Chase Polan and the gentle microemulsion

Kypris began where land and water meet, and Chase Polan still formulates like someone who remembers both. Her botanicals are co-op grown and wildcrafted, her biotechnology is kind by design, and her ritual asks you to mix serum and oil fresh in the palm. This is plant-led skincare, read slowly.

Southern Florida gave Chase Polan salt and sun. New York gave her pace and polish. West Virginia gave her soil, farming and land stewardship, and a way of thinking about sourcing that has never left her. Kypris comes from all three places at once.

She did not start in beauty. She studied math and art history, took organic chemistry among pre-med classes, modeled in her teens, then started an education company at 21 and ran it for 11 years. When she turned toward skincare, she saw a split she could not accept. Clinical brands delivered short term change with ingredients she would not want on anyone she loved. Health food botanicals felt closer to Nature but did not perform well and did not wear well.

What Kypris is now reflects that early refusal to choose. Launched in 2011 into functional medicine, naturopath, facialist and acupuncturist offices, built from three serums and three beauty elixirs meant to be mixed into wax-free microemulsions, the line pairs organic, wildcrafted and sustainably grown plants with peptides, stem cells and a bioidentical antioxidant complex. The core team is seven people. The pace is about one item a year. What others miss is how operational that gentleness is, from amortizing climate driven cost increases across the line to keeping vetted organic suppliers when it would be cheaper to walk away.

You launched Kypris in 2011 with three serums and three beauty elixirs sold only through doctors offices for the first 18 to 24 months. Why begin with functional medicine physicians, naturopaths and acupuncturists rather than retail?

I have been passionate about skincare, the spa, and feeling enveloped in natural wonders, whether at the beach or in my bath tub, since I was a little girl. When I began to formulate, I kept meeting people who were trying to conceive, pregnant or nursing, navigating autoimmune conditions or cancer, or reactive to commonly used actives. They were sensitive souls seeking high performance results with a gentle footprint.

Doctors offices felt like the honest place to start. Those practitioners listened first. They understood solubility and size, how actives of different solubility behave in skin, which I had studied with Dr. Zoe Draelos. They let me explain that our formulas are each little worlds unto their own, constellations of immense love and wisdom. We started with three serums and three beauty elixirs because I wanted people to mix what their skin needed that day, not force one cream on every face. Retail in 2014 and 2015 came later, including our first spa at Royal Palms in Phoenix. By then we knew who we served and how to teach the ritual with care.

You describe early clinical formulas as effective in the short term but made with ingredients you would not want on anyone you loved. What did you see on those labels that set the Kypris refuses, including no petroleum anything?

It truly seemed that Nature needed a dose of science, yet not devoid of the spiritual rightness of being in integrity with one another and the land. I looked at clinical brands and saw petroleum derived bases and harsh systems that gave a quick result and asked too much over time. I looked at health food botanicals and saw formulas closer to Nature that were not very effective and did not wear well. Neither felt like love.

So I trained in formulation and chose a third path. We combine regenerative botanicals with green biotechnology. Peptides, plant stem cells, a bioidentical antioxidant complex built by chemists and engineers, clinically tested, packaged in glass with recyclable and post-recycled materials. We do not skimp, and we do not cut corners, ever. Cruelty free, ethical practices are the only way to create beauty. We have been cruelty free from day one. I could not live with myself otherwise. That standard guides every lab decision and every field visit.

You ask customers to mix 2 to 5 drops of serum with 2 to 5 drops of Beauty Elixir to make a wax-free microemulsion. What does that little palm ritual do that a wax-heavy moisturizer does not?

I would rather mix serums and beauty elixirs into a wax-free microemulsion than rely on a wax-heavy base as the core offering. A microemulsion mixes oil soluble and water soluble actives so skin can take up both hydration and oil based nourishment in one light layer. It feels breathable. It layers well. It lets you adjust with the season, with travel, with your cycle. Dry winter mornings may want more oil. Humid August evenings may want more serum.

Make friends with molecules. That phrase guides me. Science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin. When you steep botanicals with intention and then pair them with precise biotechnology, you get pleasure and performance together. Power and gentleness are not mutually exclusive. I want the ecstatic experience of your Beauty and Being, not a heavy seal that sits on top and calls it care. The palm becomes a small lab, and the ritual stays alive.

Antioxidant Dew is called your desert island product, a featherweight serum with encapsulated antioxidants and amino acids. How do you hydrate with antioxidants without irritation for reactive skin?

Antioxidant Dew is the founder made answer to that question. I wanted quench and glow without sting. So we use encapsulated antioxidants that release slowly, nurturing amino acids, and an array of soothing extracts. Featherweight texture. Intense hydration. Use it alone or mixed with Beauty Elixir to make a customizable microemulsion that suits morning or night.

Our formulas are built for people who react to commonly used actives. That means dose matters, form matters, and companions matter. Encapsulation keeps potent molecules from flooding skin at once. Amino acids support the look of smooth, comfortable skin. Soothing plants soften the experience and leave a dewy finish. What we do to ourselves, we do to the planet, and what we do to the planet, we do to ourselves. Gentleness is not dilution here. It is design, tested and refined until sensitive skin can breathe easy.

