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In episode 136 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks once again to the founder of The Beauty Chef, Carla Oates. 

Something of an unintentional theme over the last couple of months of the podcast has been founders who’ve truly been first to market with something- not just saying they identified a gap for something, actually identifying a gap (easier said than done in the beauty space). 

I last had Carla on the show in season 1, almost 6 years ago, but we’ve worked together several times since and I really do find her to be one of the most interesting and innovative founders in the country. For those unfamiliar with The Beauty Chef, and Carla’s story, The Beauty Chef really was the first of its kind on launch in 2009- Carla totally pioneered the “inner beauty” category that most of us are well and truly across now, but keep in mind the market looked very, very different then.

Carla is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to inner beauty as a category, but also on the business of beauty. There is, of course, a huge education piece that needs to come alongside being first to market with anything, and I’ve always found Carla’s approach to this really, really interesting. 

Since our last episode together, the range has grown to include 14 inner and 3 outer beauty products, the most recent addition being Body Protein+ which launched just last week. 

In this conversation, Carla shares how her background in fashion and beauty has shaped her own relationship with beauty and self worth, how she ensures her products always have a point of difference as the market grows saturated, and how she differentiates between a fleeting wellness trend and one worth investing in.

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow The Beauty Chef on Instagram @thebeautychef.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 135 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founders of Glow Culture, Holly Holub, Donna Chan and Lori Pirozzi.

Holly, Donna and Lori have a number of things in common- two of those things being an early wish to run a business and create something of their own, and a deep seated love of beauty. The three women met years ago, working on the corporate side of beauty, and over long conversations during lockdown they realised just how much their stories and interests overlapped. 

A few years ago, all three of them decided it was time to reevaluate what they were doing professionally and finally go after their dream- and so the seed for Glow Culture was planted. Holly, Donna and Lori had taken a particular interest in the science surrounding fermented ingredients, and while they’d seen the occasional mention of probiotics in skincare marketing, they’d never seen an Australian brand as single-minded about fermentation in that way that Korean skincare brands had. 

They felt there was a gap in the Australian market for skincare rich in fermented ingredients, as opposed to products that only contained one or two, and it would appear that their instincts were correct- less than 10 weeks post-launch, Glow Culture has already been picked up by retail giants Adore Beauty and Chemist Warehouse. 

In this conversation, Holly, Donna and Lori share why they feel Australia has been a bit of a late adopter of K Beauty trends, their take on the rise of niche and independent brands, and the pros and cons of being digitally native vs being available in physical stores. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Glow Culture on Instagram @glowculturehq.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 126 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Yours Only, Ashli Templer.

We obviously talk a lot on this podcast about identifying a gap for a product and developing out of a really genuine need, and I think the Yours Only story is probably one of the best examples of that that we’ve covered across all 6 seasons.

Ash grew up, in her words, “not being able to eat any cake at birthday parties.” She’s always had many, many food allergies, and things were only heightened in her 20s when she was diagnosed with both Hashimoto’s and a salicylate intolerance. It was following prolonged exposure to mould that Ash’s health was at its worst, and for an extended period there were only 7 foods she could consume. After having to overhaul every single element of her daily routine, she realised that there were only very few skin and haircare brands that she could use- and none that she particularly wanted to use.

Ash launched Yours Only in 2020, a skin and haircare line for dramatic skin, and has cultivated one of the most incredible communities I’ve ever seen online. Ash started her founder journey with a wish to change lives and, as you’ll hear here, I really believe that’s exactly what she’s done.

In this conversation, Ashli shares how she rebuilt after losing her entire inventory in an arson attack, why she uses her customers as models, and the serendipitous story behind how she found her manufacturer.

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Yours Only on Instagram @yoursonly

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it possible to fade visible capillaries with topical skincare? Why do spider veins appear so much worse during pregnancy? Are they hereditary? Is there a way to erase broken and burst capillaries- and do either of these things even exist?!

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr Deshan Sebaratnam. A Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists, Dr Deshan holds an academic appointment as Conjoint Senior Lecturer with the University of New South Wales, has presented his research internationally and has had his research published in both local and international medical journals. With experience and an interest in all facets of dermatology including medical, surgical, cosmetic and paediatric, I felt that Dr Deshan was the ideal doctor to objectively answer YOUR questions on visible and dilated capillaries and spider veins.  

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela Medical, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on capillaries and spider veins to Dr Deshan - from the myth that is “broken” capillaries and if topical skincare can actually do anything to make them disappear, to whether or not spider veins are hereditary and why pregnancy seems to make them so much more apparent. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-capillaries-and-spider-veins

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Follow Dr Deshan Sebaratnam (and check out the videos mentioned in this episode) @dr.deshan

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode sixty of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Moon Juice, Amanda Chantal Bacon. 

Amanda Chantal Bacon has known she had purpose since she was a child- it just took her some time to really hone in on what, exactly, that purpose was. 

She’s lived a few different lives. She grew up around fashion, something she felt disillusioned by, and was diagnosed with a chronic illness around the age of 5- the repercussions of which she was still feeling well into her 20s. She lived in New Zealand, Italy, Argentina and her native United States, working as a teacher, a writer and a chef. 

It was while she was working in the fine dining space that her autoimmune condition was as its worst, so she took some time out to revisit what she knew as a child- that she had purpose, she just needed to find out what it was.

Amanda embarked on something of a “wellness” journey, and in 2011 Moon Juice was born- a business that began as a juice bar in Venice, California (before words like “organic,” “raw” and “cold pressed” were a part of global vernacular) but soon became more of an immersive wellness brand, producing and selling supplements, foods and the now iconic “dusts” that consumers could take home and work into their own routine. 

Amanda had never, ever considered entering the beauty space with Moon Juice, despite its growing link to the wellness industry. What prompted her to rethink that stance was a beauty-editor-approved, cult skincare product that had visible benefits for Amanda’s skin, but would’ve flared up her autoimmune condition with repeat use. The solution, it seemed, was to develop a clean alternative, and in 2018 Moon Juice’s skincare line was created.

In this conversation, Amanda shares how a 2015 viral story online saw her ridiculed globally and, in turn, her business boom, the value in slipping behind the scenes of your company, and how a Chinese Soup served as the inspiration for one of her brand’s most popular skin serums.

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Moon Juice on Instagram at @moonjuice

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty nine of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Ciaté London, Charlotte Knight. 

At 21, Charlotte Knight moved from London to Dublin and, with little experience in nails and no experience in business ownership, opened Dublin’s first ever nail bar- she went into a hair salon for a blow dry, mentioned her idea to the owner, and came out with a business plan. 

People travelled across the country just to see Charlotte, with the young entrepreneur and manicurist soon finding herself in demand backstage at London, New York and Paris Fashion Weeks and on photoshoots as a session nail technician. It was during this time, as a session artist, that Charlotte first began sketching that now iconic little black bow-adorned bottle, mixing colours, and dreaming of what would become Ciaté London. 

Ciaté launched in 2009, landing in stores at the height of world’s nail art movement, but it was in 2012, when the brand released its Caviar nails collection, that things changed almost overnight. Prior to the launch of Caviar, Ciaté had 4 staff and were stocked in about 50 stores. Post Caviar, the brand found themselves in over 4000 stores across 35 countries. 

Nail art and, more specifically, the home manicure trend had hit fever pitch but, given the cyclical nature of the beauty industry, global nail polish sales crashed a mere two and half years after that launch. Armed with data, a plan, and one of the most creative business minds I’ve ever come across, Charlotte spearheaded the launch of an entirely new product skew for Ciaté London- makeup. 

Today, Ciaté is one of the most celebrated brands in the world across both nails and makeup, and this year will see the brand release not one but two high profile collaborations, both of which Charlotte offered up a few big clues about during our chat. 

In this conversation, Charlotte and I discuss the expectations and subsequent pressure that comes with releasing multiple global first-to-markets, how showing a boardroom the colour of her knickers led to one of her brand’s many successful launches, and why we shouldn’t expect a Carol Baskin for Ciaté collection anytime soon.  

You can read this interview now at glowjournal.com

Follow Ciaté London on Instagram at @ciatelondon

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty eight of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Bread Beauty Supply, Maeva Heim. 

“Visibility” is a word that came up a few times during this particular conversation with Maeva. Maeva explains that her relationship with her own hair was largely influenced by visibility. Maeva had spent the bulk of 20 years using a chemical hair relaxer to straighten out the natural texture of her hair, explaining that the bulk of the hair education we receive in mainstream culture is designed for straight hair. It wasn’t until a trip to the US, during which her hair relaxer exploded in her luggage, that she decided to move back towards her natural hair texture. She wasn’t alone in embracing what’s called the “natural hair movement,”- at that time, there’d been over a 40% decline in hair relaxer sales over a five year period. 

A simple, effective, modern beauty offering for women of colour wasn’t particularly visible either. In a time that Maeva has coined “pre-Fenty,” there were even fewer brands catering to woman of colour than there are now- and there were absolutely no simple, effective, fun nor modern options in the haircare category. 

Confident in her idea to simplify wash day for women with textured hair, Bread Beauty Supply was born- a now six month old, award winning brand that launched into US Sephora, making it only the eighth black-owned beauty brand to be picked up by Sephora, and just the third in the hair space. It was during the development process that Maeva made visibility work to her advantage. She explains the exposure we have to other founder stories online today meant that she felt she could do it too, without fear- and that’s exactly what she’s done. 

