Latest / Skin Anarchy / Staying Motivated To Follow Your Skincare Routine With MOTIF Founder, Devanshi Garg

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Staying Motivated To Follow Your Skincare Routine With MOTIF Founder, Devanshi Garg · Skin Anarchy

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Hi guys, welcome back to Anarchy.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: This is your host Becca.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so so excited because we just released Fusion Volume 2.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: So for all of you listening, if you hadn't had you haven't had a chance yet, make sure you check it out.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's exclusively right now on Apple Books.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm really excited because our the brand I'm interviewing today is such a new concept.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm really, really excited to introduce you guys to them if you haven't seen them already.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um so without further ado, I would love to introduce you to the founder of Motif, Devonchi Garg.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, welcome to the show, Devonci.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to host you.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you so much for having me on the show, a big fan and love the work that you're doing and the conversation that are having right now and your work with the safe seal and scientific record behind your beauty products.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: No, I I really, really love doing it and I'm excited because it's brands like yours that I really uh get excited about hosting.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm uh really a fan of your cleanser.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's really unique.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: And for everyone uh listening, I don't know if you guys have seen it around, but the Motifs cleanser is uh really cool because it's kind of like a little mask every morning or whenever you're using it.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: You can leave it on as a mask and it deposits, you know, um just really, really great ingredients that are great for your skin barrier and it just is doesn't strip your skin.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm a huge fan of it.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm excited, Devontia.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: I really want to dive into the brand, obviously, and you know, talk all about the ingredients, the science, but I really want to start with you and your background and how Motif was um, you know, kind of conceptualized, and then you know, what went behind the brand, if you could get us started.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, you know, thanks for your early support, Ikta.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my own background is actually in technology.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a little bit of a beauty outsider in that capacity, but my background in technology really was a lesson in strategy and data and business intelligence, design thinking, and most of all, customer centricity.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and, you know, on in my personal life, uh, I oscillated between being a hardcore skincare junkie to a sensitive skin survivor, uh, living on a strict regimen of CeraVe and Cetophil and nothing else.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I basically gave myself rhosacea by bombarding my skin and just messing with its physiology.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's actually huge.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm actually um thank you for bringing that up.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sorry you had to go through that because I know that can be so traumatizing.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: I've actually um recently, you know, since I started screwing hierarchy, I I don't mean to interrupt you, but just to add to your point, I've seen this before, um, especially on like Reddit forums, because a lot of times people are so keen on trying every single product that comes to market that they don't understand that the what they're doing to their skin is just stripping it and creating like a permanent inflammatory you know microenvironment for things to occur.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I I know it's a problem uh in skincare uh you know enthusiast community, especially.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: So I I feel your pain.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, to add color to that experience.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: My my main office was in the penthouse of basically a flagship Sephora.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, no offense there, but every evening sometimes I would like walk down, get a mask, or get some other product, or get a sample, and just feel like I, you know, did something special for myself and really buy into that kind of very one-dimensional self-care uh story.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I would take it home.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, anytime my skin burnt out, I would just try harder to kind of wrestle it into submission.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yes, so that was my turbulent relationship with consumer skincare and the inspiration behind starting motif.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's that's insane though, that it because you know, it's such a real concern, right?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: For everyday consumers.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like you know, a lot of times um I interview so many brands and there's so many great stories, but it's like, you know, very humbling to see that, you know, you guys brand founders are just like everyday consumers as well.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like you go through a problem and then you try to find the fix to that problem.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: So what led to Motif?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, what did you um what were the pillars that you started the brand with, you know, in terms of what you wanted to put out there and what you wanted for your products?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was on, so this was you know, 20 um 20, I was on uh only Seturvey and Cetophob, nothing else.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was pregnant, I was getting older, and I felt that this the very gentle options out there were just not potent, and they and I wasn't seeing results.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, to add to that mix, I had rosacea, which was just, you know, just very a limiting, uh, a limit, a limiting factor.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I also struggled with um hyperpigmentation.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So during my pregnancy, I would have like one tiny zit and it would just be a mark in the middle of my cheek that lasted the whole year.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I just found myself like asking, what like if our skin behaves scientifically, why is there so much subjectivity in our skincare and our skincare products?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: It just didn't make sense.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And ironically, at the same time, I was an innovation consultant working with um working advising Fortune 100s in food and beauty.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so for the first time in my life, I had an insight into what was happening in RD and product development and innovation and marketing in the boardrooms of these big beauty conglomerates.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it started to, the, you know, the puzzles started to come together in terms of like what were the reasons for my dissatisfactions as a consumer.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the same time, you know, again, through just it was like the perfect storm.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a friend of a friend introduced uh me to Dr.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Indy Chabra, who is um, you know, a core um a core force behind our formulations.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's a Stanford educated, board-certified dermatologist and also a PhD in chemistry.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we just bonded over the lack of science in consumer skincare, his experience in the clinic, and my experience um at home with consumer skincare.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we decided uh to create motif.