The heart behind Shimmer Chef, Jennifer Villegas Sanford is a triple trained health supportive culinary arts chef from the Natural Gourmet Institute Culinary School in New York City, a licensed esthetician and a certified yoga instructor. She brings these worlds together—the kitchen, the treatment room and Ayurvedic instruction—to craft a new generation of skin, scalp and hair care products. Inspired by her culture, her kitchen and her family’s Mexican folk medicine, Jennifer created Shimmer Chef as a panacea for beauty routines that have become complex and ineffective.

For her, Shimmer Chef has always been deeply personal. It was personal the day she came home to find her four young daughters in fluorescent pink glitter face masks, believing they were taking care of their skin. It was personal when she battled chronic cystic acne as a teenager herself and found no relief in over-the-counter and prescription medications. It was personal when solace came in the form of a family salve handed down through generations from her grandmother, Juanita Villegas. And it was personal when she decided to embark on a journey to explore the traditions of the past, guided by her chef’s knowledge of food for health, Ayurveda and esthetician training.

Fermented skincare is an undisputed game changer. It works with the skin, just as nature intended, to enhance ingredient potency, improve absorption and support the microbiome. The natural process of fermentation breaks down active ingredients into smaller, more potent compounds for greater bioaccessibility. It lowers pH to skin-friendly levels and reduces irritants for efficacy without sensitivity. Fermentation also creates beneficial bacteria—the probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics your skin loves—along with antioxidants and metabolites to actively feed and support your microbiome. This vibrant ecosystem on the surface of your skin is the single most important element of skin health, and keeping it balanced is the secret to a glowing complexion.

Our therapeutic face and body plasters are designed to deeply nourish your skin’s microbiome and barrier—and they're a far cry from conventional skincare. Forget foreign, artificial topicals made shelf stable with chemical preservatives—these are real, fresh, raw botanicals transformed through our proprietary Nine-Day Vitamin C Infusion Technique to unlock their bioavailability for gentle efficacy.