Soho House Now Has Its Own “High Energy” Skin Care Line

Don’t think of Soho Skin as an anti-aging skin care line — think of it as “high energy” skin care.

The luxurious nine-item range of skin care essentials comes to you courtesy of Soho House, the members-only social club that first opened its doors in, where else, Soho, London. Since its inception in 1995, it’s opened 28 locations worldwide, including clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. As a brand, Soho House is best known for its exclusive, luxurious gathering spaces and spas, catering to its jet-setting members around the world. Thus, it felt like only a matter of time until the club started its own line of skin care.

The development of the line actually came at the request of members, explains Aalish Yorke-Long, Managing Director of Soho House Retail. “Our members told us they wanted high-performing skin care to meet the demands of their busy lifestyles, and Soho Skin was the natural next step,” she explains to Bustle. It was important that the skin care brand feel inclusive, says Soho Skin Chief Scientist Daniel Whitby, which is why all the products are genderless and for any age and ethnicity — a step away from the stereotypical messaging around anti-aging found in most skin care brands.

“When you’re developing products for a brand like Soho House, which is a membership brand, you start to think about what typifies the Soho House member: they’re very busy people, they probably have quite stressful lives, [and] they probably have depleted sleep,” further describes Whitby. (Member or not, sounds like they’re describing pretty much everyone I know.) There are a total of nine products, from a cream cleanser to an exfoliator, that ring in to a combined total of $820. Is Soho Skin worth the price? Here’s what you need to know.

The Science

Whitby, the person responsible for all of the product formulation, is a researcher who has over 25 years in the industry and lectures on the Bachelor and Masters Cosmetics Sciences courses at the University of Sunderland. He calls this “a great, exciting project to work on because what Soho House didn't want was to be just another hotel sort of amenity; they wanted proper science in the products,” he says.

Again, per the needs of the members, it was all about optimizing skin health by reenergizing tired, depleted complexions. That’s where the team came up with the idea of the Soho Skin Concentrate — the ingredient formulation at the heart of the line “designed to restore the skin’s cellular energy and give it the tools to perform at its best,” says Yorke-Long. You’ll find the concentrate in the five leave-on products: the Face Cream, Eye Cream, Overnight Cream, 24/7 Treatment, and Renewal Serum.

The Concentrate was developed with three key ingredients: pistacia lentiscus gum, glycogen, and lactococcus ferment lysate. “Pistacia lentiscus gum is an ingredient from a tree and is really good for producing things like collagen, elastin — these youthful proteins that pack the dermis,” explains Whitby. On how it works, he offers an analogy: picture an old mattress, worn down with lines and sagging a bit. “If you can re-stuff that mattress with collagen and elastin, which is what the kind of ‘mattress of the dermis’ is, you smooth that out and plump the skin and get rid of those lines and wrinkles, which is [what the The Soho Skin Concentrate does],” he says.

The second ingredient is glycogen, a well-known carbohydrate. “The glycogen was all about giving the cells energy, and that helps with firmness, hydration, and the barrier,” he notes. Lastly, lactococcus ferment lysate, a lesser-known prebiotic the product’s formulators found from a supplier in Berlin, helps increase cell turnover. “It’s kind of like a natural exfoliant booster, but very, very mild,” Whitby says. He explains that it's good for sensitive skin since it’s incredibly friendly to the microbiome. “In fact, if your microbiome gets damaged it can help restore the microbiome very quickly,” he adds. All of the products, he admits, have their “own kind of little bit of extra magic,” but it’s the Concentrate in these five leave-on products that’s “really key to the products being so efficacious,” he explains.

The Packaging

As someone who receives dozens of new skin care products each week, I can tell you: This packaging stands out. It has a very upscale ’70s aesthetic. Everything from the off-white bubble font to the soft, curved edges to the heavy amber glass bottles screams retro — in a good way. And the look is right on brand with the luxe formulations inside. “The design is intertwined with our Houses, and a lot of the ’70s references coincide with the interior design of [one of the brand’s properties], 180 House in London,” explains Yorke-Long. In addition to thoughtful ingredients, the packaging is all recycled or recyclable. “That is why we chose to use glass and glass over caps in order to reduce plastic waste,” she says. “How we can better support a circular economy was central to the development of Soho Skin.”

My Review

Overall, the line is really well done. From the inside out, I have no qualms about the quality. The bottles are gorgeous enough to keep out on the counter and my guy friends are not shy about wanting to try the non-gender-specific formulas. You certainly don't have to use the line altogether, and given the thoughtful ingredient profiles, each product holds its own. In my experience, I found myself continually reaching for three of them.

The 24/7 Treatment is a game changer especially if you’re someone like me who legit has 30 minutes max between work and dinner. Whitby tells me to think of it “like a quick disco nap for the skin.” The transparent white paste has a slightly gritty texture that warms up as you apply it. Immediately after removal, your pores feel tighter and your skin is instantly glowier. If you wear it the second way, overnight, those results are only amplified.

I’m also fond of the Eye Cream and the Overnight Cream, purely for texture purposes. The eye cream comes with a chilly metal doe foot applicator and the product feels so silky going on. The night cream is buttery, lightweight, and hydrating. “The eye cream has specific peptides for [under eye circles, and] the overnight cream is thinking about what happens in terms of biology to the skin overnight — that’s when the skin is most receptive, when it’s most porous, and it’s when blood flow [peaks],” notes Whitby. So, think ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and oat kernel oil that will really give skin a boost overnight.

My only gripe is that some of the day products may not be super ideal for layering under makeup. While the serum and the day cream aren't heavy per se, they’re a little tacky and, for me, not the most absorbent if I'm going for a full face of makeup. I do enjoy that the line is “fragrance-free with the exception of a hint of amber,” as Yorke-Long explains.

Overall, Soho Skin is definitely one of the most luxurious lines I’ve tried in a while. And the fact that they’ve invested in real science with innovative ingredients that deviate from the standard players is rare and a breath of fresh air in this oversaturated market.

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Studies cited:

Elloumi, W., Maalej, A., Ortiz, S., Michel, S., Chamkha, M., Boutefnouchet, S., & Sayadi, S. (2022). Pistacia lentiscus L. Distilled Leaves as a Potential Cosmeceutical Ingredient: Phytochemical Characterization, Transdermal Diffusion, and Anti-Elastase and Anti-Tyrosinase Activities. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 27(3), 855.

Gotoh, H., Nomura, T., & Ono, K. (2017). Glycogen serves as an energy source that maintains astrocyte cell proliferation in the neonatal telencephalon. Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 37(6), 2294–2307.