POTENT COLLAGEN BOOST
4x more potent than retinol at boosting collagen I synthesis
VISIBLY FEWER WRINKLES
Wrinkle count down up to 42%, depth down 37%, volume down 31% in 28 days
FIRMER, BOUNCIER SKIN
Firmness up +22% and elasticity up +17% in 28 days, 95% of users responding
PLUMPS AND HYDRATES
Boosts collagen synthesis by +144% and hyaluronic acid by +59%
Jump to
Macadamia Omega-7 Cleansing Oil
Wild Pandanus Exfoliating Enzyme Cleansing Grains
Purslane and Commelina Gentle Balancing Toner
Wild-Harvested Kakadu Plum Vitamin C Serum
Phyto-A+ Australian Native Tobacco Serum
Australian Botanicals Pro-Aging Treatment Concentrate Serum - FORTIFIED with B3, B5 and Hyaluronic Acid
Australian Native River Mint Eye Serum
Snake Vine Super Anti-Oxidant Pro-Aging Moisturiser
Wild Rosella Hydrating Moisturiser
Botanical Barrier Balm (SLUG)
Australian Botanicals Nourishing Facial Oils
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10% OFF
The Essentials
Macadamia Omega-7 Cleansing Oil
Snake Vine Super Anti-Oxidant Pro-Aging Moisturiser
Phyto-A+ Australian Native Tobacco Serum
FOR
15% OFF
The Complete Routine
Macadamia Omega-7 Cleansing Oil
Wild-Harvested Kakadu Plum Vitamin C Serum
Snake Vine Super Anti-Oxidant Pro-Aging Moisturiser
Australian Native River Mint Eye Serum
Phyto-A+ Australian Native Tobacco Serum
The Full Ritual
Macadamia Omega-7 Cleansing Oil
Wild-Harvested Kakadu Plum Vitamin C Serum
Snake Vine Super Anti-Oxidant Pro-Aging Moisturiser
Australian Native River Mint Eye Serum
Phyto-A+ Australian Native Tobacco Serum
Australian Botanicals Pro-Aging Treatment Concentrate Serum - FORTIFIED with B3, B5 and Hyaluronic Acid
Australian Botanicals Nourishing Facial Oils
Purslane and Commelina Gentle Balancing Toner
Your pro-ageing ritual
A comprehensive morning and evening routine designed to support firmer, smoother and more resilient-looking skin.
Three different things, all called wrinkles
Dynamic lines appear when you move — crow's feet when you smile, a line between the brows when you concentrate. They are made by muscle, and at rest they disappear. Everybody has them, at every age.
Static lines are visible when your face is still. They are dynamic lines that stopped bouncing back, because the collagen and elastin underneath no longer had the structure to reset the fold.
Crepiness and laxity are not lines at all. That is loss of structural support — thinner skin, less elastin, less fat underneath — and it reads as texture rather than a defined crease.
Why it matters: skincare does most for static fine lines, crepiness and texture. It does considerably less for deep dynamic lines, and nothing at all for volume loss. Knowing which you have tells you what to expect.
What is actually causing them
The sun, mostly
This is the finding people find hardest to accept. A 2013 study of 298 women aged 30 to 78 compared sun-seekers with sun-avoiders and attributed roughly 80% of visible facial ageing to sun exposure rather than chronological age. Not 80% of ageing overall — 80% of what you can actually see in the mirror.
Which means most of what you are looking at was preventable, and the single most effective anti-ageing product available to you is sunscreen. It also means it is never too late, because the exposure you avoid from today does not accumulate.
Collagen decline
Collagen production falls by roughly 1% a year from your mid-twenties. Elastin barely regenerates at all after adolescence — what you have is largely what you keep. This is the intrinsic part, and it happens whether you sunbathe or not.
Menopause, sharply
Research going back to 1987 found women lose around 30% of dermal collagen in the first five years after menopause, then roughly 2% a year for the following fifteen. Oestrogen supports collagen, ceramides and skin hydration, so when it falls, three things go at once.
If your skin changed faster in two years than it had in the previous ten, this is usually why. It is not something you did wrong.
Glycation
Sugar in the bloodstream binds to collagen and elastin fibres and stiffens them. Flexible fibres that used to spring back become brittle and stay folded. It is slow, cumulative, and one of the few causes you can influence at the dinner table rather than the bathroom cabinet.
