Averr Aglow Founder Camille Chulick Tells Us About The Inspiration Behind Her Skincare Line

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Camille Chulick has struggled with acne for more than a decade, trying everything and anything to treat her breakouts. She dreaded looking at her reflection and truly knows the feeling of being embarrassed by what others think of your skin.

“You slather on the thickest foundation you can find, hoping no one will notice your breakouts. Some days are worse than others. You’ve skipped out on social events with friends and have even called in sick to work because it was just that bad,” Chulick says.  

Her confidence was gone. So, seven years ago, she took matters into her own hands and created her own all-natural skincare products that actually work – and Averr Aglow was born.

Camille founded Averr Aglow not only for herself but with the goal of helping other women suffering from stubborn acne and frustrated that nothing was working. Women like herself, who have tried literally everything else.

She has reached her goal and didn’t stop there – Averr Aglow is a clear success with users in terms of healthy, glowing skin and the brand is thriving.

We got to talk to Camille Chulick and find out all about her clean skincare line and what it took to get it where it is today. Keep reading below for the full interview! 

To shop all Averr Aglow has to offer, click here and check them out on IG, facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Molly Davis: Hi, this is Molly with She’s A Full On Monet. Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing Camille Chulick, the founder of skincare brand Averr Aglow. Camille, thank you so much for joining us.

Camille Chulick: Yes. Thank you so much, Molly.

MD: I was just wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your story and how you founded the brand. 

CC: Sure. I started Averr Aglow about seven years ago now. It was born out of frustration with my bad skin. What I mean by that is, I was breakout prone, oily and I had battled it when I’d started breaking out at thirteen. I was in my late 20s at this point, and I had worked through different things, countless topical products from expensive, over-the-counter, drugstore, dermatologists. You name it, I had tried it. Clean diets, supplements.

MD: You ran the gamut and nothing worked.

CC: Yeah, exactly. Aestheticians with facials. At that time, I was in my late 20s, and I was really frustrated with my skin, so having gone to all of those different authorities and whatnot, they had all given me little tidbits about the problem, but I couldn’t quite connect fully what was going on and why I was still breaking out in my late 20s. Because I had been told, I remember a couple of dermatologists that I’ve visited through the years that said, “You’re going to grow out of it, so don’t worry about it.” When you’re nearing 30 and you’re saying, “Well, when’s that time you’re going to grow up? It’s not exactly moving, so what do I do? What am I doing wrong?” It’s not for lack of trying to get rid of the issue. After digging into the problem, and really researching it, I started realizing after – because it had been 16 years, and I had learned things as I went about it. It was truly a pain point of mine, so I wanted to solve it, because I didn’t want to go from battling breakouts to battling wrinkles.

MD: Right. With no breaks in between, like no smooth skin.

CC: Exactly. I think that’s what we’re all after, right? Upon my research, I had found that the internal factors that everyone had talked about with the clean diet and supplements, you can’t clear up your skin topically, that it did have a connection topically. So, internal and external work together. I had started connecting the pieces of how that works, why it works that way. For example, with women dealing with hormonal aspects of their body, the hormones can affect our skin. Our lifestyle factors, what we eat, how stressed we are, time of the month, all of that can affect the skin. Hormones, when they’re created in the body, design a purpose to send signals to how the body needs to respond. But what it does do with certain hormones, say like cortisol, when you’re stressed, cortisol is released, and it increases the sebum levels in your skin, which is that oily substance your skin makes. Sebum in itself is there to protect your skin, so it’s good, it has a purpose.

But unfortunately, acne bacteria found on the skin love sebum and reproduces sebum. When you have this bad bacteria mixing with dead skin, it creates a clogged pore. That’s kind of what goes on below the surface of your skin. So you have this hormonal response from different factors. That can also be from medication. There are a couple other things that affect it for sure. You have that increase, and you have this chain reaction of a breakout. It’s not wrong, supplements and clean diet and all of that is important. It is important to take care of yourself. But the external factor is you can help your skin topically by exfoliating, by balancing that sebum, so your skin stops over producing and helping eliminate that bad bacteria and really strengthening the immune system on the skin. It’s kind of connecting all of that together. That’s when I realized, well, skincare does have its role, and internal does have its role, and let’s marry the two, and we can get fantastic, stellar results.