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's I mean, I I love that you went the right way though, you know, because I know a lot of people sometimes they research ingredients, and I actually have this conversation a lot with chemists, believe it or not.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they'll mix ingredients, you know, and they they'll come up with a little concoction and and a lot of times it works for them, you know, and a lot of times it really does work for them.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I I applaud the creativity and the and the curiosity of that, but I also know that, you know, having that board certified dermatologist that is really going to partner up with you in a way that is very much like, you know, every step of the way, you're you're consulting them, you're working with them, you're really learning the medicine of it all, you know, that is a really um unique thing that I notice these days in brands.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, because unfortunately, um a lot of brands will say, you know, we worked with a dermatologist, but it it's not it's not very like close-knit, you know, and I think that needs to be addressed because there's a lot of stuff out here made by chemists, and I love chemistry.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, um a medical doctor is going to have this like approach, right?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be biology, physiology, um, chemistry, you know, the immunology of it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's so many factors that come into play with skin health.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: So it's so important.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm saying this really for the young entrepreneurs out there that might be thinking about creating a brand because there's so many things that go into making it.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: So that's really cool that you worked alongside um, you know, uh a really great doctor.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you you know, I love that you say that, Icca, because for me, when I approached this, I felt the process was almost like you know, three concentric circles.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's the core pot, which is the chemistry, which is how ingredients behave, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And how ingredients come together and what gets dissolved and what and what pH it needs to be, how stable it needs to be, does it discolor?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Does it fall apart?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: How robust is it?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: How scalable is it?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's you know the science, the science behind our skin and and the Durham angle of you know what uh you know how uh how our skin works and how ingredients work with our skin.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what, and then it also translates anecdotally to what he's seeing in in the clinic in terms of what people are saying but then doing.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then that from my background was in psychology, and and then my training was in tech.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I find myself thinking a lot about things like format and consumer behavior, because that's another thing to solve for that we don't hear about a lot.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a focus on just the ingredients.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if we're delivering in a format that is not very user-friendly, if we're delivering in a format that causes extreme downtime, then people aren't able to be consistent with their self-care, which also means they're not going to see the results.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it it's really it all comes together in like a perfect symphony.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and that's what we really try to do with Motif.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I completely agree with you.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I think that it's it's it's a really important topic.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, what I really like is that you do have a very unique approach.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, like I said in the beginning of the interview, the cleanser itself, you know, even from the first step of skin health and skin routine, you've kept the you know, importance of just giving your skin nutrients in mind.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: That is so unique to me because we often look at the cleansing step, and I really want to take a time some time here and dive into the cleanser because it was recently in our top picks.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a huge fan of it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's a really brilliant product, and I want to talk about it, you know, because at the end of the day, cleansing is something we ignore as consumers.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we either do it quickly, we are in a rush when we're doing it, we're using a lot of times harsh shoap harsh uh soaps or you know, whatever detergents we're using in our actual products.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, it's really um not good for you to just, you know, blindly look over this step and not look at the ingredients and not think about, you know, what does this step mean to you as a consumer?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, at the end of the day, the cleansing step is the first time your skin gets exposed to any chemical, right?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: So the skin, the the top cells they're gonna have a reaction.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I often say this, you know, I was on somebody else's podcast recently, you know, Dimash Day, and I was talking to them about how it's so important because right now we have this craze, right, in the skincare world where everyone is so focused on serums and moisturizers and and these actives, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: But no one is stepping back and saying, Well, where does it begin?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, where does my skin's uh you know, exposure and the sensitivity aspect really start, you know, because that's that's why I get so intrigued, right?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I want you to tell us about the cleanser.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Where did the concept come from?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: What it what were you thinking, and and what did you want to achieve with it?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I can you raise some really great points there.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when I was looking to launch our line, you know, everyone was like, oh, well, so you're gonna launch with a serum, you're gonna launch with a serum, you're gonna launch with a moisturizer.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And again, maybe it's like the very like methodical part of me.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, the first step is how we wash our face.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually felt that it was the most underrated step in the industry.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it helped to have that vantage point as a beauty outsider.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I look at this category and it's the largest category because at a bare minimum, everyone's washing their face, right?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even if you get that serum and you know, at the bare minimum, you're washing your face.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look at it, and even if we just look at what are metrics of importance, let's say dollar per ounce, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's the least dollar per ounce, it has the least actives, it has the most chemicals, it often has the most fragrance and irritating essential oils.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And here we are first thing in the day, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Or you know, first thing in the evening, we're doing often doing damage to our skin, or it's a missed opportunity where we're doing nothing to our skin, and then we just layer on products on top of it.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's either something that's taking our skin back a few steps, or it's it's a missed opportunity.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we named it abundance because it points to the wealth of ingredients, like the beautiful, scientifically backed, optimum-dosed ingredients that are in this cleanser, that are also, you know, also maintaining that skin barrier, preserving it, your skin biome, so that you you know you start well.