Patented Powder Dosing + Active Ion Delivery
The % active ingredient on the label isn't what reaches your skin.
Clinical skincare loses active ingredient efficacy twice—once while sitting out on the shelf, once at the skin barrier. We built a technology for each.
Highest Standard of Clean Ingredients
Reimagining the delivery of tried and true anti-aging skincare ingredients.
Skincare ingredients start disappearing the moment they meet water.
See the data
Vitamin C, Retinol and CoQ10 oxidize and hydrolyze the moment they are bottled. In independent testing of 25 leading clinical products, actives were already 30% below label claims the day they were opened, and then went on to lose another 40% by week six — long before you've finished the bottle.1
Patented Powder Dosing
Keep the active ingredient dry and precision-dosed. You activate it fresh, at full strength, the moment you use it.
How Activated Serums Work
The skincare molecules that work best can't get through the barrier.
See the science
The stratum corneum is 10–20 microns thick and exists to keep things out. Dermatology's working rule: above roughly 500 Daltons, molecules don't cross intact skin in meaningful quantity. Peptides sit above that line. So does Hesperidin, at around 610.2
Active Ion Delivery
A pharmaceutical carrier system, licensed out of drug development, that escorts large molecules past the skin barrier to skin's deeper levels where they can be most effective.
How Active Ion Delivery WorksDeep Dive on Our Solutions
Problem 01 — Ingredient degradation measured
A 15% vitamin C serum in the weeks after opening
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Degradation curves as observed in lab testing of top-selling clinical Vitamin C serum skincare products.1 The optimal concentration for topical L-ascorbic acid is 10%.3 The grey curve is solid to Day 60, where the degradation study ended, and dashed beyond that, where it is extrapolated from the same rate of loss.
Problem 01 Solution — Patented Powder Dosing
Maximum potency. Surprisingly non‑irritating.
Activation
Stamp, pump, activate, apply. Ten seconds.
Stamp
Stamp in palm. One precisely metered dose of dry active powder — the same amount, every single time.
Full efficacy, every single dose.
Not what's left in week six, the optimal concentration every time you apply for clinically-proven visible changes in the skin in 1–2 weeks.
And will not sting or irritate.
High-potency Vitamin C and Retinol irritates because of the low pH, solvents, and stabilizers that are added to keep them in aqueous form. Powders make these unnecessary.
VITAMIN C IRRITATION
Potent or gentle. Or both — if you remove the water.
Tap chart points to see how these types of formulas are built.
Illustrative only with qualitative axis positions describing formulation types.
Select a point
What does "gentle" actually mean?
On this page, gentle is not a marketing adjective. It means the formula does not require the acid pH, solvents, stabilizers and chelators that water-based actives need to stay intact — and that every Exponent serum, including the Retinol, was clinically evaluated on participants screened for sensitive skin who used it every evening without irritation.
Why keep the active dry until you use it?
Because water starts the clock. Once certain actives such as antioxidants are dissolved, hydrolysis can break them down while oxygen drives oxidation — the same process you can see when Vitamin C turns brown. Exponent keeps the active dry and protected until you apply.
Why not just put more active in the bottle?
Because a higher starting percentage doesn't guarantee a higher dose when you use it. If an active degrades in the bottle, what matters isn't just how much went in, but how much remains active when it reaches your skin.
Why activate it with Hyaluronic Acid instead of water?
Because the activator can do more than dissolve the powder. Our serum combines four molecular weights of Hyaluronic Acid to support hydration from the surface through the skin's upper layers.
Why can a high-potency serum be easier on sensitive skin?
Keeping an active stable in water often requires solvents, stabilizers, chelators and pH adjusters. Because Exponent keeps the active dry until use, it doesn't require the same formulation scaffolding. For instance, many Vitamin C serums include Vitamin E as a stabilizer, but it can be irritating.
Every Exponent serum, including our Retinol, was clinically evaluated on participants screened for sensitive skin who could use it every evening without irritation.
How do you know every dose is the right dose?
The package measures it for you. Each pump dispenses a precisely metered amount of dry active and combines it with the measured dose of Hyaluronic Acid, so the concentration isn't left to guesswork.
The Mechanism, On Record
Figures from Exponent's issued US utility patent covering the precision dosing and dispensing system.8
Problem 02 — Penetration and why it matters
A peptide can only send its repair signal if it reaches the cell.
Illustrative diagram.
Peptides work by sending signals to fibroblasts, the cells that produce and remodel collagen. The fibroblasts responsible for maintaining the skin's deeper structural collagen network sit in the dermis, including the reticular dermis at 6,000 microns deep. A peptide left at the surface can't deliver that message.
Problem 02 solution — Active Ion Delivery
Borrowed from pharmaceuticals.
Invented by Harvard Chemistry PhD, Dr. Eric Fossel.
Active Ion Delivery uses thermodynamic principles and non‑aqueous ionic liquids to move actives through the skin barrier, using charged ions as carrier molecules.
39×
more active molecules
across the stratum corneum skin barrier than the same formula without5
How deep it goes
The technology delivers ingredients from surface to injectable and filler‑level depths
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Depth
0 µm
Skin surface
Injection depth bands shown for reference. Source: NOV-1776 pharmacokinetic evaluation, Novilla Pharmaceuticals at Adgyl Life Sciences, 2023.4
Where does this technology come from?