MD: Wow. So you said, “I’m going to make up a skincare brand. No one has made this that helps my skin, so I’m going to do it”?

CC: No, not necessarily in the beginning because I was just looking at this as more of a problem I need to solve. This was a frustration for me, so let me go and blog and help other women with it. It was something I was starting to connect and I’m like, “Well, maybe I’ll just tell them what they need to do with the routine or what ingredients they need to get, and then they can combine it themselves.” But at the end of the day, it’s fun to jump on Pinterest, and maybe make a homemade mask once or twice. But in today’s busy world, women, really – do they have the time to even go combine all this stuff and figure it out? I felt that it would be too cumbersome for them. While I would give them good information and help take the mystery out of breakouts, it really wasn’t going to solve the problem of the skincare aspects.

That’s when my husband and I started crafting batches in the kitchen and started researching skincare ingredients that would kind of help with those things. I was talking about the exfoliation of the dead skin, boosting the immunity in the skin, and that bad bacteria. Different plant extracts, and oils, and ingredients I had come across through my research would help those different factors. That’s when we started combining formulas or recipes, really. Just, “Let’s try this. Let’s try that. Oh, I found rosewater. How does that help the skin?” That kind of thing.

MD: How long did it actually take you to find the right formula to help your skin? How long was that process? 

CC: Well, it’s not to say, “Oh, at that exact time.” There are already things I had been researching. For example, I had known for years that jojoba is supposed to be good for mimicking sebum. I had tried tea tree oil over the years, jojoba. There had already been ingredients I had tried by themselves. But what it was is, when you combine them together, because acne is a pretty stubborn issue as – I don’t know if you’ve ever dealt with it?

MD: I haven’t, but I had a best friend who had cystic acne in high school, and she used to have to go to the dermatologist and get them injected, which she said was absolutely painful and they looked painful. 

CC: Yes. Exactly.

MD: She was on Retin-A and all that. I don’t think they had the prescription one yet? 

CC: Oh, Accutane.

MD: Accutane. She was on some other just really skin stripping, hard things to get rid of it. In the end, she just would have to go and they’d have to inject it to get rid of it. Otherwise, it would never go away.

CC: Exactly. It’s painful, it’s stubborn. Well, like I said, tea tree, you might have heard of it as a good remedy for it. The problem is tea tree might help with the bad bacteria of acne, but it’s not exfoliating, or it’s not boosting the skin’s health. So you kind of need to combine multiple ingredients together to get that synergistic blend of results. I was after not only clearing my skin, because it also felt like, from the acne perspective, it was like you had to choose. When you go in and you buy skincare, it’s like skincare for acne. But what about, “I want to clear out my breakouts, but I also want dewy, cushy, healthy glass skin.” So how can we clear the skin and not only clear it, but also get the results of – anytime you’d see a friend pass who had a perfect complexion, how can we get that clear skin plus a good complexion? So, that was really what I was after. So really digging in and learning about the different nutritional profiles, oils, and extracts, and butters, and waters that I had been learning about ahead.

I knew some ingredients already from just my history with breakouts. But then, also digging into – there was a website that has – it’s a cosmetic ingredient database, so I started just messing around on that and looking at what ingredients were out there. And then, you can contact the vendors, they’ll send you a sample and then you can kind of see what it’s like. Did it meet your expectations? Did it fit into what we were working on? That’s where we were crafting the batches in the kitchen. But it took multiple months, and months, and months. It wasn’t like in two weeks we had a formula. 