In this conversation, Maeva and I discuss how she secured investment from the same fund who invested in Emily Weiss’ Glossier and Kim Kardashian’s Skims, the challenges of launching a brand through an overseas retailer in 2020, and the makeup look her aunt in West Africa bestowed on her in childhood that may well be making a comeback. 

You can read this interview now at glowjournal.com

Follow Bread on Instagram at @breadbeautysupply

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty seven of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to Ere Perez, founder of her namesake brand.

Ere was born in Mexico and grew up watching her mother and grandparents mix lotions and potions in their kitchen. Ere is passionate about healing, and after studying nutrition she fell in love and moved to Australia in 1999 to be with her now husband. Ere had always loved mascara, as she explains to me the only real difference between Mickey and Minnie is eyelashes, but quickly noticed a gap for a great natural mascara, or really any natural colour cosmetics, here in Australia. From there, with next to no budget, she set to work on the first iteration of her own mascara, and soon thereafter Ere Perez cosmetics was born- a brand that Ere grew piece by piece and now has offices in two continents and is stocked in over 30 countries.

This conversation was pure joy from start to finish, one of those chats where you get a pain in your jaw by the end of it from grinning for too long, which is precisely the energy take well into the summer break. Ere tells me in this episode that “The human body is the most perfect thing in the world,” and that we’re “made so beautifully,” and I think that is the perfect note to end this season on.

On that note and in news that will shock literally everyone who knows me, I am actually allowing myself time off for the holidays this year, but we will be back to open Season 3 on January 20. 

In this conversation, Ere shares why putting truth and your heart into your work really is the most important thing a person can do, how she physically managed to get her business off the ground with one product and no budget almost 20 years ago, and how missing out on a parking space some decades ago may well have changed the course of her entire life. 

You can read this interview now at glowjournal.com

Follow Ere Perez on Instagram at @ereperezcosmetics

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What IS laser hair removal and how does it work? Does it hurt? Are there any side effects? Is it safe for blondes and people with dark skin? Is it really permanent? 

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Kirsten Cachia, Clinical Educator at Candela Medical. Laser hair removal has been one of our most highly requested subjects this year so, for our final Bonus episode this season, we are finally answering your questions. Kirsten is Candela Medical’s Clinical Educator and an undisputed expert in all things laser, and although this episode is sponsored by Candela, you won’t hear Kirsten recommending any specific products, machines or treatments. As per the rest of this Ask An Expert Series, I’ve sought experts to give you objective answers to your questions so that you can take that information and make your own educated decisions regarding which treatments are right for you. 

In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on laser hair removal to Kirsten- from why we’re told we need to remove our fake tan and whether or not laser can actually work for those with blonde hair or dark skin, through to why hormonal changes have been known to reverse the effects of laser hair removal and what you should actually expect on the day of your treatment. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-laser-hair-removal

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty six of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Vilhelm Parfumerie, Jan Ahlgren. 

Born just outside of Stockholm, Jan shirked very early ambitions to play either tennis or gold professionally in favour of more artistic pursuits, moving Paris to model- during which time he secured a contract with Chanel.

From there, Jan became an interior designer, fashion designer and leather accessories designer, respectively. It was during his time designing leather handbags that Jan truly fell in love with the art of parfumerie. Inspired by the way 18th century glove makers used to scent their products, Jan met with renowned perfumer Jerome Epinette and fell deeply in love with the process of developing fragrances. 

It was then, Jan tells me, that he realised THIS, parfumerie, was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life- and so, Vilhelm Parfumerie was born, a fragrance house placing as great an emphasis on design as it does on scent. Vilhelm is, genuinely, unlike any brand I’ve come across, somehow striking a balance between futuristic and 1920s inspired- something Jan tells me is completely intentional. The early part of this year saw Jan relaunch the brand into the US market, and today, a mere 5 years after launch, Vilhelm Parfumerie is available in 24 countries. 

This episode was, of course, recorded remotely, as is the nature of 2020, so if you would prefer to read the interview I have made the complete transcript available on glowjournal.com. 

In this conversation, Jan and I discuss his early affinity for fragrance as inspired by his grandfather, the relevance the idea of Pierre Cardin in a spaceship has to his brand, and why he feels perfume houses globally NEED to start focusing on their carbon footprints. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-vilhelm-parfumerie-jan-ahlgren

Follow Vilhelm on Instagram at @vilhelm_parfumerie

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty five of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Biogeo, Nancy Twine. 

Nancy, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs, tells me her very earliest memories of beauty all take place in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother, mixing their own beauty products using a KitchenAid. Nancy tells me that, even as a child, she was aware that there were very few options in the beauty sphere for women of colour like herself, so mixing her own formulas allowed her to have some control, rather than having to rely on whatever products were on the shelf. 

Nancy revisited this idea and this passion in 2010. She’d been working in a high powered position in finance for upwards of seven years when her mother suddenly and tragically passed away, an incident that made Nancy really closely examine the way she was living her own life. 

“We owe it to ourselves to align our passions with our careers,” she tells me, and so she revisited that early passion for beauty and began work on her own business- Briogeo. A clean, natural and INCLUSIVE haircare brand, Briogeo is now stocked globally (including in Mecca here in Australia) and reportedly hit something to the tune of $65 million USD in retail sales last year- less than six years after the brand’s 2014 launch. 

In this conversation, Nancy and I discuss the perils of formulating haircare that’s ACTUALLY natural, her advice for new brand founder on securing investment, and why she has Alicia Silverstone in Clueless to thank for her first foray into entrepreneurship. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com

Follow Briogeo on Instagram at @briogeo

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What actually IS cellulite? Can creams, scrubs or dry body brushing change its appearance? Is it possible to tighten skin after a C-section? And can laser or microcurrent actually work to firm, lift and tighten the body?

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by dermatologist Dr Andreas Fox. Qualified from Oxford University, Dr Fox worked as a consultant plastic and aesthetic surgeon for some of London’s largest and most prestigious hospitals before moving to Sydney to pursue a career in non-invasive medical aesthetics. With over 20 years of experience, Dr Fox was who I felt was the ideal doctor to objectively answer YOUR questions and bust some myths around on cellulite, skin firming and skin tightening. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela Medical, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on cellulite and skin firming to Dr Fox - from what cellulite actually is and whether or not topical creams, scrubs and body brushing can do anything to reduce its appearance, through to what can be done to tighten the skin post c-section and if laser treatments can (or cannot!) work to firm, lift and tighten the body.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-cellulite-myth-busting

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty four of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Emma Lewisham skincare, Emma Lewisham.

Emma Lewisham skincare was, in a sense, born from grief. Following the passing of her mother, Emma tells me that she realised that, in her words, “no one is invincible,” which prompted her to examine her own health which, after a visit to her doctor, led to her taking a close look at her topical skincare. 

Emma had grown accustomed to high performance, clinical grade skincare, and couldn’t find anything that could replicate the results she was used to in the natural skincare realm. From there, Emma sought out the world’s best biochemists, even bringing one out of retirement, and began to develop her own brand.

There are many, many things that are impressive about this brand, which you will hear me gush over during this conversation, but it’s Emma Lewisham’s approach to sustainability that quite literally blew me away. Emma is working towards an entirely circular business model, and her brand’s sustainability initiatives don’t feel like something that have just been tacked on- every single detail, every element of the supply chain has been considered and pored over. 

Visit emmalewisham.com/pages/transparent-beauty for some really, really transparent information on the brand’s sustainability initiatives. If you have the time, I really do encourage you to read through these documents as I sincerely believe that they are going to adjust and set a new pace for the rest of the beauty industry. This conversation with Emma really prompted and inspired me to look at my own consumption, and I truly believe the Emma Lewisham brand are swiftly becoming the world’s leaders in sustainable beauty. 

In this conversation, Emma and I discuss how her brand has garnered the reputation of “the La Mer of natural skincare,” how she’s managing to balance both sustainability and results without compromise and why a circular business model is the way of the future. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Emma Lewisham on Instagram at @emmalewisham

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 125 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of IKKARI, Adrian Norris.

I have thought Adrian Norris to be one of the most interesting brand founders in the country for many, many years now, since he co founded fashion house Aje in 2008, and I have loved watching him enter the beauty space upon founding skincare and wellness brand IKKARI last year.

There’s so much about this brand and Adrian’s story that I love but one thing in particular that I found so interesting, and I think you will too, is Adrian’s passion for retail. It’s been a while since I’ve had a founder on who can talk to the retail experience the way that Adrian can, given that Aje and Aje Athletica currently have 48 standalone stores. One of the reasons Adrian is so passionate about the experience of bricks and mortar retail is because he is so, so customer focused, which is something he talked a lot about in this conversation. The other reason that touchpoint is important, and a factor that just blew my mind when I first heard about the brand ahead of its launch last year, was that IKKARI launched with 72 SKUs. That’s 72 individual products and 5 plus years of development, which I find so interesting at a time when we’re seeing so many brands launch with a singular hero. 

In this conversation, Adrian shares how his first ever business plan was written up out of boredom, whether Aje and IKKARI have any mystery investors, and, of course, exactly WHY he chose to launch a brand with 72 SKUs. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow IKKARI on Instagram @ikkari.australia.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If our skin is sensitive and flaring up- how do we know what’s causing it? Is there a difference between sensitive and allergy-prone skin? What’s the link between rosacea and sensitive skin? Is mask-ne a real thing- and how do we get rid of it?! In this Bonus Episode of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts is joined by dermatologist Dr Leona Yip. 

