Sep 11, 2026

DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE EXFOLIATING YOUR SKIN WITH?

When I started VIXIN 17 years ago, one of the things that mattered most to me was transparency.

I believed consumers deserved to know what they were putting on their skin, why an ingredient was there and what that ingredient actually did.

Seventeen years later, I believe that more strongly than ever.

Because skincare isn't just a pretty jar, a clever campaign or the latest trending ingredient.

It is chemistry.

It is formulation.

It is science.

And when you put your name on a skincare product, you have a responsibility for what is inside it.

That responsibility is exactly why the recent conversation around exfoliation matters.

EXFOLIATION SHOULD BE INTELLIGENT

Exfoliation has been around forever, but somewhere along the way we were taught that the harder we scrubbed, the better the result.

That's simply not how I believe we should treat skin.

Your skin has an incredibly sophisticated barrier. The objective isn't to attack it. Good exfoliation should help remove accumulated dead surface cells while respecting the skin underneath.

That's exactly how we approached VIXIN Smooth Operator Face Polish.

We wanted intelligent exfoliation rather than aggressive exfoliation.

Smooth Operator combines carefully considered physical exfoliation with salicylic acid, Australian kaolin clay, glycerin, jojoba and Bambusa Arundinacea Stem Powder.

Each ingredient has a reason for being there.

Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid. Because it is oil soluble, it is particularly useful in formulations designed for congested skin and helps loosen accumulated dead cells from the outer layers of the skin.

Australian kaolin clay helps absorb excess surface oil.

Glycerin is a humectant that helps attract water to the skin.

Jojoba helps condition and soften.

Bambusa Arundinacea Stem Powder provides the physical polishing action.

It isn't about one hero ingredient.

It's about how the formulation works together.

That is formulation. That is science.

AND THEN AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY PUT IT TO THE TEST

This is why I was so incredibly proud when Australian Women’s Weekly independently reviewed our Smooth Operator Face Polish and Body Polish.

Their reviewer wasn't someone already obsessed with facial exfoliation.

In fact, she had stopped using packaged facial exfoliators.

Then she tried ours.

Australian Women’s Weekly gave our Face Polish 8/10, and the reviewer said something that meant more to me than almost any marketing headline we could write ourselves.

Our Face Polish had:

“reframed my distrust in this type of product.”

THAT is an extraordinary compliment for me as a founder and product developer.

She reported an overall improvement in her skin texture and said her moisturiser, serums and makeup were sitting better on her skin. She also discussed improvements she experienced with her keratosis pilaris and cystic acne.

Individual skin experiences will always vary, but that's exactly why independent editorial like this means so much.

Someone else used it.

Someone else tested it.

And someone else told the story.

👉 READ THE FULL AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY REVIEW HERE

TRANSPARENCY IS EXACTLY WHY I STARTED VIXIN

And this brings me back to something much bigger than our review.

Recently, nine popular skincare products were pulled from shelves following regulatory action by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority over banned plastic microbeads in rinse off personal care products.

I'm deliberately not naming the brands.

This isn't about using another company's problem to make VIXIN look better.

It is about something I have believed since the day I started this company:

Consumers deserve transparency.

Plastic microbeads are tiny solid plastic particles that have been used to create abrasive action in products including exfoliators.

Once they're washed off our faces and bodies, they go down the drain.

But they don't simply disappear.

According to the NSW EPA, most wastewater treatment systems cannot capture microbeads. They can consequently enter waterways, where they can persist in the environment, attract pollutants and potentially transfer through the food chain.

The EPA investigation also highlighted something consumers may not realise.

Bioplastic doesn't automatically mean biodegradable or environmentally harmless.

Materials identified included polylactic acid and cellulose acetate. Despite the reassuring sound of words such as “bio” or “plant based”, the EPA explains that these materials do not readily break down in the environment and are considered plastics under NSW legislation.

That's important information.

Because transparency isn't simply telling consumers what sounds good.

Transparency is telling them the whole story.