Written by LAURA REGENSDORF
Illustrated by LYDIA McKEE

In 2016, after a career in fashion, the New York–based aesthetician Sofie Pavitt launched her practice with a particular lens on skin. “My analogy is that I’m a chef who specializes in a cuisine,” she says, “and mine is acne.” If that approach has narrowed her prospective client pool, it’s also highlighted just how many people at times deal with problematic skin, whether due to genetics or shifting hormones; along with teens and postpartum women, there are recognizable clients in the mix, like Zendaya, Lorde, and Ego Nwodim. In time, Pavitt went from fine-tuning people’s skin care protocols to developing her own focused line, starting with the Mandelic Clearing Serum, which arrived in 2023. Designed for ultra-gentle exfoliation, the formula became a breakaway hit, drawing devotees with all manner of skin types. Here’s how the so-called “acne whisperer” created her game-changing serum.

THE GENESIS

When it comes to acne-prone skin, not all facials are created equal. “I realized there was this whole demographic of people who weren’t getting the right treatments,” Pavitt says, looking back on her shift into the field. “They were going in for massage facials with oils and sculpting, and it was making their acne worse.” The Welsh-born aesthetician wanted results, so she built her namesake studio with an eye toward long-term protocols, where hands-on sessions complemented a strategic skin care regimen at home. (Pavitt also began working in a dermatologist’s office to better understand the medical approach to acne—a practice she still continues a few times a month.) She saw firsthand how destabilizing these flare-ups could be on an emotional level, and how incremental improvements ushered in a mood lift. But the products on the market were less than inspiring. “Everything out there was either drugstore or really boring,” Pavitt says of the acne-safe offerings she could recommend. Clients, happy with their skin but itching for the desirability that the beauty industry can bottle up, would come to her with a common refrain: “When can I use nice stuff again?”

THE FORMULA

“No one should be starting a beauty brand without deep intention,” says Pavitt, acknowledging the overflow of launches. Still, she recognized what was missing: “No one was going narrow and deep into the adult acne space.” The former handbag designer for Michael Kors and Tory Burch thought she had left product development behind to work in service; she wasn’t rushing to churn out a full lineup of formulas. To start, she says, “I wanted to show people where I really stood 10 toes down in something, and that’s mandelic acid.” While the alpha-hydroxy acid is often used alongside other AHAs, like glycolic and lactic acids, in chemical exfoliants, she understood mandelic’s potential as a hero ingredient. Mandelic acid helps to loosen the topmost dead skin cells, and its large molecular size means that it tends to sit on the surface, keeping irritation at bay. That’s important for acneic skin, which is sometimes inflamed and sensitive. And in the case of mature skin that skews dry, there can be a compromised barrier. With that in mind, she and her chemist created a trademarked complex for the Mandelic Clearing Serum, pairing the titular AHA with hyaluronic acid for hydration and panthenol for extra barrier support. The result is an ultra-gentle exfoliator that even plays well with a retinoid—the latter speeding up cell turnover, and the former gently sloughing off that dull outer layer. What you see in the mirror, Pavitt says in her Welsh lilt, is “smoother, brighter, clearer-looking skin.”

THE MOMENTUM

Leading up to the March 2023 launch of the Mandelic Clearing Serum, Pavitt had a low-key rollout planned: She’d sell it at the studio. Her friend Rebecca Zhou, who runs the body care brand Soft Services, convinced her over dinner to think big. Pavitt built a website, arranged a photo shoot, and created a distribution strategy. “All of a sudden we had a brand,” she says, crediting a certain amount of naivété for the business’s meteoric success. “If I’d known three years ago that I would have a team of 13 people in an office above my facial studio, which has nine people on the books, it would have seemed so overwhelming.” She couldn’t predict to what extent Sofie Pavitt Face would pop, but that’s effectively what she intended with the serum’s bright yellow bottle. “I wanted it to stand out on a shelfie like nothing else,” she says of the ’90s-inspired packaging—a departure from the muted shades of beige then dominating the beauty industry. Now with nine formulas in circulation and her own face on wheatpaste campaigns in downtown Manhattan, she is a walking advertisement for a glowing complexion. “I’ve been stopped in the street by old ladies who say their grandson is using it,” Pavitt says. So are a lot of people outside the acne fold: delicate types who appreciate easygoing exfoliation, frequent fliers who like a travel-friendly cleanse, wintertime shoppers who need quenching moisture without clogging pores. Acne remains Pavitt’s focus, but she appreciates that her formulas have a big-tent appeal: “People will say, ‘You’ve changed my skin,’ and that, to me, is the greatest gift.”

SHOP SOFIE PAVITT FACE