So many listeners and glowjournal.com readers have reached out to me of late with questions about heightened skin sensitivities. As you know, I am an educated consumer and not an expert, and I firmly believe questions of this nature should be posed to those who really are qualified to answer them- so, I’ve enlisted the help of Dr Leona to get to the bottom of those skin irritations. 

For complete transparency from the outset, this episode is sponsored by La Roche-Posay Australia however all of Dr Leona’s views are her own and, as per all of our Ask An Expert interviews you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this interview. 

I took to Instagram to ask you exactly what you wanted to know about sensitive skin, and I’ve taken your questions to the expert. In this conversation, Dr Leona answers your questions- from the difference between sensitivities and allergies and how to determine if you are in fact allergic to a skincare product, to how we can prevent and combat mask related breakouts, and the link between rosacea and sensitive skin.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/sensitive-skin-and-maskne

Follow La Roche-Posay on Instagram at @larocheposayaunz

Find out more about La Roche-Posay at laroche-posay.com.au

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of Floral Street, Michelle Feeney.

Michelle Feeney has been described as one of the most powerful women in global beauty- and rightly so. 

In 1993, Michelle was headhunted by the team at Estée Lauder and, after 10 interviews (including one with Leonard Lauder himself), was given a senior role with the company. Lauder had hired Michelle at a time when they were beginning to acquire other brands and, in 1994, they tasked Michelle with developing a launch strategy to turn a pot of moisturiser into a global cult product. That moisturiser was Crème de la Mer. 

In 1998, Estée Lauder Companies acquired MAC Cosmetics and, given that Michelle had already proven her ability to turn a great product into a legitimate icon, she became MAC’s Vice President of Global Communications, leading the growth of the brand and launching into 40 countries. When Michelle took on that role, MAC was a $65 million company. Less than 7 years later, it was worth $1 billion. Michelle is also largely responsible for spearheading and bringing mainstream awareness to the MAC AIDS Fund, signing the likes of Elton John and Mary J Blige to front the Fund’s campaign. That initiative saw Michelle sit on a board in the United Nations and hand $750,000 over to Kofi Annan. 

Beyond Estée, Michelle spent 4 years as the CEO of St Tropez, quite literally transforming the way the entire world viewed self tanning and turning the brand into the market leader. In 2017, Michelle founded Floral Street- an award winning, “quintessentially British” fine fragrance brand with sustainability and eco-responsibility at its very core.

In this conversation, Michelle explains why it’s so important to stay open to opportunity rather than having a concrete plan, what the beauty industry can do to ensure it doesn’t lose its creativity and what it really takes to turn a product into an icon. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Floral Street on Instagram at @floralstreet_

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of BeautyBio, Jamie O’Banion. 

I sincerely believe BeautyBio to be one of the most exciting beauty brands in the world right now, and one I watched closely for years ahead of their highly anticipated launch into Australia this week.

Jamie is the daughter of a dermatologist, something she calls an “unfair advantage” and something that has shaped her entire beauty ethos. Jamie didn’t just receive an education in skin- she lived it. As she tells me in this conversation, one of her very earliest beauty memories was travelling with her father as he helped file the patent for microdermabrasion. An early curiosity about skin and science saw Jamie take a job alongside her father at his clinical skincare laboratory, with the pair working to develop and manufacture new ingredients and raw materials for some of the world’s largest skincare brands. Jamie watched brand after brand purchase bulk ingredients, use them in tiny, tiny quantities in their products, so small they barely had an effect on the skin, but still claim that the ingredient was in their product in an effective capacity. Having grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of transparency in the beauty industry, she decided to launch her own brand- and so, Beauty Bioscience was born. 

One of the things that I find so exciting about BeautyBio is that transparency. Jamie is so passionate about empowerment through education and the democratisation of information, which is something that really came across in this conversation and something that is evident in everything the brand does. Her strategy is certainly working- in 2016, the same year BeautyBio launched their now cult GloPro microneedling and LED tool, the brand hit $30 million in sales- in a triple digit growth from the year prior.

This episode was, of course, recorded remotely with myself in Melbourne and Jamie in Dallas which does of course mean something of a disparity in audio quality, so if you would prefer to read the interview OR even follow along like a podcast with subtitles, you can do so by accessing the complete transcript on glowjournal.com. 

In this conversation, Jamie and I discuss how the idea of “seeing is believing” gives consumers a higher intent to commit to your product, what it means to be a truly omnichannel business, and how a vase full of M&Ms may well be responsible for BeautyBio’s now cult status. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-beautybio-founder-jamie-obanion

Follow Beauty on Instagram at @beautybio

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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What’s better- chemical or physical sunscreen? Do we really need to wear SPF every day? Should we apply sunscreen before or after our skincare?

How do we reapply sunscreen over our makeup? Does SPF50+ foundation provide the same protection as SPF50+ sunscreen?

In this Bonus Episode of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts is joined by dermatologist Dr Cara McDonald. We recorded an episode covering all things SPF, skin and sunscreen with Dr Cara late last year, and although that episode remains one of our most downloaded ever, as we inch closer to summer there are still a few SPF myths that need debunking. 

For complete transparency from the outset, this episode is sponsored by La Roche-Posay Australia however all of Dr McDonald’s views are her own and, as per all of our Ask An Expert interviews you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this interview. 

I took to Instagram to ask you exactly what you wanted to know about sun protection, and I’ve taken your questions to the expert. In this conversation, Dr Cara answers your questions- the difference between “chemical” and “physical” sunscreens, whether or not you really need sun protection year ‘round, if makeup with SPF really cuts it, how often you should be reapplying your sunscreen and why everyone needs a skin check. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/spf-myth-busting

Follow La Roche-Posay on Instagram at @larocheposayaunz

Find out more about La Roche-Posay at laroche-posay.com.au

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode fifty one of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the co founder of Nudestix, Taylor Frankel. 

When Taylor Frankel was 17, the year was 2014 and she was launching Nudestix with her then 14 year old sister Ally and mother Jenny, a now multi million dollar beauty brand boasting Hilary Duff and Chelsea Handler amongst its celebrity investors. 

Taylor tells me that, given just how heavily saturated the cosmetics industry is, consumers are craving minimalism and simplicity. It’s a position she and her sister found themselves in as teenagers, scrolling through hour-long smokey eye and full coverage foundation tutorials with neither the time nor the inclination to recreate those looks themselves. Their mother Jenny, a chemical engineer who co-founded CoverFx and developed cosmetics for MAC, recognised Taylor and Ally’s disillusion with the beauty industry, and so the three of them worked together to conceptualise and launch Nudestix- a brand of multitasking, cruelty-free products designed to be literally drawn onto the face and smudged in, and formulated to enhance, rather than cover.

Nudestix was picked by up cosmetics giant Sephora within a few months of its launch, forcing Taylor, Ally and Jenny out of their basement and into their first office. Six years on, and a brand that came to be around a kitchen table is now stocked across Australia, the US Canada, Europe and Asia. Taylor’s role within the company sees her travelling from region to region to educate retailers on Nudestix’s innovations. What she tells me has been the most inspiring part of the Nudestix story thus far, aside from working with her sister and mother, has been learning that regardless where in the world they live, women all want the same thing- to feel good. 

In this conversation, Taylor and I discuss Nudestix’s truly impressive sustainability program and why it’s so important to the brand, what it was like to be a teenager sitting at the helm of a global business and the challenges of remaining true to such a specific brand ethos and DNA- plus, we get exclusive insight into the brand’s new product skew, set to launch next month.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-nudestix-co-founder-taylor-frankel

Follow Nudestix on Instagram at @nudestix

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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Is it ever too late to fade a scar? Can C-section and endometriosis scars be healed topically? Do hypertrophic and keloid scars need to be treated differently? Is there ACTUALLY a way to erase stretch marks?

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by dermatologist Dr Liz Dawes-Higgs. A recipient of the Schering-Plough Award for her laboratory-based research, Dr Dawes-Higgs is the New South Wales State Examiner on the National Examiners Committee for the Australasian College of Dermatologists and has a particular interest in women’s skin health and ageing. This in mind, I felt that Dr Dawes-Higgs was the ideal doctor to answer your questions on this episode’s rather specific topic- scarring, from C section and endometriosis scars to those from surgery, injury and even piercings. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela Medical, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on scars to Dr Dawes-Higgs - from how to treat C section scars as compared to endometriosis incisions and how to treat facial scarring as opposed to scars on the body, through to scars from injury, surgery piercings and stretch marks.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-how-to-fade-scars

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode fifty of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the Global Artistic Director of Makeup for Shiseido, James Boehmer.

Shiseido are, undisputedly, one of the largest and most influential heritage brands of all time. Founded in Japan in 1872, Shiseido has cultivated a reputation for innovation in beauty, celebrating the synergy between art and science. It was that very reputation that drew now Global Artistic Director, James Boehmer, to the brand.

Having studied fine art and costume design prior to becoming a makeup artist, James has long worked best within that very intersection of art and science. Having spent close to 20 years at NARS under the close mentorship of Francois Nars himself, the bulk of which he spent as the brand’s Global Artistic Director, James’ personal approach to beauty encompasses the arts of performance, collaboration and construction. 

