Advocating gentle and natural skin care products bursting with potent, superfruit bases, {Glow Recipe}’s founders Sarah Lee and Christine Chang are demystifying the world of Korean beauty while injecting some incredibly cute aesthetics too.
To celebrate Glow Recipe as our January Cult Brand of the Month, we sat down with Sarah and Christine to talk all things K-Beauty, Glow Recipe and understanding our obsession with al things cute.
When designing your forthcoming launches, how do you know when you’ve nailed the ‘cute factor’?
{Christine Chang} We believe in ‘skin-tertainment’ – having skin care be enjoyable and sensorial, these standards extend to our packaging as well. For example, our {Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask} was inspired by an ice cube, in homage to how our grandmothers used chilled watermelon alleviate heat rashes.
Of course, your products are much more than really good-looking. Can you tell us about the Glow Recipe ethos?
{Sarah Lee} We’re all about creating clean, fruit-powered, fun skin care to help bring out your inner glow and subscribe to the K-beauty approach of pairing powerful actives with gentle ingredients to keep skin happy.
With K-Beauty becoming more ‘mainstream’, it’s likely most of us have come across a sleeping mask – but what differentiates overnight masks from a night cream?
{CC} ‘Sleeping masks’ are formulated to harness the maximum benefits of ingredients with your skin’s natural repair cycle in mind. Our Watermelon Sleeping Mask is created with ingredients such as glycolic acid and lactic acid that do heavy lifting overnight so that you can wake up with baby soft, glowing skin.
We’re smitten with your ‘Avocado Melt’ range. Apart from our collective love for avos, can you tell us why it’s such a great ingredient?
{SL} Avocado is actually an amazing superfruit full of antioxidants, oleic and linoleic acid that helps reduce inflammation while helping to deeply nourish skin.
You’ve introduced a retinoid, in the shape of your ‘Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask’. For those who’re new to retinol, or wary of applying it around the eyes, what words of reassurance would you give?
{CC} When we were formulating our first eye cream, the {Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask}, we really wanted to be able to incorporate this Holy Grail ingredient, especially since it’s so effective on milia, dark circles, and fine lines. Encapsulated retinol is not only a super-gentle way to deliver this, but it also time releases small doses throughout the day and night.
We made sure to pack it with soothing and hydrating ingredients like encapsulated niacinamide and hyaluronic acid for continued hydration and nourishment, and antioxidant-packed coffeeberry, that helps awaken the eye area.
For those new to the range, what’s the product that’s certain to trigger addiction?
{CC} The Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask was our first launch and we were blown away when it sold out multiple times. We created this mask with the intention of giving customers that post-facial result; you truly wake up looking brighter and smoother than ever.
We’re OBSESSED with the ‘Watermelon Glow Ultra-Fine Mist’. Not only is it über-Instagrammable, it’s also the perfect skin pick-me-up. Can you tell us more about its (many) benefits?
{SL} It’s my go-to for refreshing throughout the day. The {Watermelon Glow Ultra-Fine Mist} is so fine that it doesn’t disturb make up and truly gives skin a needed burst of hydration. The watermelon extract instantly hydrates skin and apple cider vinegar helps balance oil production throughout the day. One of my favourite tricks is to use the mist between each skin care step to give me ultra-plump, hydrated glass skin.
And finally, what does 2020 have in store for Glow Recipe? We’re looking forward to your next (and no doubt adorable) launch… can you give us a clue?
{SL} We are always looking for the next innovative superfruit or ingredient to bring to our community. To start 2020 we launched the all-new {Banana Soufflé Moisture Cream} exclusively with you at Cult Beauty but you can definitely expect new fruits to be added to our existing range. We can’t wait to share it with you all!