If there’s one skincare rule that applies to everyone, it is that skincare isn’t one-size-fits-all. What your skin needs may be drastically different from what your friend’s skin needs even if you have similar skin problems and goals. Indeed, skincare is a subjective journey and the only way to get to the good skin destination is to find out what works for you, specifically.
But how can you do that without experimenting and therefore wasting time and money on routines and products that don’t work for you? Well, one way is to try personalized skincare such as Proven Skincare. Formulated by Standford dermatologists and tailored to your skincare concerns, lifestyle and environment, Proven certainly looks promising. But is it worth the hype, and more importantly, your money? In this Proven review, we evaluate the brand’s formulations and key ingredients and take an in-depth look at the brand itself as well as the customer ratings to help you decide if their products are really worth the buy.
Proven Skincare was created as a personal mission. In Ming Zhao’s words, the CEO and founder of the brand, “As a person who had been told she had “difficult” skin, I was continually searching for better skincare. But finding the right products was time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive. And worst of all, nothing worked consistently.”
After meeting co-founder Dr. Amy Yuan in 2018, the two women created a holistic approach to skincare relying on science and artificial intelligence. With the world’s largest skincare database called The Skin Genome Project, which has won MIT’s 2018 Artificial Intelligence Award, the San Francisco-based company offers tailored skincare products formulated via artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The Skin Genome Project can precisely analyze the effectiveness of over 20.200 skincare ingredients, as well as the information about over 100.000 individual products, plus the water hardness in your location, UV index and even humidity, coupling the data with the answers you give to the Skin Genome Quiz on the website. The result? A skincare line developed only for you and one that evolves with your skin’s needs.
The brand and its products backed by scientific data have been featured in more publications and websites than we can count. Forbes, The New York Times, GQ, Refinery29, Byrdie, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show are only some of many publications and websites that rave about the new-to-market revolutionary brand.
When you use products from the Proven Skincare line, you are assured that the products have been created uniquely for you and should, therefore, provide actual results for clearer, firmer, more beautiful skin.
Proven Skincare is a cosmetics brand founded by two women tired of mainstream beauty and skincare products that would not target their specific skin needs, providing next to zero results at a high price tag.
Cofounders Ming Zhao and Dr. Amy Yuan looked at creating a skincare brand that would rely on the world’s largest database in beauty, which they would later go on to call the Skin Genome Project™.
Proven Skincare uses information pulled from millions of consumer reviews, evaluations of 100.000 skincare products, assessments of over 20.000 skincare ingredients, and analyses from thousands of scientific journals.
Consumers need to answer a quiz on the brand’s website called the Skin Genome Quiz™, which includes specific questions about your lifestyle, diet, habits and environment. The series of questions are analyzed by the company and artificial intelligence is used to bring the products closely tailored to your skin to life. Naturally, every single product formulation varies from one person to another, ensuring that the ingredients incorporated in your products target your specific needs and concerns.
Still, everyone who checks out receives the following three products:
The Proven skincare products are formulated after combing through thousands of customer reviews, scientific data, and skincare ingredients to offer your skin the most effective active ingredients.
All the Proven products are made in the USA, in an FDA-approved and GMP-accredited laboratory, following safe formulation processes. As the brand uses the most effective ingredients for long-term skin health, it so happens that not all Proven products are vegan.
The Proven skincare products are formulated to suit everyone’s skin, relying on three crucial actions to achieve and maintain healthy skin:
Currently, the brand only offers three products: a cleanser, day cream with SPF, and night cream; it’s worth noting though that the company is continually developing more products to add to their simple but effective skincare line. The products are non-comedogenic and are typically made with anti-acne and anti-aging ingredients that really work, including retinol, niacinamide, alpha hydroxy acids, and antioxidants such as green tea and ginseng extract.
Proven products offer results that can be noticed within two weeks of starting your Proven routine, but since skin cells take an average of 28 days to renew (or go through their skin cycle), you may not notice results before four weeks or about a month. Your skin may also “rebel” against certain ingredients in the products at the beginning, which is known as “skin purging” (this usually happens with retinol and acids).
The Proven products are cruelty-free and completely free from:
The Proven skincare products are made from a blend of gentle ingredients and powerful, clinically proven to be effective ingredients to provide the best results for your skin. The Skin Genome Quiz defines the formulation of the products you get when you first subscribe to the membership. It’s worth repeating that the research is backed by scientific data from the Skin Genome Project.
When you take the 3-minute Skin Genome Quiz on the brand’s website, you will see the quiz’s live results and the ingredients that Proven will use in your cleanser, day moisturizer, and night cream.
For this Proven Skincare Review, we’ve taken the Skin Genome Quiz and were assigned a skincare formula based on:
It was quite exciting to see how Proven achieves the formulation of 3 multifunctional products that represent a complete everyday routine. The formula is based on more than 47 factors about your specific skin concerns, lifestyle, and environment to offer the very best of skincare at a reasonable price.
Proven has thought of a specific skincare routine with three essential products: a cleanser, a day moisturizer, and a night cream to protect and balance the skin. The brand recommends a straightforward, 3-step routine with products that offer double-use, like the cleanser that can be applied as a one-minute mask.
