Meet Age Defence Moisturising Day Cream with SPF 50, our newest innovation that’s designed to perform better than your favourite sunscreen.
We’ve dubbed it: The Everything Day Cream, our groundbreaking new formula has been created as your ultimate one-step morning routine providing your skin with all the protection it needs. It does everything you need a morning protection step to do — and more.
Age Defence prevents cellular senescence, inflammation and the breakdown of collagen and fibrillin for healthier, younger-looking skin.
The Why?
At The Skin Diary, we believe in prioritising skin health. When skin health is optimised, cosmetic benefits follow. One of the best ways to optimise skin health is to prevent damage from occurring in the first place. That’s why we created the ultimate protector product that combines some of the most innovative and exciting science out there — without compromising on feeling like a luxurious, enjoyable step in your routine.
The Performance
Triple action defence for optimal ageing
Why protect your skin with one method, when you can have three? That’s why Age Defence is formulated with:
1. Encapsulated SPF
Sunscreen is a non-negotiable in any healthy skin routine, but finding one that performs well and you enjoy applying isn’t always easy. Age Defence uses encapsulated sunscreen filters to ensure maximum protection without any irritation.
2. DNA Repair Enzymes
Despite our best efforts, sometimes UV damage still manages to get through to our cells. DNA Repair Enzymes work quickly and efficiently to repair damage that’s snuck in to keep our cells in check, reducing the risk of long-term sun damage .
3. Antioxidants
To amp up that protection even more, of course antioxidants had to be included in the formula. Working to neutralise free radicals responsible for contributing to oxidative stress and DNA damage, the addition of plant flavonoid antioxidants protects the skin a step further.
Oh, and of course the bonus of all-day hydration.
Three modes of protection in one step means your skincare works harder without you having to do the heavy lifting.
The Science
Encapsulated Sunscreen
Age Defence uses encapsulation technology to optimise both delivery and performance of the product. Encapsulated sunscreen means that these filters are protected in tiny spheres; a water-oil-water phospholipid shell to be exact. These create tiny particles that sit on top of the skin’s surface rather than absorb. In addition to this, the particles repel each other, which prevents them clumping together (known as flocculation) and instead forming a grid-like formation. This means optimal skin protection with an even distribution of the sunscreen filters — necessary for efficacy.
DNA Repair Enzymes
If you’re unfamiliar, DNA Repair Enzymes play an important role in maintaining our skin’s DNA integrity, identifying and correcting damage caused by things like UV exposure. Although our body does a good job in correcting many of these errors, as we age, our ability to do so also declines. Giving the skin a helping hand in repairing this DNA damage can prevent premature ageing and keep skin as healthy as can be.
Age Defence contains two very clever types of DNA repair enzymes: Photolyase and UV endonuclease. Photolyase — an enzyme we lost our ability to produce during evolution — is needed to repair our DNA. During sun exposure, UV can cause breaks in our DNA called cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs). It’s the job of Photolyase to find these small breaks in our DNA armour, wait for a photon of light to give it energy and then activate it to instantly repair the CPD damage. This process is something called photoreactivation[1].
UV endonuclease works to enhance and boost our natural DNA repair. One of the ways our body repairs DNA is through a process called nucleotide excision repair (NER). This declines as we age and that’s where UV endonuclease comes in to enhance this NER. It doesn’t work instantly (as photolyase does) and doesn’t require light to work.
The Results and Evidence
We don’t make wild claims we can’t prove. We put Age Defence through consumer and clinical trials, as well as advanced gene expression testing. We put Age Defence through this gene testing using 3D human skin equivalents to measure its true impact on epigenetic ageing, cellular senescence and oxidative stress; three key biological pathways. This research was carried out independently by Professor Mark Birch-Machin, a Professor of molecular dermatology and widely recognised as a leading expert in UV-induced cellular damage to human skin and skin ageing.
Here’s what he found:
1. Age Defence Prevents UV-induced Cellular Senescence
Giving statistically significant protection against UV-induced P21 expression.*
Cellular senescence is a key driver of ageing and one of the primary targets for skin regeneration.
A raised P21 is an indication that there’s an increase in senescent cells, which are cells that are retired (often called zombie cells). When they retire, they stay alive and stop dividing and repairing themselves, while releasing inflammation, which can affect neighbouring cells. This process is called cellular senescence.
