Send us Fan Mail

Jon DiNapoli, founder of creative agency JMD and designer behind fragrances for Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, and Tommy Hilfiger, joins Skin Anarchy to unpack how a brand comes alive: where creative direction starts, why packaging now sells the product, and how to balance art, cost, and commerce.

How did Jon DiNapoli get into beauty branding?

Through a newspaper ad his mother circled. A graphic design graduate, he answered an Estee Lauder listing 27 years ago and was mentored by industry figure Catherine Walsh. "It's this one little push from mom that kind of catapulted this career in a direction that I'm still pushing in," he says, having worked under Walsh over 15 years before founding JMD.

Where does creative direction for a brand start?

With questions, not sketches. DiNapoli's first move is extracting everything he can before designing, because a brand only works if it is true to itself. "Anyone can put a brand out on the market, but it's not going to work unless it's authentic to that brand itself." A Marc Jacobs fragrance has to feel like Marc Jacobs, not like him.

What white space led him to start JMD?

The gap between creative talent and business know how. As a creative lead at Coty, DiNapoli sat in sales, PR, and financial meetings, learning what sells and how products get made. "There were many agencies that were amazing... but they didn't have that back end knowledge," so he built JMD to pair design with years of brand side experience.

How important is sustainability in beauty packaging now?

It is no longer optional. DiNapoli says clean and sustainable design has shifted from a differentiator to a baseline expectation. "It used to be you stand out if you're sustainable... now it's the price of doing business. If you're not, you fail." His team revisits even launched products, like a Clean Reserve cap moved to fully wooden construction.

How do you design a brand that can grow?

By building expansion in from the first bottle, so a single launch can become a franchise. With Sabrina Carpenter's Sweet Tooth, the pink chocolate bar bottle was designed to extend into flavors. "When she launched... the song Espresso, we quickly did an espresso fragrance," because the brand had legs to grow with the artist.

What makes packaging rise above the noise?

A clear hook and a story that reads instantly. DiNapoli treats packaging as art you want to display, and tests it ruthlessly: picture only the box on a shelf. "Is that gonna tell the story? Are they gonna know what we're trying to say? And if not, we're not doing our job right." The constant is balancing commerce against art.

Why is packaging more important than ever?

Because people now buy fragrance without smelling it. With digital retail and social media replacing the store counter, the bottle is the first and often only point of entry. "People are buying fragrances now without knowing what they smell like," DiNapoli says, which magnified the role of packaging.

How do you balance packaging cost against the formula budget?

By knowing the budget before designing anything. DiNapoli says nothing frustrates him more than a brief with no real budget, because beautiful work that runs triple the cost is pointless. "If they're three times over the budget, what's the point?" Experience lets him design within the right price world from the start.

How does skincare branding differ from fragrance?

Efficacy comes first, packaging second. For skincare, DiNapoli says the clinical result matters most, and the design must still tell the story without overshadowing the science. He points to the Italian brand Aquium, created by an oncologist for dry, cracked skin, where "the two came together," pairing a proven formula with elevated design.

Listen to the full episode with Jon DiNapoli of JMD on Skin Anarchy, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more about JMD Creative

Don’t forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.

Reach out to us through email with any questions.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Double board-certified dermatologist and cosmetic specialist, Dr. Jacquiline Hakim, joins Skin Anarchy to explain what actually drives facial aging: bone loss, collagen decline, and the science of radiofrequency skin tightening, including why results take time and who to trust.

Who is Dr. Jacquiline Hakim?

A double board certified dermatologist and cosmetic specialist who leads Divina Dermatology in Beverly Hills. She frames aesthetics as a medical discipline first, not a trend. "It's still medicine. And I think that's such an important factor to hone in on," a lens that shapes her whole approach.

Where does facial aging actually start?

Deeper than the skin, at the bone. Aging happens across multiple tissue planes, with bone loss, the scaffolding, beginning in the 30s, followed by fat pads, connective tissue, and finally skin. "Aging starts all the way down to the bone." Collagen declines about 1 percent a year from the mid 20s.

Why does your face change so suddenly in your 40s?

Because of a sharp estrogen drop in perimenopause. Estrogen receptors in the skin help maintain collagen, so when estrogen falls, collagen does too, sometimes overnight. "I woke up one day and all of a sudden I saw this, and it can be that drastic," Hakim says, noting women can lose 30 to 40 percent of their collagen in this phase.

How does radiofrequency work for the skin?

By using heat and your own tissue to trigger repair. Radiofrequency delivers controlled heat that the tissue resists, setting off a collagen and elastin cascade plus some contraction for tightening. "You're creating a cascade that stimulates collagen and elastin," and modern devices heat precise layers rather than bulk heating the whole area.

Is radiofrequency safe for skin of color?

Yes, in trained hands and with modern cooling. The risk with melanin is post inflammatory hyperpigmentation if the wrong layer is overheated, but newer devices cool the surface as they work. "We say it's even like a colorblind treatment. It's safe for everyone," she says, crediting built in cooling for the leap in safety.

What is XERF and what can you expect from it?

A monopolar radiofrequency tightening device Hakim was among the first in the US to offer. It reaches multiple tissue depths at once and cools the skin with every pulse, making it safer and comfortable enough that patients fall asleep. "It's one of the safest that's currently on the market... doing multiple depths at the same time.

How long until you see results from skin tightening?

About two months, after an early preview. Any collagen stimulation, from energy or injectables, takes roughly two months to fully show. "It takes a true two months to see your actual endpoint," Hakim says, describing a honeymoon glow that fades before real results build. She starts most patients with two sessions.

Why do the neck and hands age faster, and how should you treat them

Because they have far fewer oil glands than the face, and people neglect them. Signs of aging often appear first on the neck and hands, yet most routines stop at the jaw. "Everything you do for your face you can do for your neck," she advises, extending skincare, sun protection, and treatments to both.

When should you start aesthetic treatments, and who should you trust?

Around the mid 20s, when collagen loss begins, and only with a qualified expert. Hakim stresses that good work is invisible and that dermatologists train for years specifically in noninvasive aesthetics. "You have to really have someone that you can trust that's going to be honest with you," including telling patients no when a trend will not age well.

Listen to the full episode with Dr. Jacquiline Hakim on Skin Anarchy, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more about Cynosure Lutronic and XERF

Don’t forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.

Reach out to us through email with any questions.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!

*This is a sponsored collaboration

Support the show