Frequently Asked Questions

ESK was founded based on 3 principles:

Evidence
There is a substantial amount of evidence published in respected peer review medical and scientific journals about ingredients that are effective in skin care (particularly anti-aging), but we could find no brands whose ranges were based solely on that evidence. Instead, most brands contained and marketed ingredients either with little evidence and in some cases – evidence that they were ineffective. ESK was designed to give users the confidence that all the key actives have been proven in multiple, independently conducted, properly controlled statistically significant trials published in peer review medical journals – to be effective. And it is the peer review process that allows claims to be verified and considered valid. That means users can have confidence that they are using products that work, not based on marketing hype, but rigorous proof.

Efficacy
All brands strive to, and claim to, produce products that are effective. ESK products use the form of ingredients, at the concentrations and in the formulations which have been independently shown to be most effective. We will not use cheaper, easier options. We also use airless and opaque bottles to keep our products fresh and effective.

Integrity
We like to sleep well at night and that means not using any ingredients that have known or suspected harmful effects. It also means we won’t test on animals and we try to minimise our environmental impact.

ESK was founded by husband and wife team, Dr Ginni Mansberg and Daniel Rubinstein. Ginni is a Sydney based Doctor and media personality. She is passionate about blending patient care, patient outcomes and evidence based medicine. Her pet peeve is pseudo science marketing which preys on womens’ insecurities. After spending 20 years in property, finance and capital markets, Daniel left the corporate sector in 2012 to set up ESK and help bring Ginni’s vision to life.

Yes. ESK was born out of a partnership between doctors (primarily plastic and cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists) and ESK’s founders to develop evidence based cosmeceutical products for their patients. This partnership started in 2012 and includes doctors around Australia. In 2016, ESK was launched to bring these products to a wider audience.

ESK products are not and will not be tested on animals. Our testing is carried out on willing (human) participants. If you are interested in being involved with ESK product development and testing as a volunteer, please contact us through or website or at info@eskcare.com.

To the best of our knowledge (and efforts) all ESK products are vegan. Given the complex international chain of ingredient manufacture and sourcing, while we believe there to be no animal sourced ingredients in ESK products, that cannot be stated with absolute certainty.

Yes. All product manufacturing is conducted in Australia. While many of our raw ingredients are sourced from overseas, we vet our suppliers to ensure that the ingredients they supply meet with our quality and integrity standards.

While many commonly used ingredients are legal for use, there has been increasing focus and awareness of potential harm from a number of these ingredients over time. (eg. Use of Hydroqinone is legal for use in Australia but not in Canada). Our view is that where there is a rational concern about the safety of an ingredient, we will exclude it from our products. This means more than “paraben, sulphate, Phthalate” free but also includes many commonly used scents, sunscreen ingredients, preservatives and emulsifiers.

At ESK, we try to minimise our environmental footprint and where possible use recyclable materials. The outer bottle of our 150ml and 50ml products are recyclable and we are looking for recyclable options for our 15ml products.

Very unlikely! The form of Vitamin A that we use is Retinal (sometimes called Retinaldehyde) it is highly effective but with very low rates of irritation (less than 1%). The other commonly used forms of Vitamin A are; a) Tretinoin (prescription grade Vitamin A) which has similar efficacy to Retinal but is drying and in approximately 50% of cases, irritating; and b) Retinol which, while used in concentrations often 10 times higher, is less effective than Retinal and more irritating.

They should not. However there are some of us who do have sensitive skin and react to almost anything. If that is you, read our suggestions for products to use on sensitive skin (Shop by skin type) and you can email our customer service team at info@eskcare.com with any questions. Best of luck!.

…Almost. While our preference is to have natural products wherever possible, our primary focus is on delivering evidence based, effective products. Many of the required ingredients have natural sources but not all can be efficiently extracted and may therefore be synthesised.

It means that we have confidence that you will get great results from using ESK, but if you don’t feel that you are, we will refund you. (But we want to improve, so we will ask why you would like a refund and then want to inspect the product). Simply contact us on our website or at info@eskcare.com within 3 weeks of purchasing your products, indicate the products you purchased and the reason for refund request, then send us the product together with your name, contact number and order number (if you still have it). We will issue a refund upon receipt of the returned product.

Yes. Where we have distributors in your country, you will be able to buy products locally. If not, you can buy products from our website. Outside of AUS, NZ and US, shipping is free for orders over $250AUD or $30AUD for orders under.

Products bought in Australia usually arrive within 3-5 days of purchase. Products purchase from overseas will take between 1 and 3 weeks depending on your location.

Click on the tracking number on your confirmation email to see where your product is. If that doesn’t work contact us from our website or email us at info@eskcare.com.