Sunday, 8 November 2015

10 Years of Skincare Innovation



Balance Me champions innovation by sourcing cutting-edge natural ingredients and creating unique, high performance products that push the boundaries of natural beauty.  And this year ‘Balance Me Beauty’ is turning 10 years old... Happy Anniversary! Here we catch up with Sian Jones, Balance Me Co-Creator... 

Sian Jones, Balance Me Co-creator
How did you start out?

Balance Me was founded ten years ago in 2005 after Co-Creator sisters Rebecca and Clare left their respective corporate careers behind and retrained in the holistic field in the search for a better work-life balance. They had originally created an events business called “Balance Being” where they offered companies holistic treatments and catering at their client entertaining events. They were making products in their kitchen to use at these events when they were spotted by a high street retailer and British Vogue. Within a year I joined as the third partner, bringing my retail experience and aromatherapy passion to the brand, and Balance Me was born. 10 years on, we are determined to continue pushing the boundaries of natural beauty to create unique, high performance products that solve skin concerns without creating others.


What part of your job do you enjoy the most?

Creating natural products that give fantastic results and skin benefits. Whilst training to be an aromatherapist I developed a natural flare and passion for mixing essential oils and creating beautiful, aromatherapy inspired products that give benefits to both the body and mind. I love researching into new technologies and advances to natural beauty that allow us to push the boundaries, as we did with our new cutting-edge Collagen Boost range, which contains a unique natural peptide complex, that stimulates the skin’s ability to produce collagen(sadly women in their 40’s have 50% less collagen in their skin than women in their 20’s). It is always very rewarding when we hear stories from customers about how our products have boosted their skin confidence, it makes the years of hard work, love and passion that we put into each and every product come to life.





What are your everyday beauty essentials?

When it comes to my skincare routine I always wash my face with a cleanser that doesn’t strip my skin of its natural oils and follow with our deeply hydrating RadianceFace Oil beneath my moisturiser, as an extra layer of care. I am currently really enjoying using our new Collagen Boost Restore and Replenish Face Cream which helps to plump, smooth and refine the skin.

My handbag secret weapon is our Stellar Beauty Balm – it has every skincare emergency covered: it can protect skin against drying air con, repair dry lips, cuticles, elbows and heels, set eyebrows in place, tame fly-away hairs, add gleam to cheekbones, relieve itchy insect bites, and even treat and prevent cold sores (thanks to its antimicrobial properties); I never leave the house without one on me!


What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

To believe in your dreams from whatever age you create them. I’m not going to pretend we haven’t worked day and night to create our successful, results-led brand, but our passion to create innovative products and our belief in our goal to push the boundaries of natural beauty is what makes us a success. I think it is important to love what you do and find every day fulfilling. Dreams can become a reality with the right attitude and the confidence to make that first leap.


What can we expect from Balance Me before your next Anniversary?

We can’t quite believe how quickly our 10th anniversary has come by! Over the last decade, we have enjoyed global growth, won over 40 industry awards, including CEW “Best British Brand” and enjoyed many first class editorial endorsements from media and celebrity opinion formers, including the likes of Claudia Schiffer (a fan of our Super Moisturising Body Oil) and Rosamund Pike (a lover of our Rose Otto Body Bam). We are currently working on a new sleep inducing collection, taking inspiration from one of our very first Balance Me heroines from 10 years ago, so watch this space. We will continue to push the boundaries of natural beauty for the next 10 years and we can’t wait to see where that will take us!


Your tip for work / life balance?

My top tip is to make sure you have some time each day where you switch your phone and emails off (even if it is just for an evening or an hour a day) and find something that you want to do for you – be it read a book, go for a run, catch up with friends and family... The reason we left our corporate careers behind was to find a better work-life balance, and as all three of us Co-Creators have children under the age of twelve, we really understand the importance of maintaining this balance so that we don’t miss any precious memories of the children growing up!


Which cause would you fight for?

I passionately believe in beauty that works naturally. At Balance Me we will only ever create products that we would be happy to put on our own skin and the skin of our families, so we avoid nasty ingredients such as parabens, sulphates, PEGS etc to give your skin everything it might need and nothing it doesn’t. The 24/7 lifestyle that we are living these days means we rarely dedicate enough time to our own wellbeing, which has a dramatic impact on our skin’s health. We also face a lot of chemicals in our everyday lives, they can be found in skincare, cosmetics, food, pollution, cleaning products… the list goes on! I believe it can be an accumulation of frequent contact with chemicals, plus burning the candle at both ends that plays havoc with our skin and causes sensitivities that never used to be there.  If you can reduce the amount of chemicals that you are exposed to, for example by swapping to natural skincare, eating organic vegetables, plus making time for sleep, when the skin naturally regenerates itself, you can play a huge role at restoring your skin’s natural health.


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