Glow Journal

In episode 138 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the co founder of Augustinus Bader, Professor Augustinus Bader. 

The Augustinus Bader brand turned over $7 million USD in 2018, the year it launched. Within 2 years that figure had grown to $70 million, and this year it’s reported that sales will have topped $130 million. That is the power of Augustinus Bader, both the man and the brand, the latter having won over 120 beauty industry awards since launch, including being named The Greatest Skincare of All Time by WWD. 

Professor Bader, however, never intended to enter the beauty industry. Following over 3 decades of work in medicine and garnering global acclaim for his work with burns victims, it was in 2013 that he met French financier Charles Rosier who saw his work and began the two year process of convincing the Professor to start a skincare brand with him. 

The term “cult brand” gets thrown around a little loosely in beauty, but that truly is the status Augustinus Bader has reached. This is a man who said “yes” to developing skincare almost entirely so he could self-fund future medical innovations, but whose products have become so, so popular that he is now a frequent collaborator of Victoria Beckham and has grown the product line from 2 face creams to somewhere between 30 and 40 SKUs.

In this conversation, Professor Bader shares how he took a hospital grade burn cream and made it into a shelf stable luxury beauty brand, how his collaborations with both Victoria Beckham and Sofia Coppola came to fruition, and what exactly his patented TCF8 technology can actually do for the skin. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Augustinus Bader on Instagram @augustinusbader.

In episode 137 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of O&M, Jose Bryce Smith. 

When we talk about a founder being “ahead of their time,” Jose Bryce Smith may well be the very best example. Jose co-founded Australia’s first ammonia-free hair salon and launched one of the first ever ammonia and PPD free hair colours, but beyond being a pioneer (something Jose tells me she’s not so sure she’d ever want to do again), Jose’s story is really just one of the best I have ever heard. 

She, naturally, tells it far better than I do, but this is just an objectively great founder story regardless of whether you’ve got an interest in beauty, business, or neither. In short- she got fake clients in the salon to secure a Vogue feature, she had a Legally Blonde moment in which she bought back her business, she can claim ownership of one of the funniest first date stories I’ve ever heard, and in 2015 she lost $500,000 of product- and against all odds, O&M is now one of the biggest haircare and colour brands in the world. 

In this conversation, Jose shares how she worked to earn back the trust of hairdressers country-wide after a major manufacturing error, how a first date became her first board member, and the advice from her late father that she always comes back to. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow O&M on Instagram @originalmineral.

In episode 135 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founders of Glow Culture, Holly Holub, Donna Chan and Lori Pirozzi.

Holly, Donna and Lori have a number of things in common- two of those things being an early wish to run a business and create something of their own, and a deep seated love of beauty. The three women met years ago, working on the corporate side of beauty, and over long conversations during lockdown they realised just how much their stories and interests overlapped. 

A few years ago, all three of them decided it was time to reevaluate what they were doing professionally and finally go after their dream- and so the seed for Glow Culture was planted. Holly, Donna and Lori had taken a particular interest in the science surrounding fermented ingredients, and while they’d seen the occasional mention of probiotics in skincare marketing, they’d never seen an Australian brand as single-minded about fermentation in that way that Korean skincare brands had. 

They felt there was a gap in the Australian market for skincare rich in fermented ingredients, as opposed to products that only contained one or two, and it would appear that their instincts were correct- less than 10 weeks post-launch, Glow Culture has already been picked up by retail giants Adore Beauty and Chemist Warehouse. 

In this conversation, Holly, Donna and Lori share why they feel Australia has been a bit of a late adopter of K Beauty trends, their take on the rise of niche and independent brands, and the pros and cons of being digitally native vs being available in physical stores. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow Glow Culture on Instagram @glowculturehq.

In episode 134 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the OKKIYO, Dr Jacqueline Beltz. 

I’ve talked a lot recently about how my favourite brand stories to share are the ones that really are offering a solution to a problem; founders who genuinely have identified a gap for something no one else is doing. The fact that we’re now six years into this show and I’m still able to meet people like Jacqui, who truly are doing something new, feels really special.

Dr Jacqueline Beltz is a Melbourne based ophthalmologist (ophthalmology being the specialty medical field of diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases), and last year she launched OKKIYO with a mascara specifically formulated for people with eye sensitivity. That in and of itself is impressive, but her commitment to creating something accessible and inclusive extends far beyond just the formula.

The packaging of OKKIYO’s mascara is the first I’ve seen to use braille in equal hierarchy within the branding, the tube itself is a square which makes it easier to identify and negates the risk of it rolling off a bench top and the user having to rifle around to find it if they have vision impairment, the name and branding were chosen based on visibility, and even the external card packaging has been designed in a way that allows for greater readability- there’s a lot more to it, which Jacqui explains in our conversation far more eloquently than I can. What Jacqui is doing with this brand, in my opinion, really sums up all the best bits of the beauty industry- it’s innovative, it’s fun, it’s not exclusionary and, at the crux of it, it’s a really great product. 

In this conversation, Jacqui shares her take on the power of naivety when it comes to launching a brand, the importance of beauty on our confidence when we’re struggling with our health, and the pressure that comes with launching a brand with a singular SKU. 

Read more at glowjournal.com

Follow OKKIYO on Instagram @okkiyoeyes.