To this day, there’s probably been hundreds of iterations on the formula because of just different tweaks. When you’re making a skincare product, even though you think it might be perfect at that exact second, sending it out in trucks that are sitting in 100-degree heat, does the formula stay stable and all that? Or does it stay preserved? Because there’s different – freezing will affect a product, heating it up too high will affect the product. It wasn’t overnight or anything like that. It was over multiple months, if not probably about a year’s time. 

MD: You and your husband started in the kitchen of your house, that’s how the business started?

CC: Yes, correct. 

MD: That’s so fun. So now, you’ve moved out of your kitchen, I assume.

CC: We have moved out of the kitchen, yeah.

MD: Can you tell me a little bit about how that move was made?

CC: Yes. After crafting those batches, we also, at that time, after we had kind of come to something that we were happy with, we took it to a third-party manufacturer, and they have chemists on staff that helped us tweak the formula. So then they started producing the products for us. It’s very typical in the cosmetic world to have it made by a party. It’s not usually done in-house, and it’s pretty rare. So they started creating the batches for us, and then we also added to our – we added our toner, and serum, and makeup remover at that point. They helped us with the formulas of what we were after for those products. 

But what was happening was, it was really hard because we were trying to get this off the ground ourselves. This was all bootstrapped. We were using our own money and it was something that – we were having to take what we were earning and put it back into the business. We didn’t have any funding. In fact, we were in debt at the time, and we had very little from our previous business. We were trying to get this to work, and we’re using everything we could to put it back into the business to kind of get it rolling. 

At the time, when we would get the products from them, and while we’re trying to do marketing, and we would hit different things that maybe were working, we were getting dangerously close to running out of product. The problem was, in the beginning of a business, when you’re dealing with cash flow issues, it’s really important not to run out of product because you need all the cash you can get to keep a business going. It’s kind of one of those decisions we ended up making, where I’m very passionate about the ingredients, and where they’re coming from, what’s going in the products. Then there were a couple quality control issues we were having with what they were making, so we decided to end up taking it back in-house and started doing it, making it ourselves. Because when we had initially started, and we had put up our site, we had done it for a little bit of time in our garage, like we sanitized our bottles on the stove, and then we mixed our ingredients, and made this cleanroom and everything. It was pretty fun and cute. 

MD: Like a little lab.

CC: Like a little lab, right. Exactly.

MD: Did you guys have goggles and lab coats?

CC: Not googles, no. The glasses are more for when you’re mixing batches in case something goes wrong. But yes, hair nets, and gloves.

We started actually doing it in our basement, because we had a 2000 square foot area. At this time, we had moved. We were in a house that had a 2000 square foot unfinished basement. We put all the plastic wrap up down there, and then started creating the batches. Well then, finally, when we were doing all the marketing efforts, and telling my story about the breakouts, and why the skincare works and started taking off. We kind of outgrew that, because then we had the local city compliance officer knock on the door saying that people thought we were doing drugs in the basement because we’re wearing these —

MD: They thought you had a meth lab?

CC: Yeah, exactly. 

MD: Some Breaking Bad stuff going on down there.

CC: When we’re explaining, “We’re making skincare.” Yeah, it’s a common story, where people start out in their kitchen, in their basement, and they kind of outgrow – they end up outgrowing and have to move out operations. So, at that point, this was back in 2019. We ended up getting a facility not too far from our house, and then kind of moved operations in mid-2019.

That’s kind of really where we started growing the business from there. We had dialed it in, we had the formulas dialed in, we had gotten the manufacturing down and all the good manufacturing processes that are required for skincare. We were in our facility, and then we kind of outgrew that facility. Then we ended up moving next door to the second one, and then moved again to the one we’re currently in, which is now about 113,000 square feet. We did these stages of growth, we started in the kitchen, and went to the basement, and then went to a 7,000 square foot and then it went from there. 

MD: Well, that’s amazing.

CC: Now we have our own lab and our own chemists. It’s been quite a journey, and I wouldn’t have said I would have gotten into the manufacturing element of it in the beginning, but I’ve enjoyed doing it.

