RATIONALE is the skincare your dermatologist wants you to wear

The science-backed skincare has made its London debut after reaching cult status in Australia.

February 6, 2026

RATIONALE is the Aussie skincare brand you probably haven’t heard of — but it’s time to get it on your radar. Founded in 1992 by Richard Parker, the brand has reached cult status overseas. First sold only through dermatologists, RATIONALE launched its own flagship stores in Australia before expanding to the US and now is making its move into London, debuting in Harrods last month.

I meet Parker, alongside his husband Peter, in the plush Blue Room at Soho House. Parker’s vivacious personality is just as infectious as his vast depth of knowledge on the science behind skincare. Before I begin my questions, Parker quizzes me on my own skin experience, one I tell him was filled with teenage cystic acne and a lot of YouTube deepdives on whether azelaic acid may help — an experience Parker resonates with himself. “I think many of us end up in this space because of skin issues and concerns,” he tells me. Born and raised in Australia, on the coast of New South Wales, Parker, a competitive swimmer, spent most of his time training outside under the sizzling Australian sun. By age 25, he found himself with both acne and sun damage. “There weren’t a lot of answers back then,” he explains. “There weren’t very good acne medications. We were only just beginning to understand about sun damage.”

“Skin wellness wasn’t even a concept.”

It wasn’t until his thirties — when Parker chose to step away from his career as a semi-professional musician — that he began to look into working within the skin industry. Deciding against pursuing a medical degree, Parker wanted to explore a different avenue of skincare. “I was interested in skin wellness,” he explains. “That wasn’t even a concept. If you become a dermatologist, you’re a medical doctor — you treat skin disease, but I didn’t want to be in that space. I wanted to be in the wellness space.” Having found answers to his own skin concerns outside of the doctors office, Parker’s focus shifted to new breakthroughs in skin ingredients that were proving effective, and his next step became clear. “I realised this is what I wanted to do — make skincare products. So I went back and retrained as a chemist.”

Fresh out of his training, Parker began working within a group of Australian dermatologists treating individuals with severe sun damage using newly created lasers. His role focused on developing skincare products that they could use, as the side effects of the laser made the patients’ skin sensitive and red. “They couldn’t use sunscreen,” Parker explains, “which was a huge problem. So I started working on formulations that supported skin health, rather than undermine it.” His research led to some discoveries that would determine the rest of Parker’s career.

The first revelation was that 80 percent of facial aging is caused by the sun. Prioritising your skin’s relationship (or rather, break-up) with the rays can ultimately lead to great skin — as long as you repair any sun damage that has already occurred. The second focused on the concept of skin health. “The skin has innate systems that are designed to protect it,” explains Parker. “It has an immune system, antioxidant system, solar protection system, barrier repair system, pH repair system and a DNA repair system. And I thought, well, if we address each of those systems, would that create healthy skin?”

It was a question that became the core philosophy of how RATIONALE would take care of skin, and resulted in the production of The Essential Six — a system designed to protect and repair. While we might all wish for a one-step-and-we’re-done routine, the reality is just not so simple. Parker has managed to whittle down the routine to six easy products; three in the morning and three at night. And, as Peter points out to me, all handily labelled from ‘one’ to ‘six’ so you can never go wrong.

“We know that when your skin is healthy you make more endorphins.”

For the AM: The Strengthening Serum, containing B-group vitamins to boost hydration and reinforce skin barriers, The Brightening Light Crème to illuminate skin tone, and The Brilliance Tinted Serum SPF50+, a zinc oxide formula that combines advanced solar protection and antioxidant defence in a lightweight, luxurious serum that also makes your skin glow. When it comes to evening, Parker notes the importance of a cleanser to remove any lasting trace of SPF. Their Nourishing Cleanser dissolves any lasting product and should be followed by The Refining Serum, a gentle exfoliant that helps to refine skin texture. The routine is topped off with The Rejuvenating Night Crème, containing Vitamin A and DNA Repair Enzymes that help with skin turnover, leading to a radiant morning glow. Parker demonstrates the products on the back of my hand and, reader, I must admit I was glowing!

I pose Parker the question of recommending a ‘hero product’, but it’s a term he is keen to avoid — the concept akin to having to pick a favourite child. He does admit that their suncream is the product that attracts the most attention, though. It’s a product Parker has been developing for the past 35 years and the cult-favourite tinted serum is beloved by skincare enthusiasts for its lightweight texture. But its origin was vastly less popular. “The first zinc sunscreen I made was horrible,” Parker admits. “It was thick and pasty white. I’m going, ‘It’ll save your life — just use it!’ But everyone hated it.” Parker understood that the key to encouraging consumers to continuously reach for sun protection was crafting a product people would want to wear. The result is a lightweight tinted zinc oil, now a two-time winner of the Oprah Sun Awards.

Being a research-led company, RATIONALE keeps its ear to the ground on the next new thing in skincare. “What will it be?” I ask. “Colour,” Parker tells me. “It’s a beautiful way to look after your skin. We’re doing a lot more work in that field because of how skincare and makeup are kind of fusing.” Their Beautiful Balms Collection, also part of their Harrods launch, is Parker’s response to this. Four shades for cheeks and lips to give the skin a natural glow, combining SPF protection with antioxidants and emollients to defend skin against visible light. It’s definitely one way to achieve the no-make-up make-up look that we’re all constantly searching for.

As more of us turn to cosmetic tweaks to achieve this flawless no-make-up look, the questions of what healthy ageing looks like couldn’t be more pertinent. Parker believes this mismatch comes when looking in the mirror — the reflection looking back doesn’t match the youthful feeling inside. “I’m 66 now, but I feel 35,” he laughs. “Chasing youth is a dangerous game. We can’t look young forever, we had our shot.” Beauty, however, he believes is ageless. “I know so many women who are in their eighties and nineties who are really beautiful, but they’re old. You can’t run! But what RATIONALE gives you is this skin with life.” One of the fastest growing areas in medical dermatology is ‘dermatoendocrinology’ — the relationship between hormones and your skin. “We know that when your skin is healthy,” Parker says, “you make more endorphins. You’re actually happier! So I think that there is this thing about skin health that has the true anti-aging benefit of being happy.”

“We’re really a research company who makes skincare as a result of our findings.”

As for Parker’s own happiness? Launching his home-grown brand in the world’s most famous department store was certainly a milestone moment. “I mean, Harrods is iconic, right?” he laughs. The store felt like the perfect beginning to launch RATIONALE to a UK audience, with the hope of eventually launching a flagship store here.

With its high price point and sleek, weighty packaging, the brand oozes opulence. I ask Parker if he sees RATIONALE as a luxury skincare brand. “Well, yes,” muses Parker. “Because we’re talking about the luxury of science. For us, luxury is not that a star uses it, the research is what people pay for.” Their team continuously publishes in medical journals year round, and have developed a process to create cloned human skin tissue so that genetic research can be conducted when using the Essential Six products, seeing which genes are affected by using the routine. Formulas are constantly upgraded, but any new ingredients must meet RATIONALE’s stringent standards, and are incorporated into product upgrades rather than launching new, unnecessary products. It’s this high level of sophisticated science that Parker is most proud of: “We like to say that we’re not a skincare company that does a bit of research. We’re really a research company who makes skincare as a result of our findings.”