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's an opportunity to make an impact.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, really, when I looked at rinse offs, everyone said, well, no one's gonna pay for rinse-off.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at the most dollar per ounce people are spending, what is it?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mask.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's also a rinse-off.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if anything, that's a product that people are using like what once in a month, if that, if they get the time to do that.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to create an opportunity for busy moms and people like me to use a cleanser and use that opportunity, that everyday opportunity, because an everyday opportunity is an opportunity for predictability and consistency and impact.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if we had this cleanser that was gentle and rich and uh potent, you could leave it on for a minute in the morning, a minute in the evening, and it adds up to 14 minutes of the ingredient exposure, and it leads to real results that you can see and feel pretty much immediately.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, everyone told me not to start with a cleanser, and it's interesting because you know, we we're winning awards and and it's really getting noticed, and we're getting a lot of positive feedback for from from the industry.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, I mean I think it's a great product, you know.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think the I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I've said it many times, but I'll say it again, you know, uh maths are my favorite type of skincare products.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love maths, you know, they're my go-to, and and I will never back down from that because I recently, you know, just to add, I want to add to this point because I recently created a skincare, like a four-step routine, right?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was doing it for TikTok, and it was really in response to all of this other information out here, you know, about like skin minimalism and people putting routines up about skin cycling.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I thought, why don't I sit down and let me make a routine?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things that I noticed when I was making that routine was no one is talking about skin cycling in the right way.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: And by what I mean by that is you want to talk about switching out your products, right?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: Serums, moisturizers, actives.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what about your cleansers?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: What about your night masks?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: What about your nighttime?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like anything that you like, you said exposure, 14 minutes of exposure, right?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: What about your exposure products?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like no one is going it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: We're just not even discussing it as if they don't exist.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: They're some of the best products on the market.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: I have never had results like I do when I use a good mask ever from any other thing, whether it's a serum, moisture, it doesn't matter.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: I love face masks because they're supposed to be made to be very nourishing, they're supposed to be made to give you that direct dose of just great, you know, ingredients, great, you know, effects immediately, and they last.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: And especially I'm I'm a huge uh fan of like night masks or any kind of leave-on mask.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: So with your cleanser, what I love about it is exactly what you said.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, in the morning, a lot of us are very busy, whether you're brushing your teeth, whatever you're doing, you're gonna need, you know, it's like eliminating a step almost, you know, like you're you're buying yourself time, but you're also like, you know, putting the idea of this instant exposure, this more nourishing, you know, uh approach to your skin health right from the get-go of when you get up, right?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so you don't have to wait until the end of the evening or end of your day in the evening to do a face mask.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: You can do it first thing in the morning, you know what I mean?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it's gonna make your skin glow.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: And there's a lot of us out here who don't have time.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Makeup loves a good face mask.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you right now, for everyone listening, if you're somebody who struggles a lot with your makeup, like flakiness or like you know, whatever, this is a great product for you, this cleanser.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because one thing I noticed is once you do put it on, I leave mine on for like one to two minutes.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Just depends on the day.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: And it's usually like I'll put it on, brush my teeth, and then I'm ready to wash it off.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: And the cool thing is it's got that really gentle exfoliation in there with the beads, and I it really leaves your skin primed, prepped, and ready.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so when I put on my makeup, it goes on beautifully.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's flawless, it's like a clean slate that you're putting it on.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: But you don't have to worry about, hey, I still have to do my hyaluronic serum.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, I still have to put moisturizer.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: No, you don't, because your skin, like I said, it's supple, it's soft, it's nourished.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what we don't, we are missing out on that.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: By not using exposure products.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that was my point.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, but thank you, thank you for for all those, um, for all those insights.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: When I um I I still had my full-time job um when I was uh started developing uh our cleanser, and we got our first submission, and I tried it on, I washed it off, and my face was so soft, like it's never been.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I quit the next day.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I quit my full-time job the next day.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I just, you know, I I wanted, could I do it?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you know, the world, the beauty world does not need another brand built on just marketing and branding.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really, the proof is in the pudding.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted a brand that people would buy over and over and a brand that was truly uh providing impact and results.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, it's it's funny you say that.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have had some, you know, some people that are just like, well, you know, it doesn't leave my face squeaky clean.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lot of education we're doing is like that's squeaky clean is not healthy feelings.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's not what you want.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine the task in front of you with that.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, honestly, the thing is, you are I mean, I can't agree with you more.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's exactly what she said.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: You do not want your face squeaky clean.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: That means that you have stripped it, you know, and so people are see, that's the thing.