Ever thought about what really happens when you layer toner, essence, acid, serum, Vitamin C, ampoule, mask, eye cream, oil, & moisturiser all in one go?

The commercial skincare industry wants you to believe it is self-care.
Your skin calls it chemical roulette.

Each skincare tube, jar, bottle, and dropper in your bathroom is a separate lab formula, with different ingredients, pH levels, preservatives, fragrance/parfum compounds, surfactants, stabilisers, fillers +++. You mix them on your skin without testing, without controls, and without knowing whether they clash, neutralise each other, compound or react causing irritation and/or sensitivities. You are the single lab test for this skincare combination and the chemicals contained in it.

In scientific terms, this is an uncontrolled chemistry experiment. The effects of potentially confounding variables are not accounted for.

This is the reason many dermatologists recommend taking a complete break from your skincare routine when faced with irritation, rashes, redness, breakouts, or inflammation. To allow the skin to reset without the constant chemical interference and exposure.

The Bundle Trap

The truth is: the 10-step skincare routine or any multi product routine did not appear because skin suddenly evolved to need more products. It appeared because stores (online or bricks & mortar), measure revenue per visit and average order value, which is how much money they make each time you visit their site and how to extract more. The more skincare steps they convince you to “need,” the more your checkout climbs.

Take a common “glow bundle” sold:

• Oil cleanser – $35

• Water-based cleanser – $30

• Exfoliant – $45

• Toner – $28

• Essence – $55

• Acid – $60

• Serum – $90

• Eye cream – $80

• Face oil – $65

• Moisturiser – $70

Total: $558 RRP

That is four times the price of a single bottle of Vitis V Face TonIQ — and instead of one blend designed to work in harmony with your skin, you’ve got ten competing chemical cocktails causing disruption, compromise and damage to your skin biological functions.

An important detail that commercial skincare brands do not want you to consider, is even if those ten products come from the same brand and are marketed as a “curated bundle,” it does not mean they have been manufactured by the same company, or even in the same production facility. Many brands white-label products from multiple manufacturers, each with their own proprietary formulations, preservatives, surfactants, stabilisers, and fragrance/parfum scents.

Even if they were all made in the same facility, there is no legal requirement for the products in a bundle to be tested for compatibility with each other. Each formula is assessed individually. How they interact when layered on your skin? That is not part of the safety check.

When “Safe” Becomes Risky

This is why language matters.

A toxin is a naturally derived substance that is harmful to health and biological systems. Cyanide, botulinum produced by bacteria, poisonous mushrooms, snake or spider venom are examples of toxins.

A toxicant is a synthetic chemical introduced into the environment that also harms biological systems. Think PFAS, phthalates, and BPA (bisphenol-A) — all of which have been used in, and detected in, cosmetics and skincare.

Toxic refers to the effect that substance has on a living organism, depending on the amount and exposure time. it is not just the substance itself that matters, but the dose and the duration.

Both toxins and toxicants can be described as toxic because of their harmful effect on living organisms. But toxicity isn’t just about what the substance is, it’s about the dose and the duration of exposure. Even substances considered safe in small amounts can become harmful when exposure is repeated or compounded.

Now apply that to skincare. Even if each product in your 10-step routine meets individual legal safety limits, the combined effect, known as cumulative toxic load can occur.

Regulatory safety limits are calculated per product, not for the stacked exposure you get from layering multiple formulas every day, sometimes twice a day.

This is exactly why the EU recently tightened regulations on retinoids (preformed Vitamin A) retinol, retinyl acetate, and retinyl palmitate.

On 4 April 2024, the EU Commission set new limits:

• Facial skincare — max 0.3% retinol equivalent (RE)

• Body lotions — max 0.05% RE

Plus, mandatory labelling for any product containing these retinoids:

“Contains Vitamin A. Consider your daily intake before use.”

Why? Because while one product might be “safe” on its own, using several retinol or retinol derivatives can push Vitamin A exposure over time, toward toxic levels (hypervitaminosis A) a textbook example of cumulative toxic load.

The Skin Barrier Assault

Your skin barrier is the body’s first line of defence against external threats including the chemicals found in commercial skincare. Every extra product is another set of preservatives, surfactants, stabilisers, fragrance molecules, and synthetic chemicals your skin has to process. This constant chemical assault leads to irritation, sensitivity, and inflammation of the skin and increased toxic load in the body, when they make it past the skin barrier and into the circulatory system.

Ironically, skin barrier damage often makes people add even more products to “fix” it, exacerbating the same cycle that caused the damage in the first place, adding even more toxic load with unknown consequences for skin and health.

The Simple Naturally Occurring Alternative

Instead of mixing ten different lab formulas and hoping they play nicely, you can use one bio-essential, bio-active, nutrient-dense product designed to work in harmony with skin and support it’s own regenerative functions.

Vitis V Face TonIQ is naturally rich in essential linoleic acid, multiple antioxidants, is bio-active and contains skin bio-essential nutrients. The entire phytonutrient entourage and integrity is preserved, and the blend is skin-compatible by design to nourish, fortify, boost and protect the skin regenerative functions so that you can achieve your most nourished and radiant skin. No chemical cocktail or uncontrolled chemistry experiment required.

Your skin is not a lab test. You should not be used as a lab trial.
Skip the bundle hype, the time commitment and the expense.

Stop running daily uncontrolled and unsupported experiments on your face, and let nature’s essential phytonutrients do the bio-chemistry.

No toxins. No toxicants. No toxic load. Vitis V Face TonIQ.

Nothing is worth the “saving” if it is damaging your skin and health.

Bundle schmundel!

Vitis V Face TonIQ - Your one step ritual for your most nourished and radiant skin.