After working at KM Surgical and noting how confusing skincare ranges were becoming for consumers, Julia Heywood and Adele Harrison decided to create a simple and effective skincare range of their own, co-founding Phi Cosmeceutical.
Heywood and Harrison want to help people with skin issues across New Zealand and stop it from negatively affecting their health and confidence. They’re careful about the ingredients in their products, ensuring that people of all skin types can get the best out of Phi Cosmeceutical’s products.
“The whole reason for getting into skincare was it’s nice to help people boost their confidence, because at the end of the day when people have problematic skin or they have an issue with their skin, it does play a little bit on insecurities.”
Crafting from Christchurch
From their base in Christchurch, Phi Cosmeceutical manufacture their entire skincare range “on their doorstep”, allowing Heywood and Harrison to work through production issues as soon as they come up. The co-founders have 28 stockers across the country, selling a skincare range which includes cleansers, moisturisers, and exfoliators.
Heywood and Harrison also add native ingredients into their skincare, such as pohutukawa extract and kawakawa, which helps with anti-inflammatory conditions and antimicrobial agents. Active peptides are also sourced and added to make the products accessible for people with very sensitive skin.
Supporting local
Both Heywood and Harrison are glad to be NZ made for a few reasons. They want to support their local community, first and foremost, and by buying NZ made products, our carbon footprints can be lowered too. In addition, rather than having to wait for products to come from overseas, the local manufacturing quickens waiting times for everyone.
Both co-founders are really happy with how things have gone so far, and are satisfied with the growth of the business and the results they’re providing for kiwis.
“[We’re] changing people’s skin, giving them the confidence to use active skincare without that fear of having issues like peeling, irritation, that sort of thing… We’re growing, which is great—changing kiwi’s skin!”