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: We have this misconception of what clean means in always in the in our world, you know, clean beauty, clean being clean, like everything, you know.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: It just you don't want your skin, whether it's your body skin, your face skin, nobody wants to strip that, you guys, because you know how when you get really itchy, being itchy like on your body or something, that's not a sign of, oh, I just have dry skin.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: That means your skin is dehydrated.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, okay.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's not just flat out dry skin, that's an internal, prolonged, you know, a chronic problem that has now manifested into something that you're actually able to scratch your skin because it's so dry, that's not a good thing.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: So when you're doing, like I said, you know, I'd explain, like I explained how I use it, right?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: For my makeup, this is a classic example.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: If I were to use a cleanser that strips my skin, I can't just put my makeup on top of that.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have dry makeup and my face is gonna be dry, it's gonna look awful and it's gonna feel awful.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: And guess what?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: The makeup I put on top is gonna suck more moisture out of my skin and my barrier.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's so it is, it's an uphill battle to educate consumers on that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: I can definitely see that being a little difficult, but I agree with you.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think that it's time, you know, to really get behind this idea of what does having good skincare mean?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we've talked about skin minimalism, we've talked about skin cycling, and it's great, but really it starts from the first step, and that is cleansing.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: And if you don't do that right, everything else that you do afterwards is going to be one, you're gonna need more products, two, you're gonna have to deal with a lot more different issues, like for example, putting in certain like, you know, like collagen or or stabilizing, you know, properties into your whether it's your moisturizer or serum.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: And there's a lot of things, right, that go into play.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I I don't know.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I get it.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: I get it.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's why you ask people like, do you have dry skin or are you drying your skin, right?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have sensitive skin or are you sensitizing your skin?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so you know, often we think our skin type is something we're born with.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it we forget the agency we have when creating the situations that we're in.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: Especially with like um, so I am you know in my in my late 30s, and I know that with when women, as we age, our skin is going to naturally get drier.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's part of how being older and it's it's that estrogen.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: know the estrogen levels will fluctuate in your body.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I, you know, I want to speak about the ingredients in the cleanser because I think it's really important.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I would love for you to walk us through like some of the things that you guys made sure were in there to help nourish the skin and keep it balanced and soft rather than you know stripped like we were talking about.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So one of our hero ingredients are the pineapple phytoceramides.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So again, they're um most ceramides are synthetic and there's nothing wrong with synthetic, but we did find um these beautiful pineapple ceramides that are very bioavailable and create and also have a functional molecule phytyl, which is a precursor to vitamins E and D, and again just help reinforce that healthy skin barrier.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you know it also has a positive effect on like phylagrine and collagen production.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I attribute a lot of that to you know the pineapple ceramides.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's the Luther fruit so what you um referred to as the beads are actually fibers, which is why they sometimes feel a little uneven.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Beads can sometimes scratch the skin and they're often made of like very hard substances like seed powders or shell powders, right?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we actually use is a loofah fruit.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the loofah, you know the loofah that we you know bathe with uh so it's actually a fiber um which is one of the reasons why it it can sometimes feel a little um uneven because it's a fiber so it's rubbing against your skin versus scratching your skin uh and and plays a huge role in stimulating blood circulation.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: I tend to get puffy eyes when I don't sleep because of my two young ones.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so you know it really helps kind of like almost like a lymphatic drainage effect.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you know we have a French white orchid which it contains compounds like um flavonoids, a lot of antioxidants that help balance activity and protect the skin from aging and free radical damage.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know it's then we have shea butter we have niacinamide we have um licorice uh so all a lot of ingredients that help contribute to the plumping um effects and the softening effects and over time even a radiance and that seems to be a a heavy lift for um a face wash if you may but yeah that's what it's they they see it it's a full uh routine in a cleanser that's really cool yeah I think that's that's yeah good yeah you know we we I don't want to prescribe skin minimalism it it's it really is up I I feel like that's a choice that's up to the customer.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: What I want to do is create very meaningful products that are thoughtfully made and easy and desirable to consume because again to promote that consistency you know when I travel it's like the perfect size I take it with me when I'm you know when I get off the plane I can put a thick layer like a real mask otherwise I I use it to wash off my face you know wash off my makeup um wash off you know dirt pollution etc so it's it it's really almost it's it's like maximalist beauty in a minimalist routine if you may I feel like that's the best way to do minimalism though I don't think I don't really think believing in you know single ingredient products is skin minimalism.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think what skin minimalism is is finding very sophisticated you know formulations and products that have really been tested and you know approached that from various angles.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think when you have a product like this that is very sophisticated in its um formulation in its approach that is true minimalism because you have now countered about 10 different issues with one product and you are reducing waste you're reducing the frustration you feel as a consumer you're actually using things that are going to be beneficial rather than fluff because of course the brand has done their homework for you which by the way I want to talk about that in a little you know a little later but I think that's so important and I really want to say you know thank you for doing that because a lot of times we as consumers are left to just figure it out and that's not fair.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: So like I think that you have done that that's huge.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so yeah there's a lot of things here that are of benefit and I think one thing you said which I think is very very important is that you know you're a busy mom.