You Deserve It! Pamper Yourself with Australian Scent's Delish Organic Skin Care
Australian Scent's husband and wife team, Megan and Eddie Enriquez, make the ultimate in skin-pampering body products. Check them out today at BettyConfidential Shop!
-Lucia Peters, BettyConfidential.com
It's a match made in heaven: She's Australian; he's American; and together, husband and wife team Megan and Eddie Enriquez are the masterminds behind Australian Scent, an organic skin care company which has, incidentally, become our new favorite thing here at BettyConfidential. Be sure to snag some of these fantastic products for yourself over atBettyConfidential Shop!
Designed with the most sensitive skin types in mind, Australian Scents' soaps, washes, body products, and hair treatments are chemical-, paraben-, and animal cruelty-free. Great skin; great hair; no worries. What more could a gal ask for?
Megan sat down with us to chat about the story behind Australian Scent, what one product she and Eddie would each want to have if they were stranded on a desert island, and more!
BettyConfidential: Megan, you're a native Aussie, and Eddie, you're American. How did the two of you meet?
Megan Enriquez: We met in Malibu, LA at a church we were both going to. We dated long distance for a few years, with me in Australia and Eddie in the US. We eventually got married in Australia and lived there for three years before moving to the States. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year!
BC: Congrats on the anniversary! How did you become makers of organic skincare? Can you tell us a little about the history of Australian Scent?
ME: Eddie developed Psoriasis and Eczema while we were living in Australia. We did some research on what it was and what the body might be craving as a result of it. My background is in nutrition and Eddie's always been a bit of a health junkie, so it made sense to relate the condition to diet and lifestyle. We discovered that people with those conditions aren't able to metabolize the fatty acids found in oils, so we came up with the Balm of Gilead moisturizer-a blend of oils and beeswax-to try to heal his skin. We're not business people, so it didn't even occur to us to sell it.
After about a year of using it and giving it away, though, and at the urging of our friends and family, we decided to see if anyone would be interested in buying it. So one Saturday I set up a little table out the front of the ANZ Bank in Sydney. I was the only vendor there and we made $50! I was ecstatic! I also had made some soaps, so I brought them along as well. The next week, we made almost $200! Not too many weeks later, we moved to the US and began to sell at one of our local farmer's markets. It was meant to be a one-off, but people asked for us to return. The success of those two products-the Balm of Gilead and the soaps-and our hope to heal skin organically gave birth to the rest of the line. Happily, Eddie has been cortisone-free since those first few weeks of developing the Balm of Gilead, which is now our number one seller.
BC: Had you ever dabbled in making body products or in other types of design before creating Australian Scent?
ME: I have a degree in nutrition and textiles, so for me, using your hands and imagination is paramount to satisfaction. Once we began to make soaps, I found that it afforded so much opportunity to be creative. Everything became a soap mold: Milk cartons, orange juice bottles, mailing tubes, kids lunch boxes… These days, I look at shipping crates and wonder how I can make them into molds for gigantic slabs of soap! And would it be cool to have seven different layers of color in each bar of soap.
BC: Things to look forward to in the future! Can you tell us a little about what goes into each product?
ME: I love working with oils and butters. Eddie and I never get colds, and so we're huge believers in the aromatic and topical healing power of the ingredients we use. We are super fussy with our ingredients. Eddie has this radar nose and terrific instincts; he won't deal with ingredients that are questionable. We're always questioning the integrity, healing ability, and healing properties of everything we use. We love what we do-it just makes sense to us. We want to be well, and we very much want that for others; we feel our products can sincerely contribute to a healthier lifestyle.
BC: What inspires you?
ME: People! Our entire history has been based on people's skin sensitivities and their desire to soothe it with something wonderful. We also love new projects, whether it's an entirely new product or just a new gift box for the holidays. Right now, we are working on a candle set for the Grand Central Station holiday market in New York and we're loving the scent selections, layout, box design, and graphics.
BC: Do you have a favorite Australian Scent product? What is it and why?
ME: I love the Intensive Wrinkle Therapy face cream. My husband has been using it for years and he has amazing skin. I only started with it about a year or so ago, but now I'm hooked. It's so luxurious and rich. I have oily skin and I love it-oils and all!
Eddie, meanwhile, just named five different products as his favorite. He can't decide!
Get ready to pamper yourself in BettyConfidential Shop's Australian Scent flash sale!
BC: Have you ever created something and ended up not liking it?
ME: Yes-our bloke soap was a scent blend mistake. We made the batch and my heart sank when we turned it out (when you turn a soap out, it flips out like a huge block of cheese and weighs about 50 lbs.). But there's a happy ending to this one: Eddie said, let's put it out to market and see if anyone likes it. It became one of our biggest sellers!
BC: What's your personal skincare routine like? Have any tips to share?
ME: I keep things simple: Wash with soap, then moisturize with Balm of Gilead and the Intensive Wrinkle Therapy face cream (I take a little of each and mix them together in my hand)-and that's it. At night, I just do the Intensive Wrinkle Therapy. I also scrub once a week with the Kelp 'N Honey Scrub-I LOVE the scrub, and I get lots of complements the day I use it. I use the gloss pot if it's a makeup day; it's smooth and yummy.
Eddie has a much more complex routine than I do. He loves to pamper himself-he uses the soaps, the Cleansing Stream, the Balm of Gilead, the Smooth Move, the King David Body Oil, the Intensive Wrinkle Therapy face cream and the Clear Skin. And that's just in the morning! He makes little concoctions in his hand every day and blends them or layers them on. It's intense.
BC: Time for a "you're stranded on a desert island" question: If you were stuck on a desert island and could have only one skincare product with you, what would it be and why?
ME: For me, the Balm of Gilead, as it can be used on the face, body, and hair. It's super versatile. For Eddie, it would be the Intensive Wrinkle Therapy face cream; he says when he uses it he gets the most complements.
Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential's associate editor.
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