These are cells that don’t function properly but they don’t quietly die. Instead, they hang around, like a bad apple in a fruit bowl, slowly spreading dysfunction to the cells around them resulting in:
- A breakdown in collagen and elastin (fibrillin) production
- Inflammation
- Impaired skin cell renewal
- Age-related decline in regenerative capacity
Over time, those “retired” cells build up, and your skin loses its structure leading to fine lines, wrinkles, dullness, and what we see as visible skin ageing. This molecular process starts a long time before the visible ageing appears, which is where prevention comes in. Minimising UV-induced cellular senescence in the skin is a great way to slow skin ageing, which is why we tested the ability of our NEW Age Defence Moisturising Day Cream to reduce the P21 marker when exposed to extreme doses of UV radiation.
2. Age Defence prevents UV-induced inflammation
Complete reduction of PTGES expression to baseline levels following UV exposure.*
PTGES is responsible for producing a key messenger (PGE₂), which drives inflammation, redness and pain signaling in your skin. Inflammation is an essential part of your body’s defence system, helping it to respond to irritation, infection and support wound healing. However, when inflammation becomes excessive or chronic, it can have damaging effects.
In the skin, too much PGE₂ and prolonged inflammatory signaling can trigger breakdown of structural proteins like collagen and fibrillin, lead to visible redness, contribute to skin ageing (by accelerating tissue degradation) and prolong or worsen sensitivity and barrier dysfunction.
When your skin remains in a sustained state of low-grade inflammation — often called inflammageing — it can gradually degrade the architecture of your skin, leading to wrinkles, loss of elasticity, uneven texture and pigmentation issues.
That’s why we measured PTGES expression in our testing models: it’s a sensitive and early marker of inflammation and tissue stress. A product that can prevent the rise in PTGES after environmental exposure will help protect your skin from long-term damage before you even see the effects.
A rise in PTGES means a rise in chronic Inflammation, keeping it to baseline means:
- Reduced long-term inflammation, so your skin’s barrier stays stronger
- Lowered activity of collagen-destroying enzymes, helping to reduce fine lines in the long run and promote skin firmness
- A more even skin tone, since PGE₂ also plays a role in pigment-spot formation
3. Age Defence prevents the breakdown of collagen, and fibrillin (elastin)
Prevents the UV-induced spike in MMP1.
Reduced MMP-1 means:
- Preventing collagen loss
- Reducing wrinkle formation
- Protecting against crepey skin
- Keeping skin scaffolding intact
MMP-1 is an enzyme that degrades (munches on) collagen fibres. Its purpose is to remodel the collagen in the skin. Exposure to UV sends stress signals to MMP-1 so that it goes into overdrive and chomps up too much collagen. The skin cannot rebuild its support network as fast as it’s being torn down, which leads to that ‘crepey’ texture and wrinkles — both a direct result of collagen breakdown.
*Statistically significant complete protection proven in gene expression analysis on 3D skin equivalents exposed to high intensity UV radiation.
The Experience
As dermatologists, we know that one of the barriers to many patients applying daily sun protection is the understanding that sunscreens are thick, chalky and unelegant to use. Formulation technology has come a long way since. We want you to enjoy using Age Defence as much as you love your Night Repair Therapy ritual. That’s why it’s been designed to be:
- Lightweight and non-greasy - it glides onto the skin like a dream and never leaves an unpleasant residue.
- It works well alone or under makeup - Age Defence is for everyone, which is why it needed to perform on its own and under makeup. It sits beautifully as a protective primer before applying your complexion base.
- It provides all-day hydration - Of course, all good day creams must do their job as a moisturiser. In all of the brilliant science elements, we’ve not forgotten the most crucial one: hydrate the skin to keep your barrier happy.
- Mood-boosting scent - Yes, you read that right. Another barrier to many people using sunscreen is the smell. That’s why we opted for a light, uplifting fragrance that would make your daily application even better.
- Suitable for sensitive skin - Despite The Skin Diary products being incredibly hardworking with powerful actives, we’ve made sure that you’re not disrupted by irritation. Good skin doesn’t have to mean irritation — we’ve proven that with Night Repair Therapy — and Age Defence is no different.
We’re excited for you to see the benefits from Age Defence and take charge of your skin’s health with just one simple, luxurious step.
References:
[1] Garcia-Mouronte, E.; Pérez-González, L.A.; Naharro-Rodriguez, J.; Fernández Guarino, M. Understanding Active Photoprotection: DNA-Repair Enzymes and Antioxidants. Life 2024, 14, 822. https://doi.org/10.3390/life14070822