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of times women especially we don't it's like you know I've seen my mother do it her whole life right let me just start there you spend your whole life being so involved with everything that's going on you always skip parts of your routine whether that's skincare whether that's self-care in other ways and then you reach a certain age and you look back and you're like I never took care of myself.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we talk about skin minimalism I often associate those kind of things you know on a psychological level and I'm sure you can understand what I mean where it's like you know when you flat out skip routine steps like things in your daily life that are meant for you it's adding to this like overall problem.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then you know you look back one day and you're like I could have done things that are just so much more you know better for you overall in your mental state and it would have helped you along the way you know and I think minimalistic products like sophisticated minimalism it helps combat that kind of stress you know what I mean and that's that that's really important.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you know we talk about you know scientific literacy and accessibility but a part of me and and you know this is what one of the big drive is also towards building motif is that there is too much education and there's we're moving power away from the experts into the hands of the consumer.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: The consumer thinks they want that but do they really right because it puts such a huge expectation and burden on consumers to do the work right so for the busy mom to do the work and then suddenly there's that paradox of choice that when they don't feel results, they think it's them and they then continue on this like search for better and better products and layering and you know doing more uh doing more aggressively and and as a consumer I wasn't willing to do that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I just wanted more head space I wanted more um clarity and so you know I love what you mentioned about minimalism because I was seeking that in terms of just clarity.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted products that worked I wanted products that I turned to again and again because I enjoyed using them.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought there must be others like me.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: Of course no absolutely there definitely are and I'm you know I really support what you're doing.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is very much needed and I think one of okay so you know I'm just gonna speak from experience obviously I that's all I have reference to right is my own my own thoughts and my experience and I think for me what really got me was that I could take the cleanser everywhere I went.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know it's a really nice like you've thought about a lot of different things and that's where I can tell immediately about brands you know I think because I see so many brands um it becomes easy for me to spot certain little things that go into making it easier for a consumer.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: So when I first opened the package you know just with the cleanser I immediately noticed you know what I can throw this in a bag there's not a clunky pump attached to this there's not you know these little things that we overlook but it went a long way for me you know because at the end of the day I don't have time sometimes I kid you not like you know my routine is like this I know a lot of women out there and men out there who also suffer from this we just don't have time in the morning.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: If you have to get to work by 6 30 7 a.m and you do not have time you can't rely on products that are going to be just at home use products you have to be able to take them with you.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: So like there's a lot of times when you are skipping out on certain things you would like to do but you can't do it.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: You know people talk about this stuff a lot when it comes to things like supplements or you know like those kind of products but I think skincare is equally important because you have to think you know I don't want to have to compromise on not having a moisturizer or a cleanser or serum because I have no time in the morning you know it's just not logical.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: So you know I just want to say like I think the accessibility the the usability of the product it really makes it a home run for me as well you know what I mean because I'm actually going to use the product you know we we're not gonna waste literally 75% of a product you know so um that's huge.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you again for appreciating that one of our mantras when you know doing approaching product development was show don't tell uh I mean we will tell and you'll find everything you're looking for uh we believe in transparency but you know are we testing on people with color people that have sensitive skin uh people that have eczema yes right are we building with those needs in mind yes are we thinking about how to you know prevent the congestion that can lead to acne yes but I don't need to keep saying that right I don't need certain colored models in my marketing I can just show it because when someone feels it that's the way someone who hasn't felt seen feels seen when a product works for them right they don't need to see their faces in marketing campaigns.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: They need to see a product that works because they realize then their needs were thought of and their needs were solved for and the proof is always in the pudding.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh a hundred percent yeah and you know I want to just even add to that a little bit too because I you know what really has driven me crazy for a long time is this idea of a lot of people like I know a lot of people have eczema they suffer from eczema it's a real problem you know same with a lot of skin conditions psoriasis you know there's so many problems right out there even dry skin I mean heck you know let's let's be honest here you know there's people that they will classify their entire beauty routine by saying I am a dry skinned person as if something's wrong with them.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's like we say these things and we label ourselves in these boxes but it's very rare to find products that don't exacerbate that labeling you know what I mean in the sense of I'm sick of seeing products that are oh this is the original formula but this is the eczema formula.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah well do you know how like sub like subconsciously do you know what you're doing to a consumer when you do that you're putting them in a box and you're putting you're further propagating their mental state of feeling as if something's wrong with them.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah you're alienating them and it's it's also alienating an entire you know section of this industry.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: You're creating a problem where I mean one exists obviously eczema is a problem but you're creating further ex problems you know in terms of accessibility in terms of you know consumers feeling safe like for example if you go to Walgreens and they just so happen to run out out of the eczema formula of a product that you've been using you know what I mean you're gonna be less likely to utilize the other product which is just the original formula because it doesn't have the big eczema seal on it.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: So that's where I get very irritated with that because I don't think that's fair.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think you should I think that's where the homework comes in that's where brands need to do their homework.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: If you're creating a good if you're creating a great product I understand people who suffer from eczema require more hydration than say average consumers.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: If you have oily skin you might not need that much you know like uh what do you call it moisturizing moisturizer or whatever you know but you will need your own level of it so you can utilize things in different levels right you can use more of it or less of it.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: But as long as it's a good product it's formulated well there aren't any irritants in there there aren't any you know allergy or immunology exacerbating you know aspects in the formulation it should be a great product for everybody you know and that's where I really think that companies have to do more homework.