Latest / Skin Anarchy / Dr Yannis Alexandrides and Eva Alexandridis, co-founders of 111 Skin

Transcript

Dr Yannis Alexandrides and Eva Alexandridis, co-founders of 111 Skin · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: This is your host acta.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: And today I'm very excited because this is one of my all-time favorite lines, and I am so privileged to be able to interview the founders today.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Dr.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Janit Alexander Dutz and his wife Eva Alexander Dutt, who is the CEO and also co-founder.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome, Dr.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Janit and Eva.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: I am so thrilled that you are here.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for your time.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's our pleasure to join you.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm very happy to hear that you love one-on-one skin.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's a beautiful line, and my skin has been really responding from it actually.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm very excited to talk everything about the brand.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: And but I want to get started, Dr.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: I want to know all about you and your journey and your background in medicine and really what inspired you to create this.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I did medical school in Athens, Greece.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was born there.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And following my graduation, I decided to follow the steps of my father and come to the United States to train in surgery first and then plastic surgery.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I graduated from the University of Miami and both certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I followed up by doing two uh fellowships in microsurgery and craniofacial surgery in the University of Pittsburgh.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So following that, I decided to uh go back to Europe and I started a private practice in Harley Street in London.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Harley Street is uh the epicenter of medical private uh services here and attracts uh people from all over the world.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it I had an opportunity to start in private practice and uh in 2000 I established 111 Harley Street.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's really, really cool.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you went to the hub of uh medicine to to start your line in London.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's beautiful.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: So can you tell me about the concept?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: I want to know about the concept because I know obviously there are so many skin concerns out there, right?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I I get so confused um when I hear people say, you know, just words like hyperpigmentation or you know, dry skin or combination skin.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: So can you tell me um what your approach was medically when you started this line?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like what did you want to focus on?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, plastic surgeons, we work with skin, right?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the skin is the material we need to have to get good results.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So having good quality skin, it's something that plastic surgery itself cannot improve.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It you either have it with your jeans or because you have a nice lifestyle.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I was always trying to find uh techniques and products to improve the quality of the skin during uh surgery and after surgery in order to accelerate healing.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I never set to really create a skincare brand.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to find a product that will help my patients heal faster and better after surgery.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I started collaborating, I looked for years in different directions, and uh I started collaborating with two scientists who had a lot of experience in the field, and they were laboratory scientists.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So together we created a product we called it back then the dramatic healing serum, uh, which I still give to patients after surgery for a period of up to six weeks.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, our first observations were that the patients really liked the using it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the healing was uh improved, and a lot of patients uh following the first six weeks, they would come back and ask me to give them more.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so when I confronted them about well, this is just for healing and you have healed, so you don't need it anymore, they would say that actually it improved not just the healing process, improved the quality of the skin in general, and a lot of them had started using it as a day-to-day uh skincare product.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I want to actually dive more into that, but before that, Eva, I would love to learn um more about you because you are obviously half of the the brand, and I want to know um just your background and how you were interested in in joining this project and starting it.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So my background is a little bit different.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Yanis' family, his mother is a doctor, his father is a doctor, his sister is a doctor, married to a doctor.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely true.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um they're all you know different types of surgeons.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have no doctor background in my family.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good thing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Apart from being married to a doctor.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I grew up in Bulgaria and um you know during the communist regime.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I also come from a family of female um working women, which was quite unusual in Bulgaria.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: My grandmother was working in in the post office.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: I have pictures of her, you know, dressed up beautifully, and um, that was the time in the 50s where you know women were supposed to stay home and get married and have children.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: My mother was an air postess traveling the world, which was one of the most adventurous, uh, adventurous professions you can have in Bulgaria because we were not able to travel anywhere apart from the Russian bloc.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I had an opportunity to, I had a scholarship to study um in the States, in the United States, and I went to a university in San Francisco.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very much immersed into the whole Silicon Valley culture.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was there during the boom, and I was also there during the bust.