LP: What is your brand philosophy?
Our philosophy is to simplify the idea of skincare with effective formulas for all skin types, especially sensitive. We create products for both men and women, and, ultimately, for how a couple may shop for and use products together.

LP: Skincare lines are dime a dozen, how did you approach your own products in order to make them special and unique?
Well, in a nutshell: We are family owned, run, and self funded. Therefore, we can be special and do special things because we love to. We are not a big corporation like L'Oréal who owns Kiehl's and markets a business. We took the approach to modernize the traditional ideas of the neighborhood apothecaries and perfumeries used 100 years ago. It does not matter if you are a man or woman, dry or oily. We take the best of traditional, tried and true, trusted natural botanical ingredients combined with advanced, non-invasive technologies to create performance that is safe, effective, and results oriented. The brand is a culmination of our partnership, lifestyle, and careers—beauty (Malin) and design (Goetz). Ultimately, we focus on balance: traditional/modernity, dry/oily, men/women, design/beauty, nature/technology. And, we avoid false claims and over-marketing. This way—similar to your neighborhood pharmacist—you trust you are getting exactly what you need for results. When you come to our store in Manhattan, you see and feel this in its entirety and be waited on by us in many cases.

LP: What kind of individual uses Malin + Goetz products?
Our business is 50%/50% men/women. We address design, beauty, lifestyle, fashion, architecture, etc. We are sold in department stores, fashion stores, salons, gyms, spas, hotels and internationally in every major city (check out our distribution—we are quite proud). Our customer is sophisticated, educated, looking for results and no-nonsense. They are smart—we try to keep up.

LP: I love your minimalist aesthetic, it is almost self-effacing, why did you choose such simple packaging?
Like old traditional chemist labels, we communicate all of the products information right up front. It is a modern interpretation, straight forward, and, in our opinion, beautiful. It is also practical and user friendly. Men are not intimidated and it looks amazing on a woman's designer vanity. It is eco-friendly luxury at its best.

LP: You combine natural extracts with high-tech ingredients, how do you strike the perfect balance between nature and artifice?
Each formula is specific and undergoes extensive development. We start with the best, most trusted and least irritating of botanicals and then prepare them with non-invasive technologies to create the most effective, modern performance. We are quite proud of each and every one.

LP: What is your favorite product?
I really love them all. It is like asking a parent which child he prefers. However, our new Detox Face Mask is really wonderful. It is the perfect example of our brand: natural/technological, gentle and effective, results oriented, smells and feels great without irritation, etc. It looks great on the shelf, and, ANYONE can use this and LOVE it. The Grapefruit Face Cleanser is our number one selling item and was made for me—my dry, hyper-sensitive skin. I suffer from rosacea, eczema, seborrhea, and have allergies to synthetic fragrances. We take all of this into account for each item.

Vitamin C, überwonderproduckt that it is, gives me chemical burn, and as others move forward into the future, I have been left behind. The Detox Face Mask ($38) is Malin + Goetz's latest offering, and influenced by Malin's commendation of the product, I decided, well, why not? Is it not my job to brave the manifold perils of skincare? It turns out that none of my skepticism bears out. This is a lovely all-around product. A little goes a long way, and it has a pleasant gel-cream texture that, upon application, foams and crinkles on the skin, very strange, but it is not the telltale tingle of irritation, so my first reservations were allayed. Immediately, your skin is soft and bright and very smooth. The detox is more long-term, but it cleared up the recent congestion of my skin within a few days, so I deem it effective. Best of all, it has the most heavenly almond aroma—I'll admit that I've rejected many an excellent product for inferior scents. It is a highly multi-functional product: a daily cleanser for tougher skins, the every-other-day exfoliant, a weekly mask, the occasional reparative for a night of partying, a blessed relief from thin sleep and accumulated grime from travel. My skin is delicate, so I intend to venture about two to three times a week, the dermatologists' suggestion for regular exfoliation. Did I not say that to pronounce nirvana on my skincare routine was premature? This is even nicer than the Primavera scrub, because no granules get stuck in my eyes. My only complaint? A very minor one: it ought to come with a cap, for travel.

Malin was careful to differentiate the Replenishing Face Serum ($65) from their more basic moisturizer, as a specific treatment for those particularly concerned with the various signs of aging. Admittedly, I am no case for this and would perhaps do better with the Vitamin E Face Moisturizer ($45). This has the high, clean scent of geranium to my nose, and it has a sort of benign potency to it, the humectant hyauluronic acid at 2%, which has a definite stickiness until a few minutes later when it sinks in and you just have exquisitely plump, hydrated skin, with a velvety, not occlusive, texture. A very good booster for dry skin under your regular creams, because humectants just suck all the moisture right into your skin, where it does the most good. This is in fact its intended use, though it may be used alone. If you haven't a moment to spare in the mornings, the absorption time may make this better suited for nighttime use, but otherwise, I think this will provide an excellent base under makeup.

I am always drawn to scents that are more left-of-center, so I was eager to sniff the Cannabis Candle ($48), which can be burned alone or in synergy with the Neroli Candle ($48), which strikes me as a very cool idea, a mellow white floral. I normally prefer incense for atmospheric fragrances and sneer at candles, but this is a very beautiful one, a deep brown-plum wax in a hefty frosted jar, imprinted with the usual aesthetic M+G scrawl, it gives an aubergine glow to the entire room. For those with more conservative tastes, it does not smell remotely like a dirty hippie, in fact, it is very crisp and clean and only a little bit earthy. It smells of hemp, not marijuana, very green, with a peppery bite and the sharpness of citrus, grounded over patchouli and sandalwood, and just a tiny hint of fig, like background noise. Oddly enough it reminds me of Annick Goutal's Eau d'Hadrien, because Cannabis has that same balsamic, Mediterranean touch.

Labels: bath and body, beauty notebook, malin + goetz, skin