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have to think about that because yeah so I just think it's important that you say that there were times when I didn't feel like seeing it's made for all skin types because it felt very mess and felt like it took away from my homework the homework that I did but truly I believe that we're all chasing that homeostasis we're chasing that idea that our skin is in equilibrium it's doing the best it can be it is healthy healthy skin is soft and radiant and um has optimum cell turnover and and all those things that will make it look beautiful and glowing.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and skin that isn't that is off you know it it it it's fallen off the the path and what we need to do is pull it back on right and and if you look at oily skin it doesn't mean necessarily that oily skin is sufficiently hydrated either or you know or that anyone even with resilient skin should be subjecting their skin to irritating ingredients that would flare up someone with eczema but nevertheless it's not good for anyone.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: So really there was this thought process of okay how can we make this product really work for someone with dry skin but also really work for someone with a tendency towards imbalanced sepum production.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: So really balancing all those skin functions for everybody to get to that common goal of beautiful healthy skin.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah and I think that's you've really hit the nail on the head with it it's a beautiful beautiful product and I I'm a huge fan of it.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you know my next question really is it's about the how does it work right because I mean I really like to here at skincare anarchy we are huge believers in the who, what, where and why you know what I mean and how of products because I think that's what the industry and consumers they don't get enough of it.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean in terms of understanding a brand why they should be buying it and how it works.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I want to ask you you know how does the cleanser for example how does it work why does it work you know what I mean in terms of you had mentioned there are ceramides in there you know I love that but you know what was have you guys seen any like survey data from like consumers or did you do any kind of you know studies or clinical trials yet or have you gone there yet as a brand yes so they are currently underway um and so I approached this in in two ways right first is the research that is backing the formulation process itself which is again something that a lot of brands get wrong right so when we started our formulation process we realized that there were so many ingredients and so many ingredients had all these claims it was almost like you could pick up any ingredient under the sun you go online you type it in and you realize it has amazing skincare benefits.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god avocados to tomatoes to anything and um I remember this one day um I emailed my darm and I said hey Indy uh let's you know what about rose oil is there any scientific literature in rose oil and he replies back to me yes there is a lot of it uh a lot of research about how ineffective it is so sorry he said yes there's a lot of research about how ineffective it is for any skincare aging claims wow so what is going on there right yeah yeah I'm gonna I'm not I'm like not gonna comment on that because I know what he's talking about yeah so so what we have going on here right is a situation where we have ingredient suppliers who have research that is you know not necessarily not all of it right is peer reviewed scientifically backed independent unbiased which are the core pillars of the scientific method right and am I causing trouble by saying that no you're not okay okay no no this is this is needs to be said it I mean it's true yeah so you know with the rise of like clean skincare there's been such a big focus about what shouldn't be in our skincare and that's what the spotlight has been in the industry you know if you look at like drunk elephants like suspicious six etc and that's great but we also need to be thinking about what is actually in our skincare and what is the supporting evidence there even before we go into trials right so you know it it reminds me of the the famous like Kellogg research right where they said kids that eat Kellogg's perform better at um for breakfast perform better at and eventually they got into trouble because their control group was kids that hadn't eaten any breakfast yeah exactly well so now like complete we have claims like Kellogg's everywhere in the beauty industry so we have all these ingredients that are great ingredients don't get me wrong but are they scientifically back and sure people are using the word science back differently we are using this term science back because we will only use ingredients if they have been seen and known and measured to have positive results no negative results as per acclaimed rigorous scientific literature literature out there.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly no you know what I the reason I kept quiet was because this is such a like for me it is such a huge point for me personally like I am very passionate about this you know on a on a very personal level and that's really why it's shameless plug but that's why I created the safe seal like point blank this is why I created it because of what you said.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean this is this is the problem.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_03: We have so one of the one of the things in safe seal right that I put in there and this is actually FDA regulated and this is you know common in things that have to be FDA regulated but I think that we need to see more of this in OTC products.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things is you have to publish in a journal a met so for everyone listening medical journals are rated by an impact factor and that impact factor implies that how how many times has that medical journal's articles been cited how many times have they been referenced how many times have they been read yeah okay yeah so that is all relevant because if you're publishing studies right or whatever it is and they're never being read or cited by another researcher yeah that means they're garbage.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_03: That means there's no validity to them.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_03: So here's the thing there's a huge debate right now in the biomedical community about this and there's a huge debate going on because there's a lot of papers out here that never get cited.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: They're irrelevant you know what I mean and a lot of them if whether we want to hear it or not are in the realm of skin health dermatology there's a lot of papers out here.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean I'm talking about ingredients that you know you know what I mean you might like obviously as a founder you've researched a lot of ingredients at this point right and you'll they I mean I'm talking papers that you read them and you know exactly what the real research states and you'll read them and they're completely not correct what they're writing in these papers.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's where I was like you know when I created the safe seal I said if you do not have a journal if you published your clinical trial somewhere or any of your data anywhere medically in an academia setting you need to in a peer reviewed setting you need to make sure that journal has an impact factor of one or high.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: And if it does not then that means that you're either it's a brand new journal and so they have no credibility.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay and that's important because if you no one is citing that work and that data or no one is even reading about it, you know, even reading your data that means the scientific community doesn't stand behind you and they don't stand behind what you're writing.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so you know consumers don't know that.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm saying that no for sure and look some of this might even be too technical right I almost see this see this as like behind the scenes responsibility and accountability right I don't want to put another thing on my consumer's plate to figure out right yeah but you know one thing I would say if then you know maybe this is even a follow up conversation but what I would just say is that the burden right of doing a study and publishing it in a scientifically claimed and as you say heavyweighted is extremely expensive for a small brand it is So what I say is the start, right, for a small brand is to be using ingredients that are vetted by the right journals, right?