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I for me was a whole new horizon, you know, young people starting their companies, uh, and you can imagine coming from uh from um communist country where people mostly worked for the states and they all had like you know chosen given professions.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: So when I came to I married Yanis, long story short, we met we met in the states, and um he was the one who had a more solid uh job, so I had to follow him because in Silicon Valley the company I was working for um stopped existing one day.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh I was always I was always interested in finding something that I can uh be engaged in um as far as a career.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And when and Yanis have been speaking to me for quite some time to he was on a quest to find something in his clinic to speed up healing for his patients, but it wasn't for a product, it was really about enhancing the results of his patients.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um and of course, him being a surgeon, it's quite difficult to allocate time.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I I volunteered my time to do research and help him with this project because I've thought you know it's it's it's beauty, um, and it was something it needs a woman's touch.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we were we started working together.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was definitely the the brain and the concept, but I I helped him kind of execute the whole process.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and actually my my assistant started coming a little bit later when we started having requests from retail shops to really um launch the brand into a retail environment.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when we realized that a lot of work needed to happen because we did create a formula that was in high demand, but we were also giving that formula for free, and it was strictly for our patients.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I started being very, very involved with looking at the concept, the packaging, you know, the the marketing materials.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: So this is it it really was it was a bit of a hobby, and now it I I would have never imagined that it would be a global business.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: I can tell, no, no, no, the packaging, I'm glad you said something.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: I can tell that a woman designed that, Dr.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis, no offense, but it's beautiful, it's stunningly beautiful.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I completely see that.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, and and I love that you're from um, you have your your culture and your ethnicity from Bulgaria.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: I actually had a very good friend who was from there.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I know that the that unique cultural perspective, I think we need more of in the beauty industry.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, like that's for me a wonderful thing when I learned that the founder of a brand is coming from an international perspective.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, Dr.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis, you have the the medical know-how, you know, but when it comes to just the culture and the you know transitioning to America, I think that's such a great addition that Eva, you're bringing to the company, from what I see.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you so much.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, you know, today we're I was um having a conversation with my finance team, and I realized my whole finance team, which is five people, it's all women.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was telling them, I think we definitely are one of the very few companies out there because so many beauty companies are run by you know guys in the boardroom, and 95% of everyone that works for me uh and on the management level as well, is all women, and they're all from different backgrounds.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we have from Africa, from Asia, from all over the world.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I love that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: I really I didn't mean to interrupt you.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: I just think that's that's exactly the kind of forward movement we need in feminism, you know.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I really love that um that you have that diverse theme.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to shift focus, Dr.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: I want to go back to talking about medicine because I really want to know what are some of the main skin concerns that you originally were seeing in your patients that that really um were the first ones, you know, and then like kind of how that transitioned to more skin concerns that people can use on a consumer level.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, I do a lot of facial work, I do a lot of facelifts, eyelid surgery, and of course reconstructive surgery as well, deal with uh burns and accidents.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the healing of the skin is paramount, and the concerns of the patients in the aesthetic world is more about the speed and the recovery, and in the reconstructive surgery is about ending result, minimizing scarring and improving um the texture and how the skin looks.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So from early on, it was just about working into the cellular level of how to improve healing.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, I guess that goes back to really everybody, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because skin concerns, you are working on a cellular level.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, regardless of if you have surgery or not.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, like I wanted like in terms of when you were designing the products and the formulations and stuff, did you have to like you know completely go out of your way and hire a new chemist, or did you know what you wanted in the ingredients um in terms of the active components of your products?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um I I didn't have all the knowledge, and I have to really uh stress the importance of having a good team because surgeons we are more tactile, we're more about the final result, we know we're about the technique of the surgery and blood flow and things like that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to ingredients, then uh the the right scientists play a major, at least they played for us, and I cannot take credit for everything in that they they actually contributed a lot.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, my idea was in in the terms of delivery, how are you going to give a product like that?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, we had different ideas.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: We had at some point we're working on uh spawns that we could insert inside a surgical wound to improve healing.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: That was not very practical, and obviously, in it it wouldn't have any application in the wider market.