Being invisible usually means flying under the radar — but in the case of Patchology’s newest innovation, being invisible is what makes the formula truly stand out.

The buzzy skin care brand known for its hydrogel masks and treatment patches for the face and body delivered in cute, colorful packaging hopes to revolutionize the skin care market with a new face mask technology that’s in a league of its own.

The Patchology Skincare Booster ($40), which launches September 16, is a first-of-its-kind, daily invisible mask designed to help skin care actives penetrate better and stay in skin longer. Applied to the entire face twice a day, the Skincare Booster goes on as the last step in one’s nighttime skin care regimen and as the second-to-last step in one’s daytime routine, followed by sunscreen. Acting as a weightless blanket across the skin, the clear gel sets in 60 to 90 seconds to seal in any other other skin care, which helps the ingredients absorb better by reducing their evaporation from the skin. There’s an immediate benefit, too: as the Skincare Booster dries, it tightens the surface of the skin just enough to help it appear smoother, firmer, and more radiant and create a primer-like effect to prep skin for makeup.

The Skincare Booster builds on Patchology’s heritage in transdermal patch technology: adhesive patches infused with ingredients that, when placed on an area of the face or body, release and drive those ingredients into the skin. “Patchology was born out of taking the transdermal patch technology used in medicine and applying it to skin care to help better deliver ingredients deeper into the skin,” said Chris Hobson, Founder of Patchology and CEO of its parent company, Rare Beauty Brands. “Since launching the brand in 2014, I’ve been thinking about whether we could evolve our technology to create a liquid skin care patch similar to the liquid bandages that have been used in the medical industry for some time. For years, we monitored the technical developments in this area of medicine, and now, we’ve finally found a way to adapt it for cosmetic skin care.”

Hobson and his team began developing the formula about two years ago, going through 22 iterations before landing on the final product. “The Skincare Booster was a long time in the making,” he said.

Featuring an innovation they call SkinSeal technology — which the Patchology team is tight-lipped about to ward off dupes — the Skincare Booster introduces a new category in the market: liquid masks.

“Skin care efficacy ultimately hinges on absorption,” said Mathilde La Marre, Director of Product Innovation at Patchology. “Much of what we put on our skin doesn’t make it down where it needs to be, so you’re not getting the optimal benefits from your routine.” Patchology partnered with a top cosmetic chemist to source “the most modern, elegant new generation of polymers,” said La Marre. “When applied, these polymers self-assemble to create a breathable matrix that traps skin care actives in the skin.”

The company worked long and hard to get the right level of occlusion that wouldn’t suffocate the skin. “The formula had to be occlusive enough to seal in skin care ingredients, but not so much that it could clog pores,” explained Hobson. To their knowledge, Patchology is the only company using this specific set of polymers combined with the formula’s blend of glycerin, snow mushroom, red algae, and panthenol — ingredients chosen to help the gel be soft and gentle on the skin.

The other big formulation challenge was ensuring that the Skincare Booster would be suitable for all skin care types, including sensitive skin. The water-based gel is noncomedogenic and free of oil, fragrance, parabens, and silicones. It can be applied over just about any skin care except for a facial oil, which it won’t adhere to. La Marre pointed out that since facial oils are often used to help lock moisture into the skin, in theory, the Skincare Booster could serve as a lightweight, non-greasy replacement for an oil.

If seeing is believing, then the clinical data on this invisible formula supports the product’s claims. “We conducted in-vitro clinical tests that show that the Skincare Booster dramatically increases the delivery of actives into the skin,” said Hobson. The company tested the formula with three of the most widely used skin care ingredients: vitamin C, retinol, and niacinamide. Participants were divided into two groups who all applied the same skin care formulas at the same dosages and ingredient percentages, with one group applying the Skincare Booster as their final step while the second group did not.

At 24 hours post-application, the penetration of the three skincare ingredients was measured at the stratum corneum level, the epidermis level, and the dermis level. When the Skincare Booster was applied as the final step, there was a 143% increase in the delivery of vitamin C to the skin, a 54% increase in the delivery of retinol to the skin, and a 39% increase in the delivery of niacinamide to the skin. “We were truly amazed by the results,” said La Marre.

In a consumer perception study of 102 people — “a good portion of whom identified as having sensitive or sensitized skin,” said La Marre — 96% of the participants said the Skincare Booster made their skin feel softer and look smoother and that the formula feels weightless. “As soon as you put it in, you look ‘snatched,’ as the cool kids say,” La Marre noted. “People in the study also raved about how well the formula prepped their skin for makeup. So, you get the instant benefits of the skin appearing smoother and softer and being primed for makeup, and the long-term primary benefit of increasing the efficacy of your skin care.”

The Patchology Skincare Booster is available on Nordstrom.com and in all Nordstrom stores, and on Patchology’s website. Internationally, it is available at Sephora EU in their top 150 stores. “Patchology has built a strong prestige and specialty distribution,” said Hobson. “We love our partnership with Nordstrom in the U.S. — they’ve been a flagship for us for many years — so we wanted to give them the lead on it. Over time, we envision taking the Skincare Booster to all our U.S. distribution points.” Patchology’s other retail partners include Bluemercury, Ulta Beauty, and Dermstore.

Now that Patchology has brought to life Hobson’s vision for a liquid skin mask, how else is the company planning to utilize their SkinSeal technology? Mum’s the word, for the time being. “We feel we have unlocked something truly special,” said La Marre. “As we look ahead, Patchology will continue to lead innovation and be at the forefront of these groundbreaking technologies.”