“You’re going to laugh when you see this,” Liah Yoo, the founder of the skincare brand, Krave Beauty, told me.
We were sitting at Rudy’s for dinner on a rainy New York night, when Liah took out a jar of cream. The star YouTuber and new entrepreneur had already successfully launched four products in the past year. There’s the Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser, Great Barrier Relief serum, The Beet Shield sunscreen, as well as Kale-Lalu-yAHA toner. Adding to the list is a moisturizer in the form of one called Oat So Simple Water Cream.
Liah handed the jar over and I did start to chuckle. For anyone who follows Very Good Light or my silly personal Instagram (probably none of you, ha!), knows how I’ve become a self-described #milkinfluencer, one who always jokes about promoting Oat milk. As an oat milk devotee, I have fought for better dairy alternatives, and some cafes in Colorado have actually taken my advice. And so, with this oat cream, I felt as if Liah had created this very moisturizer just for me and my outrageous oat milk obsession.
Alas, I discovered it wasn’t made just for me.
“The oat milk boom may have made oat seem a bit more relevant in 2019, but oat in skincare was never a ‘trendy’ ingredient,” she tells me. “It has a tried and true tested history and proven track record in calming the skin with heaps of research to back.” Though it’s known to calm skin (like, remember those kids who had itchy poison ivy skin dunking into a tub of oatmeal on television?), it hasn’t been as popular in skincare. “It zens out our skin but has been abandoned in the beauty space for ages,” Liah says. “I see new skincare brands catching up on the latest and the newest ingredient yet I thought there’s always something to be brought back into 2019.”
And that’s oat. According to Liah, oat totally allows your skin to calm TF down, especially since it’s overly stressed and sensitized from pollutants, toxins, UV rays, not to mention technology like your iPhone.
More than anything, it’s about basic skincare, say Liah, who is an ardent champion of the Skincare Diet (we wrote about it here). Basically, taking your 10 steps and paring it down to only a few. “Our approach to the formulation was to simplify to amplify. We let go of unnecessary, trendy, fancy active ingredients, any potential allergens, irritants, sensitizers, and any other ingredients that can be problematic for sensitive and even fungal acne.” The result after two years of testing was a product with less than 10 ingredients.
In a world where moisturizers have more than 20 ingredients, 10 seems like a really pared down amount. And that was something very conscious for Liah and her team to create. “It’s truly no-frills and like pure oatmeal without any fancy flavors, additives or garnishes.”The product, which goes on sale next Tuesday, Oct 15 definitely is a product you’ll want to nab. This, especially for those who have sensitive skin. The product is water-based, which means that it’ll seep into your pores really seamlessly, and won’t be harsh for those who find oils to be a little too strong. The texture is also one that’s thick but is smooth to touch, oil-free and light. It’s fragrance-free and definitely for those who like upkeeping a very low-maintenance regimen, one that’s so minimal it’s laughable.BUY Krave Beauty’s Oat So Simple Water Cream here, Oct 15
