In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr Firas Al-Niaimi. One of the most prolific and well-published dermatologists in the UK, if not the world, Dr Firas has written and contributed to over 160 publications, has delivered lectures in over 50 countries and is on the editorial board of multiple dermatology journals. A globally respected opinion leader, Dr Firas was who I felt was the ideal doctor to answer YOUR questions on acne, acne scarring, post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation and pore size. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be unethical for me to even attempt to address those skin concerns which is why I have long insisted on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela Medical, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. This series gives you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

As mentioned, this episode is sponsored by Candela Medical, however all of Dr Firas’ views are entirely his own and, as per any interview with a doctor, you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this episode. In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on acne to Dr Firas Al-Niami- from what those pitted acne scars actually are and how to treat them through to whether topical skincare can really help hyper pigmentation, whether or not pores can truly be shrunk and if there is, or isn’t, a definitive treatment for blackheads. 

This interview was recorded remotely, with Dr Al-Niami in London and myself in Melbourne. There may be a few answers that are difficult to hear and for this I apologise, but I am still absolutely committed to bringing you the answers to your questions despite current constraints so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read the answers you might miss- almost like a podcast with subtitles. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Candela Medical.” 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-acne-scarring-and-pores

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty seven of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to celebrity esthetician and founder of Angela Caglia Skincare, Angela Caglia. 

What do Barbra Streisand, Sting, Chrissy Teigen, Noami Watts and Helena Christensen have in common? Their esthetician, Angela Caglia. 

Even if you don’t have a vested interest in skin, or even in business, listening to Angela is so inspiring based on just how passionate she is about what she does. When she speaks of skin, it’s the vocal equivalent of someone’s eyes lighting up. 

Born in California, Angela Caglia became infatuated with Paris after watching Elsa Klensch on CNN. A summer spent studying abroad in the city served as Angela’s introduction to spa facials- something of a foreign concept in the US at the time. Upon her return, Angela did a double take as she walked past a newly opened Yon-Ka salon, then walked in and asked if she could work the front desk. From there, she became an esthetician, later working in New York before returning to Los Angeles and establishing herself as one of the world’s most in-demand facialists. 

It was during a facial at Barbra Streisand’s home in Malibu that Angela felt compelled to create her own line of products, a story best told by Angela but prompted when Barbra, inches from Angela’s face, looked up into her eyes and said “And what’s your dream?” Between 2016 and 2017 Angela Caglia launched her namesake skincare collection and opened the Angela Caglia Skin Spa in Bel Air. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Angela in Los Angeles, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com. Also, for anyone feeling stressed or may need something to lull them into a state of rest, listening to Angela very softly describe the sensory experience that is one of her signature rose quartz facials is the most relaxed I’ve felt in some months. 

In this conversation, Angela and I discuss the narrative surrounding men and skincare, how and why your skincare routine could be causing your skin concerns, and how Sting’s chef helped Angela with one of her most important facials ever.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-angela-caglia 

Follow Angela Caglia Skincare on Instagram at @angelacagliaskincare

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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In episode forty six of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to New York Times beauty writer and founder of Ellis Brooklyn, Bee Shapiro.

I consider Bee Shapiro to be something of a beauty oracle. Having covered style and beauty for the New York Times for over 12 years, Bee has interviewed countless CEOs and celebrities, been afforded unbridled access to the beauty cabinets and handbags of your favourite actors and actresses and trialled products that you and I haven’t even heard of- yet. I have long admired Bee and her work, not just for her insider knowledge and ability to list New York City’s top five facialists and their contact details on next to no notice, but for her intellect, her wit and, of course, her writing style. 

A law school graduate and former hedge fund attorney, Bee became a fashion writer for the New York Times in 2008 and was soon relocated to the beauty department where she began penning her column Skin Deep, which has since been published as a book of 40 plus interviews. 

In 2013, pregnant with her first daughter, Bee noticed that many of the brands that landed on her desk were making the move to “clean” formulations. Clean beauty was undoubtedly on the rise, with luxury brands embracing what was once a Whole Foods style sub section of beauty, but Bee noticed that very few fragrance houses were following suit. 

In 2015, Ellis Brooklyn was born- a luxury, niche fragrance house devoted to clean, small-batch-made scents. 

I’ve learned so much through watching Bee’s work from afar, so having over an hour to chat with her was a genuine privilege. Having worked in beauty for so long, Bee’s insights into cosmetics and media are invaluable to anyone with an interest in either. I’ve so enjoyed speaking to the founders of, quote unquote, niche brands of late, as something that keeps coming up is the increasing appetite consumers have to align themselves brands they really do believe in- brands with a story, brought to life by founders they trust. 