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: And again, to your point, you know, I remember that there was an article I found in a scientific journal online just in the beginning when I couldn't tell which journal was legitimate and which journal was new and yet to be um deemed credible.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I sent him an uh uh an article saying, hey, look, like this study said that there was a change in like removal of scars with roseip oil.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, uh-huh.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: The control group did it.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: So there was um uh, you know, a control group that was rubbing rose up oil on their uh scar and the other control group did nothing.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: I said, yes, that's legitimate control group.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, no, they should have been rubbing Vaseline on their scar because the control is not doing nothing because even the mechanism of rubbing helps with removal of scars.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh my goodness, how are we expecting people to you know figure this out?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have a science background, so I still can be more discerning.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, my my you know, my thought is at least if we start right with what you're doing, which is you know, bringing the facts and science back to beauty journalism, what if we start with at least saying, okay, if there are bodies and bodies of literature, right, that have published research about ingredients, they have published data around the optimum usage ranges for those ingredients.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: They have published which ingredient it should be.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say orchid, I mean there's like 300 varieties of orchid in the world, right?
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about that specific genus, that specific scientific name that has had those results.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's really what we did.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and, you know, in a way, you know, I'm giving our secret sauce, but that's what we did, and that's the start, right?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so obviously our clinical trials are, you know, that's the next step, right?
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's an expensive next step for a small young brand.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, the first stop, which is the foundation, which is like building the formulation, all of that has been done, you know, in a scientific using research that has been scientifically rigorously left.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: No, but you know what?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna say this, you know, I think this is important to really state, um, especially for consumers out there, if you guys are seeing a brand that's invested in this stuff, like you they've really invested their dollars into things like clinical trials or just studies, right?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: In general, to really find the science, the effects, the exactly what the chemicals and ingredients are doing.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's better money, what money well spent in comparison to, oh yeah, we just paid a bunch of UGCs to create some content.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: That means nothing to me at the end of the day.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean that you as a brand are more viable than you know, XYZ that I can find at our drugstore.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: Because at the end of the day, I still don't know enough about you.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know who you are, I don't know what your ingredients do in synergy with one another.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where I get so passionate about this and why I created the safe seal, you know, going back to that, that's really why I created it, because there were brands out here, such as yours, you know what I mean, that I kept interviewing, I kept talking to these founders, and they were doing everything right, you, you know, checking off the boxes, doing the due diligence towards their consumers.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: And there was nothing out here to award them, you know, in a sense of, hey, good job.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for being conscious, thank you for being, you know, forward thinking, for being science-minded.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that is like huge because at the end of the day, someone, you know, going back to our point, someone who does pick up your product that has a little bit more sensitive skin than normal isn't gonna have that reaction.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: They're not gonna deal with the hypersensitivity reaction that a lot of times I see on Reddit from products that are just mass marketed to everybody, you know what I mean?
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_03: They're not gonna see that.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's it, that matters more at the end of the day.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_03: So, like I, yeah, yeah.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm I'm a huge believer in it.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that, you know, it it is expensive.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_03: You're right, it's very expensive.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: But who if we don't do it on the level of brands or the media or you know, anyone who stands for this, then how are the consumers gonna know?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: They're never gonna know, you know, and who patch tests anymore, you know, and let's be honest here.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know a single person in my life other than the ones that have serious allergies that actually patch test products.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: So again, it falls on the shoulders of the brand, you know?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so I, you know, I don't want to go down that road too much.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like you said, it is, it does get very technical, gets very complex.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: But again, you know, I think it is very telling of a good brand versus not when you have one that's so willing to speak about it.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you for you know for bringing that conversation, being open to having it, because you know, there's nothing to hide here.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: The the transparency is right there.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's that's huge.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's really huge.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, another thing I would just want, you know, to tell consumers and something I've told my friends, and something that I realized I stopped doing was to trust yourself.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: If something's gonna work, it's gonna work, and you're gonna see it.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when you talk about self-care and brands are selling you things that are irritating to your skin, and you have to like put up with that downtime, that's not self-care.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, self-care is net positive, right?
