FOUNDER'S NOTE
[ REF: THE ORIGIN OF ALCHEMY ]At the beginning of my journey as a formulator, I was convinced that everything depended on the choice of active ingredients and their concentration. I thought that was the key, but I soon understood that it wasn't enough. Because if you can't deliver that active ingredient to its site of action, no matter how well chosen it is, it won't work as it should. That's when I started to look at excipients differently. They stopped being secondary and became an essential part of the formula.
Selected active ingredients, in high concentrations and with an adequate formulation seemed to be the key to success, but no, something more was missing. I incorporated microbiota care into the equation, nutraceuticals, and even then I kept meeting people with impeccable routines; well-designed formulas, well-selected active ingredients, adequate concentrations... and yet, the results weren't coming as they should.
It wasn't a formulation problem. It was something deeper.
In most cases, the common factor was the same: stress. Cortisol. And how that internal state was conditioning absolutely everything.
That's when I understood that we couldn't keep giving partial answers to complex problems. That there's no point in addressing only one part of the equation when the body functions as a whole.
And that led me to continue my education; this time in something further away from my pharmaceutical world: In coaching and neuroscience. Because if we want a real answer, it has to be a complete answer, a 360-degree answer that takes the person into account in their entirety, body and mind.
And it was from there that Ateliest was born. From the need to formulate something tangible that could act as a gateway to the brain-skin system. Something that wouldn't just remain theoretical. Something that could be applied, that could be felt.
The most fascinating thing of all has been seeing how far we can go; not only can we improve the skin when we reduce stress, we can also use the skin and sense of smell as pathways to the nervous system. We can send signals. We can influence how the body feels.
Something as simple as a spray on the face can generate a measurable response. It can send a message of calm to the nervous system. And that, for me, changes everything.
And you know what's most interesting? Ateliest seems like a consequence of all my subsequent training, but deep down, it's a return to my origins. Before being a formulator, perfumer, coach, or neuroscience student, I am a pharmacist.
And essentially, what does a pharmacist do? They take a problem and turn it into a formula. Into something tangible. Into a "let it be done according to art."
It's almost as if someone put stress, the effects of elevated cortisol, and its impact on the skin and body in front of me and said, "There you have it, now find a way to transform it."
And that's exactly what I've tried to do.
Because perhaps calmness isn't something to be sought externally. But rather something we can learn to activate and return to.
Thank you for sharing this exciting journey with me.
Estíbaliz Lancha Camacho
Founder, Ateliest