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Melbourne and Bee in New York, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com.

In this conversation, Bee and I discuss how social media has affected traditional journalism, how bringing others into the fold of your business keeps you accountable, and why consumers are no longer content with simply consuming beauty- they want to connect with it.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-ellis-brooklyn-founder-bee-shapiro

Follow Ellis Brooklyn on Instagram at @ellisbrooklyn

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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In episode forty five of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down, remotely, with the founders of D.S. & Durga, Kavi Ahuja and David Seth Moltz.

Working in beauty affords me the great privilege of trialling brands, both local and international, as they become available in Australia. Often a product lands on my desk that piques my interest beyond my already vested interest in beauty, and as I start to research the names behind it, it becomes apparent that this particular brand is quietly redefining the category in which it sits.

One such brand is D.S. & Durga, a fragrance house I first came into contact with in 2017 upon its launch into Australia. Founded in Brooklyn by husband and wife David Seth Moltz and Kavi Ahuja, D.S. & Durga came to be in 2007 when David, the brand’s now-perfumer, began developing fragrances for friends and family and Kavi, an artist, designer and architect by trade, suggested they turn their creations into a business. 

What D.S. & Durga are doing is so different to other fragrances houses, and I’m so grateful that I was able to listen to them explain the freedom that comes with being a niche brand who can create whatever they want to create, and how they balance that with quite an intuitive understanding of what is commercially palatable.

Being based in Brooklyn, D.S. & Durga is a self-described “quintessentially American” fragrance house in a market historically dominated by French sensibilities- not that there is a single thing wrong with that, however the perfume industry is saturated with brands intent on including French ingredients in their fragrances or French elements in their branding, even if that alignment isn’t necessarily authentic. As Kavi told me in our conversation, “Everything behind a brand matters so much more now than it ever has,” which presents a really powerful opportunity for niche brands to become their own storytellers as consumers want to know precisely who and what they’re aligning themselves with.

This episode was recorded remotely, myself in Australia and Kavi and David in the US, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com.

In this conversation, Kavi and David discuss the malleability of creative disciplines, the art of collaboration and the significance of the scents of both burnt tyres and boat gas. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-ds-durga-founders-kavi-ahuja-david-moltz

Follow D.S. & Durga on Instagram at @dsanddurga

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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How privileged I am to be learning about racism, rather than experiencing it. Black lives matter. The resources I mentioned that I had found useful can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17898196033499578/

In episode forty four of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder and CEO of Juice Beauty, Karen Behnke. 

Credited by Forbes as being the original pioneer of clean beauty, Karen Behnke’s career began as a health and wellness entrepreneur in the early 1980s. By the age of 25, Karen had founded two highly successful businesses in the fitness space, one being the first ever corporate wellness business in the United States- however the bank would not give her a loan unless she were married. 

Karen explains to me in our conversation that, when you’re an entrepreneur and you feel you have a good idea, you blast forward with blind faith- and that’s precisely what she did. In 2005, she launched Juice Beauty, one of the world’s first organic skincare brands and one that completely quashed the belief that natural products couldn’t match the potency of their traditional counterparts. 

With Karen widely regarded as an innovator across the health, wellness and beauty spaces, it made sense that when Gwyneth Paltrow was looking to develop skincare under her Goop brand AND find a clean, organic colour cosmetics range, it was Karen and the Juice Beauty team that she chose to work with. 

Heralding a collaboration between Karen, Gwyneth and their respective companies, 2016 saw the launch of both Goop by Juice Beauty AND Juice Beauty’s Phyto-Pigment collection- a clean yet luxurious line of colour cosmetics, born out of Karen and Gwyneth’s wish for makeup that cared for the skin in the same way their skincare does. Gwyneth was also appointed Juice Beauty’s Creative Director of Makeup, a role she held for three years, with Karen and Gwyneth remaining shareholders in one another’s companies to this day. 

Today, Karen tells me Juice Beauty’s focus is on returning to its roots. Time is being spent researching and continuing to innovate at the Juice Beauty Farm, with the brand working towards converting the entire farm to organic and continuing to improve upon their existing sustainability initiatives.  