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we directed them towards the serum, which is um at the beginning, it was probably not for them the number one consideration, but I think from as a surgeon and having this contact with the patient and the consumer, I point I kind of directed them to that field, and then they started doing more and more research on that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was it was a two-way road, it was back and forth quite a bit, and it took a few years until we had the right uh consistency for this serum.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: When Yanni said he opened his clinic in 2000, he uh we started developing this dramatic healing serum in 2000 and um around 2007, and we didn't launch in Harotz until 2013, 12, 13.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: So this is you know, this is many, many years in development, not not a retail product whatsoever.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a very, very long journey to get to this point.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, everything good takes time.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I totally understand.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and and one thing I have a question about is um in terms of just you know, people are out there consuming so much skincare right now, right?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and I know that everyone has their favorite product.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: For me, it's sheet masks.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: I love sheet masks, and yours are my favorite.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: I will say that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Hands down, everyone listening out there, if you have not checked out their sheet masks, please do, it's gonna change your life.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I want to talk about how that concept uh came out.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: When did you guys decide to go into that um that category of product?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have to say that Eva had had the initiative on that.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, as she said before, um, was doing a lot of the sourcing of uh materials, of packaging, and traveling the world around.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And in one of her trips in South Korea, uh she explained to me how popular seat masks are, but the seat masks there are so um let me say flamboyant.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's very interesting to take a look and see how much they use and how they use them.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when she said this idea to me, uh my thoughts were wait a minute, we use materials like that in burns.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: We we use this type of dressings to heal accidents, and we we have bioocclusive dressings because we know the bioocclusive dressings are the ones that accelerate healing the fastest.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, what if we were to combine that principle and infuse our own ingredients into this mask and may basically make this mask the carrier of all the active ingredients?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So Eva's idea was a brilliant one, and uh we we had a little tough time at the beginning when we were talking to retailers, especially in the States.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I remember people would say, Well, people don't like to use masks in the United States.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, unless they try it, they wouldn't know if they like it or not.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Right, exactly.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I was turned down from one of the biggest retailers in the world, and they said this is not a category that we ever want to invest in because it's just a passing phase.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we we created the very first mask on the European market, uh biocellulose technology, because masks existed, but there's masks and masks.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, what Yanis is talking about, when I was in Korea, I was I was able, I was so intrigued uh with the technology.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I started visiting different producers and I discovered that you have paper masks, which are almost like um soaking normal paper with ingredients.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: They are they don't make really good contact with the skin, so they're at a very basic level.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have um uh biocellulose technology, which is what we used in our first original mask, which Yanis, when I spoke to him, then he said this is such a big synergy because this is the one, this is a technology that it's used in wound healing.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a natural progression for us to want to use the best technology.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we were the first people to bring this technology here, and it took a lot of time to educate people, but I'm so happy that you know you you said that you use our mask and you love our mask.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, oh my gosh, if they're beautiful, and you know, but here's the thing I did not know about the the surgical component, Dr.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis, when you explained the biocellulose is actually helpful in wound healing.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: I did not know that.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: So when I, you know, now that I'm thinking about it, that is the perfect merger of medicine and skin, you know, just skincare from the and I don't know why other people don't think like that, you know what I mean?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I get very confused when I when I see products like this, and then I see somebody who's like, well, you can't merge dermatology or plastic surgery with, you know, consumer market skincare.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I disagree because obviously here it is.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, you're right.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a very big point because um if we think uh when we launched commercially the brand in 2012, uh the idea of merging science with skincare was still uh a baby, it was just just be becoming known to the consumers.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: But now actually uh the consumers are much more knowledgeable and understand that what they want from the skincare is effect and results.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they actually respect that uh heritage of a brand more and more.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it happened to be uh because it was created in in an office, in a plastic surgeon's office, uh, ahead of in a way it's time.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely ahead of the game.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: What Eva said is 100% true.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: We had we had um department stores and um chains who actually told us, look, this product looks fantastic, but we think it's too early to introduce it to the to the uh to the market.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of an interesting situation to know that you have something that actually could be very good, but uh it's too early to have it available.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I wanted to ask you, actually, both of you, because uh, you know, for me, I'm looking here, sitting here, and if I was a retailer and a surgeon is coming to me and saying, listen, this works medically, I wouldn't I would not say something like this is too early.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I wouldn't.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: I have to be honest with you.