“Beauty is self-confidence in a bottle. I want everyone to experience self-love, confidence, and good skin. The future of beauty is simplicity, “said Tina Chen Craig, founder of New Jersey’s U-Beauty. Residing in Texas with business partners in Florida, creative in L.A., and fans worldwide, she has the world at her fingertips.
“I knew there had to be a smarter, better way than being beholden to a 15-step routine, day and night,” she says.
“I was overwhelmed, and my routine often left my skin irritated. The onslaught of products wasn’t even working. I wanted to cut down on cosmetic confusion. To streamline and optimize.”
U Beauty launched in 2019, offering science-based, results-oriented formulas to slim down your skincare routine. “We only make multi-tasking, products that give the skin what it needs and produce superior results, “says the former “Bag Snob” blogger who also runs a design consulting firm, and co-founded Estate Five, a talent management and influencer agency.
The former University of South California student gave up the Chanel Boy Bags and Chloe Edith sandals to invent a “one and done” self-care culture to help women under-elaborate their lives and amplify their skin. And glow like a five-year-old.
Craig’s beauty mantra is CCCC- cleanse, compound, cream, and cover. “Our super hydrator is the most luxurious and intuitive, amazing moisturizer you’ll ever use. I like to give myself two to three pumps. It’s a luxuriously rich cream base with squalane and shea butter that allows your skin to be protected with this moisture barrier.”
Her secret sauce is called U Beauty’s Resurfacing Compound designed to replace toner, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, AHAs, physical exfoliants, antioxidant serums, and retinol products.
Her Italian-invented SIREN capsules can be filled with endless combinations of actives enabling infinite skin nourishing and renewing possibilities.
They effectively act as a Trojan horse, tricking free radicals into thinking they’re attacking a healthy skin cell while they’re being neutralized and then infiltrated by damage-reversing ingredients. They go where they have never been able to go before. “Think of it like it’s just filling all the holes in the cells that have been taken over by free radicals, and now, the free radicals are being neutralized and you’re left with healthy skin cells.”
“It replaced six products for me,” says Craig. “And because the actives go exactly where they need to go, we’re able to use lesser amounts, which means less irritation for your skin even though we’re doing more for it.
“Our Super Smart Hydrator has the original siren capsule minus the retinol palmitate, but it also boasts a secondary siren capsule, we call s the hydra-siren capsule. The original siren capsule has the antioxidants and the peptides that help cellular turnover, but the hydra-siren is filled with dehydrated hyaluronic acid molecules—long-chain and four different short-chain
“Long-chain hyaluronic acid has been treated as this superhero ingredient, but what happens is that when it comes into contact with any kind of moisture in the air, it grows 1,000 times its weight in water, so you’re growing that molecule too big to do what it really needs to do, which is hydrated from within, and it instead just sits on the top of the skin without actually penetrating.”
U-Beauty’s latest venture is “invisible arm shapewear”.
The SCULPT Arm Compound took three years to perfect, tightening the skin on the arms via an active-rich mix of peptides, plankton, and probiotics. It possesses the proprietary antioxidant- and retinol-packed SIREN Capsule, which the company claims, “delivers contouring to areas of the skin that need it most, and optimizes normal cell turnover to reveal brighter, smoother, and firmer-looking skin.”
“My grandmother taught me that beauty is about self-love. If you take care of yourself, you feel more confident. And what’s a bigger confidence booster than healthy, glow skin?”
U-Beauty became an instant cult brand. But what might be the next U-B trend? Says Craig, “Bone broth is one thing I always have on the stove. It’s super easy to make.”
Bone Broth Recipe
Ingredients
– 3 lbs soup bones
– 2 lbs chicken backs and carcasses, skin, and excess fat removed
– 2 tablespoons of sesame or avocado oil
– 1 large onion, skin on, roughly chopped
– 12 garlic cloves
– One 3-inch knob of ginger, roughly chopped
– 2 whole leeks, washed and roughly chopped
– 2 dozen scallions, white parts only (reserve greens and light green parts for garnishing
finished soup)
– 6 quarts of water in a large boiling pot
– 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider
– For extra flavor add carrots, daikon, and/or white pepper
Method
Place soup bones, chicken, onion, garlic, ginger, scallions, and leeks in pot and sear until deeply browned. Fill with at least 6-quarts of water. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to draw out minerals in bones. Cook on high until boiling. Turn to low and simmer for at least 10 hours. I like to cook mine for 24-30 hours. Turn off at night and simmer broth the next morning. For extra antioxidants, add goji berries. For extra flavor add carrots, daikon, and/or white pepper!