In 2016 James became the Global Artistic Director for Shiseido Makeup, tasked with visiting the archives to redevelop and, in turn, relaunch, the then 144 year old brand’s entire colour cosmetics collection. James’ role sees him direct Shiseido’s innovations across colour and texture to tell the brand’s story- one that celebrates the marriage of form and function in all parts of Japanese culture.

More recently, Shiseido have announced the appointment of Hunter Schafer as the brand’s Global Makeup Ambassador, cementing their status as pioneers of not only product, but of progression and inclusivity in beauty. “Beauty should be democratic, and it should be for everybody,” James tells me in this episode. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and James in Beverly California, so if you would prefer to read the interview I have made the complete transcript available on glowjournal.com. 

In this conversation, James shares how far you can get with warm, gracious energy, the global appeal of the J Beauty movement and how his background as a “frustrated dancer” has shaped his work for some of the world’s biggest beauty brands. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-james-boehmer-shiseido

Follow Shiseido on Instagram at @shiseido

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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How can you cover greys at home? Is there a way to touch up regrowth in lockdown? How can we tone our hair between salon visits?

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode, beauty writer Gemma Watts is joined by award winning hairdresser Yoshi Su. Given that salons are currently closed in Victoria and, based on the influx of hair-related messages I’ve been receiving of late, it seems those in other states and countries also have reservations about heading back in so soon, so we’ve put together a bonus episode answering all of your questions on at-home hair colour, touch-ups between salon visits and how you can remedy any DIY hair disasters.

This episode is sponsored by Revlon Professional, however as per all of our Ask An Expert episodes, Yoshi is not here to advertise and push product onto you. All of Yoshi’s views are his own and he was not under instruction to advertise any particular product, however you will mention of Revlon Professional’s Nutri Colour Crème- a genuine recommendation and truly safe alternative to traditional at-home colour. 

As this interview was recorded remotely, there may be a few answers that are difficult to hear so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read along as you listen or search for the answers to your specific questions. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Revlon Professional.” 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/your-at-home-hair-colour-questions

Follow Revlon Professional on Instagram @revlonprofessional

Discover more at revlonprofessional.com

Shop Revlon Professional’s Nutri Colour Crème at adorebeauty.com.au/revlon-professional.html

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode forty nine of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills, Anastasia Soare.

Anastasia Soare is a self-made billionaire in the truest sense- but her story is not just for beauty lovers, nor is it just for business lovers. It’s for everyone. 

I was granted this interview as an Australian podcast exclusive, an opportunity I’m so grateful for and one I can assure you I have not taken lightly. I had limited time with Anastasia but I really wanted to do her story justice and tell it properly, so we’ve started in mid-1950s Romania. 

Anastasia grew up under the communist regime, studying art history and assisting her mother on the weekends in the tailoring business she owned and operated. From her mother, she learnt attention to detail, she learnt passion, and she learnt how good it feels when your client walks away feeling beautiful. From her art teacher, she learnt the Golden Ratio- a mathematical concept of balance and proportion that guides what the human eye finds beautiful and, subsequently, a ratio that would change Anastasia’s life. 

In 1989 and without speaking a word of English, Anastasia immigrated to the United States where she found work as an esthetician. Anastasia recalled what her art teacher had taught her about eyebrows in portraiture, being that they can change an entire face, so Anastasia began offering brow sculpting during her facials. Prior to Anastasia arriving in Los Angeles, no one in America had cared about their eyebrows. By 1992 her clients included Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymore, and Anastasia was one of the most in demand people in the beauty industry. 

In 1997, Anastasia opened her own salon in Beverly Hills. In 1998 she shaped Oprah’s eyebrows on national television, by 1999 she had developed her own collection of eyebrow products, the very first of its kind, and by 2000, Anastasia Beverly Hills products were stocked nationally. In 2018, Anastasia Beverly Hills received an investment from private equity firm TPG that valued it at US $3 billion. Today, Anastasia Soare is still the company’s CEO, selling more than 500 products in over 30 countries with 20.2 million Instagram followers after bootstrapping the company for nearly 20 years before taking on that external investment.

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Anastasia, of course, in Beverly Hills, so if you would prefer to read the interview I have made the complete transcript available on glowjournal.com. 

In this conversation, Anastasia shares what happened when she had to pull half of her collection from Nordstrom and bear the losses herself within just days of launching, how to back yourself when your product is, globally, the very first of its kind and, of course, her all time top brow tips. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-anastasia-beverly-hills

Follow Anastasia Beverly Hills on Instagram at @anastasiabeverlyhills

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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The last time we spoke to specialist dermatologist Dr Ryan De Cruz, he shared his knowledge on all things isolation skin- skin that is irritated, stressed and acting out. We took Dr Ryan’s advice and we healed our isolation skin - and then winter hit, and with it came a whole new list of skin woes.

So many listeners and glowjournal.com readers have reached out to me in recent weeks looking for winter skin salves - products to protect their skin from the winter chill and artificial heating and products to heal their sore, dry, irritated skin. As you know, I am an educated consumer and not an expert and, given how much we all learnt from Dr Ryan last time, I insisted on taking your winter skin questions back to him.

In the name of full disclosure, this episode is sponsored by CeraVe, however as per all of my expert interviews, the guest doctor is never here to push specific brands and products. For this reason, you’ll hear Dr De Cruz recommend specific ingredients like ceramides, rather than products, giving you the tools you need to make your own, educated purchasing decisions.

I took to Instagram recently to collate your skin questions, and in this episode Dr Ryan discusses talks all things winter skin- from why our sensitivities are heightened during the colder months, and how to deal with dry skin and acne simultaneously, to the ideal shower temperature, and why your hyaluronic acid serum might not actually be doing a single thing for your skin.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/how-to-heal-dry-winter-skin

Follow CeraVe on Instagram at @cerave_au

Find out more about CeraVe at cerave.com.au

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode 124 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Hairification, Jordan Mylius.

You’ve heard of Hairification- from a distribution standpoint, they’re the fastest growing haircare brand in Australia having launched into 840 Coles stores in 2023 (that’s 840 retail locations from day one) and, as of last month, hitting the shelves of all 470 Priceline stores. Quick maths- Hairification is available in over 1300 retail locations in less than a year post launch. 

Jordan has entered the beauty founder space with a really interesting skill set and perspective. He bought a tanning and beauty salon when he was 21, more or less on a whim, and fell in love with the transformative power of beauty. From there he’s spent about 15 years in the beauty industry, having been poached by Tuscan Tan for his sales skills and spending over 7 years helping to grow Bondi Sands into the best selling fake tan brand in the world. 

I’m always fascinated by how a beauty brand tackles new customer conversion in such a saturated market, and I find that education piece particularly interesting when a brand launches into grocery, a space where most shoppers are purchasing habitually. Jordan’s approach to customer conversion is clearly working- despite that already eye watering number of retail locations here in Australia, this year will see the brand’s expansion into the global retail market. 

In this conversation, Jordan shares how he identified a gap in the market and saw an opportunity, why his focus was accessibility as opposed to the luxury beauty sector, and his advice on hiring and why you often do have to start slow and scrappy. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Hairification on Instagram @hairification_haircare.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode forty eight of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder and CEO of lilah b., Cheryl Yannotti Foland. 

Having grown up on the East Coast of the United States, once self described “high strung, type A, fast talking New Yorker” Cheryl Yannotti Foland spent the first 20 years of her working life in private equity. Cheryl describes her attitude towards work, life and beauty during that time as “more, more, more,” but a move to California for work in 2006 saw the maximalist trade in her New York lifestyle for something a little slower.

Cheryl tells me that the life she’d been living was not the healthiest and recognised that her “need” for the next best beauty product was really more of a “want,” in turn identifying what she describes as a “white space” in the market for a brand that truly simplified beauty.

And so, lilah b. was born- a clean, luxe colour cosmetics brand in which each product has been formulated to have multiple uses, meaning that consumers can create a complete, polished look with minimal products- as Cheryl tells me, “three is all you need.” 

More or less on launch, lilah b. was picked up by both Barney’s and Net-A-Porter, meaning that the brand was being sold and marketed in upwards of 170 countries within five months. 

Today, lilah b. remains one of the world’s most coveted clean beauty brands, with Cheryl watching women (and men!) across the globe adopting her less is more ethos, having succeeded in her mission to make beauty simple again. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Cheryl in California, so if you would prefer to read the interview I have made the complete transcript available on glowjournal.com. 

In this conversation, Cheryl shares the surprising influence Tiffany & Co. designer Elsa Peretti had on her brand, how increasing consumer demand for authenticity is rapidly changing the beauty industry and why all have a Rhodesian Ridgeback to thank for the lilah b. brand. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-lilah-b-founder-cheryl-yannotti-foland

Follow lilah b. on Instagram at @lilahbeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr Firas Al-Niaimi. One of the most prolific and well-published dermatologists in the UK, if not the world, Dr Firas has written and contributed to over 160 publications, has delivered lectures in over 50 countries and is on the editorial board of multiple dermatology journals. A globally respected opinion leader, Dr Firas was who I felt was the ideal doctor to answer YOUR questions on acne, acne scarring, post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation and pore size. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be unethical for me to even attempt to address those skin concerns which is why I have long insisted on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela Medical, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. This series gives you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

As mentioned, this episode is sponsored by Candela Medical, however all of Dr Firas’ views are entirely his own and, as per any interview with a doctor, you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this episode. In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on acne to Dr Firas Al-Niami- from what those pitted acne scars actually are and how to treat them through to whether topical skincare can really help hyper pigmentation, whether or not pores can truly be shrunk and if there is, or isn’t, a definitive treatment for blackheads. 

