The evidence came first.
Before Radiance was a formula, it was a standard: every ingredient, dose, and claim had to earn its place in the research.
Read the founding storyWhy I built
In 2016, my mother was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. I have been an avid reader and a lover of science since early childhood, thanks to my parents, so researching everything I could about her specific type of cancer came naturally to me. I read study after study on plant-derived adjunct therapies, drugs, holistic protocols, and any treatment or trial that looked promising in the medical literature. I downloaded what I could, saved it, and read it again.
My background is enterprise technology, where I worked for nearly two decades, most recently at Amazon Web Services as a sales executive helping companies optimize for transformative business outcomes. That work required starting from the problem and working backwards to the solution, diving deep enough into the details to know whether the metrics matched the anecdote, a bias for action, and innovation and simplification on the customer's behalf, all while insisting on relentlessly high standards. I brought those same principles to my search for anything that would help my mother.
After a conversation with a coworker in 2017, I asked a different question. Was it possible to innovate in skincare if I approached the literature with the same discipline?
Not skincare at first. A standard.
I wanted to know what would happen if every ingredient had to earn its place, so instead of relying on supplier formulations I developed my own from scratch. The first results were promising. An early prototype appeared to noticeably soften and hydrate the skin, calm acne, and significantly accelerate healing from cuts and sores, among other benefits. It was also a light brown paste and unappealing as a product, so I kept researching.
Part of the delay was my own insistence on high standards. I was not simply out to sell a product. I wanted one formula to carry work that usually takes several, to collapse a shelf into a single considered serum built with intention, rather than take a ready-made formula and put our logo on it.
In 2018 I formalized Neogen Bioactives as a company and continued the R&D alongside my career. I left AWS in July 2024 to lead it full-time, and in 2025 I completed formal coursework in cosmetic formulation science. We are now at the point where I am glad to introduce our first formula, Radiance: a foundational serum we offer as a multi-corrective treatment for a range of everyday skin concerns, including uneven tone, dry skin, oxidative stress, distressed skin, and the loss of structural integrity, to reveal a noticeably healthier appearance.
“I didn't set out to make a product. I set out to build a standard and see whether a formula built from scratch could meet it. Radiance is what happened when every ingredient had to earn its place.”
— Craig King
Founder · Formulator
Radiance Serum
Radiance Serum begins with 24 rare botanical oils. They form its carrier architecture: the structural lipids that soften skin and help hold moisture in, the plant compounds that help calm and protect it, and the weight, slip and finish you feel during application. On their own, before a single clinical active was added, the 24 oils would have made a complete serum. Many premium facial serums are built around one oil. We chose a broader oil architecture as the foundation for a more comprehensive formula.
24 Botanical oils
Rare, cold-pressed, and chosen for what each one carries. Together they are the carrier architecture.
14 Clinical actives
At 10.60% of the formula, organized across four networks so each one works at full strength.
6 Anchor doses
Set beside the concentration used in a published topical study, and named so you can check them.
We then added fourteen clinical actives, together making up 10.60% of the formula. The number reflects two decisions: combine ingredients that work across connected pathways, and bring several skincare goals into one considered formula. Ferulic acid is present at the concentration shown to stabilize and amplify a topical vitamin C network. For tone, niacinamide interrupts pigment transfer, THD-Ascorbate works elsewhere in the pigment pathway, and bakuchiol adds a third line. Each ingredient was selected for what the research supports.
We organize the fourteen across four networks: Brightening, Renewal, Defense, and a Barrier scaffold beneath them. The scaffold keeps the skin barrier steady and allows the other three networks to run at full researched concentrations in one anhydrous formula. Six actives are anchor doses set against the published study each is known for, some at the studied concentration and some deliberately above it. The other eight are measured against the research just as closely.
Bakuchiol is a botanical retinoid. In a twelve-week randomized head-to-head trial, it matched retinol on wrinkles, beat it on hyperpigmentation, with 59% seeing improvement against retinol's 44%, and caused less scaling and stinging. Radiance uses bakuchiol at 1.00%, twice the level used in that trial. Idebenone is also present at 1.00%. In a six-week clinical study at that same dose and twice-daily frequency, it increased skin hydration by 37%. In a comparative antioxidant panel, it scored 95 on oxidative stress protection capacity, ahead of vitamins E and C and CoQ10.
The Standard
Every benefit claim we make traces to peer-reviewed research.
We log each source, verify it by PMID, and set the doses behind those claims against the published literature.
Each ingredient has a defined role.
The 24-oil carrier architecture and 14 clinical actives were selected for their function, supporting evidence, and role in the complete formula.
The anhydrous formula has held up across more than 24 months of internal evaluation.
We hold every new formula to an exacting internal standard before it reaches the customer.
Follow the work
We publish the reasoning behind the formula: why an ingredient is in, why a dose is set where it is, and what the literature actually says. If you want to see how Neogen thinks before you decide, this is where to start.
Bench Notes
Quarterly long-form from the bench: the papers, the progress, and the next formulation when it's ready. First access for subscribers.
Luminous. Resilient. Future-ready skin.
Botanical·Scientific·Sensorial
Cosmetic product. Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Ingredient-level claims are referenced on the product and Evidence pages.