Get the inside scoop from twelveLab founder Pedro Catalá

Those of you who have been TWELVE fans from the very beginning might have noticed a few changes. New packaging! New formulas! And a new name?

We knew you’d be wondering about all of this, so we went straight to the source to get the full story for you. Twelve’s founder, Dr. Pedro Catalá, explains it all below.

When I founded Twelve, my mission was simple: to create effective, gentle skincare rooted in science, plant chemistry, and barrier health. Over the years, that mission hasn't changed, but as a formulator, my craft is constantly evolving.

Many people ask why we made the decision to shift our name from Twelve Beauty to twelveLab, and why we chose this moment to adjust our formulations. The answer lies in how I work every single day.

To be honest, I always felt the word Beauty was a bit too abstract. Beauty is subjective, open to endless interpretations, and means something different to everyone.

I’ve come to prefer maximum clarity—a habit I developed after living in the UK for a few years. Brits love their class system, and when they first meet you, they want to know where you live, which school you attended, and what your parents did for a living. Coming from Southern Europe—where family questions are simply warm, friendly curiosity—this subtle "social placing" felt oddly precise, structural, and diagnostic. After that experience, I apparently developed an underlying need to explicitly define what I do! Weird, right?

Lab, on the other hand, represents my daily reality. I spend my days at the formulator’s bench—researching, investigating, experimenting, and constantly learning. Renaming the brand to twelveLab grounds us in what we actually do: quiet, meticulous, science-backed formulation where every single ingredient serves a precise purpose for your skin.

The story behind the new formulations

I regularly attend virtually every major cosmetic ingredient trade show around the globe to study emerging green biotechnology and raw material breakthroughs. Over the years, several extraordinary new botanical actives caught my eye.

Rather than rushing them into the market, I took the time to study them carefully, test their stability, and understand how they interact with skin barrier physiology. This period of change gave us the perfect opportunity to integrate these next-generation materials into our range.

The updated formulas aren't a departure from our principles—they are the natural evolution of years of research, bringing you cleaner, more sophisticated, and even more effective products straight from the lab.

Here are a few highlights of what you'll find in these newly refined formulas:

Neurocosmetic Actives: Ingredients designed to interact with the skin's nerve endings to reduce physical stress signals, instantly soothing reactivity, calming sensitivity, and boosting skin comfort at a cellular level.

3D Water-Bank Systems: Next-generation moisture-binding technology that acts like an internal reservoir, slowly releasing hydration throughout the day to keep the skin barrier plump and resilient.

Multi-Weight Hyaluronic Acid Complex: A carefully balanced blend of low, medium, and high molecular weight hyaluronic acids to ensure moisture reaches multiple layers of the epidermis.

Supermetabiotics: Bio-fermented postbiotic complexes that nourish and fortify your skin's microbiome, supporting rapid barrier repair and resilience.

I am so excited to share this next chapter with my Ayla family, who are so close to my heart!

love, Pedro