There’s a new moon rising in the Graydon Skincare galaxy…

For weeks, we’ve been dropping hints across our socials and on Mindful Beauty Magazine. Every vibrant flash of orange was a clue leading up to something special. Now, I couldn’t be more excited to unveil the latest addition to the Graydon Skincare universe: Moon Boost, a brightening, multivitamin serum.

Just like the moon itself, Moon Boost is all about giving you bright, luminous skin. This velvety oil serum smells delightfully citrusy (with a pinch of vanilla!) and feels soft and non-greasy on the skin. But it isn’t just a treat for the senses; it’s a powerhouse of skin-nourishing vitamins and cutting-edge plant-based and biotech ingredients designed to brighten, protect, and boost skin’s natural radiance.

I’m excited to share more about Moon Boost. Keep reading to learn about this serum’s many skin benefits, and the story behind how this new product came to be!

What is Moon Boost & Why is it so Exciting?

Moon Boost is meant to boost your skin’s overall health through a multifunctional approach. We accomplish this by precisely formulating with ingredients that brighten, soothe, smooth, moisturize, protect, firm, and plump skin, all while helping to reduce hyperpigmentation, dryness, uneven skin tone, fine lines and wrinkles, dull skin, and more!

Moon Boost’s core benefits include:

• Brightening the look of uneven pigmentation with THD (a gentle form of vitamin C), shiitake, and vitamin E from raspberry seed oil.
• Protecting against the oxidative stress that ages skin with provitamin D-rich Torula Oil, vitamin K from prickly pear, and vitamin F.
• Boosting skin firmness and elasticity with pro-vitamin A from carrot root extract and Torula Oil.

Moon Boost is clinically proven for sensitive skin and is ideal for people who want to brighten dull or uneven skin, while addressing skin concerns like fine lines, wrinkles, and slack skin in a way that improves your skin’s overall health and longevity.

Though it’s an oil, Moon Boost is abundant in linoleic fatty acids, which help regulate sebum production, making it less likely to cause clogged pores.

Moon Boost’s multifunctional, gentle, and vitamin-rich formula boosts your skin’s overall health and longevity.

And the scent? A dreamy, sweet aroma that combines citrus and vanilla. It’s a running joke that vitamin C serums can smell like… well… hot dogs. But because we use THD as our vitamin C rather than L-ascorbic acid, the scent of Moon Boost enhances your experience rather than spoils it.

Ingredient Innovation: The Heroes of Moon Boost

Torula Oil: Harnessing Biotechnology

With Moon Boost, I wanted to create something truly special—not just another brightening serum, but one that harnesses the latest advancements in sustainable beauty science. That’s where biotechnology comes in.

We’re the first in Canada to launch a product featuring an innovative new biotech ingredient—Palmless™ Torula Oil. Torula Oil is created through fermentation and is a sustainable alternative to frequently used skincare oils like palm oil, which has had a devastating impact on the environment and deforested a significant amount of rainforest.

THD Ascorbate: A Gentler Vitamin C

Unlike traditional vitamin C, known as L-ascorbic acid, THD is less irritating while still delivering the same benefits. That’s because THD converts into L-ascorbic acid after it is already in the skin.

THD is also more stable when combined with acetyl zingerone (which we did in Moon Boost!). Because it is oil-soluble unlike L-ascorbic acid, it has more antioxidant capabilities and can be combined with ingredients like retinol and niacinamide without irritation.

All the while, THD does all the things a vitamin C should—helps brighten skin, smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, stimulate collagen production, and more.

I am so thrilled to be using this form of vitamin C in Moon Boost. It’s part of our mission to create products that work (and work well) for people with sensitive skin—even people with skin conditions like myself (I have rosacea). 

Vitamin C is highly recommended by derms around the world, so I am glad there’s a version that my skin—and yours if you have sensitivities—is more likely to tolerate.

Shiitake: Tapping into the Fungal Kingdom

The mushroom obsession that’s been happening over the past few years is real. Cute cartoon mushrooms can be found on t-shirts and tote bags everywhere. The average person is also more aware of the healing powers of mushrooms like chaga and reishi.

How does that translate into skincare? Well, as we looked into ingredients for Moon Boost, we found some fascinating scientific studies about shiitake’s brightening, antioxidant, barrier boosting, and soothing capabilities.

