Unveiling the Harmony of Nature, Science and Consciousness in Holos Skincare: Ethical Elegance for Radiant Results.

1. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind starting Holos Skincare and the brand’s core values?

I was struck by the subtle effects plant and essential oils had on the wellbeing of my clients in my holistic health clinic. This drove me to spend time researching the healing benefits of plants, which led me to skincare. Helping people is what I love to do.  While I used to help people in a Therapy room, now we help 1000’s of people improves their skin. We believe in being customer focused, educating and informing our community and being accessible to them, helping them to solve their skincare issues and make their Holos experience joyful.

2. How does Holos Skincare ensure the use of natural and sustainable ingredients in its products?

We have a list of prerequisites that we follow, e.g. Vegan, Cruelty-free, Suppliers with eco and sustainable credentials like ISO, B-corp, Ecovadis. We only work with suppliers that can provide certifications that adhere to our needs. We seek out Cosmos approved ingredients, particularly active plant ingredients that have passed the high standards required by Cosmos. We spend a lot of time before deciding on ingredient sampling, investigating the origin of the ingredients. While we are not 100% perfect, we always strive to do better.

3. What sets Holos Skincare apart from other skincare brands in the market?

At Holos we take all of the things we like about ‘natural, eco, green” skincare – the pure plant ingredients and sustainable packaging and practices; and we take all the things we like about cosmeceutical, results led skincare – the scientifically proven active ingredients and we put them together to give you a brand that is driven by Ethics and Results. We harmonize Nature, Science and Consciousness so that the consumer can have the best of both worlds, a product that works and is also ethically produced.

4. In what ways does Holos Skincare promote ethical and eco-friendly practices within the beauty industry?

A really obvious one is packaging. There is a huge trend for beautiful packaging in the beauty industry which often results in unnecessary and extra packaging. At Holos we have changed almost all products to recyclable glass or aluminum. We have a new line launching in a couple of months which will be bottled in bottles made from recycled aluminum that can be infinitely recycled. We forgo boxes if we can, not always possible due to the information that must be contained on packaging.  We do not use foil or elements that can’t be recycled on our boxes. We are strict in our day to day practices to minimize waste and recycle as much as possible. Much of production is done manually or uses semi-automatic practices to cut down on energy usage. All ingredients and products are vegan and cruelty free and PETA approved for both.

5. How does Holos Skincare balance the use of natural ingredients with scientific research to create products that are both ethical and results-driven?

Every ingredient is researched scientifically through studies completed by manufacturers and independent studies carried out by researchers. Clinical studies and market research studies are also taken into account. Plant ingredients like oils and butters are chosen because of their nutritional content of vitamins. fatty acids and antioxidants, and have very positive effects on the skin. These form the base of every single product. The Active cosmeceutical ingredients both plant and vegan, turbo charge them, almost like the plant oils and butters are the health foods, the actives are the superfoods. No ingredient, whether plant or cosmeceutical, is tested on animals. There are many ways today to test ingredients that do not involve using animals.

6. Can you explain how Holos Skincare integrates principles of consciousness into its product development and brand philosophy?

Consciousness for us is an awareness that with every new creation, it has an effect on the world we live in. To create something, we need to use resources so we want to make sure that while we use these resources, we are also doing some good. For us it is about choosing to partner with ethical suppliers and retailers who also have a consciousness about doing good while conducting business. It is about using ingredients that are sustainably sourced, plants from farms that replant and engage in eco practices. Not only does consciousness apply to the actual supply of ingredients, packaging or production, it also extends to people. It is really important to me to build a brand that cares about people, the people we do business with, the people we sell to, the people that come into Holos every day to bring this brand to life. Caring about all parties and being kind in how we conduct business is really important to me. Giving back by working with local charities, donating products for prizes. For example, during Covid, we decided to make hand sanitizer but instead of charging for it, we put one in every order. We did not want to make money out of people’s misfortune. We were already gaining from people moving online so it was a very simple way of doing a little good. Building a team that loves coming to work is also important to me and is at the core of our brand values. Employees are treated with respect, listened to and all have support that allows flexibility around their personal lives.