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: This actually, you know, our Harolds, our buy-in Harolds, uh basically said, look, you know, it's you, we love your products, and if you want to launch it, we launch it for you.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: We launch it.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And they gave us a chance, but it was mostly because they liked, you know, the heritage of the brand.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily they gave us an opportunity and and we we established this whole category category, and I like to think we're the leaders in that category because what we did is we took the Korean technology, but we infused it with European ingredients.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we actually um give give the know-how about our ingredients, and they're very unique, and they have some of them have never been used in the Korean market when they produce, so they have to be imported just for us.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so they gave us how it gave us a chance, and now it's it's such a dominant category all over the world.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I like to think that we are one of the you know pioneers that helped to introduce this.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely, no, you definitely are as a consumer.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: I can definitely say that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think your masks are, you know, for me, I love, you know, I genuinely love sheet masks.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I've tried almost every single one.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: So for me to say I really like, you know, one-on-one sheet mask, that's the ones I use, like that's a huge statement for me as a consumer because I don't deviate.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when I buy something and I like it, I stick to it.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I hear you.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: I want to actually, I want to shift focus again and I want to talk about ingredients because um, Eva, you made some great points about using ingredients that were not really being used before.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: So can you guys tell me about how that whole process is?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you know that something works and you want to use it in your product, what are some of the hurdles that you have to go through to make sure that you can incorporate it into your line?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I will start and I'll let Yanis elaborate on ingredients, but I wanted to say that we are, in a sense, very fortunate because Yannis is a practicing plastic surgeon, and he is not just a plastic surgeon when he opened his clinic here 20 years ago in the same location that he is now.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: He immediately also focused on non-surgical treatments.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So his practice was always split, half non-surgical, half surgical, and he firmly believes in technology and innovation.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we he is to me a laboratory of aging.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: He always comes to us and challenges us to develop something new and innovative, but he also spots the trend ahead of time.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we have so many circumstances where he comes like we are here today in my office.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: He walks and says, acne is the new epidemic, or NEC is the new face.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we we are then left like looking at him, puzzled, and trying asking for more information.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he he spots the trends ahead of time.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: When we said, for example, acne is an epidemic, is because so many of his patients have been addressing all these issues and asking him for solutions that he had to come to us and say, look, we have to tackle this in another in a way where it's targeted, it works, but also it doesn't irritate the skin.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: I want this and this and this.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So he tells us specific ingredients, and they're usually highly medical ingredients.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Then we have to go with my team, we we have to go with our scientists and find ingredients that are certified, available.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I mean, some of them are brand new, ready to be used and approved.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a very long process to a point where sometimes products for us take three to four years to develop just because we are on a quest to always look for the best.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Pioneers have that in common, what Dr.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis is doing.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: They just come up with an idea and they say, this is gonna work.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: Do it.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're not afraid to try, that's for sure.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we always have new ideas for products.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to know actually how you came up with the different lines in the brand, because the diamond line is actually the black diamond line, is my favorite.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I want to know um what the different lines really stood for, what you were thinking when you were creating them.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the first one is the reparative, the magenta-colored uh one, which is the um center around the dramatic healing serum.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: So the Y theorem serum is actually the evolution of the original serum we use in the clinic to a product that a consumer can use every day.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the hero product.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: So around that, we we created the reparative line, which is the entry level for pretty much every type of skin, men and women, and uh everybody would benefit by using these uh products.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then it was actually the the diamond line, as you call it, the intensive line, it was an idea coming from Harold.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So almost immediately after we launched, and when Harold saw that there was quite a bit of following with the with the uh grant, uh they wanted us to create a very exclusive line.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and again, we're talking 2012, um, where the price point uh was actually a problem because creating suds um a line becomes expensive when you use uh these rare particles, these black diamond particles are very expensive, but they do serve a very important role in improving the uh transportation of ingredients through the skin barrier.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we we were again kind of looking at each other who is going to buy an expensive product uh just because of this kind of technology.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I think again, having Harold as your partner helps a lot.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they gave us the boost that we needed back then, being complete amateurs in the uh commercial skincare, uh, meaning about how you sell in a department store and all that.