The recommended Proven morning routine should look something like this:
The recommended evening routine is as follows:
The brand highlights that the skin typically requires an adjustment period to get used to new ingredients. As such, you might need a complete skin cycle (28 days) to start seeing results. Proven also notes that if you start experiencing skin issues such as redness or minor breakouts, that you shouldn’t quit as this is a normal process that you need to push through to see results. However, if you believe your skin is having an unusual reaction to any of the Proven products like an allergy or uncomfortable rash, you can get in touch with the brand to refine your product formulation.
When you order a Proven set as a one-time order, you receive a 20% discount from the products’ total value at $145 for a cleanser, day cream with SPF, and night cream.
The brand also offers the possibility of receiving a new skincare set every 4, 6, or 8 weeks. When you choose to subscribe to the Proven Skincare membership, you will receive a greater 35% discount that allows you to get every set at $119, which is pretty neat.
Subscribing to the brand’s membership is an easy way to get to personalized skincare products. You can update your answers to the Skin Genome Quiz any time you feel your habits or skin concerns have changed, allowing Proven to continually improve upon your personalized formulations. Of course, if you’re pleased with the results of your original formula, you can continue using it for as long as you like.
To start a membership, all you need to do is answer the Skin Genome Quiz as accurately as possible on the brand’s website, with the information about your skin concerns, lifestyle, and environment. The questions include:
The quiz is very specific about your skin, the number of hours you stay in front of your cell phone or computer screen, how often you expose yourself to the sun, and many other questions about your lifestyle that help the brand live-formulate your Proven products.
This Proven Skincare review wouldn’t be complete without us looking at customer reviews.
We want to start by saying that in general, when we’re looking for customer reviews about skincare brands, we usually find that most are mixed. However, Proven seems to be an exception. This brand has amassed almost entirely positive reviews, with the odd complaint about a too-thorough quiz here and there.
Practically all customers – including the once skeptical ones – like the fact that each product is tailored to their specific skin problems and goals. One review reads: “I’ve been using Proven for approximately half of a year, and I’ve seen a noticeable difference in my skin’s hydration and general quality. I appreciate having a simple skincare routine that uses chemical products I can understand. The tailor-made formula is one-of-a-kind.”
Other customers highlight the efficiency of the products: “Proven has totally transformed my skin. It is softer, with less wrinkles, and I am a 48-year-old man.” And: “I’ve used a lot of products that don’t live up to their claims but have had great results with Proven. My skin looks clearer and smoother than it has in probably ten years.”
Even folks with sensitive skin seem to like Proven: “Proven is one of only two products that doesn’t make my skin react negatively, and it looks great.” Another one reads: “I am a 51-year-old woman who’s always struggled with minor to moderate acne… I now feel I have the best-looking skin of my life.”
We should mention, however, that we’ve found a handful of complaints about the “intimidating” quiz with lots of options and the “impossibly long list of ingredients”. In general, it seems that this line is best suited to folks who are at least somewhat into skincare; those that prefer super-natural and gentle products with a short list of simple ingredients may want to look elsewhere.
In conclusion, the dozens of reviews we’ve come across were more than decent, with customers using Proven products for a few weeks/months before leaving a review. Smooth skin, fewer signs of aging, fewer wrinkles, acne, and spots were all highlighted by the happy customers. What’s not to like? Well, perhaps that subtle white cast that the moisturizer with SPF leaves on some folks.
At the moment, you can only purchase the Proven Skincare line from the brand’s official website. This allows the company to supervise and streamline the production process. In doing so, the brand ensures that you get the most accurate product formulations for your skin’s needs.
Shipping
At the time of writing, Proven Skincare only ships to the continental US, with free shipping included in your purchase for all orders.
Once you check out, the company takes 1 to 2 weeks to process the order and finalize your personalized formulations before shipping it out. You can then expect your parcel to arrive in 5-7 business days.
Returns and Reformulation
Since the Proven Skincare products are formulated after a thorough examination of scientific data for your skin, the brand does not accept returns at this time.
However, since products are tailored to your skin and its needs, the Proven Skincare night cream and SPF day cream are eligible for re-formulation within 28 days of purchase. If you need to refine your Proven products, so they best target your skin needs, you can email [email protected] for customer assistance.
Should you need to contact Proven Skincare for any questions we have not addressed in this review, you can do so via:
Using clinically proven to be effective skin care ingredients in formulas that are tailored to each person’s specific needs, Proven products truly target most skin problems, including pimples and blemishes, hyperpigmentation, and fine lines. These formulas are also backed by Ivy League science, which we, like any other good skincare addict, deeply appreciate.
Another thing we like about Proven is the possibility of re-formulation of products in case your skin doesn’t like an ingredient or two in the daily or nightly moisturizer. We also like the fact that even though this is personalized skincare, the brand only takes two weeks at the very latest to ship out the products.
Overall, Proven Skincare looks like a great brand to try if you are looking for products that are formulated with thoroughly researched ingredients that bring actual results. While on the expensive side of the skincare market, Proven products are actually fairly priced considering that they’re made for you and your skin only. So, for those looking for a simple yet effective skincare routine, we definitely recommend it!
Here are a few more popular beauty brands to consider: