know, we're all watching gravity do its thing and and everyone out there is so beautiful outside in, inside out. Um, and this is just such a refreshing perspective on um, how to view sort of all the decisions and and how to feel when you're making those decisions or when you're, you know, um, talking with experts who are going to help you make those decisions. I think this has been really informative and also highly motivating. So, Jaclyn, thank you again and thank you everyone for listening and we'll catch you next time.



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