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think what Yanis is uh trying to say is that Haros forced us because we spoke to them about this technology, which is this this is borrowed from a medical um medical technology, the delivery system of the black diamond, and we said to them there's this amazing technology that everything uh penetrates on a different level, but it would not be applicable in a retail market because it's a very, very expensive technology to work with.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, if it's good, you know, we can sell it, it has to work.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we created samples, we gave them, and Yanis and I honestly we did not believe we would even sell one because when we did the calculation, this this is black diamond um particles that are detonated in a special way, and it's very super advanced.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: When we did the calculation, we looked at each other, we're like, no one is ever gonna buy this cream.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: But please, you know, this is the kind of uh our clients are looking for something that is super high highly intensive and it works.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, this product we launched it, uh, and it was 500 pounds, I remember, and it sold out within a few months.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we only had produced a small amount, and and it was such big demand, people kept coming to us.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: But do you have eye cream with the same technology?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have uh more products with this technology?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: And now I think the Black Velma range, if I turn around and I look, probably has around seven or eight products, and it's our one of our best-selling range ranges globally.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: I can see why.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's going back to being effective, and I think people are looking for effectives, and they would go the extra mile of you know, uh paying higher uh price for that quality.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that that was the second line, the intensive, and then uh it was the other lines were a byproduct of um what I was looking at uh as problems in skincare.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Eva mentioned before acne, and when by saying acne, we want to broaden it, is not just acne as we know it in the teenage years, but also the secondary acne, a lot of especially women get later in life due to hormonal changes, due to stress or due to pollution.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so secondary acne and blemises is a big problem.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh finding the right ingredients that you can buy yourself without going to the doctor's office is very limited right now.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to create a line with medical grade ingredients that everybody could buy without having the risk to damage the skin.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: We created clarity based on that idea.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So clarity contains a cleanser, toner, uh, an overnight uh exfoliator, it has um seat mask, which is also biocellulose, and a booster.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, right recently we we launched a supplement that is dedicated to this type of problem.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have it right next to me actually.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: The clarity boost the clarity uh supplement, which also changes the microbiome of our gut in order to improve the balance between that and the microbiome of our skin.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, I okay, but hold on, hold on.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna get very excited here because my father is actually he my father's a PhD, and his entire his most recent work is in the microbiome of the gut.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I grew up learning about this, and so I have a great appreciation, and I'm so impressed that's your product.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm so excited.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think we just launched it, or we are going to launch it in the next uh two weeks.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be surprised.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: You you said uh sheet mask, but our number one global best-selling product is our beauty dose, which is not the clarity, but the original supplement we launched into the reparative collection.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And now, after four years, we've managed to create uh this supplement, and it really took that many years because um, you know, that's ingestible, and it Yanis's name is on the bottle.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: It had it had to be really every ingredient in there had to have a specific reasons, reason, and it had to have an effect.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we just launched them and it's really exciting because Wow, congratulations.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I'm so excited that you guys are coming out with these supplements.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I think that is the new wave also in skincare.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: People are looking more into this whole body approach to skin health, right?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Janis, like they're really getting more into that, and I and I like seeing that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: But if I were as a consumer, I feel more comfortable buying something made by a plastic surgeon than I feel, you know, XYZ, you know, made this supplement.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I think you know, that's important to put that message out there with supplements and with anything, you know, trust the people that are selling it.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that's where medical expertise really comes into this industry.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I feel like it just does not get highlighted enough, you know.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why I'm saying that.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: We we believe in this 360 approach to beauty.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, it's we I I don't consider ourselves just a skincare brand.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: I want us to be a proper 360 experiential brand, and that's why we offer a different value proposition for our clients.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you happen to be in London, you can see Yanis being for surgical and non-surgical treatments.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have the skincare, which for me you know boosts confidence and it's something that we take you on a journey, but then we have the supplements because it's very important the inside out.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: We we also have our spa, global spawn the world.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think in New York we have Equinox.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so we're very much experiential brands, and we want to keep creating, keep innovating so we can continue to have a long-term relationship with our clients.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, I love that.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I have one last question, actually, and I I'm very curious about this because I have a very special place in my heart for medical research.