Vanessa Lyndon lives by the motto ‘never put anything on your skin you wouldn’t put in your mouth’.
The 51-year-old was inspired by the phrase, told to her by her best friend Mel who died of cancer almost 20 years ago, and uses it as the ethos behind her natural skincare brand Vanessa Megan.
She has always been a fan of natural remedies from her days growing up on a farm in rural Western Australia healing spider bites with honey.
She also studied biochemistry and herbology to help find non-toxic skincare solutions for Mel while she was going through treatment.
Vanessa told FEMAIL she started formulating natural ‘food grade’ skincare products as a hobby while working as an actress and model alongside big names in the business.
In 2013, she launched Vanessa Megan to a loyal fanbase she gained from selling her remedies at Bondi Markets and chatting to women about their beauty and skin woes.
The brand is now a multimillion-dollar empire and is on track a 70 per cent growth in sales since last October alone.
Vanessa Lyndon (pictured) started her own skincare brand, Vanessa Megan, after years of formulating her own completely natural ‘food grade’ products
Vanessa’s deep understanding of what nasties are in big brand skincare products and the natural ingredients we should use instead comes from years of studies and a keen interest in non-synthetic chemicals.
She started looking into natural ingredients when Mel was battling an aggressive melanoma as she wanted to know what chemicals would help and hinder her health while undergoing treatment.
‘Mel was such an advocate. She was a vegetarian and always very healthy but it was a melanoma that got her in the end. It spread to her lymph (nodes) and brain. It was quite a quick bloody thing,’ she recalled.
‘It was that time when I was seeing her go down so fast that I was experiencing and understanding what was in skincare.
‘I couldn’t believe that we weren’t educated about it and all of these ingredients exist. We’re pretty good with our foods like we know what the fats are and carbs and sugars.’
Vanessa said she ‘went down the rabbit hole of biochemistry’ and dove ‘head first’ into looking at the most beneficial non-synthetic ingredients and how they affect the skin.
What she found was alarming.
She was always a fan of natural remedies from her days growing up on a farm to her studies to find non-toxic skincare solutions for her best friend Mel who was being treated for cancer
‘Mineral oil, which comes under the guise of liquid paraffin, is a petrochemical. It’s the second biggest cause of ageing and more carcinogenic than smoking. It’s like putting Glad Wrap on your skin so nothing good can go in,’ Vanessa explained.
Parabens was another ingredient used in many beauty and skincare products; Vanessa avoids it as it has been linked to breast cancer.
‘Parabens are an ingredient that mimic oestrogen. They’re used in deodorants and when people use them under their arms. It’s very close to the breast tissue,’ she said.
‘They’re finding parabens in the tumours of breast cancer patients. That’s why we’re seeing a lot of paraben-free products right now. They’re also linked to hormone disruptions.’
According to Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, several studies have sown parabens, found in things like sunscreens, makeup and even mouth wash, can affect normal breast cells and potentially lead to abnormal growths.
‘Another ingredient that scares the absolute bejesus out of me is Phthalates which is in perfume and just so toxic,’ Vanessa added.
‘Perfumes are a melting pot of toxins. They use a synthetic toxic ingredient to take away bad smells so that you only smell the good smell.’
Vanessa started formulating natural skincare products as a hobby while working as an actress and model where she worked alongside big names in the business
In her late teens and early twenties Vanessa was jetsetting around the world modelling with the likes of Claudia Schiffer in Paris when she suddenly had a change of heart.
‘When I was 23, I went through a mid-life crisis, I just thought there’s more to life than being a human coat hanger, I wanted to be a bit more creative,’ she said.
Vanessa turned her sights to acting. She graduated from NIDA and landed roles in the US and Australia but was still pursuing her skincare hobby on the side.
‘I was working with Ray Liotta and Dom Purcell, some big names which was so exciting but at the same time moonlighting with my skincare and going to the Bondi markets and educating women about what they were putting on their skin,’ she said.
Through her twenties and thirties, she bought ingredients and herbs wholesale to making remedies for her migraines as well as her then-partner’s eczema and psoriasis.
‘A friend asked me what I was doing on the weekend. I said, ‘I’m making a cream for (my partner) and she was like, ‘You are not’. I just thought because I’d been making cream for eight years, everyone made cream right?’ she said.
Vanessa immediately invited all her friends around to teach them how to make their own skincare.
‘They brought their Tupperware containers. Someone had the calculator, someone was measuring, someone was pouring. They saw the ingredients in their raw form and we made a cream,’ she said.
‘These were really intelligent, savvy women in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and they weren’t aware what they’re putting on their skin.’
Vanessa started selling her homemade products at Bondi markets and spreading the word about what she was learning.
In 2013, she started bottling and selling her homemade products under the name Vanessa Megan at Bondi markets while talking to women about her skincare knowledge
‘It was always the education piece I was pushing, but in doing that there were people going, ‘Well, you’re educating me, now give me something for a solution for this’,’ she said.
In 2013, she started bottling and selling her homemade products under the name Vanessa Megan at Bondi markets while talking to women about her skincare knowledge.
‘I did a lot of my market research when I was at the markets. People come up and go ‘You’ve got this. But what about this?’, ‘My baby is getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Can you make something?’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, come back next week and I’ll have something’,’ she said.
‘It was just like wildfire. It went from Bondi markets to health food stores locally and nationally within six months then internationally within a year,’ she said.
Vanessa’s acting career waned when she met her husband and started having kids so she turned her full attention to developing her brand.
‘We really weren’t quite sure where we fit in Australia. We had elevated the brand, and it was a bit too expensive for health stores, and we didn’t necessarily want go into the big department chains stores,’ she said.
Vanessa pitched her products to luxury spas who started using Vanessa Megan on their clients.
In the past four years Vanessa Megan has turned over more than $8million and just had its biggest month bringing in $500,000 in September
Vanessa still sells the cream she used to make for her former partner to clear up his eczema and psoriasis: ‘I knew it worked and that’s now our Rose and Calendula Moisture and Face Cream’
‘A lot of people don’t know the brand exists so by people going to a spa, experiencing it and having on their skin they’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is really working on my skin’,’ Vanessa said.
In the past four years Vanessa Megan has turned over more than $8million and just had its biggest month bringing in $500,000 in September.
Under the brand, Vanessa still sells the cream she made for her former partner all those years ago.
‘I’d make that cream and his eczema would disappear. I knew it worked and that’s now our Rose and Calendula Moisture and Face Cream. I’ve always kept that because it’s soothing and calming,’ she said.
Vanessa’s best selling product for the last two weeks has been the Metamorphosis The Other Lips Balm Vaginal Moisturiser, which only launched last month.
With overseas opportunities to scale the business even further, Vanessa Megan is looking to raise capital to expand the businesses growth, the business is looking to raise up to $1.4 million with Equity Crowdfunding platform Birchal.
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