Let’s talk about looks for a second — and what chocolate’s got to do with it.

While we don’t want to give looks too much importance over personality and good deeds, there is a cultural obsession with youthfulness. But what if you looked so youthful that nobody believed your accomplishments?
I know all about that. And did you know that chocolate — like Antidote — can have a positive effect on your skin and looks?

The image above is from a different time and life. It was taken when I was working at Publicis Advertising Agency in Vienna, Austria, as a Junior Art Director for Renault on direct marketing programs and some print campaigns. It was my fourth agency job — after 7 years in the industry and a prior 5-year Graphic Design education. I was already 27 in the picture above.

Shortly after, I moved to New York with a solid portfolio in my hands, and I freelanced for many years at big branding agencies on ambitious packaging projects for Pepsi, Sprite, Aquafina, Dove, and more. But every so often since I entered the professional work force with 19, someone who had not seen me doing it would flat-out deny that I had done the work I was showing. It’s confusing, especially at a young age, to pour your heart and brains into the work — only to be told it’s too good to be yours. That was before I even started enjoying Antidote — rich in cacao antioxidants that help you glow from the inside out.

I used to think it was because I was not such a smooth a talker as many New Yorkers around me. It only occurred to me recently: maybe it was because I looked so young.

No — and never — any injections for me. I have the highest respect for nature and its beauty. In art, we call it the “golden cut.” It’s the beauty of asymmetry and imperfection that makes a picture or face interesting. And the rest, by my standards, is beauty from within.

When I started Antidote, it wasn’t much different. Anytime I showed up at an event with someone 20 years older — man or woman — everyone would automatically assume I was the intern or assistant. By now I’m so used to it, it makes me smirk like: “Yes, I know. thank you” 😏

So what does chocolate have to do with it?

Well, not just any chocolate — but cacao in its purest, cleanest, most potent form like in Antidote — is packed with powerful compounds that support skin health and graceful aging.

Here’s how:

Flavanols found in cacao can help increase blood flow to the skin, improve skin density and hydration, and reduce sun-induced damage over time. These antioxidant-rich compounds fight free radicals — the unstable molecules responsible for premature aging and inflammation.

Cacao also boosts the production of collagen, the protein that keeps your skin firm and smooth, and helps regulate stress hormones, which can affect your glow.

But there’s more: unlike sugar-laden chocolate that contributes to skin breakouts and dullness, Antidote’s bars are low in sugar and rich in healthy cacao butter — a source of nourishing fats your skin actually loves. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the consumptions of healthy fats are a critical part to beautiful aging.

So yes, Antidote supports your glow — from the inside out.

But more importantly: it’s fuel that honors your vitality, your sense of pleasure, and your connection to nature.

With love (and no Botox),
Red