Sanitising can be sexy
Like most founders, esst was born out of a need to solve a problem, my own problem.
As a makeup artist and having to use a hand sanitiser often between clients, I asked myself 'What if hand sanitising could become sexy'? What if I could apply a luxurious cream that felt decadent to use that just happened to sanitise as well? What if the cream could do more, was safe to use for the whole family and it was multipurpose?
The search began worldwide for the cream I didn’t realise at that time that I had just invented. I was searching for something that even Google had never heard of and so the story began in 2017 before Covid was part of our lives.
Now how do I kick things off and bring this idea to life? It was with great difficultly actually, hours of research, phone call after phone call, asking experts probably very silly questions, after all this wasn’t my background, I had the vision and the determination but that’s actually all you need to start – a lot of ignorance is bliss as they say.
A phone call and a stupid question actually gave me the link to my chemist which ended up being the start of a brand. No longer was I dealing with a product, I was building a whole cosmetic brand. Every day I got deeper into a position where there was no looking back, I’d come too far.
Quotes became my regular mantra including this one “every time you step somewhere something shifts, but you’ve still got to take every step” (advice given to Jo Malone). By this time I was addicted anyway. Addicted to knowledge and addicted to speaking to like minded people and possibly addicted to seeing this monumental project through.
Being particular, it was important that I developed the scent myself. My chemist sent the science tools I needed to start mixing and I sat at my dining room table and did a process of elimination with the Australian Botanicals. Firstly, the scent had to be appealing, something alluring that was clean and fresh, secondly each oil had to meet a purpose of not only fighting bacteria but appeal to our senses and offer some self care of calming, balancing, uplifting and stabilising properties. Just like a scientist I began mixing. The esst proprietary blend we have today is the second blend I did. This part really seemed to be a natural process for me that was meant to be.
I am thrilled to be helping so many people around the world enjoy the benefits of esst. It makes me feel good to know I’m helping others solve their own problems which have ranged from dry irritated skin, chaffing, cold sores, minor burns and now a ritual that is part of all our lives – sanitising which can be a beautiful thing!