Summary: It appears Dr. Ellis has taken a pre-existing ectoin cream from a company called Bitop, added her branding, and claimed she developed it herself.
I’ve recently learned that the Prequel cream containing ectoin, which Dr. Ellis claims to have created, might not be her unique formulation after all. According to my findings, it seems she obtained a ready-made product from Bitop, a European enterprise known for its ectoin offerings, and simply branded it with her logo and packaging.
What concerns me is that she consistently asserts in her promotional videos that she has
ugh, disappointing but not surprising. I was thinking about buying prequel products but now i’m having second thoughts. anyone know if bitop sells direct to consumers? might skip the middleman and get the original formula without paying extra for fancy packaging and marketing.
This happens way more than people think in skincare. Tons of brands use contract manufacturers who give them basic formulas, then they tweak concentrations or swap a few ingredients before slapping their name on it. The sketchy part is when creators act like they developed everything from scratch in their own labs. I’ve seen this with other influencer brands too - they go hard on the ‘proprietary research’ angle while quietly sourcing from established manufacturers. What really bugs me is how they push the whole ‘I personally created this’ narrative instead of being honest about working with manufacturers. People should know if they’re buying actual innovation or just repackaged products, especially when these brands charge premium prices.
I looked into this after your post and found the same thing with other skincare influencers. Here’s the thing - most smaller brands use existing manufacturers because creating from scratch costs a fortune. That’s not the problem. The problem is lying about who actually created the formula. If Dr. Ellis is claiming she developed it herself instead of just partnering with a manufacturer, that’s straight-up deceptive. We deserve to know if we’re paying for real innovation or just fancy branding on existing products. The skincare world already has trust issues - we don’t need creators lying about their role in making products. Has anyone actually found where she claims to have created the formula, or are we going off her marketing vibes?