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Dr.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis, when it comes to creating new products and really putting that research out there and and you know, or doing your own medical research, right?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is the pro you or your process of that?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do you like to do your, you know, to do bench research research first and then come up with what ingredients, or how does that work for you, that whole process?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, the the the basic idea usually comes from from the office.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we I'll give you an example.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have one mask, it's called the uh microinfusion mask.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's uh a mask unlike the other ones, it contains 150 uh little cones uh that actually go through the skin and melt inside the skin.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the the way that this product came about was the following.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: We we do a treatment in in Europe, it's very popular.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think in the States it's not as well known.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's called mesotherapy.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, we inject small amounts of hyaluronic acid and vitamin C into the skin to improve wrinkles, to pigmentation, and to improve overall moisture because hyaluronic acid is a major um attractor of water molecules.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's one of the best products to use to improve um uh moisture in the in the skin.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I was trying to find a way to have a product that will mimic this effect without having to have injected into the skin.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so we I gave the idea to the team, they did go around, they found a place in Japan where it creates these transdermal applicators, which are for medical purposes.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we use them for um diseases, for example, for diabetes or for uh microabsorption of certain medications, and we we basically talked to the factory and persuaded them to create it for skin care.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we created this microcondes from 95 pure hyaluronic acid and five percent pure vitamin C.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So the product is I don't know, I uh your listeners will not be able to see, but I can see on the video.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: So this is the patch, and the cones are the product, they are the 95% hyaluronic acid, 5% vitamin C.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: So they're little cones that are attached to the skin, and the and it it penetrates into the skin.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's good for areas, for example, around the eyes where the crossfit develops, yeah.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um the labella lines for frowning.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of people call it like it's like a filler.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, it's a mask you can apply.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: It does take a long time to absorb, so it's an overnight mask, it takes three hours.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we recommend using it while you sleep.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: Those are even better, those are even better for me.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: I love I feel like I'm like the your ideal consumer.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: Why do I get that feeling?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Everything you say, I'm like, I love it, I love it.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: So in this case, the the process was a little different because we went to a medical approved facility.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: We actually, the the standards of making medications are much higher than medic making uh you know beauty products.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, yeah, yeah.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Other times we do our own clinical testing.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for example, we are launching something called Concentrates now, that we are you know asking independent laboratories to do their own research and give us the result before launch.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to make sure that what we claim happens and that the products are affected.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's something that's very unique because you know, I don't hear a lot of founders say that, you know, Dr.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yannis, like obviously, you know, with your medical background, you know the importance of clinical research, and you know, we we know that as medical professionals, but you know, most skincare lines don't, they're very hesitant when you ask them about clinical data.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just put it that way.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad that you're being very upfront and very transparent.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I absolutely love your line.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you both so much for going in depth and telling us.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and everyone listening out there, if you have not tried one skin, you need to get on it.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know what you're doing.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: This is one of the best lines on the market.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: It is really effective.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that, you know, when we can combine medical technology with something that the general consumer can have, it is an absolutely huge victory.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, without me ranting more, please go check them out.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: Leave any comments you have in our cover art for this episode.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: I will pass them along to Dr.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Giannis and Eva's team.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for your time, both of you.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: This has been such a pleasure.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: See you in New York.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's been a pleasure.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Have a wonderful.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hi guys, this is Ecta again.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to pop in and say I hope you really enjoy this episode.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: And also just to mention that we are so excited about our new sponsorship package, and um, we've been getting an immense response from it.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much to everybody who's responded.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: And also, if you know anybody or if your brand that is looking to sponsor us, please shoot us an email at skincareanarchy at gmail.com.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for listening to the episode, and I will be back next time.
• 35:42
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• 36:49
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