MD: Right. That’s my next question. What are some things from the beginning that you wish you would have known when you started the company – that maybe you would have done differently, like a hurdle that would have been easier to overcome had you known?

CC: I think it’s hard – that’s a loaded question. Because if you go back and tell yourselves, you might have made different decisions which might have led to different mistakes, because the entrepreneur journey isn’t all – it’s not rise and success. It can be messy. There are mistakes made during. I think I really wouldn’t have changed anything really in the journey. The only thing that I have thought about when I’ve gotten this question before is, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You think when you’re starting out – this was something that I learned in one of my other businesses. We were creating these apps, and before we launch it on the App Store, we’re like, “Okay. Everything is perfect. It looks perfect.” It took eight months when it really should have taken like two months and then it iterated. Because ultimately, the product you start with to the product it ends up evolving, it really depends on what the consumer wants, and what they like about it, what they don’t like about it. Even though you might think it’s perfect, put it out there, start getting people’s opinions. Not everybody’s opinion, because everybody has an opinion. But the people that are truly your client who would buy it from you, and would keep visiting over, and over and continue to buy. So take their feedback and iterate. 

We did get better at that and not being so slow with what we’re doing, but that’s something maybe – but the whole thing, I think it’s really taught me so much. It’s expanded me as an individual, and working with employees, and the nuances of – like I said, we had other businesses, but this one,  it’s covered so many facets. It’s a brand, and we’re doing the manufacturing. You have all kinds of employees and workers. It really has taught me a lot. I don’t know that I would go back and change anything, because you can kind of iterate off of what you learn.

MD: Right. It sounds like this is a passion project for you.

CC: For sure.

MD: Because it’s more personal for your skin and your journey. I’m glad that it’s worked out. It sounds like it’s going fantastic.

CC: Yeah, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, for sure.

MD: It sounds like it! Can you tell me where the name came from?

CC: So Averr Aglow. Originally, we had named it Hello Aglow, and we just wanted something fun and fresh. But at the time, that was actually a learning curve in itself, trademarking a name and figuring out how to trademark. So Averr Aglow, we ended up – there was a trademark too close to it that had gotten filed very similarly around the same time. When we were looking at, let’s change it to something more unique and something that we can continue to brand on for a long time, we came across the word of Averr. Averr is usually used in a legal sense, but the definition of it is to state to be true. When we were putting that with aglow, the whole goal behind this brand was to not only clear skin but to also have, like I said, that glow, that confidence, so to state to be true. So true glow. That was kind of what we were after.

MD: That’s clever. I love that.

CC: That was the background to really embody the message we were trying to send to our clients.

MD: That’s perfect. Can you tell us a little bit about your products? What are some – you’ve already told me some of the key ingredients, but if you want to get into more of that, and how they work? Do you have a most popular product that customers love? 

CC: I’ll break it down. What we started with is our Clear Skin Kit, that’s our signature routine to help. So if you’re battling breakouts, that’s what you would start with, is the kit. It has a cleansing routine that you do in the morning and evening. Overnight mask and a moisturizer. Then clients from there will add our toner, which is our Luminous Complexion Toner. You add that in. It really kind of grounds the routine, because it’s a nice staple because it helps with the look of pores, and it’s really helping slough off the dead skin that we talked about that can clog and make breakouts. It’s full of a lot of botanicals, and it’s not a drying toner, because that’s a big complaint with toner. We had worked to make it very soothing, very calming. Also, how does it help?

Now, for example, with pores in general, with breakouts, when you have the overabundance of sebum, the sebum can stretch out the pore lining of the wall of the pore, so it makes your pores look bigger. People will say you can’t change the size of the pore, and that’s true. But what you can do is help boost the collagen to make the pore appear smaller and help with that. That’s kind of where those ingredients will come in and help with that concept. That’s kind of the signature routine, is the Clear Skin Kit. If you’re battling breakouts, you’ve been battling them, that’s the routine you do morning and evening. It’s a simple routine. It probably takes about less than about 45 seconds, maybe a minute in total to do.