This episode was recorded remotely, myself being in Australia and Karen in the US, so if you would prefer to read the interview you can find the complete transcript on glowjournal.com

In this conversation, Karen shares her biggest advice for those looking to fund a startup, how Juice Beauty manage to colour their entire makeup collection using plant pigments, and the secrets of the Green Apple Peel that put the brand on the map. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-juice-beauty-founder-karen-behnke

Follow Juice Beauty on Instagram at @juicebeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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In this special bonus Ask An Expert episode I’m joined by Dr John Sullivan. A dermatologist with over two decades of experience in both clinical practise and academic teaching in Australia and Canada, Dr Sullivan is leading the way in clinical research and is at the very forefront of advances in laser dermatology as the principal investigator on numerous dermatology trials. This in mind, I felt that Dr Sullivan was the ideal doctor to answer your questions on one of my most frequently queried topics- sun damage. 

Away from our regular brand founder conversations, I am asked so many highly specific questions about the skin. Given that I am an educated consumer and by no means an expert, it would be extremely unethical for me to even attempt to address your skin concerns which is why I insist on taking those questions to a medical doctor. This Ask An Expert series is giving you, the Glow Journal audience, unprecedented access to medical doctors, professors and dermatologists and, while the series is sponsored by Candela, doctors legally and ethically have to remain completely objective in interviews like this. For this reason, this series is the most authentic way for me to integrate branded content into the podcast because it’s giving you, the listeners, completely unbiased expert answers to your most specific skin questions- questions that I cannot answer myself. 

As mentioned, this episode is sponsored by Candela Medical, however all of Dr Sullivan’s views are entirely his own and, as per any interview with a doctor, you will hear absolutely no specific product recommendations throughout this interview. In this episode, we’ve taken the questions YOU submitted on sun damage to Dr Sullivan- from the treatment of pigmentation and freckles through to moles and sun spots, and just how much the sun damage we sustained in our youth can affect us as adults. 

Given the state of the world at the moment, this interview was recorded remotely which is why there is such a discrepancy in the quality of the audio. There may be a few answers that are difficult to hear and for this I apologise, but I am still absolutely committed to bringing you the answers to your questions despite current constraints so I have made the entire episode transcript available on glowjournal.com so you can read the answers you might miss- almost like a podcast with subtitles. To find this transcript, simply visit glowjournal.com and search “Candela Medical.” 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/ask-an-expert-sun-damage

Follow Candela Medical on Instagram @candelamedicalanz

Discover more at candelamedia.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founders of BYBI Beauty, Elsie Rutterford and Dominika Minarovic.

Elsie and Dominika are almost disarmingly open and honest about their beginnings in business, and everything they said, particularly surrounding funding for women in business and also around global attitude to sustainability, will be ingrained in my head for quite some time. 

After meeting in ad sales, London-based Elsie and Dominika bonded over a mutual interest in the wellness movement that was only just beginning to gain traction at the time. Their interest in wellness prompted them to start looking at the ingredients they were putting on their skin, and in 2015 their website, Clean Beauty Insiders, was born. 

In the same way you might swap beauty advice or a recipe with a girlfriend, Clean Beauty Insiders became the globe’s go-to destination for, as the name suggests, clean beauty advice, and for recipes for skincare products you could make at home. Elsie and Dominika both began to study formulation science, and in 2016 their following was so large that they attracted the attention of a literary agent. Their book Clean Beauty, was published in in January 2017- a book that had been to auction, was bid on by every single publisher Elsie and Dom had pitched to, and was won by Penguin, no less. 

Later that year, Bybi Beauty was born- arguably the first clean beauty brand to lead with a message about performance and science, rather than just the fact that it was a clean brand. Bybi launched onto Asos, one of the largest ecommerce platforms of all time, and is now stocked in beauty retailers globally. 

As impressive as the Bybi story is, what I found even more impressive was how forthcoming Elsie and Dom were with their knowledge. Their approach to both beauty and business is absolutely no BS, and the way they talk about financing and pre seed funding and even just surviving when the business was in its lean years is the kind of conversation women NEED to be having. Money has long felt like a really taboo topic, but I think the more open conversations we, particularly women, can have around finance, the more financially empowered we can all be. 

I’m interviewing two women here, and you’ll hear Elsie answer me first, but if you are confused about who is who you can follow along with the full interview transcript on glowjournal.com. Naturally, given the state of the world, this interview did take place on Zoom across continents so the audio is far from studio quality, but please persist because this conversation is rich and valuable and one I’m really proud to be sharing. 

In our chat, Elsie and Dominika share the steps they took to secure investment prior to Bybi’s launch, how you can really know if the time is right to leave your full time job for your startup, and the clever way they bring new customers into the Bybi fold. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-bybi-beauty-founders-elsie-dominika

Follow BYBI on Instagram at @bybibeauty

Find out more about BYBI at bybi.com

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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In episode forty two of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the co-founder of The Jojoba Company, Vicki Engsall. 