7. Could you share any specific examples of how Holos Skincare’s commitment to harmonizing nature, science, and consciousness is reflected in its product range and customer experience?

Our last launched line in the Holos range, “Super Natural Activity” encompasses our commitment to nature, science and consciousness by using ingredients like Argan Oil which comes from a Berber Women’s Cooperative in Morocco which is run by women and employs women. Another ingredient is Calendula which is organically grown on a farm in the UK. Plant ingredients require less processing and industrialization with Argan nuts being cracked by hand and Calendula being harvested by hand. We use Shea butter that comes from a cooperative in Burkina, Africa, again run by women and processed by hand by women. In conjunction with these amazing natural ingredients, we blend some results driven, scientifically proven ingredients supplied by manufacturers and suppliers that have sustainability at the core of their processes. Some examples are prebiotics which feed good bacteria on the skin to help prevent environmental damage that may cause irritation, or alpha hydroxy acids which can enter the epidermis and slough off dead skin cells, boosting cell turnover.  To make an active ingredient, various components are needed to make those ingredients. They require more processing than a whole plant ingredient.  We chose suppliers that take their supply chain seriously, buying locally or buying from fair trade suppliers. We choose manufacturers that use green technologies and actively work on reducing their carbon footprint by using renewable energy, like solar to power plants.  For the Super Natural Activity range, we chose aluminum which is lightweight and highly recycled. We minimized packaging by using tags instead of boxes. Our next batch of bottles will be made from recycled aluminum so further working into the circular economy.

8. What are some key challenges that Holos Skincare has faced in the skincare industry, and how has the brand overcome them?

There are challenges all the time, daily, yearly and sector driven. Covid was a massive challenge as prior to Covid, we worked mainly with retailers. All orders stopped in March 2020, just as we were about to launch a new line. We had to move quickly to enable more efficient online supply. We had up to that point been supplying online but with only 30% of revenue coming from there, it didn’t have our full focus. The beauty of being a smaller, niche brand was that we could pivot more easily. We put everything into making sure our online processes worked and we now are 80% online. Another challenge is that sometimes the marketing around natural skincare is quite negative with some brands focusing on what is NOT in their products and using this as a selling point. Some brands, rather than educating the consumer on the goodness of their ingredients, instead educate about the badness of what is not contained. Much of this is fear mongering and does not do much for educating people on the amazing nutritious benefits of plant ingredients. We overcome this by educating our community on what IS in our products, what the ingredients will do for them and how it will make an improvement in their skin.

9. Where do you see Holos Skincare heading in the next 5 years, and what are the brand’s future goals and aspirations?

We want to build our UK and US markets. Brexit posed some challenges but we have this ironed out now and UK shoppers can happily shop on Holos without the worry of paying customs on arrival into the UK from Ireland. We already have a US based website and local fulfillment in the US so we want to keep building on that. Personally I want to keep helping people with their skin health and also build a brand that provides jobs to people, engages in meaningful partnerships and basically continues to flourish while also remaining kind.

10. Now, you have just been announced as one of the sponsors for the prestigious 10th annual National Film Awards UK. This is an amazing achievement for your company. How excited are you to partner with the National Film Awards UK?

It is so exciting to partner with the National Film Awards UK. I never dreamed when I started my little brand 10 years ago that I would ever be able to do something like this. Holos is celebrating 10 years alongside the 10th Annual awards. It is also fitting for me to be sponsoring the Best Actress in a TV role, as women are the reason we do what we do. Without the wonderful women that love Holos, we’d be nothing, so sponsoring a category that celebrates talented women in the TV industry is really special.  We cannot wait to attend the awards and wish the nominees the best of luck.