MD: Other skincare regimens can take hours.

CC: We try to make it as simple as possible.

MD: We love that.

CC: Then you take the overnight mask, which you can also use as a spot treatment, but it has a French pink clay in it, which has a negative ion charge which helps to draw out underneath the surface. Breakouts can form under the surface before you ever see them, and it can be weeks at a time before you ever see them, before they pop up. Sometimes you’ll have customers who will say, “Oh, a skincare product is making me breakout.” That is kind of in part of how breakouts work, and it’s not necessarily the skincare. Well, it’s doing its job. It does seem counterproductive. Why would you break out more to clear up your skin? The reason behind that is skincare can draw what’s already formed up and out. Once a breakout is formed, it has to come out. Again, that compilation of that bacteria, and that sebum and that dead skin. If you’re pinching a white head and you see that white gunk, that’s what is coming out of the skin. If it’s formed, you have to get it out.

Another way that you’ll break out from skincare products is, you’ve maybe heard people using vitamin C and saying, “Oh, vitamin C breaks me out.” Well, the reason for this is vitamin C turns over those dead skin cells. As you’re sloughing them off, you’re getting rid of them, which can lead to clogged pores, but ultimately, vitamin C, the whole goal is to get you the good skin underneath, and you’re getting rid of the dead cells at the same time. You might have a few byproducts of clogged pores. So really sticking with the routine and making sure that it’s not one of those two scenarios going on before you kind of ditch it. For example, like our mask has that negative ion charge, so it’s going to pull up stuff below the surface because your skin is a natural detoxifier as well. It’s something to take into consideration. That’s kind of around what we did with the products. That’s the basic routine for that and the breakouts.

Then we have a makeup remover, and everything that we make, though, and then we have our anti-aging line. I tell everyone, I don’t love the term anti-aging, because I think that – you know, obviously we’re going to age, but my goal is, how can we help the age? How can we support our skin nutritionally as we age?

MD: Graceful. Graceful aging.

CC: Exactly. But everything we make is clean, plant-based, and really around how to make the products efficacious and really help the situation, whatever it’s trying to solve.

MD: Can people who don’t suffer from acne use your products? Is that also beneficial to them? Or is it just geared towards people who suffer from acne?

CC: It’s a question we get all the time. We have people with psoriasis and eczema that will reach out all the time that have used it; it’s helped with that. Also, we have technically our second line. We took kind of the same concept we do with our clear skin line, and then we made the Forever Radiant line, which is now more of those extracts for healthy aging. So you can use one or the other. Now, if you’re battling the breakout, stick with the Clear Skin line. But to answer you specifically, there’s nothing in those products that wouldn’t be beneficial for everyone. We’re using German and Roman chamomile. Like I said, the French pink clay, jojoba, and grape seed, and organic rosewater and cucumber water. Those are all things that naturally are going to help your skin whether you have breakouts or not. They just also help breakouts. We have a lot of people that like the routine, just because it does help their skin and it is clean and natural, for sure.

MD: It sounds quick, so I think I’m going to have to switch to your line because my process is – I don’t do it half the time because I just don’t have the energy and I’m lazy.

CC: Yeah, for sure. I understand.

MD: I’m not in love with the products that I use. I don’t really see any difference. But I’m definitely interested in trying your line, it sounds amazing, the anti-aging.

CC: Yes, exactly. Unfortunately, in the cosmetic industry, a lot of formulas and skincare companies are owned by the same family of brands. When you’re jumping, you’re usually jumping to another brand that is owned by one of the bigger brands.

CC: Not to say they’re good or bad, but they’re – in the industry, they formulate around price. It’s usually a lot of water, emulsifiers, preservatives and then maybe a couple actives thrown in. When you say, “I’m not getting results,” a lot of times, you might be just paying for a lot of water.

