At Aramore, science isn’t just marketing speak. It’s where we started, and it’s where we always return to validate, innovate, and build what’s next for us.
Before launching the brand, President and co-founder Kevin Kong spent more than two decades inside academic medicine and oncology research, working alongside physicians and pharmaceutical teams to move treatments from lab bench to real patients.
So when it came time to build a skincare company, he approached it the same way he would a cancer drug.
Not based on trends, but on evidence.
“We were not interested in just launching a product that didn’t have any real scientific evidence behind it,” Kevin says. “Our approach follows many of the same principles used to determine if a drug works.”
A three-year path to one product
Most skincare brands start with a concept and move quickly to formulas and packaging, sometimes adding an influencer or celebrity founder along the way.
Aramore didn’t set out to start a skincare brand. In fact, our technology was developed by a renowned scientist at a prestigious Harvard lab who was working to improve outcomes for skin health and disease states.
Dr. Anna Mandinova and her team spent years working in the science of NAD+ before the idea for Aramore ever emerged. From there, it took roughly three more years to move from concept to finished product.
“From concept to getting a product on the market was about three years,” Kevin explains, “because we validated everything in the lab, in skin models, and in real people.”
Every ingredient had to prove itself at multiple levels:
- Human skin cells in the lab
- Reconstructed skin models
- Donated human tissue
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Controlled human clinical studies
Only then did it earn a place in one of our formulas.
“What makes us different is that we don’t just say something works, we validate that it actually does,” Kevin says. “We know the mechanism and we’ve shown it in human skin and in clinical studies.”
The uncomfortable truth about skincare
After evaluating hundreds of brands and formulas over the course of his career, Kevin has a blunt assessment of the category:
Most of it doesn’t do very much.
“Most skincare brands study what a consumer sees,” he says. “We study what the cells actually do.”
That distinction shapes everything. Instead of asking whether skin looks better temporarily, Aramore studies whether cellular function actually improves. Energy production. Repair. Renewal. The processes that determine how skin behaves over time.
Because if skincare doesn’t address underlying biology, the results ultimately won’t last.
Why NAD+ is at the center
At the core of Aramore’s technology is NAD+, a molecule essential to cellular energy.
“NAD+ is like gasoline for your cells,” Kevin says. “Without it, the cell can’t generate the energy it needs to repair and renew.”
As we age, those NAD+ levels decline. Cells become less efficient. Repair slows. And skin doesn’t function the way it once did.
Rather than forcing skin to turn over faster or inflaming it into action, Aramore’s approach is to support the energy systems that allow skin to function properly in the first place.
“We’re not telling the body what to do,” Kevin explains. “We’re giving it the building materials so it can function at its best.”
This energy-first approach works differently from traditional actives like exfoliating acids or retinoids. Instead of triggering repair through stress or irritation, it supports the processes that allow repair to happen efficiently.
Built by scientists, not marketers
Aramore’s founding team works in fields spanning molecular biology, clinical dermatology, chemistry, and science education. The goal was to build a company capable of taking an idea from basic research all the way to a finished formula without compromising scientific rigor along the way.
“It’s rare to have a team that can take a concept from basic science to a finished product,” Kevin says. “We built a team specifically to translate real research into something people can use.”
That depth also means resisting hype.
“The biggest issue in skincare is penetration,” Kevin notes. “If an ingredient can’t reach where it needs to work, nothing else matters. We validated that our technology penetrates and performs in real human skin, not just in theory.”
Proof that matters
For Kevin, the ultimate test isn’t a claim or even a clinical study. It’s whether people keep using the product.
“Our goal has always been to tell a true story,” Kevin says. “One based on science, products, and real results. When you combine rigorous research with real-world outcomes, that’s when you know you’re making something that truly works.”
Shop our award-winning lineup of NAD+ skincare.