As I record this, in 2020, just about everyone I know has an understanding of what jojoba is or, at the very least, has at least heard of it- but this wasn’t always the case. I sincerely believe that so much of what we know about jojoba is thanks to Vicki. 

Despite a long standing interest in the skin, Vicki Engsall grew up wanting to be a teacher- and so she became one. It wasn’t until she was trying to fall pregnant that business ownership looked to be a possibility. Little did Vicki realise, however, that the seeds that grew to become The Jojoba Company had been, quite literally, planted many years prior. I’ll leave the storytelling up to Vicki, but the events that lead to Vicki leaving her teaching role and launching her skincare company are perhaps the best example of serendipity that has ever been told on this podcast. When Vicki co-founded The Jojoba Company with her father in 2008, very little was known about jojoba. Today, thanks largely to Vicki’s background in education, jojoba is one of the most in demand ingredients in the world. 

Of course, this interview was recorded remotely, and I think now is particularly good time to be spotlighting local businesses like The Jojoba Company. In this conversation, Vicki and I discuss what she has dubbed the “oil revolution,” what an “ingredients claim” is and why they can be so dangerous, and how to bring the skin’s lipid profile back to how it was at the age of 22. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/

Follow The Jojoba Company on Instagram at @thejojobaco

Find out more about The Jojoba Company at thejojobacompany.com.au/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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Isolation skin. It’s real.

I have never before received so many questions on one specific topic in such a short period of time. As you know, I am an educated consumer and not an expert, so true to form I have passed your questions on to a leading dermatologist- Dr Ryan De Cruz.

In the name of full disclosure, this bonus episode is sponsored by CeraVe, however as per all of my expert interviews, the doctor is never here to push specific brands and products. For this reason, you’ll hear Dr De Cruz recommend specific ingredients, rather than products, and offer more general advice, giving you the tools you need to make your own, educated purchasing decisions. The crux of it? When the skin is stressed and irritated, PARE IT BACK. Look for uncomplicated, elegant formulas that will restore calm to the skin without irritants.

If you are suffering from what has been dubbed as “isolation skin,” I firstly want you to know that you are not alone. As you’ll hear in this interview, many of the skin concerns a lot of you are working through right now are caused by stress, and while we can’t control the state of the world right now, there are steps we can take through our topical skincare to help restore that calm and balance to the skin. 

I took to Instagram recently to collate your skin questions, and in this interview Dr Ryan De Cruz discusses the effects of stress on the skin, how we can avoid the irritation brought on by increased hand-washing, the skincare ingredients we should all be looking for and the steps we can take to strengthen the skin's all important protective barrier.

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/isolation-skin-and-how-to-treat-it

Follow CeraVe on Instagram at @cerave_au

Find out more about CeraVe at cerave.com.au

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode forty one of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts sits down with the founder and CEO of Lano, Kirsten Carriol.

Kirsten Carriol didn’t grow up around beauty in the traditional sense, however her upbringing was instrumental in the creation of her brand. Her father, a molecular scientist and her grandparents, sheep farmers, taught Kirsten the benefits of lanolin as a child. Lanolin was their cure for just about everything. 

Passionate about beauty, Kirsten grew to travel across the globe, trying just about every beauty product she passed along the way, before returning to Australia and launching her own beauty PR company. Despite having access to the world’s best products and trialling them all, Kirsten still wasn’t satisfied with the level of hydration her existing lip balms and skincare products were delivering. 

It was on her way to the airport after her wedding that Kirsten realised the answer had, quite literally, been in front of her all along- lanolin. While the concept and name came to her almost instantly, the first incarnation of Lanolips took six years to bring to life. Given that Kirsten herself had spent much of her teens and adult life distancing herself from lanolin, she was well aware that she was going to have to work hard to change public perception of what had been viewed as a bit of an old and unfashionable ingredient. The key? Education, something Kirsten dedicated another five years to. Five years, sitting down, one-on-one with just about every beauty editor in the world. 

Kirsten succeeded, thanks to persistence, passion, and a line of products that genuinely do what they say they will do. Lano, now composed of a line of face and body products beyond the original Lanolips, is useful, no-nonsense, and stocked in all of the world’s biggest beauty retailers.

I visited Kirsten at her home in Sydney to discuss why some of the world’s best-selling lip products aren’t actually helping your lips at all, her favourite unconventional uses for Lano’s cult 101 Ointment, and how the world of digital means that public opinion in the beauty space has a voice independent of traditional press. 

You can read this interview now at: glowjournal.com/interview-lanolips-founder-kirsten-carriol

Follow Lano on Instagram at @lanolips

Find out more about Lano at https://lanolips.com/

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemkwatts and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]

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