the zook lab

i’m starting a movement 👆🏼

make boring skincare cool again.

somewhere along the way, looking after our skin became a full-time job.

another active.
another problem to correct.
another step.
another launch.
another ingredient we’re apparently falling behind on.

meanwhile, some of the least exciting things in skincare are still exactly what our skin needs:

gentle cleansing.
moisturising.
supporting your skin barrier.
protecting your skin from excessive uv.

* doing those things consistently.

i love skincare. obviously.

but i don’t want to spend my life standing in front of a mirror searching for the next thing that’s wrong with my face.

your skincare routine doesn’t need to be impressive.

it needs to make sense. 🌿

welcome to the boring skincare club.

i don’t think this is ever going to stop feeling slightly like magic 🪄

i start with oils, butters, water-based ingredients, an emulsifier + the other ingredients the formula needs.

i weigh them.

heat them.

combine them.

blend them.

* somehow i end up holding this ridiculously beautiful, creamy face cream that i made myself.

obviously it’s not actually magic…it’s formulation.

but the more i learn about it, the more fascinated i become by what every ingredient is doing + why it’s there.

making skincare hasn’t made me think commercial skincare is bad.

it’s made me much better at understanding what i’m actually paying for.

* i bloody love that.

a scale. a beaker. four ingredients. about 15 minutes. 🌿

* suddenly i had my own facial cleansing oil sitting on my bathroom bench.

before i started making skincare, i think i assumed all formulation was complicated.

turns out, some of it absolutely is.

water-based products, emulsions + more complex formulas need proper preservation, formulation + testing.

but a simple anhydrous oil blend like this?

surprisingly uncomplicated.

jojoba oil + grapeseed oil + oat oil + natural vitamin e.

weigh. mix. bottle.

* know exactly what went into it because you put it there.

this is the part i’m getting ridiculously excited to teach you. 👀🌿

turns out you don’t need to know exactly where something is going to start.

you just have to start. 🌿

when i started the zook lab, it was really simple.

i’d spent years turning skincare bottles around, reading ingredient lists + wanting to understand what was actually in the products we put on our skin.

so i started talking about it here.

then i started learning more.

questioning more.

experimenting.

making things.

testing formulas.

* somewhere along the way, the zook lab started becoming something a little bigger than the idea i started with.

right now i’m learning to make simple skincare + working on a little workshop so eventually we can make some of it together.

i definitely don’t have every step mapped out.

but i’m really bloody glad i started. 🌿

4 ingredients. + every single one has a job 🌿

this might be my favourite part of making my own skincare.

i know exactly what’s in this bottle.

* more importantly, i know why it’s there.

🌿 jojoba oil — 40%
lightweight + conditioning, with wax esters similar to some naturally found in our sebum. it gives the cleanser beautiful slip without feeling excessively heavy.

🍇 grapeseed oil — 40%
light + fast-spreading, helping dissolve makeup, sunscreen + oily residue without leaving an overly heavy feel.

🌾 oat oil — 19%
the richer one. beautifully emollient + helps leave my skin feeling soft + conditioned after cleansing.

🌿 natural vitamin e — 1%
an antioxidant + skin-conditioning ingredient that also helps protect the oils in the formula from oxidation.

that’s it.

four ingredients. one cleansing oil.

* + one extremely professional handwritten label 😂

this is only v1. now i use it, test it + figure out what v2 needs.

yep, I just made some more skincare. just like it’s the easiest thing in the world. and actually, it is! i’d love to show you how.

a few ingredients on my bench became facial cleansing oil v1.

now that i’ve made it, i’ll use it, pay attention, take notes, change things, make it again + then when i get the formulation just right, i’m going to teach you how to make it, too’

v1 isn’t supposed to be perfect — it’s supposed to teach me what v2 needs to be.

sometimes skincare is literally just frozen water. 😂🧊

no trending ingredient.
no 12-step routine.
no $200 serum.

just cold.

i love using this in the morning when my face + particularly the area around my eyes looks a little puffy.

the cold can temporarily reduce puffiness + swelling by constricting superficial blood vessels, + frankly it just feels bloody lovely first thing in the morning.

does it permanently tighten your skin, shrink your pores or magically build collagen?

no.

does it need to?

also no.

sometimes something can simply make your skin look + feel a little better for a while.

although apparently the most challenging part of this particular therapy is getting the bloody lid off. 😂

keep it moving over the skin + don’t leave ice sitting against one spot for prolonged periods.

get yours through my affiliate link here or at the link in bio.

we’ve reached the $599 red-light showerhead era apparently 😂

to be clear: i’m not laughing at red-light therapy itself. there’s legitimate research behind photobiomodulation.

i’m laughing at our apparently unstoppable desire to put every promising piece of skincare technology into every bloody object we own.

because “red light has evidence” + “this particular red-light product will give you meaningful results” are not automatically the same statement.

wavelength matters. dose matters. exposure matters. the actual device matters.

so before the beauty industry convinces you that your showerhead is now underperforming…

sometimes a shower can just be a shower 🤭

or… you could learn to make one. 🌿

there’s something pretty bloody satisfying about looking at a skincare product + knowing exactly what’s inside it.

not because you googled the ingredient list.

because you put every ingredient there.

this little balm started as mango butter, jojoba, oat oil, calendula-infused oil, grapeseed oil, candelilla wax + vitamin e.

i weighed them. melted them. mixed them.

* somehow those bottles became something i can actually put on my skin.

not all skincare can — or should — be made this simply. proper formulation + preservation absolutely matter.

but some things can.

* i’m starting to think we should make some together. 👀🌿

she’s a little lumpy. 😂🌿

meet balm v1.

the formula? lovely.

the pour? less lovely.

once i’d added the vitamin e + stirred everything together, i was supposed to pour it straight into the tin while it was still completely liquid.

instead, i got distracted. 😂

by the time i came back, it had started setting + my elegant little pour became more of a…

scrape + blob.

hence her slightly questionable appearance.

but that’s the fun of making things.

v1 isn’t supposed to be perfect.

i’m testing the texture, the glide, how it feels on my skin, how quickly it absorbs + what i’d change for v2.

* i’ve already got some ideas. 👀

pretty? debatable.
useful? absolutely.
finished? not even close. 🌿