This interview was recorded remotely, with Dr Al-Niami in London and myself in Melbourne. There may be a few answers that are difficult to hear and for this I apologise, but I am still absolutely committed to bringing you the answers to your questions despite current constraints so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read the answers you might miss- almost like a podcast with subtitles. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Candela Medical.” 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-acne-scarring-and-pores

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty seven of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to celebrity esthetician and founder of Angela Caglia Skincare, Angela Caglia. 

What do Barbra Streisand, Sting, Chrissy Teigen, Noami Watts and Helena Christensen have in common? Their esthetician, Angela Caglia. 

Even if you don’t have a vested interest in skin, or even in business, listening to Angela is so inspiring based on just how passionate she is about what she does. When she speaks of skin, it’s the vocal equivalent of someone’s eyes lighting up. 

Born in California, Angela Caglia became infatuated with Paris after watching Elsa Klensch on CNN. A summer spent studying abroad in the city served as Angela’s introduction to spa facials- something of a foreign concept in the US at the time. Upon her return, Angela did a double take as she walked past a newly opened Yon-Ka salon, then walked in and asked if she could work the front desk. From there, she became an esthetician, later working in New York before returning to Los Angeles and establishing herself as one of the world’s most in-demand facialists. 

It was during a facial at Barbra Streisand’s home in Malibu that Angela felt compelled to create her own line of products, a story best told by Angela but prompted when Barbra, inches from Angela’s face, looked up into her eyes and said “And what’s your dream?” Between 2016 and 2017 Angela Caglia launched her namesake skincare collection and opened the Angela Caglia Skin Spa in Bel Air. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Angela in Los Angeles, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com. Also, for anyone feeling stressed or may need something to lull them into a state of rest, listening to Angela very softly describe the sensory experience that is one of her signature rose quartz facials is the most relaxed I’ve felt in some months. 

In this conversation, Angela and I discuss the narrative surrounding men and skincare, how and why your skincare routine could be causing your skin concerns, and how Sting’s chef helped Angela with one of her most important facials ever.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-angela-caglia 

Follow Angela Caglia Skincare on Instagram at @angelacagliaskincare

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode forty six of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to New York Times beauty writer and founder of Ellis Brooklyn, Bee Shapiro.

I consider Bee Shapiro to be something of a beauty oracle. Having covered style and beauty for the New York Times for over 12 years, Bee has interviewed countless CEOs and celebrities, been afforded unbridled access to the beauty cabinets and handbags of your favourite actors and actresses and trialled products that you and I haven’t even heard of- yet. I have long admired Bee and her work, not just for her insider knowledge and ability to list New York City’s top five facialists and their contact details on next to no notice, but for her intellect, her wit and, of course, her writing style. 

A law school graduate and former hedge fund attorney, Bee became a fashion writer for the New York Times in 2008 and was soon relocated to the beauty department where she began penning her column Skin Deep, which has since been published as a book of 40 plus interviews. 

In 2013, pregnant with her first daughter, Bee noticed that many of the brands that landed on her desk were making the move to “clean” formulations. Clean beauty was undoubtedly on the rise, with luxury brands embracing what was once a Whole Foods style sub section of beauty, but Bee noticed that very few fragrance houses were following suit. 

In 2015, Ellis Brooklyn was born- a luxury, niche fragrance house devoted to clean, small-batch-made scents. 

I’ve learned so much through watching Bee’s work from afar, so having over an hour to chat with her was a genuine privilege. Having worked in beauty for so long, Bee’s insights into cosmetics and media are invaluable to anyone with an interest in either. I’ve so enjoyed speaking to the founders of, quote unquote, niche brands of late, as something that keeps coming up is the increasing appetite consumers have to align themselves brands they really do believe in- brands with a story, brought to life by founders they trust. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Bee in New York, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com.

In this conversation, Bee and I discuss how social media has affected traditional journalism, how bringing others into the fold of your business keeps you accountable, and why consumers are no longer content with simply consuming beauty- they want to connect with it.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-ellis-brooklyn-founder-bee-shapiro

Follow Ellis Brooklyn on Instagram at @ellisbrooklyn

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty five of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down, remotely, with the founders of D.S. & Durga, Kavi Ahuja and David Seth Moltz.

Working in beauty affords me the great privilege of trialling brands, both local and international, as they become available in Australia. Often a product lands on my desk that piques my interest beyond my already vested interest in beauty, and as I start to research the names behind it, it becomes apparent that this particular brand is quietly redefining the category in which it sits.

One such brand is D.S. & Durga, a fragrance house I first came into contact with in 2017 upon its launch into Australia. Founded in Brooklyn by husband and wife David Seth Moltz and Kavi Ahuja, D.S. & Durga came to be in 2007 when David, the brand’s now-perfumer, began developing fragrances for friends and family and Kavi, an artist, designer and architect by trade, suggested they turn their creations into a business. 

What D.S. & Durga are doing is so different to other fragrances houses, and I’m so grateful that I was able to listen to them explain the freedom that comes with being a niche brand who can create whatever they want to create, and how they balance that with quite an intuitive understanding of what is commercially palatable.

Being based in Brooklyn, D.S. & Durga is a self-described “quintessentially American” fragrance house in a market historically dominated by French sensibilities- not that there is a single thing wrong with that, however the perfume industry is saturated with brands intent on including French ingredients in their fragrances or French elements in their branding, even if that alignment isn’t necessarily authentic. As Kavi told me in our conversation, “Everything behind a brand matters so much more now than it ever has,” which presents a really powerful opportunity for niche brands to become their own storytellers as consumers want to know precisely who and what they’re aligning themselves with.

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Australia and Kavi and David in the US, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com.

In this conversation, Kavi and David discuss the malleability of creative disciplines, the art of collaboration and the significance of the scents of both burnt tyres and boat gas. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-ds-durga-founders-kavi-ahuja-david-moltz

Follow D.S. & Durga on Instagram at @dsanddurga

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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How privileged I am to be learning about racism, rather than experiencing it. Black lives matter. The resources I mentioned that I had found useful can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17898196033499578/

In episode forty four of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder and CEO of Juice Beauty, Karen Behnke. 

Credited by Forbes as being the original pioneer of clean beauty, Karen Behnke’s career began as a health and wellness entrepreneur in the early 1980s. By the age of 25, Karen had founded two highly successful businesses in the fitness space, one being the first ever corporate wellness business in the United States- however the bank would not give her a loan unless she were married. 

Karen explains to me in our conversation that, when you’re an entrepreneur and you feel you have a good idea, you blast forward with blind faith- and that’s precisely what she did. In 2005, she launched Juice Beauty, one of the world’s first organic skincare brands and one that completely quashed the belief that natural products couldn’t match the potency of their traditional counterparts. 

With Karen widely regarded as an innovator across the health, wellness and beauty spaces, it made sense that when Gwyneth Paltrow was looking to develop skincare under her Goop brand AND find a clean, organic colour cosmetics range, it was Karen and the Juice Beauty team that she chose to work with. 

Heralding a collaboration between Karen, Gwyneth and their respective companies, 2016 saw the launch of both Goop by Juice Beauty AND Juice Beauty’s Phyto-Pigment collection- a clean yet luxurious line of colour cosmetics, born out of Karen and Gwyneth’s wish for makeup that cared for the skin in the same way their skincare does. Gwyneth was also appointed Juice Beauty’s Creative Director of Makeup, a role she held for three years, with Karen and Gwyneth remaining shareholders in one another’s companies to this day. 

Today, Karen tells me Juice Beauty’s focus is on returning to its roots. Time is being spent researching and continuing to innovate at the Juice Beauty Farm, with the brand working towards converting the entire farm to organic and continuing to improve upon their existing sustainability initiatives.  

This episode was recorded remotely, myself being in Australia and Karen in the US, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com

In this conversation, Karen shares her biggest advice for those looking to fund a startup, how Juice Beauty manage to colour their entire makeup collection using plant pigments, and the secrets of the Green Apple Peel that put the brand on the map. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-juice-beauty-founder-karen-behnke

Follow Juice Beauty on Instagram at @juicebeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr John Sullivan. A dermatologist with over two decades of experience in both clinical practise and academic teaching in Australia and Canada, Dr Sullivan is leading the way in clinical research and is at the very forefront of advances in laser dermatology as the principal investigator on numerous dermatology trials. This in mind, I felt that Dr Sullivan was the ideal doctor to answer your questions on one of my most frequently queried topics- sun damage. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is the most authentic way for me to integrate branded content into the podcast because it’s giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

As mentioned, this episode is sponsored by Candela Medical, however all of Dr Sullivan’s views are entirely his own and, as per any interview with a doctor, you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this interview. In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on sun damage to Dr Sullivan- from the treatment of pigmentation and freckles through to moles and sun spots, and just how much the sun damage we sustained in our youth can affect us as adults. 