Shiitake mushrooms even contain something called ergosterol (which is only found in the fungal kingdom), a provitamin D that soothes skin, prevents bacteria-related breakouts, and improves skin barrier function.

How’s that for multitasking?

The Story Behind Moon Boost

Longtime Graydon Skincare fans may remember an old serum of ours—also called Moon Boost, and also a radiant orange. But make no mistake: this is not the same Moon Boost. We’ve been working behind the scenes for nearly 3 years to create a serum that is more stable, more effective, more sustainable, and more innovative than before.

Let me tell you the story about how this new Moon Boost came to be.

Our OG Moon Boost was beloved, but behind the scenes, it presented significant formulation challenges. We’d chosen the right ingredients, but our manufacturing process was complicated and the serum was challenging to “brew” correctly.

As we scaled up production, we began noticing issues with separation and discoloration—the vibrant orange would darken to an unappealing brown. While this didn’t impact efficacy, I wasn’t comfortable selling a product that required shaking to recombine the serum or an explanation label about the colour.

Even though Moon Boost was a bestseller, I had to make the tough decision to say goodbye to it until we found a better solution. I won’t lie, as a founder who is very hands on with our formulation and product development, it broke my heart to discontinue Moon Boost.

But now, reflecting back with the knowledge that we’ve made Moon Boost even better, I see this setback for what it truly was—that push we needed to get curious about the future of clean beauty, and how our products could be at the forefront of efficacy, sustainability, and plant-powered skincare.

This setback turned into a stepping stone for something greater: a new Moon Boost that fully embodied our brand’s evolution.

Biotechnology: the Stable, Sustainable Solution

Around the time we shelved the original Moon Boost, I was deep into research on how to elevate our formulations. We were already committed to efficacy, sensitive skin-friendliness, and harnessing plant-powered ingredients. But I knew we could take it further.

Biotechnology marries the best of nature and science, creating stable, multifunctional ingredients.

Biotechnology became the answer. It marries the best of nature and science, allowing us to harness natural ingredients' multifunctionality and have the precision and sustainability of lab-made ingredients.

My research led me down endless rabbit holes—hours, days, even weeks scouring scientific journals, sustainability reports, and ingredient databases. I was beginning to feel biotech fatigue when I stumbled upon, of all things, a LinkedIn post that changed everything.

C16 Biosciences and Palmless™ Torula Oil

The LinkedIn post was from Shara Ticku, the co-founder of C16 Biosciences. In the post, she described her experience witnessing the devastating effects of palm oil production firsthand—thick, toxic air from rainforest-burning in Singapore. That moment led her to co-found a biotech company focused on creating sustainable, lab-grown alternatives to ingredients that have farming and harvesting processes that are harmful to the environment.

Reading about the environmental impact of palm oil struck a deep chord. It was an ‘aha’ moment that made me take a closer look at C16’s biotech innovation: Palmless™ Torula Oil.

As I learned more, I realized it was exactly what I had been looking for—an ingredient that is natural, sustainable, and incredibly effective for the skin. Also important to me? It’s a highly stable, bright orange ingredient that was the perfect solution to our issue with the old Moon Boost becoming discoloured.

I reached out, and from there our collaboration began. Now, Graydon Skincare is the first Canadian brand to launch a product featuring Palmless™ Torula Oil. 

Curious to learn more? Read my deep dive on Torula Oil here.

Bringing Moon Boost to Life

When our original Moon Boost ran into production challenges, I hoped for a simple fix. I didn’t want to stop selling it—our retailers told us how much their customers loved it, and we had seen the outpouring of love from our community.

But those same customers deserve perfection. Even if the old serum was still effective, I wasn’t comfortable with anyone receiving a product that wasn’t exactly how I envisioned it. So, Moon Boost disappeared... until now.

Creating Moon Boost pushed me to strive for something better—more innovative, more sustainable, and more beneficial for the skin.

Looking back, I’m grateful there wasn’t an easy solution. It pushed me to strive for something better—more innovative, more sustainable, and more beneficial for the skin. This journey allowed us to create a serum that embodies everything Graydon Skincare stands for.

Everything happens for a reason. We needed time to elevate Moon Boost into our best product yet. And now? We can proudly say that this serum is something truly special.

I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it—and you can, very soon!

When Does Moon Boost Launch?

Moon Boost launches on March 21st, 2025, which means, if you're reading this now, Moon Boost is already out and available for order!