MD: That’s for sure. You’re probably right. That’s how your products are different from other skincare products.

CC: Yes. Like I said, being passionate about the ingredients. It was always about – obviously, I have to make profit as a business owner, but it was about creating a good product, charging what I need to charge, so that you’re happy with it, and you get the results. That was kind of always the philosophy of making it around the results rather than the price point.

MD: Right? That’s a good reason for it, because sometimes when you just go into Sephora or Ulta you feel fleeced.

CC: Right. Not to say that there’s no other good company, though.

MD: No, there are. The market is so oversaturated with skincare products, you never know, and everybody has different opinions about them. But what everybody is looking for now is clean skincare.

CC: Right.

MD: So you have to be conscious of what you’re putting into your products, which you do, and that’s important to customers now more than ever, and it’s about getting a result from the product. 

CC: I’m sure, Molly, your drawer looks like mine growing up. I love skincare. I was always passionate about it. I never found anything that I fell in love with, obviously, until having made my own things. But it’s just – my drawer was covered in masks, and serums and cleansers. Usually, they were half used because by the time I was like, “Oh, this is not good.” But I always had a passion for it, so I love the industry in itself. I love what you can do with it, I love how you can be creative and I love how the ingredients we choose can help our clients get the results thereafter.

MD: That’s amazing. I can’t even tell you how many unused products there are in my bathroom. I could probably buy a small car if you put it together and added it all up at the price that I bought it over the years. 

CC: I believe you.

MD: I’m sure you could too. I’m sure many women could.

CC: Yeah. I think you’re right, for sure.

MD: I mean, it’s just sad. Then you look at it and you’re just like, “What a waste.” I won’t throw it out either, and it needs to be thrown out. Because you’re like, “Okay, I paid $40 for this lotion. I never used it. I’m not throwing it out, even though I know I’m never going to use it again.”

CC: Yeah, and then you try to use it up and you’re just like, “Oh, this is still bad.”

MD: It’s such a waste. 

I read on your site that you have PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome, I believe. Could you explain a little about it to our readers, and what they should do if they believe they have this, and how it correlates to your acne if it does.

CC: It does, for sure. PCOS is probably where I had my 16-year battle through all that. It’s a hormonal problem with the ovary. Sometimes they’re cysts, sometimes they’re not, sometimes it can be tied in with the adrenal glands. It’s really finding a good doctor that will listen and really kind of run the tests and kind of work through the issue with you. Because PCOS can also give you other symptoms like little black hairs on your chin, and heavy periods, and bad cramps.

MD: It’s also painful, correct?

CC: Painful, yeah. Dealt with my fair share of painful cramps. Again, PCOS is tied with insulin a lot, and insulin with sugar and all that. So if you’re kind of battling breakouts on your jawline, that can kind of be something that could be related to PCOS.

MD: That’s a marker?

CC: Yes. Where you breakout can be kind of tied back to what you might be dealing with internally. But yeah, the jawline is infamous for the PCOS and the sex hormones issue like progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, and precursor hormones as well, androgen hormones. Just really digging into the bloodwork and kind of troubleshooting that, and finding a good doctor that can help you. Because also, if you get that balanced out, you’re – for example, our skincare helps with all those aspects of the bacteria, and the sebum and dead skin. It’s kind of like, if you have – if you kind of help support yourself internally with anything that you’re dealing with like that, then the skincare also goes – has that much less to work through, and you can kind of – it’s a synergistic, blend for sure. Also, like I said, PCOS can be very – you have to stay away from things like refined carbohydrates and sugars in general. It’s not really ideal. It can be a little daunting at times.

MD: There’s no cure for PCOS, correct?

CC: I think it’s more of a metabolic problem. I really don’t know. I think it’s more something that you have to work through, to say – I don’t know that anyone said, I think you can reverse symptoms, but I don’t know that it’s ever truly cured. It might be just one of those things where you’re prone, you’re prone, but I don’t know that for a fact since I’m not a doctor.

