Beauty & Vitality is a new brand whose foundation is based on the belief that great skincare is at least two dimensional: boost the skin’s microbiome from the inside by improving gut health & skin health with a skin loving probiotic infused multi-nutrient; and from the outside with a pre&probiotic infused skin cream – helping you be beautiful inside and out.
The emergence of new scientific research techniques investigating the relationship between the gut and skin microbiome gave the founders of Beauty & Vitality the belief and evidence needed to support the development of Beauty & Vitality and its microbiome skincare regime. Today we have a focused range of 4 products, a moisturiser and a multi-nutrient complex, sold separately or as part of a dual skincare kit, targeting two different skin concerns: blemishes & breakouts versus menopausal ageing skin.
The products are finally ready after an extensive research and development process, to offer to customers. We plan to present the products directly to the customer via our website (www.beautyandvitality.co.uk) and via high street stores such as Lloyds Pharmacy and Superdrug. In addition, we are already working on new formula for a number of additional innovations including night creams, eye creams and serums, haircare and a men’s range.
But what is this research and why are we starting now? The gut-skin-brain axis, first proposed in 1930, is the focus of new emerging research techniques that confirm the theory’s original hypothesis that changes in the gut microbiome are linked to changes in the skin microbiome (acne, inflammation) and emotional states (depression, worry and anxiety).
Inspired by this research and our nutrition teams’ interest in the area, we started working with formulation experts and UK based manufacturers to develop the Beauty & Vitality proposition – a skincare product that treats the gut microbiome and skin microbiome – delivering skincare inside & out – helping you get the glow inside out.
After 3 years of development and securing the support of 2 new business partners, we now have a focused range of products ready to go to market.
Who are we?
Lysa Hardy, Co-Founder & Director
As a mother of 4 with a successful 30 year career in business, Lysa has always had a keen eye on natural health and skincare, her ideas for which were galvanised whilst working at a leading high street natural health care retailer. When asked why Beauty&Vitality, Lysa said:
I could see the shift coming with the health and beauty markets merging. Customers were becoming much more aware of ingredients in the products and their associated benefits. This resulted in new product categories emerging such as nutraceuticals. I became particularly interested in the research on probiotics, the benefits that could be delivered from a healthy microbiome, and how our day to day lives are increasingly working against skin health with poor diets, increasing stress and sleep deprivation all impacting gut health.
I became convinced that probiotics were going to become a more important health category, in much the same way as protein became a hero ingredient to ‘infuse’ in foods, I felt that finding a way to include pre, pro and postbiotics as an ingredient in other products would be ground-breaking. When I left H&B, my husband and I started to work with a supplement formulation expert to explore the benefits it could deliver. We subsequently set up Beauty & Vitality to launch the products, and when we approached a business partner (Nicki) who showed some interest in the concept but was more interested in skincare, we merged our ideas and moved probiotic skincare up the list.
I have always believed in the ‘inside and out’ concept – that there is no point in putting expensive creams on your face to solve a problem if what you are feeding it from the inside is trash. A healthy diet, lots of water and good general health partnered with a tailored moisturiser will give the best results. By finding a way to include pre and probiotics in our supplement and moisturiser we have developed a product that will help to offset today’s hectic lifestyles and its impact on our skin, helping you get the glow inside out.
Nicola Murphy, Co-Founder & Director
A 35 year career in marketing and an entrepreneurial spirit has led me to be the owner of four London based agencies (River - content, Maven - PR, Fish - membership and charity consultancy, Reflect – talent management). Two of these, River and Maven specialise in health, wellness, beauty and retail with clients in this space including Superdrug, H&B, Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy, Weight Watchers, Weleda, ProBeauty, Vitality and others.
Why B&V? As a menopausal woman of four years I’m saddened by the lack of affordable skincare products, let alone regimes including supplementation like ours, that tackle ageing skin, flagging energy, interrupted sleep and low mood, all adversely effected by menopause. Also, as the mother of four daughters between the ages of 21-24 I have seen the skin concerns they have at their age, caused by hormone fluctuations and lifestyle choices and importantly how the right topicals/creams and supplements can improve wellbeing, while at the same time, build good habits for life.
In addition, I find that I’m actually quite vain and I make no apology for it! I want to look and feel my best (and not look my age) for as long as possible and I believe that B&V products will help me along that journey. I’d like other women, of whatever age, to have the opportunity to affordably look and feel their best too.
Chris Barrow, Co-Founder & Director
After 25 years of working for big consumer brands like Cream Silk, Andrex, Huggies, T-Mobile, Virgin, and BT, creating new, commercially successful consumer propositions, I decided it was time to chase the dream of running a business of my own.
As Lysa mentioned above, we first started exploring the concept of a differentiated skincare proposition thanks to the emergence of new research supporting the concept of the gut-skin-brain axis, first hypothesised in the 1930s. This simple concept of the gut effectively being the body’s ‘second-brain”, determining health outcomes based on our diets, lifestyles and environments felt, and still feels so right especially when you reflect on age-old expressions such as “you are what you eat”.
We therefore set out to deliver probiotic & prebiotic combinations with nutrients known to help the skin, but delivering probiotics via topicals is difficult given live cultures don’t survive the preservatives. As we developed the concepts we began to search for British manufacturing partners – partners that could deliver the quality standards we expect from a British company but also those that are willing to work with us to deliver these new concepts. It took time to narrow down the search but eventually we settled on two: the first Bee Health Ltd - an award-winning supplement manufacturer and supplier to a number of high street brands; and the second Penny Price Aroma Formulations – an award-winning bespoke formulations company. After an international search, Penny Price Formulations were able to identify and source new breakthrough solutions that can deliver probiotic & prebiotic skincare ingredients to the skin via topicals with a preservative friendly formula. Thus, we were on our way, and after 3 further years of research and development I am delighted (and somewhat relieved!) to finally be able to offer these products to our customers.
I truly hope they make the difference and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Danny Rippon, Co-Founder & Director
I've spent over 30 years creating and growing multiple companies in the technology sector and helping drive growth with speciality in global eCommerce. I've held multiple leadership roles across the board in founder-owned, PE-backed and large corporates, and have been intimately involved in over $3bn worth of merger & acquisitions, both on acquirer and acquired sides.
My role at Beauty&Vitality is to make sure we deliver an online experience commensurate with the products the team has worked so hard on delivering. Our website – www.beautyandvitality.co.uk – is powered by Shopify and so should be world-class in the experience you receive. Further we’ve done our best to make sure the products will be delivered to you seamlessly from the point you order to the point of receipt. If there are any issues, do please reach out to us at customercare@beautyandvitality.co.uk – we’d genuinely love to hear your feedback.
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