{"id":13741,"date":"2026-10-29T02:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13741"},"modified":"2026-11-09T15:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T20:22:20","slug":"making-science-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13741","title":{"rendered":"Making science beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELANIE HUTNICK <\/span>\u201912 was in a high school <\/span>chemistry class when she had what she calls <\/span>an \u201caha\u201d moment: \u201cI think like a chemist,\u201d she realized.<\/span><\/p>\n

The question then became how to turn that <\/span>realization into a career she would love. She found her <\/span>answer one day while doing her makeup and reading <\/span>the ingredient list on the package: I could be a cosmetic <\/span>chemist. \u201cFrom then on, I had a one-track mind,\u201d <\/span>she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time she arrived at TCNJ, she already knew <\/span>where she hoped chemistry would take her. \u201cI was <\/span>branded the \u2018cosmetic girl,\u2019\u201d she says. For the chemistry department\u2019s annual mock interviews, Hutnick <\/span>arrived each year with a L\u2019Or\u00e9al job posting in hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

That certainty carried her through a chemistry <\/span>degree at TCNJ and a PhD at Case Western Reserve <\/span>University, and it set the course for the rest of her <\/span>career, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Hutnick is director of research and <\/span>innovation at L\u2019Or\u00e9al, where she leads the team of <\/span>chemists behind face makeup for the brands <\/span>Maybelline and NYX, from foundations and <\/span>concealers to setting sprays. Those formulas <\/span>eventually make their way onto shelves and into <\/span>millions of makeup bags around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing a product from the lab to market requires <\/span>Hutnick to translate complex science for marketers <\/span>and executives. She mastered this skill early in her <\/span>career when she worked for Est\u00e9e Lauder. A mentor <\/span>there gave her a piece of advice that stuck: \u201cIf you can\u2019t <\/span>sell your science to the marketer, the marketer doesn\u2019t <\/span>know how to sell your science to the customer.\u201d His <\/span>test for whether an idea was ready to pitch was simple: <\/span>Could you explain it to a fifth grader?<\/span><\/p>\n

To pass that test, Hutnick became a regular at <\/span>Michaels, where she would pick up supplies to build <\/span>dioramas and demos that made chemistry click <\/span>at a glance. Before long, she was using those home<\/span>made props to present new technology to senior lead<\/span>ers, including brand presidents and company CEOs.<\/span><\/p>\n

One such example, she remembers, used a glass rod <\/span>in oil and water to demonstrate refractive index, a <\/span>measure of how light bends as it passes through a <\/span>material. In oil, which has a similar refractive index to <\/span>glass, the rod can seem to disappear. In water, which <\/span>bends light differently, that same rod appears broken. <\/span>This principle applies to how different formulations of <\/span>cosmetics work: Materials with a refractive index <\/span>similar to skin can blend into the surface for a natural- <\/span>looking finish, while others can help blur i<\/span>mperfections.<\/span><\/p>\n

She remembers being told: \u201cYou\u2019re so good at <\/span>explaining such technical, highbrow things in such <\/span>relatable, tangible ways that people understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutnick traces that skill back to TCNJ, where her <\/span>senior-year chemistry courses required what <\/span>professors called \u201cDon\u2019t Be Such a Scientist\u201d reports: <\/span>lab write-ups aimed at making technical concepts <\/span>understandable to the average reader. Hutnick tested <\/span>her assignments on non-science majors, asking, \u201cDo <\/span>you understand what I\u2019m trying to say?\u201d Their answers <\/span>revealed whether a report was ready for her to submit.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHEN ASKED WHAT MIGHT SURPRISE people about <\/span>her industry, Hutnick doesn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cYou could <\/span>major in literally any scientific field and find a role,\u201d <\/span>she says, listing them off: microbiologists focusing on <\/span>product preservation, toxicologists confirming safety, <\/span>physicists testing stability, and engineers scaling up <\/span>production. \u201cTruly, every single science is represented <\/span>within the cosmetics industry,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutnick credits a chance encounter years ago for her ability to understand that any given <\/span>industry depends on people with skills in various fields. Growing up in a blue-collar family in <\/span>Woodbridge, New Jersey, she had few immediate examples of unconventional career paths. <\/span>But on a flight home from Walt Disney World when she was 12, she sat beside a man <\/span>designing the park\u2019s fireworks show on his laptop. \u201cThat was the first time I had ever been <\/span>exposed to a cool job,\u201d says Hutnick, who later became the first in her family to attend college.<\/span><\/p>\n

The encounter stayed with her. Today, Hutnick encourages students to find what she calls <\/span>the \u201chybridization between their passions.\u201d For her, chemistry and cosmetics turned out to be <\/span>exactly the right formula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Peter Murphy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Melanie Hutnick \u201912 brings a love of chemistry to the makeup aisle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":360,"featured_media":13765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13741"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13828,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13741\/revisions\/13828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}