Given the state of the world at the moment, this interview was recorded remotely which is why there is such a discrepancy in the quality of the audio. There may be a few answers that are difficult to hear and for this I apologise, but I am still absolutely committed to bringing you the answers to your questions despite current constraints so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read the answers you might miss- almost like a podcast with subtitles. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Candela Medical.” 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-sun-damage

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founders of BYBI Beauty, Elsie Rutterford and Dominika Minarovic.

Elsie and Dominika are almost disarmingly open and honest about their beginnings in business, and everything they said, particularly surrounding funding for women in business and also around global attitude to sustainability, will be ingrained in my head for quite some time. 

After meeting in ad sales, London-based Elsie and Dominika bonded over a mutual interest in the wellness movement that was only just beginning to gain traction at the time. Their interest in wellness prompted them to start looking at the ingredients they were putting on their skin, and in 2015 their website, Clean Beauty Insiders, was born. 

In the same way you might swap beauty advice or a recipe with a girlfriend, Clean Beauty Insiders became the globe’s go-to destination for, as the name suggests, clean beauty advice, and for recipes for skincare products you could make at home. Elsie and Dominika both began to study formulation science, and in 2016 their following was so large that they attracted the attention of a literary agent. Their book Clean Beauty, was published in in January 2017- a book that had been to auction, was bid on by every single publisher Elsie and Dom had pitched to, and was won by Penguin, no less. 

Later that year, Bybi Beauty was born- arguably the first clean beauty brand to lead with a message about performance and science, rather than just the fact that it was a clean brand. Bybi launched onto Asos, one of the largest ecommerce platforms of all time, and is now stocked in beauty retailers globally. 

As impressive as the Bybi story is, what I found even more impressive was how forthcoming Elsie and Dom were with their knowledge. Their approach to both beauty and business is absolutely no BS, and the way they talk about financing and pre seed funding and even just surviving when the business was in its lean years is the kind of conversation women NEED to be having. Money has long felt like a really taboo topic, but I think the more open conversations we, particularly women, can have around finance, the more financially empowered we can all be. 

I’m interviewing two women here, and you’ll hear Elsie answer me first, but if you are confused about who is who you can follow along with the full interview transcript on glowjournal.com. Naturally, given the state of the world, this interview did take place on Zoom across continents so the audio is far from studio quality, but please persist because this conversation is rich and valuable and one I’m really proud to be sharing. 

In our chat, Elsie and Dominika share the steps they took to secure investment prior to Bybi’s launch, how you can really know if the time is right to leave your full time job for your startup, and the clever way they bring new customers into the Bybi fold. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-bybi-beauty-founders-elsie-dominika

Follow BYBI on Instagram at @bybibeauty

Find out more about BYBI at bybi.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the co-founder of The Jojoba Company, Vicki Engsall. 

As I record this, in 2020, just about everyone I know has an understanding of what jojoba is or, at the very least, has at least heard of it- but this wasn’t always the case. I sincerely believe that so much of what we know about jojoba is thanks to Vicki. 

Despite a long standing interest in the skin, Vicki Engsall grew up wanting to be a teacher- and so she became one. It wasn’t until she was trying to fall pregnant that business ownership looked to be a possibility. Little did Vicki realise, however, that the seeds that grew to become The Jojoba Company had been, quite literally, planted many years prior. I’ll leave the storytelling up to Vicki, but the events that lead to Vicki leaving her teaching role and launching her skincare company are perhaps the best example of serendipity that has ever been told on this podcast. When Vicki co-founded The Jojoba Company with her father in 2008, very little was known about jojoba. Today, thanks largely to Vicki’s background in education, jojoba is one of the most in demand ingredients in the world. 

Of course, this interview was recorded remotely, and I think now is particularly good time to be spotlighting local businesses like The Jojoba Company. In this conversation, Vicki and I discuss what she has dubbed the “oil revolution,” what an “ingredients claim” is and why they can be so dangerous, and how to bring the skin’s lipid profile back to how it was at the age of 22. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow The Jojoba Company on Instagram at @thejojobaco

Find out more about The Jojoba Company at thejojobacompany.com.au/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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Isolation skin. It’s real.

I have never before received so many questions on one specific topic in such a short period of time. As you know, I am an educated consumer and not an expert, so true to form I have passed your questions on to a leading dermatologist- Dr Ryan De Cruz.

In the name of full disclosure, this bonus episode is sponsored by CeraVe, however as per all of my expert interviews, the doctor is never here to push specific brands and products. For this reason, you’ll hear Dr De Cruz recommend specific ingredients, rather than products, and offer more general advice, giving you the tools you need to make your own, educated purchasing decisions. The crux of it? When the skin is stressed and irritated, PARE IT BACK. Look for uncomplicated, elegant formulas that will restore calm to the skin without irritants.

If you are suffering from what has been dubbed as “isolation skin,” I firstly want you to know that you are not alone. As you’ll hear in this interview, many of the skin concerns a lot of you are working through right now are caused by stress, and while we can’t control the state of the world right now, there are steps we can take through our topical skincare to help restore that calm and balance to the skin. 

I took to Instagram recently to collate your skin questions, and in this interview Dr Ryan De Cruz discusses the effects of stress on the skin, how we can avoid the irritation brought on by increased hand-washing, the skincare ingredients we should all be looking for and the steps we can take to strengthen the skin's all important protective barrier.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/isolation-skin-and-how-to-treat-it

Follow CeraVe on Instagram at @cerave_au

Find out more about CeraVe at cerave.com.au

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 123 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Maison Crivelli, Thibaud Crivelli.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that fragrance is probably my favourite category to talk about, particularly from a storytelling perspective. Thibaud talks about fragrance in a way that is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before and that is, again, why I’m so fascinated by this category. I love asking people how they either construct a fragrance or brief it into their perfumer, and this particular answer went so far beyond anything I could’ve imagined in that Thibaud actually doesn’t just focus on the scent- his role feels almost more like a director putting an entire scene together. 

We also had a really interesting chat about how nuanced the wider conversation around raw materials needs to be, which I think is actually true of the need for nuance when we talk about sustainability in general, not just in perfumery. Early on Thibaud told me that since childhood he’s wanted to create a cosmetic brand, and the longer we spoke for the less surprising it was to me that he’d had such clear vision from so early in his life- when you listen to him it becomes very clear that he is a founder who is in this industry because of a deep, deep love of it, which is always my favourite kind of guest.  

In this conversation, Thibaud shares why there’s no room for ego in perfumery, how you can tell if a product will be popular within about two days of its launch, and the one emotion that every Maison Crivelli fragrance is linked to- the feeling of surprise. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Maison Crivelli on Instagram @maisoncrivelli.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode forty one of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder and CEO of Lano, Kirsten Carriol.

Kirsten Carriol didn’t grow up around beauty in the traditional sense, however her upbringing was instrumental in the creation of her brand. Her father, a molecular scientist and her grandparents, sheep farmers, taught Kirsten the benefits of lanolin as a child. Lanolin was their cure for just about everything. 

Passionate about beauty, Kirsten grew to travel across the globe, trying just about every beauty product she passed along the way, before returning to Australia and launching her own beauty PR company. Despite having access to the world’s best products and trialling them all, Kirsten still wasn’t satisfied with the level of hydration her existing lip balms and skincare products were delivering. 

It was on her way to the airport after her wedding that Kirsten realised the answer had, quite literally, been in front of her all along- lanolin. While the concept and name came to her almost instantly, the first incarnation of Lanolips took six years to bring to life. Given that Kirsten herself had spent much of her teens and adult life distancing herself from lanolin, she was well aware that she was going to have to work hard to change public perception of what had been viewed as a bit of an old and unfashionable ingredient. The key? Education, something Kirsten dedicated another five years to. Five years, sitting down, one-on-one with just about every beauty editor in the world. 

Kirsten succeeded, thanks to persistence, passion, and a line of products that genuinely do what they say they will do. Lano, now composed of a line of face and body products beyond the original Lanolips, is useful, no-nonsense, and stocked in all of the world’s biggest beauty retailers.

I visited Kirsten at her home in Sydney to discuss why some of the world’s best-selling lip products aren’t actually helping your lips at all, her favourite unconventional uses for Lano’s cult 101 Ointment, and how the world of digital means that public opinion in the beauty space has a voice independent of traditional press. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-lanolips-founder-kirsten-carriol

Follow Lano on Instagram at @lanolips

Find out more about Lano at https://lanolips.com/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Given the state of the world at the moment, this interview was recorded remotely which is why there is such a discrepancy in the quality of the audio. There may be a few answers that are difficult to hear and for this I apologise, but I am still absolutely committed to bringing you the answers to your questions despite current constraints so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read the answers you might miss- almost like a podcast with subtitles. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Candela Medical.” 

In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr Danae Lim. A cosmetic physician with over 14 years medical experience, Dr Lim is an undisputed skin expert and also has a background in emergency, so her approach to skin is vigilant, safe and well-rounded, with a deep understanding that the health of the skin goes well beyond its appearance. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is the most authentic way for me to integrate branded content into the podcast because it’s giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

As mentioned, this episode is sponsored by Candela Medical, however all of Dr Lim’s views are entirely her own and, as per any interview with a doctor, you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this interview. In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on Melasma to Dr Lim- from what causes and how to treat it, through to the impact of the sun and even birth control on the health of the skin.  

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-melasma

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder and CEO of Jouer Cosmetics, Christina Zilber.

