Selma Blair Creates Her Own ‘Hero’ Skincare Product to Target Problem Skin (Exclusive)

Selma Blair is always looking for answers.

When she was struggling with her health, she was determined to figure out what was going on. And when her previously clear skin took a turn for the worse after she had her son, Arthur, 14, she wanted to know why.

And she wanted to fix it.

During that process of trying to understand her “inflamed, reactive, textured, burning, rosacea, autoimmune skin,” as she describes it, Blair tried a variety of products and treatments before finally finding ESK. It was her savior after a long period of hiding herself away because of her autoimmune disease (She shared her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis publicly in 2018.) and the resulting skin flare-ups.

“My skin was sensitive, a really sore spot,” she tells PEOPLE of this time period. “I didn’t have pictures, I didn’t leave the house.”

When an esthetician recommended ESK to her, Blair was willing to give it a shot. And when it started to clear up her skin, she admits she was skeptical about how long it would last. But it did last, and Blair was on the road to feeling more confident. She couldn’t stop there, though. Ever curious, Blair linked up with ESK founder Dr. Ginni Mansberg and pitched her an idea for a new product: an all-in-one night cream that she could feel confident stamping her name on and recommending to her fans.

Enter: Ultimate A Gold

“The brief was, I want to tackle fine lines, big pores, pigmentation, thinning skin, but I want to do it in a way that’s still going to continue to build up my skin barrier,” Dr. Ginni, as she’s known to customers, tells PEOPLE.

Dr. Ginni breaks down exactly what’s in this product, explaining that it has four types of ceramides, niacinamide, squalane, polyhydroxy acid, retinal and more. The retinal is the “hero ingredient” here because it’s known to work well on sensitive skin without causing irritation. And you’ll know when a product is packed with retinal, because it’s bright yellow, as Ultimate A Gold is. In the end, Dr. Ginni believes the pair of them (plus a robust team that helped create the product) nailed it.

“It’s Selma-approved, which is very important,” Dr. Ginni says, with Blair adding that this is her “hero product.”

The Cruel Intentions star, 53, was heavily involved in the whole creation process, which she says was a true delight. She tells PEOPLE she was “always studying the physician’s desk reference” when she was young, because she was a “sickly kid.” She was always curious to know more about her own health, which taught her plenty about science in general.

“There was always this sense of, like, seek and you shall find. You’re going to hit on something,” Blair says. “I enjoy the research of things.”

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Blair’s partnership with ESK comes after years of dealing with her MS — both undiagnosed and after her diagnosis — and the struggles she faced because of it. For a handful of years, she left the limelight to take care of herself.

“I was home a lot. I did have a lot of hard days,” Blair explains. “The skin really took me out of the workforce, because I’ll get through anything almost, if I have to for my son or to make a living or to try it. I could get through the day. Falling asleep, waking up, throwing up, whatever I’m doing. But you can’t show up on set with a very, very bumpy and broken skin texture.”

She goes on to add that all the issues with her skin attacked her confidence as well. Amid her other other health struggles, problem skin was the last thing she needed to deal with — but she did what she could to get through it.

“There were five years where I basically only took my kid to school and home and did what I had to do to keep up,” she says.

One of the only projects she worked on during that time was Ordinary World, also starring Billie Joe Armstrong, Fred Armisen and Judy Greer. There were such “big” issues with her skin that Blair says she was “ashamed” by how much makeup the artists had to use on her for filming. She doesn’t like to revisit that time or look at her skin from those days, but she knew amid her self-imposed break she just wanted to get back to work.

“My dream was like, I just said to a facialist, ‘One day I just want to be able to wake up and not instantly try and cover my face with as many layers of whatever foundation to hide it from myself.’ And I’m glad to be there now,” Blair says while admitting that she looked “rough” for quite a while.

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Blair announced in 2021 that her MS was in remission, and she tells PEOPLE now that she’s doing really well. She has a lot to be excited about, and she’s slowly putting herself back into the Hollywood game.

“I was so open and vulnerable and grateful for the people that helped me, and really did take myself out of the workforce because I knew, oh God, I couldn’t keep my speech equal for continuity or balance or I was trying different treatments to get better,” she says. “So I was very honest about not being able to hack it. But then when I was like, ‘Okay, I’m getting better, building the stamina, I’m ready to do things.’ That’s kind of the hard part: You have to prove yourself again.”

Blair’s ready to prove herself, whether it’s in the acting world or the beauty world. These days, she’s more confident and doesn’t have much to complain about — even though she admits that complaining is her “love language.”

“I’m building a whole new life, and it does feel so much better to be able to put a better face forward. There’s so many things I’m excited about now.”