Active Ion Delivery Technology has its roots in pain therapy, where it was developed to help deliver established drugs into deeper tissue without first sending them through the whole body.
The platform was built using computational chemistry and in silico modelling, then tested through validated artificial skin-membrane models, animal studies and human trials. Novilla's lead pharmaceutical candidate has completed Phase I and is cleared for Phase II. The technology is patent-pending, with skincare representing its first consumer application.
How does the technology work?
Most skincare actives cannot penetrate the skin's hydrophobic barrier on their own. Active Ion Delivery Technology uses a deep eutectic solvent to carry actives deeper into the epidermis. Charged ions act as carrier molecules that drive actives to an exact location below the skin.
It helps deliver molecules that couldn't previously cross the stratum corneum — blocked by polarity, charge, diameter in angstroms, or molecular weight.
What does it mean that it delivers 39× more actives?
It means 39× more active ingredients were delivered across the stratum corneum with Active Ion Technology than without. Permeability across validated artificial skin membranes, comparing a formulation containing the ionic carrier against the identical formulation without it. The carrier-free version was the negative control.5
Is Active Ion Delivery the same as encapsulation?
No. Encapsulation is designed to help an active last over time, protecting an ingredient until it's released. Active Ion Delivery Technology is designed to help the active travel the distance, keeping it dissolved as it crosses past the skin barrier.
Clinical Results
100% measured with instrumentation. Not perception surveys.
Our Activated Serums and Needle-Free Lifting Eye Cream are tested at independent, third-party clinical facilities, on real participants, with results read by clinical instruments including VISIA Image Analysis Pro and Cutometer.6,7
9/9
Under-eye concerns improvedEvery parameter statistically significant, Needle-Free Lifting Eye Cream7
3rd party
Independent clinical facilitiesSo the results are impartial, not self‑graded.
-
100% of subjects
had a decrease in fine lines and wrinkles, without irritation, in just 1 week using Calm Revival Green Tea Resveratrol or Brightening Boost Vitamin C.6
-
100% of subjects
had a decrease in papules in 1 week using Clear Comeback Probiotic Enzyme.6
-
36.5% average increase
in clinically significant skin firmness after 4 weeks using Firming Filter CoQ10.6
Needle-Free Lifting Eye Cream
Visible in minutes. Measured again at six weeks.
Two things happen on different clocks. Switch between them.
Nine parameters, every one statistically significant. 30 panelists over six weeks.7
The People Behind It
One inventor for each delivery technology.
01 — Patented Powder Dosing
Liz Whitman
Founder & CEO, Exponent Beauty · BA and MBA, Harvard · Cosmetic-Chemistry Trained
As former President of The Red Door by Elizabeth Arden, Whitman was inspired by the way estheticians prepare antioxidant masks and serums fresh for clients, and set out to invent a daily at-home version. Combining formulation science and materials engineering, Whitman holds patents on precision powder dosing.⁸
Our Science | Exponent Beauty
References & Claim Substantiation
- Antioxidant Degradation Study. Independent testing by Micro Quality Labs, October 2020 and February 2021. Data on record at Exponent Beauty.
- The 500 Dalton rule. Bos JD, Meinardi MMHM. The 500 Dalton rule for the skin penetration of chemical compounds and drugs. Exp Dermatol. 2000;9(3):165–169.
- Vitamin C concentration. Clinically meaningful concentration for topical L-ascorbic acid: 5–20%. Exponent doses 10% pure L-ascorbic acid per dose. Range and sources per The Legit List: 12 Skincare Ingredients That Won't Quit (Exponent Standard, Criteria 1), citing: Humbert PG et al. Exp Dermatol. 2003;12:237–244. Farris PK. Dermatol Surg. 2005;31(7 Pt 2):814–817. Lin F-H et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2008;59(3):418–425.
- Penetration up to 8,000 microns deep. NOV-1776: Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Ketorolac Against Synovial Fluid Exposure Versus Systemic Exposure by Intravenous and Transcutaneous Administration of Ketorolac Tromethamine in an Inflamed Joint of White Yorkshire, Novilla Pharmaceuticals at Adgyl Life Sciences, 2023. Data on file at Novilla Pharmaceuticals.
- Novilla ingredient penetration studies. Permeability across validated artificial skin membranes, comparing a formulation containing the ionic carrier against the identical formulation without it. The carrier-free version was the negative control. Internal Study, November 2025. Full pharmaceutical lab study data on file at Novilla Pharmaceuticals.
- Activated Serum clinical testing results. An independent clinical testing facility, four-week study, 30 female subjects completed testing, evaluated with VISIA Image Analysis Pro and Cutometer. As published at exponentbeauty.com/pages/clinical-results.
- Needle-Free Lifting Eye Cream clinical testing. Clinical study EXB 25-13, Innovia Research Labs. N = 30, 6 weeks. Expert grading, instrumental measurement and consumer perception. All nine parameters statistically significant. Full report on record.
- Patents. US Patent 12,201,951 B2 (utility, packaging) and a design patent, Dispenser Vessel. Additional US, PCT and national-phase filings pending. Prosecution by Buckley, Maschoff & Talwalkar.