Christina Zilber has had an affinity for makeup for as long as she can remember. One of her earliest memories was playing with the makeup of her mother, a model, a career path Christina herself followed upon graduating from college. 

Christina hated modelling, and told me that it was in the makeup chair that she felt she had found “her people.” Watching and learning from makeup artists was her salvation, and it was there, on set and in the makeup chair, that the idea for Jouer was born. 

A makeup artist gifted Christina with a refillable palette, inadvertently answering Christina’s prayers for a palette filled only with colours and products that she would actually use. When she discovered that said palette did not fit in her evening bag, Christina began to develop an interchangeable palette system- one that was completely portable and customisable. 

The first incarnation of Jouer was born in 2004, and what began as an interlocking makeup palette system relaunched as a fully fledged cosmetics company in 2008- the Jouer that we now know and love. 

Beyond her work at Jouer, Christina also sits on the board of UNICEF, a role that has truly shaped her perception of what beauty truly is. She tells me that “We can't see beauty as something that's just superficial. Beauty is as beauty does. It is what you do in your life that makes you beautiful.”

I think it’s important for me to note that we did record this in February when Christina was visiting Australia from the US, so the current state of the world isn’t touched on in this particular interview. Christina does, however, talk about the stock market crash of 2008 and how New York City became a ghost town. While this is, of course, completely different to what we’re now living through, this did feel, to me, like a message of hope- that we are in this together, and that we will come out on the other side. 

Another thing we talked about is the transformative power beauty can have on one’s mood. I imagine the notion that beauty has such transformative powers feels blasé to a lot of people right now, but I’m sure the vast majority of the people who listen to this podcast do so because they like how beauty makes them feel- so I promise you that I am going to continue trying my best to keep producing content that makes you feel good and inspired for as long as I possibly can. 

In this conversation, Christina shares how a product that didn’t sell ended up becoming a breakthrough for her brand, how she is overcoming self doubt, and how to stay true to your brand’s DNA while continuing to evolve. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-jouer-cosmetics-christina-zilber

Follow Jouer Cosmetics on Instagram at @jouer cosmetics

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode thirty nine of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder of The Blow, Phoebe Simmonds. 

Nobody knows branding, nor the intricacies of the global beauty industry, like Phoebe Simmonds. 

Phoebe’s career in beauty began the day she marched up to her local Body Shop store, resume in hand, aged 14 and 9 months. While at university, Phoebe began working at Melbourne’s Mecca headquarters and, on graduating, moved to London for a role at NUDE Skincare- a brand partially owned by Bono. NUDE was only in its infancy when Phoebe joined the team, so she played an instrumental role in cementing the brand’s global presence. Around two years in to Phoebe’s four year stint at NUDE, the brand was acquired by LVMH and placed under the guidance of Parfums Christian Dior and so, Phoebe’s education in discipline and in brand DNA begun. 

2013 saw Phoebe move to Singapore for a role with Benefit Cosmetics, also beneath the LVMH umbrella, with this role eventually taking her to London and, finally, back to Australia. Those who know beauty know that Benefit is one of the most recognisable brands on the planet, and that is largely thanks to the brand’s DNA- a concept Phoebe is, sincerely, an expert in. 

It was in October of 2017 that the idea for The Blow first hit Phoebe. Having spent time in the US in her Benefit role, Phoebe had seen first hand how many professional women were relying on blow drys to feel, in her words, more “polished, presentable and powerful”. Acutely aware of the confidence that comes from looking great, Phoebe sought to find a similar service in Australia- one that provided a consistent service, in a convenient location, at a competitive price and housed within a space that inspires. On finding nothing that fulfilled all she was looking for, Phoebe resolved to create a space of her own. 

The Blow opened in September 2018 and has since become the nations premium blow dry experience and one of my very favourite places- a space I personally visit each and every time I need a hit of confidence. Later this year, the next evolution of The Blow will come to fruition- The Blow On The Go blow dry bars inside Sephora locations in Sydney and Melbourne, bringing Phoebe one step closer to national hair domination.

In this conversation, Phoebe shares exactly what goes in to developing a truly unique brand DNA, why creating a community that inspires beyond your own business is essential, and the non-negotiable first step every brand founder must take. 

PURCHASE A GIFT CARD FOR THE BLOW HERE: https://squareup.com/gift/TF3VFMV6G1WHB/order

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow The Blow on Instagram at @theblowaustralia

Find out more about The Blow at https://theblow.com.au/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode thirty eight of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder of Glasshouse Fragrances, Nicole Eckels.

Born in New York and eternally fascinated by the transformative powers of beauty and fragrance, Nicole Eckels’ early experiences in makeup artistry, cosmetics sales and in corporate have given her a really unique and very powerful understanding of what women want. 

Nicole moved to Sydney in 2005, thinking she’d spend no more four years in Australia. On arrival, she visited a David Jones fragrance counter looking to replace a scented candle that she had brought over from New York with her. Alarmed by the lack of options, Nicole set out to fill the gap and succeeded in brining Glasshouse Fragrances to market in only 12 months.

This timeframe would be remarkable for anyone in business, but it’s important to note that Nicole was also in an entirely new country. She mentions in this interview that while learning about Australian culture and even locating retailers was a challenge, the change in scenery also made her fearless- which is exactly how Nicole came across during this conversation. She’s resolute, she’s tenacious and she’s brave. 

Glasshouse Fragrances have experienced growth in excess of 50% year on year since more or less the day they launched, and while Nicole really did create an entirely new category here in Australia, she actually credits a lot of that growth to market competition, telling me that brands can’t exist without it. 

In this conversation, Nicole and Gemma discuss the difference between developing fragrances for candles in comparison to Glasshouse Fragrance’s new collection of eau de parfums, the power of timing in business, and the responsibility that comes from knowing complete strangers associate your work with some of the most important moments in their lives. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Glasshouse Fragrances on Instagram at @glasshousefragrances

Find out more about Glasshouse Fragrances at https://www.glasshousefragrances.com/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode thirty seven of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder of Bangn Body, Priscilla Hajiantoni.

Priscilla has one of those rare personality types that people are just drawn to. I first met Priscilla when I was hosting Meccaland last year and I was really instantly taken by her warmth, and I sincerely believe that, both content and product efficacy aside, Priscilla’s personality is largely to thank for her brand’s legion of followers. 

At the time of recording, Bangn Body is less than one year old but its results have gone, quite literally, viral. Priscilla originally launched the brand’s now-cult Yellow Tube of Goodness as a Firming Body Lotion, but curious consumers tried applying it to their face and, within a fortnight of launch, Priscilla had received hundreds of emails from customers who found that the lotion had cured their acne, rosacea, keratosis and dermatitis. Priscilla began sharing her customer’s un-retouched before and after photos via Bangn Body’s social media channels and, in May of last year, the then two month old brand was featured by The Daily Mail, most visited English-language news website in the world, which lead to Priscilla leading something of a makeshift production line in her living room. That momentum has not slowed, not even for a moment, with 2020 seeing Priscilla grow her team and move in to a brand new Bangn Body headquarters. 

In this episode, Priscilla shares her firm stance on airbrushing, how viral success does increase scepticism, and why a job that looks perfect on paper can never truly satisfy you unless you feel a little bit of magic. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Grown Alchemist on Instagram at @bangn.body

Find out more about Grown Alchemist at bangnbody.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode thirty six of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Zoë Foster Blake, founder of Go-To, Bro-To and Gro-To. 

Any time I get to pick Zoë’s brain is an excellent time, but this occasion was particularly special as I’m able to share our conversation with all of you. 

Zoë Foster Blake is the most respected voice in beauty in this country, with legions of fans both locally and overseas. Having grown up in a creative and, in her words, “free range” household, Zoë has almost always known that she wanted to write- just not necessarily beauty. Her first professional encounter with a truly iconic beauty moment came when she directed Shannon Noll and Guy Sebastian, pre Australian Idol finale, on a Smash Hits cover shoot. From Smash Hits, she moved into a role as Beauty Editor at Cosmopolitan and later Beauty Director at Harper’s Bazaar. The belief that beauty requires kinetic learning saw her embrace digital, citing her first ever “risky move” as leaving her role at a celebrated print title for a new role, online. 2014 saw the author and beauty editor combine her knowledge of what customers wanted, and what actually worked, to create Go-To- a skincare brand built on the innate trust between Zoë and audience. 

There was a quote from my conversation with Zoë that really stood out to me. “I became very passionate about beauty in as much as I saw the connection it gave me to people.” It’s almost impossible to pinpoint one specific thing about Zoë that makes her such a force in beauty, but I think that quote almost sums up what is so magnetic about her. To Zoë, beauty is about connection- she has a genuine want to give value to people in a way that is honest and fun and without pretension. You can’t forge a connection of any worth without honesty, and I believe honesty and integrity are superpowers. Zoë is magic, and I hope this conversation captures a little piece of that magic. 

In this episode, which we recorded at Melbourne’s QT Hotel, Zoë shares the products that are in their seventh year of development, the products she’ll never make, the product she wishes she made sooner and the product she would absolutely not make again today. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-zoe-foster-blake

Follow Zoë on Instagram at @zotheysay

Follow Go-To on Instagram at @gotoskincare

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special bonus episode of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Associate Professor Philip Bekhor to ask him your questions on rosacea, spider and varicose veins and related vascular skin conditions. 

