An Interview with our Founder – Mel Jenkinson

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by 58 Lifestyle, a health and wellbeing centre based in London’s swanky Mayfair on South Molton Street. If you ever get the chance to head down that way, I would highly recommend taking a visit and treating yourself to one of their sought after treatments. They can offer anything from nutritional therapy or psychotherapy to somatic movement and fertility massage – some very interesting and unique treatments from the UK’s top therapists!

They caught up with me to find out about my background how I incorporate wellbeing into my everyday life…

How did you get into the business of using and selling organic beauty products?

My love for organic products started in 2013 when I started to develop adult acne. I found my skin to be particularly sensitive to the harsh chemicals that were present in most of the products I was using. Since switching to natural alternatives, my skin thanked me and the condition of it has improved greatly. Although still not perfect (due to the underlying cause of my acne being hormonal, which unfortunately cannot be solved using topical products) I am much happier knowing that the products I am using are not stripping my skin of natural oils, and I am only using nourishing ingredients on my skin.

Naturally, this new found love for organic products meant that I wanted to recommend these products that were working so well for me to my clients! As a freelance makeup artist, I want to ensure that all the products I am using on my client’s skin are going to be nourishing, high performing and long lasting on the skin. I set out to transform my professional kit to cruelty-free, natural alternatives. My clients, especially my regular clients, noticed such a huge change in their skin since I started using products without the synthetic ingredients. They couldn’t believe that the products were made up of almost 100% natural ingredients and would still perform to the same standard as mainstream brands.

Many of the brands I was using weren’t available in the UK at the time, so this is when I set up Glow Organic. I want to provide women with organic products that perform well, to a professional standard, that are used by professionals in the industry. There are many organic brands out there, not all are made to a high enough standard to be used in a professional environment. My vetting process for products is quite rigorous. I won’t sell everything and anything, it really has to be of a high quality.

How important are sustainable processes to you?

Sustainable processes are extremely important to me. With regards to the beauty industry, many brands continue to manufacture their products using unsustainable processes. From plastic packaging that ends up in landfill sites to using ingredients such as mineral oil which comes from non-renewable resources. Luckily, many people are becoming much more aware of these processes and are consciously choosing sustainable brands in all aspects of their lives. When choosing brands to stock at Glow Organic, I always ensure that they follow sustainable processes.

Do you have a favourite scent that you can’t do without?

I absolutely love sweet smells. Fragrances that are too sweet and sickly for most people are the ones that I tend to love the most! I am drawn to vanilla or fruity fragrances.

How important is wellbeing to your life?

I believe staying happy and healthy is an important part of anyone’s life. For me, maintaining my wellbeing is all about balance. I have good days and bad days just like everyone does, some days I will eat super healthy and feel energised and then finish the day with some yoga. Then I have other days when I eat pizza and have 1 too many glasses of wine! But I don’t feel guilty for it because it’s the balance that I strive for, not perfection.

How do you make the most of your living/work space to ensure your wellbeing?

I am a big lover of candles and plants. I just love having greenery in the house, it makes our home feel cosier, fresher, cleaner and brings the outside in which is always a good thing for our health. And candles at this time of year are just so calming and warming and really add to the ambience of a room.

I also try to keep it tidy! When I am not in my office space, I am working from home in our spare bedroom. Small spaces can get messy very quickly and I just cannot work in clutter. I get distracted and slightly stressed when things are a mess so keeping everything neat and tidy ensures I am relaxed and can focus.