Repetition
Every expression folds the same skin in the same place. Ten thousand times a year, over decades, with less collagen each year to push it back out.
- Sunscreen, every day. If roughly 80% of visible ageing is sun-driven, this is not a supporting step. It is the main one, and everything else in this routine is working underneath it.
- A collagen active you will actually keep using. The best retinol in the world does nothing in the drawer you abandoned it in. Consistency beats potency every time, which is the entire argument for a retinol alternative that does not make you peel.
- Antioxidants in the morning. Vitamin C defends against the daily exposure that is doing the damage in the first place.
- Peptides and ceramides. Signal the skin to rebuild, and replace the lipids that keep it plump and holding water.
- Hydration, for the quickest visible win. Dehydrated skin shows every fine line twice as clearly. Plumping the surface will not change the line, but it changes how much you see it, and it works within days rather than months.
- Twelve weeks before you judge anything. Skin turns over roughly monthly and collagen builds far more slowly than that. Trial results are measured at 28 days for a reason — that is the first point anything is measurable, not the finish line.
- Starting three actives at once. The usual result is an irritated barrier, which ages skin rather than improving it, and no idea which product to blame.
- Pushing through irritation. Redness and flaking are not the product working. Chronic inflammation degrades collagen — you can genuinely make things worse by persevering.
- Skipping SPF because you are using an active. The most common and most expensive mistake on this list.
- Aggressive scrubs for texture. Thinning the surface to smooth it is borrowing from a very small account.
- Switching every eight weeks. Right about the point the previous product was starting to work.
- Expecting skincare to do a clinic's job. Covered below, honestly.
We would rather tell you this than sell you something that disappoints.
Skincare works well on: fine lines, static lines that are not yet deep, crepiness, texture, tone, firmness and how plump skin looks. These are real, measurable and worth doing.
Skincare does very little for: deep set dynamic lines, loss of facial volume, jowls, and significant sagging. Those are muscle, fat pad and bone changes. No cream reaches them, and anything claiming otherwise is selling you a story.
If that is what is bothering you, a good cosmetic physician or dermatologist is the honest answer — and a strong skincare routine makes those treatments work better and last longer, so the two are not in competition.
Founder-led skin guidance
Need a more tailored approach?
Book a complimentary 1:1 consultation with Ann Donnarumma to refine a ritual thoughtfully tailored to your skin, concerns and long-term goals.
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Founder, Founder’s Formula
FAQs
Phyto-A+ Native Tobacco Serum. The active is 4x more potent than retinol at boosting collagen I synthesis, with none of the redness, flaking or peeling, and there is no photosensitivity so you can wear it by day. It was formulated for exactly this problem.
Hydration and radiance shift within days. Measurable change in lines takes longer — the clinical trials measure at 28 days, and that is the first point anything registers, not the end point. Give it twelve weeks before you decide.
No, and the reason is specific. Around 80% of visible facial ageing is attributed to sun exposure rather than age, which means most of it is accumulated damage rather than an inevitable clock. Damage you stop accumulating from today does not keep adding up. Starting at 60 still changes the next twenty years.
Yes. Vitamin C in the morning for antioxidant defence, Phyto-A+ at night for collagen. They do different jobs at different times and there is no conflict.
Oestrogen supports collagen production, ceramide levels and hydration, so when it falls all three go at once. Research going back to 1987 found around 30% of dermal collagen is lost in the first five years after menopause. It usually means moving to a richer, more supportive routine than the one that carried you through your forties.
Use everything down to the collarbone. That skin is thinner, has fewer oil glands and catches as much sun as your face, but it is routinely left out of the routine and it shows. Apply what is left on your hands rather than dispensing more.
It will help how they look at rest, and it will help the fine crepey texture around them. It will do much less for the deep crease that appears when you smile — that is muscle movement, and skincare does not reach it. We would rather be straight with you about that.
Not strictly — the Snake Vine Moisturiser is fragrance-free and safe right up to the eye area. The River Mint Eye Serum is worth adding if puffiness or dark circles are the specific concern, since Eyeseryl tetrapeptide is clinically proven to reduce under-eye puffiness by up to 29%.