I (Gemma) am often asked really specific questions about the skin, and given that I’m an educated consumer and by absolutely no means an expert, I can’t ethically offer up any advice. I took the idea of an Ask The Expert series to the team at Candela Medical knowing that both the technology and the doctors they work with are among the best in the world, and we’ve put together this multi-part series of bonus episodes to answer your questions. This series is giving the Glow Journal audience unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series does feel like the most authentic way for me to integrate branded content into the podcast because it’s giving you, the listeners, unbiased expert answers to your more specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

In 1982, Dr Bekhor was the first dermatologist in Victoria to use lasers in the management of birthmarks. In 1988 he was appointed the founding Director of the Laser Unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and in 1993, he established Laser Associates of Victoria- so who better to answer your questions about laser skin treatments, rosacea and other vascular skin conditions. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-rosacea

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode thirty five of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with co-founder and CEO of Grown Alchemist, Jeremy Muijs. 

Jeremy and his brother Keston grew up in something of a creative household- their father, a creative businessman and their mother, a fashion creative. Where Jeremy inherited his father’s passion for business, Keston had his mother’s creative eye and so the two grew up working on creative projects together, from building furniture to selling fish. Jeremy and Keston took on very different careers, in very different parts of the world, as young adults, before coming together to launch Hatch, a consultancy company based in New Zealand. 

With ample opportunities coming out of the US the pair moved to Miami, and it was while consulting and developing products for other beauty brands that they first became aware of the link between “wellness” and beauty. At the turn of the century Jeremy and Keston began having conversations about the emergence of new, niche beauty brands, and pushed their corporate clients to start taking risks on more creative formulas. Frustrated by a wall of “no”s, the pair took it upon themselves to create Grown Alchemist- an organic and toxin free beauty brand that took six years and a move back to Australia to see through to fruition. 

The real beauty of Grown Alchemist is in the experience and the ritual, which comes as no surprise given that Jeremy’s first memory of beauty is that of a Clinique ritual taught to him on a department store floor. Jeremy is a gifted story teller, and regardless of whether or not you have an interest in beauty or even business, there is something to be learned from this conversation. 

In this episode, Jeremy shares the differences between the Southern and Northern hemisphere’s approaches to beauty and business, the link between our body, our skin and our mind, and how influencers can help brands get their products picked up by department stores. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Grown Alchemist on Instagram at @grownalchemist

Find out more about Grown Alchemist at grownalchemist.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode thirty four of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Lottie Tomlinson, founder of Tanologist, and Lou Teasdale, the brand’s creative director. 

Lottie Tomlinson is the sister of One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson, and Lou Teasdale was the band’s hair and makeup artist from day one. Although Lou was reluctant, she hired Lottie to assist her on the band’s tour when Lottie was just 15, and so their friendship and working relationship was formed. Lottie and Lou have a really interesting take on fame and celebrity, given that their careers exploded amidst One Direction developing what can only be described as a cult following. This lead to the girls accruing a devoted fan base of their own, however, not content with resting on their laurels, the pair had longevity in mind. 2018 saw Lottie, a self confessed tanning addict, harness her passion for beauty and develop her own self tanning brand- Tanologist. 

Lottie and Lou had a combined 7 million followers at the time of recording, so of interest to me was HOW they’ve managed to translate those followers into Tanologist customers. The answer became abundantly clear as I spent time with them- before I’d even hit record. Lou is a wealth of business and branding wisdom and has a deep understanding of what it takes for a brand to have longevity, which is no mean feat in the age of Instagram. What struck me about Lottie is that her demeanour and her approach to business really reminded me a lot of Nicola Kilner, co-founder and CEO of Deciem- two women who are shattering the old abrasive business owner archetype and, instead, are choosing to run their businesses based on kindness and resilience, despite having been through literal hell over the last 18 months. 

Lottie and Lou are a delight, as charismatic and fun as they are intelligent, and I’ve been so looking forward to sharing this conversation with you all. 

In this conversation, Lottie and Lou discuss the rise of indie brands in the beauty space, the power of social media and how their time touring with One Direction taught them what it takes to build a brand.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Tanologist on Instagram @tanologisttan

Follow Lottie on Instagram @lottietomlinson

Follow Lou on Instagram @louteasdale

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode 122 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founders of Sunset Daze, Alessia and Marco Angele.

What I love about talking to founders at this stage in their brand’s development (for context, Sunset Daze launched their first product, Liquid Rays, in December of 2022) is that all the really tactile bits that come with a launch are still so fresh in their minds- they’re not looking back on their launch through a wistful lens, there’s no revisionist history, the advice they can share feels as current as it is practical. 

The whole ethos of Sunset Daze is “Feel Good Beauty,” and I felt that tenfold in our chat. These are two founders who are doing this for the love of it, and they’re coming at it from a really interesting spot too (which we spoke about) in that they loved the jobs they were in pre launch, so they weren’t starting something of their own so they could escape where they were at, so rather than the process having this sense of urgency, they could actually take their time with it. 

In this conversation, Alessia and Marco share their take on staying at your job while building a brand on the side, their thoughts on self funding vs bringing on investors, and the risks of launching with a singular product rather than a full suite. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Sunset Daze on Instagram @_sunset_daze_.

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode thirty three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Lisa Patulny, beauty writer and founder of Call Time On Melanoma. 

This is our last episode of Season 1 (Season 2 will begin on January 15), so I thought I would wrap up the year with what is objectively a really important interview in the hopes that the extra few weeks that this will spend at the top of the episode feed will afford it the time necessary for its message to truly sink in.

Lisa Patulny is the founder of Call Time On Melanoma, a not-for-profit initiative initially formed as a platform to share the story of Natalie Fornasier, who was diagnosed with stage III melanoma at age 20. This is usually where I would wax lyrical about this week’s interview subject, but nobody can tell the story of Call Time On Melanoma in the way that its founder can- so please listen.

What I do need to make note of is that in this interview we mention that Natalie, the driving force behind Call Time On Melanoma, had no active cancer in her system and, at the time of recording, that was absolutely the case. A few weeks ago melanoma was discovered in Natalie’s gut and in her bowel. She has since undergone surgery, again, during which both cancerous tumours have been removed and so begins the long road of recovery and further treatment.

There’s not a great deal more than I can say other than if you do only sit through one episode of this podcast, please let it be this one.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow Call Time On Melanoma on Instagram @calltimeonmelanoma

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode thirty two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Shelley Sullivan, founder and CEO of ModelCo and MCo Beauty. 

Shelley Sullivan has one of the sharpest business minds in Australia and, quite possibly, the world. 

Shelley grew up knowing she wanted to own and operate her own business, founding her own event management company at age 18 and a modelling agency aged 21. On founding that agency, Shelley represented 1 talent. On selling the business 10 years later, that number had grown to 18,000. 

Never one to rest on her laurels, Shelley began to identify a gap for a truly innovative, niche brand n the beauty market to compete with the existing multinationals and, 8 years in to running the agency, launched ModelCo with a single product- the world’s first heated eyelash curler. 

The eyes of the world were now firmly on Shelley, with global beauty industry insiders asking “What will Shelley do next?” A year after that first-to-market launch Shelley sold the agency and focused on growing ModelCo- a business she’s now been at the helm of for 17 years. 

ModelCo have maintained that reputation for innovation, developing 250 products launching several first-to-market innovations since their 2002 launch. One such product? The world’s first Airbrush Tan in Can, a can of which is sold globally every 36 seconds. 

The years that followed saw ModelCo collaborate with industry icons including Hailey Baldwin, Elle Macpherson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and, in 2017, the brand was selected ahead of 27 companies globally to develop a 52 piece collection with Karl Lagerfeld- a collection that Shelley credits with officially placing ModelCo on the global map. 

In this conversation, Shelley discusses the importance of learning from the ground up, how to determine what women want and the magic, product-selling ingredients that she launched ModelCo with and still relies on today.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow ModelCo on Instagram @modelco

Follow MCo Beauty on Instagram @mcobeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

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In episode thirty one of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with Trinny Woodall, founder of Trinny London. 

Whether you’re familiar with Trinny Woodall’s work as a fashion columnist, host of one of television’s many iterations of Trinny and Susannah or as the founder of beauty brand Trinny London, there’s one constant- Trinny genuinely wants to make women feel amazing. 

Trinny’s media career began in 1994 after she was introduced to the woman who would become her best friend and collaborator, Susanna Constantine. The pair began writing their Daily Telegraph column, Ready To Wear, soon thereafter, with the column growing to become a business, a book and, in 2001, a TV show- BBC’s What Not To Wear. 

Trinny and Susannah’s mission was simple- to make woman feel their best. Trinny describes the feeling of making women feel good about themselves as her “food,” telling me that “A woman should always feel utterly present and recognised.” 

It was that mission that saw Trinny develop and launch Trinny London in 2017. In the same way that she worked to make fashion less intimidating to women around the world, Trinny now works to ensure that women understand that beauty is, quite literally, for everyone. 

In this conversation, Trinny shares why she finds fashion shows deeply unsatisfying, the link between fashion, beauty and confidence, and how women can and should find the courage to put their big ideas out on the table. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-trinny-woodall

Follow Trinny Woodall on Instagram @trinnywoodall

Follow Trinny London on Instagram @trinnylondon

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at hello@gemkwatts.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.