MD: Does it flare up and then abate?

CC: For me it’s been just constantly dealing with it. It’s weight gain issues, it’s because of the cramp, acne. It’s just more managing that. For example, my husband can eat two large pizzas. I look at the pizza and I’m gaining three pounds. It’s kind of something that it is just – I’ve had to manage for years and there’s different things that you can do to help support it. Like Saw Palmetto is something that I’ve been taking. I think B vitamins. But really, I’ve kind of tailored my routine with my doctor around it. But I really only started delving into the PCOS aspect about two years ago. But I’ve had – I was pretty sure that I had – before I actually got diagnosed, I was pretty sure I’ve had the symptoms since my early 20s. It would make sense of some of the things, like I said, the weight gain, acne, and all that other stuff that is lovely and bundled up with PCOS.

MD: Now, you have the reason behind it. I’m so sorry.

CC: I mean, we’re all dealing with something right. There’s always – I might be dealing with acne, and the next person is dealing with diabetes or whatnot. It’s really just honing in on what makes sense for you and your lifestyle. I still eat things that I love and enjoy. I also make sure to take care of myself; not always. Sometimes it’s a little bit harder, especially running a business, you get caught and wrapped up in it. But I also take time to make sure that, sometimes I like to do cleanses, and real celery juice, and all that kind of thing. Then, I will have my moments though, like we went out of town through the summer here and we were in Europe. So I had pasta, cappuccino, and gelato. I believe in that, you know, I think we all talk about self-care, and especially through COVID, what does that look like for you? So really, taking care of yourself but also having fun, too, I think is important. 

MD: It’s a balance, and you deserve a treat.

CC: Right, exactly.

MD: Are there any skin care myths, or like techniques that people are pushing that are actually damaging to the skin?

CC: I don’t know about pushing, but we kind of talked a little bit about why you would break out with products. One of the things is we, and our particular products, the cleansing routine, you don’t need a sink to wash off. You use a spray and a cotton pad. I know that sink water is full of chemicals and can be kind of an actual problem for aging in itself. 

MD: Oh, I’m interested in this.

CC: Yeah, you’ll have to give it a try.

MD: I’m going to.

CC: Like I said, sink water and tap water is full of chemicals. That’s an agent to this drying.

MD: I had no idea.

CC: If your water is not filtered or whatever is coming up out of the faucet. So, some people, that’s why they’ll buy filters for the house, and you can have it for your shower, for your sinks. It also affects your hair color as well, those chemicals, just as a side note, from the tap water.

MD: Well, I’m learning a lot today.

CC: Yeah, all the little secrets of beauty, right?

MD: Oh, no. This is good. It’s very interesting. Okay. So, sink water and shower water, noted!

CC: Unless you buy a filter, there’s not too much you can do about it, but that’s why our routine, like I said, it’s a little different. But I find that once our customers try it, where you spray your face, and then you use the cleanser with it. It’s not – don’t think of like a typical gel, where you’re like, “Oh, it’s going to be gunky staying on.” The cotton pad puts the good nutrition on the skin and is exfoliating, and that stimulation, even with a cotton pad, helps with collagen. Stimulating the skin helps with collagen boosting. You’re doing that, and then the cotton pad is kind of whisking away your dead skin, and your makeup, and all of the things, the impurities you’re trying to pull off. The cotton pad is kind of replacing the rinsing aspect.

MD: Oh wow. Do you have a current favorite makeup or skincare trend right now?

CC: I have seen more that makeup is shifting to being not just makeup. It’s more. I’ve seen different brands putting in good quality ingredients and it’s more like – it’s actually helping the skin, it’s more clean. So for the times you are sleeping in the makeup, you’re not going to die. But that trend in makeup that’s actually supporting the skin, like skincare, is combining that skincare and makeup aspect. I’m seeing that more and more, and I’m really loving that. Because like I said, the more you can do for the skin and moving away from some of the harsher ingredients that makeup has had is really nice. I’d love to also do that here at Averr Aglow. Hopefully, we can release their own makeup skincare line.

