{"id":3419,"date":"2022-02-24T23:05:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/?p=3419"},"modified":"2022-02-28T17:26:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T01:26:17","slug":"who-wants-to-be-a-skinfluencer-and-launch-their-own-skincare-products-board-certified-md-and-tiktok-star-dr-zion-ko-spills-her-secrets-on-how-she-did-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/who-wants-to-be-a-skinfluencer-and-launch-their-own-skincare-products-board-certified-md-and-tiktok-star-dr-zion-ko-spills-her-secrets-on-how-she-did-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Who wants to be a \u2018skinfluencer\u2019 (and launch their own products)? Board-certified MD and TikTok star Dr. Zion Ko spills her secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Call it misinformation frustration, lockdown fatigue or just the need for a fun outlet during a time that was anything but. Board-certified internal medicine physician Dr. Zion Ko<\/a> turned to social media during the pandemic to let off a little steam and share her favorite skincare ingredients (retinol<\/a>, SPF<\/a> and vitamin C<\/a>) for \u201cwalking out of quarantine with your best self.\u201d TikToks of doctors dancing in lab coats were becoming status quo, but Dr. Zion did something different: constantly unapologetically posting while patched up in eye masks<\/a> (like, everywhere\u2014while driving, at lunch, you name it).  

\u201cWhen I started filming it wasn\u2019t like, oh, I\u2019m going to film this with eye masks<\/a> on and make it my signature,\u201d she says. \u201cI probably had them on already because I\u2019m always wearing eye masks. I wear them on lunch breaks. Co-workers are so used to seeing me patched up, they\u2019re not even phased\u2014wearing eye masks anywhere and everywhere is completely normal to me.\u201d 

Dr. Zion’s normalization of filming while wearing eye masks<\/a>\u2014combined with her pandemic-popular skincare hacks, doctor-quality skincare advice and videos that guest-starred her skincare guru (and now equally famous) Korean mom\u2014established her as a rising skinfluencer superstar on social media (TikTok in particular with her authentic, honest style).  

Dr. Zion’s skinfluencer beginnings has been nurtured since the earliest days by her age-defying Korean mom. \u201cI remember my mom giving me baby serums when I was younger and telling me I needed to be religious with sunscreens,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I was off at college, my mom would send me \u2018skin\u2019 care packages. Most care packages have snacks or comforting things from home, but my mom is sending me more serums.\u201d 

One of her favorite ingredient obsessions has always been retinol<\/a>. \u201cAs an internist, I looked for all the research\u2014retinol is an ingredient that’s scientifically proven,\u201d Dr. Zion says. \u201cWhether people want more minimalistic skincare or want a 20-step routine, retinol is mandatory no matter your gender or age.\u201d (Humble brag time: Dr. Zion says she actually saved \u201cmy babysitting money to buy Murad\u2019s retinol<\/a> again and again,\u201d adding that \u201cit was not irritating at all.\u201d)  

A little more than a decade later (call it kismet), Dr. Zion is teaming with Murad to marry these two skincare loves\u2014retinol and eye masks<\/a>. But eye masks are aplenty in the skincare world, so she wanted to make sure her masks offered something different: \u201cThe shape was something I really put my work into. I\u2019ve used so many eye masks, and little sizes never made much sense to me. I\u2019d wear them flipped so the bigger part could cover my inner eye, but that left out my crow\u2019s feet. I never want to leave out any part of the eye, but there wasn\u2019t a way to address the entire area.\u201d With pen in hand, she drew out her ideal shape and ended up with an \u201cextra-large shape<\/a> leaves no part of the eye untreated.\u201d\u202f<\/strong>\u202f 

Second only to the shape? Ingredients: \u201cSo many eye masks are so cute for selfies, but are they doing anything? I found vitamin C for brightening or hyaluronic acid for hydrating, but couldn\u2019t find retinol for its collagen-stimulating benefits. We crease, we wrinkle, we lose elasticity around the eye\u2014retinol is magic and the eyes deserve retinol<\/a>!\u201d  

Also, Dr. Zion knows that ingredient performance is only as good as its delivery system, so she made sure to address one of the most common quibbles about eye masks<\/a>\u2014slippage (which makes ingredient delivery tricky). \u201cMy question was, how do we make the retinol work even better?\u201d So she drew on her medical experience: \u201cBio-cellulose is used in hospitals because it helps with trans-epidermal absorption, versus other materials that just lie on your skin. Bio-cellulose is at the top of the pyramid of eye-mask materials because there\u2019s no ingredient evaporation. It locks in the ingredients so you\u2019re getting 100% of its benefits. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t get\u202ffrom other eye mask materials, and that means more ingredient bang for your buck.\u201d\u202f

She leaves us with this parting advice: “Schedule, don\u2019t skip.\u201d Meaning, all retinol<\/a> products, including her new eye mask collab with Murad<\/a>, should be used consistently. \u201cThese masks definitely deliver an instant pick-me-up, but they should be used regularly\u2014even if that means patching up during a Zoom call or trip to the market! Caring for your skin shouldn\u2019t be embarrassing. My opinion on driving to the store with eye masks<\/a> on is that we should all be doing it.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call it misinformation frustration, lockdown fatigue or just the need for a fun outlet during a time that was anything but. Board-certified internal medicine physician Dr. Zion Ko turned to social media during the pandemic to let off a little steam and share her favorite skincare ingredients (retinol, SPF and vitamin C) for \u201cwalking out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":3565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-skin"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1646098143:16"],"_edit_last":["16"],"adobe_analytics_repeatable":["a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:4:\"name\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"value\";s:0:\"\";}}"],"show_featured_image":["1"],"_show_featured_image":["field_609ee1cf1ce13"],"primary_category":["5"],"_primary_category":["field_608c33bdd26d5"],"mobile_image":[""],"_mobile_image":["field_60bf7692abe28"],"_post_views_count":["field_6107dfafd6a27"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["4"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["5"],"post_views_count":["8602"],"_thumbnail_id":["3565"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_wp_old_date":["2022-02-22"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Learn all about doctor and skinfluencer superstar Dr. Zion Ko's retinol eye mask collab with Murad Skincare."]},"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":{"show_featured_image":true,"primary_category":{"term_id":5,"name":"Skin","slug":"skin","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":238,"filter":"raw"},"mobile_image":false,"post_views_count":"8602"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3419"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3678,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419\/revisions\/3678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnected.murad.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}