Sunday Riley Good Genes Was a Prototype Before the Brand Even Had a Name

Sunday Riley Good Genes was in the room before the brand had a name. In 2009 Sunday Riley, a Houston-based cosmetic chemist, walked into Barneys New York with a concept and a handful of prototypes, Good Genes among them, and the lead buyer insisted the line carry her own name. She told Allure it mortified her at first, because a name on the bottle means you cannot hide behind anything. I think that explains the whole shelf. Riley formulates the products herself, calls her approach green technology (science-based actives balanced with botanicals), and pulls what does not earn its place: the makeup range she launched in 2011 was gone after two years. Good Genes is the lactic acid serum that started it, and the brand's own page describes purified, food-grade lactic acid with licorice root and prickly pear. For anyone with sensitive skin the brand suggests using it as a fifteen-minute mask first. The four serums below each do a different job. Tidal is the hydrating one, built around five types of hyaluronic acid, C.E.O. is the vitamin C serum, and the A.I. serum is the retinoid, so read the label before you pick a night for it. I went deeper on a related idea in Impressions Vanity and the Case for Good Light Before Good Makeup.

Face oils are where Sunday Riley's botanical side shows up. C.E.O. Glow pairs a stable form of vitamin C with turmeric and evening primrose, and it is light enough that I forget it is an oil. The brand itself suggests applying Good Genes over an oil like this one. Juno is the richer, greener one, a blend of cold-pressed seed oils that suits dry skin. Pink Drink is a peptide mist with fermented honey, and I keep it for midday, when a face needs a reset. Then there is Peacekeeper, which pairs two percent salicylic acid with eight percent azelaic acid, and the brand pitches it at blemish-prone skin. That is two acids in one bottle, so patch test on the jaw and use it a few nights a week before it becomes a daily thing. Everything else in this grid is gentle by comparison.

The C.E.O. moisturizers are the quiet workhorses. The Rich Hydration cream is what I would pick for dry winter skin, and Afterglow has a satin finish that sits well under makeup. Both carry the brand's advanced vitamin C (THD ascorbate), which the brand says is more stable than ascorbic acid. The body butter takes that same idea below the neck, and the Ceramic Slip cleanser is a gel with French green clay that the brand says is balancing without stripping. What I would skip is the instinct to run every acid and retinoid from this edit in a single week. Good Genes, Peacekeeper and the A.I. serum are different tools, and layering them all before you know how your skin reacts is how a nice shelf turns into a red face. Pick one active, give it a couple of weeks, and let the creams carry the rest.

Start slowly with anything here that contains an acid or a retinoid. A patch test behind the ear, every other night, then build up, and wear sunscreen every morning because exfoliating acids and retinoids both make skin more sun-sensitive. One note I always repeat: the American Academy of Dermatology says retinoids should not be used during pregnancy, so anyone who is pregnant or trying to be should ask a doctor before using the A.I. serum. What I like most about this shelf is that it comes from someone who still formulates her own work and still edits it. Begin with the serum that matches your skin, and let the oils come later.