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, and results, if they're there to be seen, they will be seen.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: And just like really tuning in to yourself and your gut and like taking care of your skin, because the core function of the skin is to keep the good in and to keep the bad out, and you know, anything else we do to compromise that will actually, you know, lead to worse skin.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_03: I 100% agree with you.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that more people need to have this mindset, you know what I mean, of just being a little bit more, you know, just not even vigilant, but just understanding that there's a lot that goes into this.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: And you might not understand all of it, but you do have to trust and trust the people who are doing things correctly, and and you know, do your homework around it is my is my point.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, as a consumer, there's a lot of mess out here, and there's a lot of really great stuff as well.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: And unfortunately, because of the way marketing works, because of the way that the industry works, you know, whether that's in skincare, beauty, fashion, doesn't matter, you know, even healthcare, big pharma, you know, yeah, the people who have the big dollars, sometimes they're gonna be able to push products out more for, you know, just visibility's sake.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: But that doesn't necessarily mean that what they're doing is better than another brand that might you might call something like an indie brand or a startup brand, because it doesn't matter.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: It the what matters is what's in the formula.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: What matters is like how it works, if it's actually creating results for people, you know, if there's somebody in your life or someone that you know you can really trust, um, you know, explaining to you why those products work, those kind of things, right?
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: They're teaching methods and you should always be looking for those, I think.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm always looking for them as a consumer.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't pretend like I know it all.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's really important to get out there to the general consumer is this idea of you're gonna have to dig a little bit deeper.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: But once you do, you're gonna find products that you're gonna stick to for a very long time.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they're gonna be your holy grails, they're gonna be your go-to's, you know, when you don't know what to pack in your bag for a trip or a vacation.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know now what you can trust.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: That you're not gonna have a breakout overseas or something, you know, something like that.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like, so I think it becomes very important.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: And so I really, really commend Motif.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it's a really great brand, and you guys are really doing something great.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a huge fan of, like I said, the cleansers, it I use it.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: I use the cleanser in my normal routine.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_03: I absolutely love it.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_03: People have actually asked me about it.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, that's the funny thing.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: When we published our top picks, I wanted to tell you, um, you know, people reached out about your cleanser.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and they were like, you know, how do you like it, Ecta?
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: Is it really good?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, it's amazing.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's amazing.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: And yet, you know, and it really is.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so I really urge everyone out there, you know, at the very least, check something out.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, check it out.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like, just go out, go out there, get a, you know, maybe you can try it and see how it goes for like a week or two, and you know, make up your mind then and start recommending it to other people that might be, you know, really kind of like you.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's how you spread the word.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I really encourage everyone, check it out.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_03: Everything in our top picks, by the way, is fully vetted.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_03: So you guys can trust, you can trust our top picks, and motif is definitely in there.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_03: So just want to, you know, give a shout out for that.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: We are seeing a lot of repeat customers for that one SKU.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our second SKU is coming up.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're seeing a lot of subscriptions, um, and we're seeing a ton of gifting behaviors.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, people that have bought once, we see that they're buying it for their friends, for their moms, for their sisters, for their like mother-in-laws, for their husbands.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're seeing a huge like so.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it goes to say that yes, it might be more expensive for me to acquire that one customer, but what I'm seeing is that that customer is becoming far more loyal than they would to perhaps another brand.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you guys are experiencing, you know, the well-deserved success that you know is is coming and it's it's very much due because you've created a beautiful line.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I can't wait to try the second skew, by the way.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really excited that you guys are expanding and and you know you're growing.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really what that was my round out question for the interview was you know, what can we expect to see from Motif in the future, you know, whether that's products or whatever it might be that you're working on.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we have our um serum, it's our um power brightening by sell serum, which again, depending on when this uh podcast airs, um it should go live.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: It goes live next month.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there's uh a third product and a fourth product in the works that will be launched within the next uh six to eight months as well.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's amazing!
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: Serum's another funeral, so we'll be sending it to you soon, Aikta, for you to try and hopefully.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: I would love that one of your I would love to have you back to talk about those products.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds really exciting, and I'm I'm so happy to see that you guys are growing and expanding your range.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, absolutely for everyone listening.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_03: I really want you to check out the brand.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I really mean it, you know, when I say like if this if you know it's a good brand, I'm fully gonna stand behind it.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I really do stand behind the cleanser.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's the one I've tried so far.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful, beautiful product, and I have had nothing but success while using it.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I really, really count on it on days where I just need my skin to look the way I need it to look, especially in the mornings.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you all have been there, busy morning, lots to do.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: Can't sneak in a five-step routine, you know what I mean?
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_03: You just you want to, but you can't.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really, you know, it comes in clutch on those days.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_03: It really does, especially like in terms of hydration, nourishment, keeping your skin soft, supple.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I was actually gonna say, Devonchi, that it invite it like reminds me of like um cold cream back in the day, but way more sophisticated, obviously, you know, like it really does.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, our grandmothers used to use cold cream to like, you know, like soften the face and then wipe it off, you know what I mean?
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_03: But like this is a cleanser, so it's so well formulated and it's so good, and there's no residue left behind, but your your face is just left baby soft and smooth.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so I really recommend everybody check out the cleanser, wait for the other launches to come out, and yeah, you'll probably be seeing them again next year at our topics.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_03: I I really, really love the line.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you so much, and um, thanks for tuning in.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you for coming on to the show with Von Shea.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: I really appreciate it.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was a pleasure.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, it's an honor to host you, and I will be back next time.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_03: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 56:58
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• 58:02
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