MD: What is the number one piece of advice you would give someone struggling with acne, if you have any? 

CC: I mean, it’s really understanding the whole connection. So anytime anybody has any questions, we have a wonderful customer service line. Please feel free to ask any question. We’ve probably heard it all by now. But the biggest thing is that skincare – well, I had conflicting advice through everything from after all of my research and everything I’ve done. For the 16 years, the breaking out, to now seven years of barely breaking out at all, if that – I might have one pop up here and there. But I don’t breakout like I used to with that. I had cystic acne on my jawline and breakouts on my forehead, and cheeks, and you name it. It’s been on every area of my face. Skincare is important, but also making sure you use the right skincare, because you can help it topically. I’ve heard a lot of people around the Internet say, “Skincare doesn’t matter,” and I don’t agree with that. Because I had already done clean diets and drinking a gallon of water a day and, like I said, supplements. That was part of it, and it is important, and that’s super important when you’re dealing with things like thyroid can affect acne, adrenals, the ovaries. The digestive system, same thing if you’re dealing with IBS and any digestive issues can lead to acne.

You have that internal aspect, take care of yourself, find that balance of what works for you. Sometimes even eating, let’s say, you think something is healthy, let’s say it’s salmon and you could be breaking out from that because you’re allergic to it. Allergies, if you are really patchy and inflamed all over, your face red, and it’s the whole face, it’s usually something that you’re eating that you’re allergic to. But just really paying attention to if you have – we’re going into the holidays coming up here, and you’re having pumpkin pie, and eggnog, and apple pie, and mashed potatoes with butter, and cheese. Then, how does your skin look after that? Really seeing what might be your problem and then supplementing the skincare in, and then also seeing what might be affecting you, and then kind of work on what that looks like for you.

MD: People can go to your site and there’s someone there, customer care will answer their questions about their specific acne?

CC: Yes. You can even direct message us on our Instagram, our Facebook Messenger, our website with our customer service. Then we also have a Facebook group with over 17,000 women in it. Mostly women, there’s men and women, but mostly women that talk about all the things, how they’re using our routine, the struggle that they’ve gone through, where they’re at in their journey, maybe different supplements they’re trying, different things.

MD: So you’ve got a whole community. 

CC: Yes. 

MD: That’s pretty cool.

CC: We built this up, and now we have the – something I am really proud of is because over time, we’ve helped clear up a lot of women’s skin. Now, we have this community and now they’re supporting each other like, “Oh, this is how I got there. This is what I’m using.” So it’s really wonderful to see all the before and afters, and it just gives a lot of satisfaction that not only am I not dealing with the issue anymore, now we’re helping all these other women who have been in their 20s, 30s, 40s and even into menopause. Unfortunately, menopause is another factor that will make you break out. So it’s like, it doesn’t go anywhere. That women helping women community has been really wonderful. First, I was like, “Ah! Should we make a group?” Now, I’m really happy we did because the community jumps in and helps support each other through this journey and the struggle.

So you can also reach out there and ask a bunch of questions, and we are in the group, obviously, moderating. Then we also have our clients who have become our advocates and won’t go to anything else because their skin has cleared up.

MD: That’s so great. I think that’s all I need from you unless you want to add anything else?

CC: No, I appreciate you having me on, and thank you for letting me tell my story.

MD: I have my stuff on the way. I just ordered. Thank you very much. I’m excited. I did it while we were talking.

CC: Nice. Nice. 

MD: I like to multitask.

CC: If you have any questions on it, please reach out. We’ll be happy to and I’ll be happy to explain it to you in more detail, too, offline.

MD: Thank you so much!

CC: It was lovely talking to you.

Tell us what you think of Camille Chulick’s inspirational story in the comments!

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