Beautybyfrieda

In the coming weeks, there will be an interview on my blog every week with Power Women who are in the Beauty Industry and who have realized their own brand. This time even two Power Women, Leslie and Monique from Natural Skincare brand Squalan.

With their own company they market plant-based skincare products. The key ingredient in all their products is the special substance squalane, which they will tell you more about in this interview. In addition, I will soon tell you more about their newest product Squalan Gold, a Facial Serum that works like a natural botox. I’m currently testing this and will post an extensive blog post about it later, in the interview the two power women will tell you a bit more about this anti-aging serum.

SQUALAN

Frieda – What does a working day look like for you as the founders of Squalan?

Leslie – I try to start the day with a walk in the park with my son (almost 4) and my mother’s dog. I love that I don’t have to set an alarm because I don’t have any school obligations yet, so I enjoy this even more. Although my son has an early biological clock;). Then I make coffee with cashew milk and slide behind my laptop.

The content of a working day is very different, but last year mainly consisted of writing blogs, creating and maintaining online marketing plans, devising plans to make more people fall in love with Squalan and to ensure that we grow online. In addition, a lot of time is spent researching and testing ingredients and coming up with new recipes. We consult with our team on a weekly basis and usually with each other on a daily basis. We both have our own tasks and specialties and things that we do together.

Monique – Unfortunately I don’t have that luxury! Where I used to be a late sleeper, nowadays I get up much earlier. With two teenage daughters in the house who ‘have to’ do everything in the morning, my day usually starts when the ladies also get up. Then I (usually) make breakfast for them and start the day with answering emails and a good breakfast! An hour later the highlight of the morning is my coffee with (unsweetened) whipped almond milk, delicious!

Frieda – Can you share with us what you keep in mind when creating products.

Our ingredients must be skin-friendly. We work closely with Allergy Certified during product development and check every ingredient with them first. The toxicologists and dermatologists have access to the latest studies and therefore know exactly which ingredients are skin-friendly. Our ingredients must therefore be Allergy Certified.

This also means that our products never contain perfume or essential oils, they are not skin-friendly, not even the hypo allergenic perfumes. Hypo allergenic means ‘fewer allergens’ and less is still too much for us. We don’t want allergens at all.

In addition, we don’t want any animal products in our products and only vegetable ingredients. So we are a Vegan brand, not because vegetable ingredients are always better, but mainly because we don’t find it necessary to use animal ingredients when there are so many beautiful vegetable variants. This also means that all ingredients are cruelty free.

We also look at the number of ingredients, we only want ingredients that are really needed in a product and no filler ingredients to make a product cheaper. This means that most products only contain a handful of beautiful ingredients. The SUN products do contain more, but this is necessary to make it a good and safe sun product. We also want our favorite ingredient squalan oil in all of our products.

Frieda – Do you have a personal favorite among your own products?

Leslie – I’m really in love with our newest product, Squalan Gold, a wonderful anti-aging serum that gives your skin a silky soft feeling.

Monique – My favorite is the Cleanser and the SUN15. I often use a cleanser as a mask when my skin has to endure more. Then I let it sit for an hour. The SUN15 is a wonderful day care product that ensures that I get a nice tan despite my ruddy skin.

 Frieda – What do you find most challenging as an entrepreneur?

Leslie – I sometimes find it difficult to look from above. We have so much to do that sometimes I’m mainly busy with daily affairs and that I forget to look at the big picture and the plans for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. We also sometimes forget to reflect on how great it is actually going and how special it is that after 7 years we really have a brand, with beautiful products and happy customers. These kinds of interviews and the overwhelming reactions about the Gold makes you aware of what you have achieved again.

Monique – I think the biggest challenge is that you sometimes depend on many factors and people. If these don’t run completely as I have in my head or they work in a completely different way or if they drop stitches, I sometimes have enormous difficulty with that.

Frieda – I feel most beautiful when…

Leslie – My son looks at me in love.

Monique – I feel comfortable in my own skin.

Frieda – Tell us a bit more about your key ingredient squalane.

Squalane is the stable version of squalene, the terms are used interchangeably but this blog is very clear we think. 

It is a very special substance that every organism on earth has in it. The first 1-cell organisms already had squalene in them. In sharks it is located in the liver and in humans in the skin. You can also get it from plants and we found out that the sugar cane version is the most sustainable variety. Unfortunately, you cannot see on the packaging of a product where the squalane comes from, because the INCI of all variants is squalane.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of mixing, which makes the raw material cheaper and it may just be that you have a variant that consists of shark and olive. We buy our squalane directly from the discoverer and patent holder of the sugar cane version and we have a good relationship with the CEO, so that is very nice. In addition, our products are Allergy Certified and only at a toxicological level can you really see whether it is pure squalane from sugar cane.

Squalane is used in cosmetic products because of the restorative and skin-improving effect that the oil has. The skin recognizes this substance as the skin’s own – it is identical to the skin’s own squalene – which improves the skin. It is an adaptogen, which means that it adapts to what the skin needs at the time. Dry skin becomes less dry, oily skin less greasy and beautiful skin regains its healthy glow. Squalane restores the natural balance. The substance is non-comedogenic, which means that it does not clog pores or seal the skin. Squalane is a dry oil and absorbs quickly and does not remain on the skin. It also ensures that other ingredients can penetrate deeper into the skin and are better absorbed.

Frieda – I recently received a nice product from you, the Squalan Gold, a natural botox. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Yes haha, we are very happy with our other products such as the Pure and Moisturizer, but we are also getting older ourselves. In addition, the skin has so much to tolerate every day, such as environmental damage (eg smog), sun damage, blue light, hormonal changes. In addition to the Pure and Moisturizer, we wanted a product that contained a number of ingredients that would do something extra for the mature skin and that would be good for the damage we sustain every day as mentioned above (environment, sun, etc.).

Much is claimed and promised in anti-aging land, but what is especially important is that you keep the skin strong and protect it against damage from the inside and outside. We therefore chose ingredients such as Moringa and Baobab that are packed with fatty acids, vitamins and anti-oxidants to help the skin defeat free radicals. In addition, we discovered seaweeds that strengthen and restore the skin’s barrier function and tighten the skin. We believe this in combination with vitamin E and our squalane is the perfect combination to keep the skin healthy and to age as beautifully as possible with a radiant glowy skin. The Gold is also great for dry skin because thereby the skin barrier doesn’t work optimally.

Frieda – What are the biggest challenges in bringing natural products to the market?

Many ingredients seem fine but then turn out not to be skin-friendly at all (Allergy Certified). Many natural oils also have a certain scent of their own that is not always pleasant. You also don’t want to deodorize the ingredients because you are also taking away some of the good stuff. So it is really precision work to see which ratio you should use to see results without having a smelly product.

In addition, it is a quest for sustainable ingredients. For example, not every moringa is sustainably sourced, so you have to figure out where to buy it.

What we often encounter as a brand is that there is so much greenwashing nowadays. So many brands claim to be green, plant-based, organic, hypoallergenic and sustainable, but this is often not true at all. In addition, it doesn’t mean that a product is good for your skin, there is so much involved. Misleading marketing claims are really something that drives you crazy.

Look for the products and more information about this beautiful natural brand at Squalan.com.

XO Frieda