Cleanser Concentrate pairs co-op grown moringa with wildcrafted prickly pear and fermented ocean extracts in a non-foaming creme. Why start the ritual with a concentrate that does not foam?

The ideal cleanse should leave skin soft, calm and ready, not tight. Featuring co-op grown moringa, wildcrafted prickly pear, and fermented ocean extracts, this opulent, non-foaming Cleanser Concentrate dissolves the day without stripping. You use a small amount, massage into damp skin, then follow with serum and oil. I name it in both my morning and evening rituals because it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Foam can be satisfying and still be wrong for delicate skin. A creme concentrate lets cleansing botanicals and fermented ocean extracts do the work while skin keeps its comfort. Moringa brings a green, garden richness from co-op fields tended with care. Prickly pear is wildcrafted and careful with water by nature, accustomed to sun and scarcity. The sea ferments add softness and slip. Roots hold. Soil feeds. Harvest matters. That is the whole philosophy in one jar, used slowly.

Power and gentleness are not mutually exclusive.

Chase Polan

Glow Philtre uses pomegranate pith enzymes with thalassic sea extracts to refine and add luminosity, and you have said you use it midweek while working. What made pith, not juice or seed oil, the right part of the plant?

I love the overlooked part. Pomegranate pith enzymes used in Glow Philtre are an upcycled part of a food ingredient rather than a comestible portion that could raise food prices. The pith refines, softens and adds luminosity without demanding new farmland or taking food from the table. Paired with thalassic sea extracts, it clarifies while keeping skin comfortable and smooth to the touch.

I use it midweek while working because ritual should fit a real day. Apply as a treatment mask, then rinse and return to serum and oil. Skin looks clearer, smoother, more lit from within, with the appearance of pores softened. I am an animist. I believe the energetic essence of everything is as real as any other measurable aspect of it. Beauty created from Beauty is not a slogan to me. It is sourcing, chemistry and respect in one gesture, repeated weekly.

Beauty Elixir II relies on Bulgarian rose oil from blossoms gathered before sunrise on a woman-owned biodynamic farm. What does that harvest choice change in the bottle?

Everything, quietly. Bulgarian rose oil used in Beauty Elixir I comes from hand picked blossoms gathered before sunrise on a woman-owned biodynamic farm, and our rose sourcing for the elixirs follows that same care. Petals picked cool hold their scent. Hands pick more gently than machines. A biodynamic field is managed as a living system, with attention to soil, compost and rhythm through the seasons.

In Beauty Elixir II, Balancing Flowers, that rose joins our unique bioidentical antioxidant complex in a light, moisturizing beauty oil. The texture is golden and fluid. The scent is fresh, not heavy. For flower lovers, it enhances glow and softens the look of too much sun and environmental stress. You can wear it alone or mixed with Antioxidant Dew for a fresh microemulsion. When sourcing is tended, you need less fragrance, less coaxing. The plant arrives intact and the skin reads that clarity.

You took 18 months to achieve B Corp certification in 2024 and you say you build operations and production first, marketing last. What did that audit force you to prove, and why amortize climate driven cost increases rather than switch suppliers?

The way I built the business was very much operations and production first, and only in the last couple of years have we thought about marketing. B Corp certification assesses social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency across supply chains and operations. The 18 month process asked us to document what we already practiced, from vetted organic growers to glass packaging with recyclable and post-recycled materials and steady cruelty free systems.

We would rather amortize climate driven ingredient cost increases across the line than abandon vetted organic suppliers. Farming is volatile now. Harvests shift. Prices spike after drought or flood. If we walk away when a co-op struggles, we lose knowledge, quality and trust built over years. We are not going to be able to conserve our way out of our social or ecological pickle. We must promote and apply responsible innovation. That means peptides and stem cells where plants need support, slow development of about one item a year, no fast churn, and long relationships in the field that hold through hard seasons.

Closing note from the desk

What stays with us is the steadiness. Polan speaks of Love and pleasure without vagueness, then points to encapsulation rates, solubility and harvest hour. The spiritual language is not decoration. It describes a supply chain where people are known and plants are picked cool and on time.

Kypris set out to prove that luxury could be gentle, that science could serve Nature, and that a small team could keep standards while growing slowly. Read slowly, that promise holds. The microemulsion in the palm is the thesis you can feel, and the field behind it is the reason it lasts.

Product spotlight

Cleanser Concentrate, 98 dollars. The ideal cleanse in an opulent, non-foaming creme with co-op grown moringa, wildcrafted prickly pear and fermented ocean extracts. Massage a small amount over damp skin morning and night, rinse well, then follow with serum and oil for a soft, calm base.

Antioxidant Dew, 98 dollars. A featherweight serum that lavishes skin with encapsulated antioxidants, nurturing amino acids and soothing extracts for quench and glow. Use 2 to 5 drops alone or mixed with Beauty Elixir to create a fresh microemulsion that supports hydration and the appearance of smooth radiance.