Gisella Gil pitches 'emotional cosmetics' linking skin and brain

Gisella Gil says skin is a direct gateway to the brain and to emotions, and that cosmetic care should take a holistic approach beyond traditional skincare. Over the past ten years she has researched how to care for skin from that perspective and sets out her findings in the book Cosmètica emocional, which she is promoting this week in Andorra.

Asked what she means by “emotional cosmetics,” she describes it as a new category and a paradigm shift that links emotions with cosmetic care, establishing a two-way connection between feelings and the skin. “The largest entry point to the brain is the skin and we are not using it,” she says. “There are messages going to and coming from the skin and the brain.”

Gil gives a practical example: without touching the skin, a single word can make someone blush. “That gesture hides a lot of information: first, that there is a direct connection between the brain and the skin; second, that the skin can express things even if you do not want it to; third, that there is a relationship through the principle of resonance.” Her methodology, she says, is based on wavelengths and frequencies, which is why certain treatments such as Indiba or sound from Tibetan gongs can alter emotion.

She stresses that the skin is a living organ that senses more than people usually realise. “It has more than 5,000 cutaneous receptors per square centimetre,” she says. Skin conditions such as rosacea, psoriasis or dermatitis should be read as attempts at communication, she argues, but conventional cosmetics often simply cover up symptoms. “Cosmetics have stayed at the tip of an iceberg,” she says.

On stress and ageing, Gil points to stress as a decisive factor: it raises cortisol, which breaks down collagen and contributes to blood toxicity. She rejects the idea of “bad” emotions in absolute terms, saying instead that what matters is how and from where you experience them. Stress is a survival mechanism that should be activated briefly, she notes, but in modern life it is often sustained and poorly metabolised — for example, stress experienced while sitting at a computer.

Gil is critical of the language and approach of much traditional skincare marketing. Terms like “anti-wrinkle” or “anti-dark circles” frame natural processes as problems to be fought and, she says, suggest the person is ugly and must struggle against their appearance. Instead, she advocates listening to the skin and addressing broader habits such as diet, lifestyle and internal coherence.

Her route to this approach began after working as a laboratory technician and later opening a naturopathic practice. “We treated emotions with Bach flower remedies and saw improvements in the face,” she recalls. That observation led her to start formulating creams with Bach flowers and to a decade-long research process that underpins her current work.