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From Four Spa Owners to Fifty: A Surrey Skincare Lab Is Running a School, and the Next Term Starts October 2

September 12, 2026

2026-09

Complete Elixir Academy teaches skin science and clinical protocols to working estheticians, and ends with a five-day residency inside the manufacturing lab

The program is built in four tracks. Foundations covers skin biology and structure, actives and ingredients, purging, pigmentation, barrier control and recovery, and dermal energy. Problem Skin Science takes single conditions - atopic skin, rosacea, contact dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, folliculitis - and spends three to eight sessions on each. Clinical Protocols covers ultrasound recovery, cell infusion microneedling and the company's signature facial program.

The fourth track is a five-day residency in the Surrey facility, limited to five seats per cohort. Students work in the room where the products are made.

The term beginning October 2 runs eighteen ninety-minute sessions through February 2027, pausing over Christmas and New Year. Sessions are live online, with protocol work in person. Each cohort is taught entirely in one language, English or Korean, and completion earns a numbered certificate signed by the founder.

What makes the program unusual is who teaches it. Clara Song holds a doctorate, formulates every product herself and manufactures the line at the same facility. The company sells through professional channels rather than retail, and its category is complicated skin - acne-prone, sensitive and barrier-compromised - where the margin between an effective active concentration and an irritating one is narrow, and a practitioner's judgement matters more than the label.

A treatment room will not take on a product the operator cannot question the formulator about directly. That is the whole reason we teach. Estheticians do not ask what is trending - they bring you a client who has reacted to everything and ask what you would do.

Clara Song, Founder and Formulator, Complete Elixir

About Complete Elixir

Complete Elixir is an independent professional skincare company based in Surrey, British Columbia. Founder and formulator Clara Song began research and development in 2020 and incorporated Complete Elixir Skincare Inc. in June 2024. The company develops and manufactures its full line at its own 941-square-foot formulation facility, which became fully operational in April 2026, using small-batch multi-cycle production rather than contract manufacturing. Complete Elixir specializes in complicated skin - acne-prone, sensitive and barrier-compromised skin - and pairs its products with professional education for estheticians. The company supplies the United States through a California distributor and is expanding into Korea, China and Israel. Learn more at completeelixir.com.