There’s no denying our love for de Mamiel skincare, and there’s no denying our love for the wonderful woman behind the brand, Annee. Having recently launched de Mamiel as part of our skincare offering here on Hip & Healthy, we thought we would sit down with Annee and discuss how her gorgeous brand came to be!
Where and why was the idea for de Mamiel born?
de Mamiel evolved from my treatment room. It was something that grew organically from trying to get exceptional results when working with my patients, I used to give product that we had been using to them after the treatment and come home and make some more, the demand began to grow and my husband convinced me to pop it on the website to see how it went and its grown from there! For me, de Mamiel is about making a difference and not just for your skin but about relieving stressors in our life.
How have your professions and knowledge as an acupuncturist, aromatherapist and healing holistic facialist contributed to your brand and your products?
These drive the foundation of what I create – I feel very privileged that people have trusted me with their skin and so the experience I am able to gain in treating my patients over time, seeing what effects ingredients have on people has enabled me to develop products that really make a difference to your wellbeing and your skin.
That’s a lot of professions! How do you balance your work/life?
Sometimes that line is so very fine!!! I ensure there is balance – meditation, journaling and exercise really help and I love to cook!
How does being a healing holistic facialist differ from the usual facialists our readers may know about?
A holistic facialist means that I look at the whole body as everything we do impacts our health and wellbeing which is written all over our face! Beauty really begins from the inside and if we ignore what else is happening in our lives then we never get to the cause of the problem and keep treating the symptom. My treatment can last up to 2 hours and I go through stress and how you cope with stress, where we hold it in our bodies, nutrition as well as skincare – what you are using and what needs to be added or taken away. Each component is an essential part of getting a whole picture to rebalance the body and we begin to add tools and rituals to help that will benefit.
There are a lot of other organic skincare brands out there at the moment. What sets de Mamiel aside from these?
I believe it the experience, the research and the level of care that goes into each step of our process so that no stone goes unturned. There is no compromise on anything that goes in the bottle and I am always looking at how better I can do this – evaluating if this is as good as it can possibly be. My products need to perform on a physical level on the skin, a cellular level and an emotional level, that way I know the product is the most vital it can be when it arrives.
How do you formulate your products? Where do you source your ingredients?
When I create the products, I have brought my experience from the treatment room into the lab. I am lucky enough to try the product on a lot of people, adjust it before its good enough to begin to sell. Before they even get to that stage I start with a mind map of the issue that needs to be solved, many of the issues are things that I see coming through the clinic and I have tried to get a result but need a little extra help. I map out the physical, cellular and emotional components of the issue and overlay the physiology, biochemistry components and then the Chinese Medicine component will give me a holistic picture of how the product needs to perform. I ask a lot from my formulas but each ingredient needs to earn its place in the formula.
I source my ingredients from around the world – I love digging into the real science and chemistry of the oils and essential oils – where they are grown and how they are grown, how they are harvested – all affect the potency and purity of the final ingredients. Biotechnology plays an important role in some of the ingredients I use because of the bioavailability and the way the skin ‘uses’ them but also for sustainability reasons. In creating a product there are so many choices for ingredients so I think it is important to look at the research and data behind the choices, I like to get to be as close to the source as I can and in some cases we work directly with the farmers.
Of all your products, which are the ones you can’t be without?
It depends which day you ask me!!! For me, it would be Exhale Daily Hydrating Nectar, Restorative Cleansing balm, Antioxidant Elixir…
Apart from your looking after your skin, what else do you do to ensure a full state of health and wellness?
I think health and wellness is about balance and finding what works for you. For me, food and nutrition are vital, I need to move and exercise to get qi moving but that won’t always be a cardio workout – yoga, qi gong or a walking meditation is what I need sometimes! One thing that is a constant challenge is learning when to say No to things and being OK with that – reading the signs that my body is telling me to slow down!
Shop de Mamiel online at Hip & Healthy!