Our Origins

The story of Luminous began in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, where our founder, Dana Madievsky, graduated from pharmacy school. In Europe, pharmacists not only dispense and compound medications but also create cosmetic creams, tinctures, and serums. As a young pharmacist, Dana’s dream was to use her knowledge of chemistry, biology, and physiology to handmake her own skincare line using only the finest ingredients.

After immigrating to America in the 1990s, Dana opened her own compounding pharmacy in Los Angeles. Working closely with clients firsthand, Dana developed a keen sense of what people want from their skincare products, and what many of those products are unable to deliver. She became frustrated with the impure ingredients utilized by many skincare lines and their lack of transparency with their clients. At the same time, she was fielding requests from dermatologists to create safe and effective skincare products that they could recommend to their patients. As a pharmacist with extensive experience with natural products, herbs, and dermatology, Dana felt that she was in a unique position to offer clients skincare solutions. She teamed up with her daughter Ruth, who is both a pharmacist and a poet, to create Luminous: a skincare line that uniquely blends art and science.