Thank you for creating NUORI as a fresh beautybrand for face and body that is built around fresh ingredients which is very rarely today. What motivated you to develop these industry changing products?
Jasmi: The idea of my own skincare range came to me already while I was working at L’Oréal. This was over 8 years ago, and at the time we were implementing the new EU rules regarding labeling of cosmetics. One of the new requirements was that all cosmetic products should have a visible expiry date. But there was an exception to this rule stating that, if a product had a minimum durability of more than 30 months (i.e., 2.5 years or more), it does not need to have an expiry date. Not surprisingly, these 30 months became very quickly the industry standard for shelf life.
When I became aware of this fact, I began looking for information about the effect of time on cosmetics. I was surprised to find numerous studies showing that commonly used active ingredients, such as vitamins, start loosing their beneficial properties in just a matter of a few months after blending due to oxidization. Another downside of long shelf lives is the use of synthetic preservatives and other additives, which are required to preserve and stabilize the formulas over time.
I became convinced that there was a need for a fresh skincare alternative on the market. It is almost three years ago, I finally gathered up the courage to quit my comfortable corporate job and take the frightening leap into entrepreneurship.
NUORI products last for 6 months. Your products are sold worldwide. How do you handle the time to market internationally? And where does your production take place?
Jasmi: One of our biggest hurdles has been to figure out how we can professionally blend such small batches of our products. Most production facilities today are geared to large-scale production, where thousands of products are made in one go and then delivered to a warehouse for storage. We, on the other hand, need to blend a new batch every 12 weeks and deliver directly to our stores. And we still wish to do this in a modern, state-of the–art laboratory and production facilities. Luckily, we have found a way to do it all here in Denmark, but it’s been a pretty long, uphill battle.
When it comes to our freshness concept, production, and distribution, we wanted to create as much transparency as possible for our customers and that is why every single NUORI product is stamped with a Start-Using-By Date. This date is a clear sign to our customers that the products they find in the stores are always from the latest, fresh batch. The products will in fact not be sold when they get past this date. This Start-Using-By Date has furthermore been calculated to ensure that you as a consumer will have sufficient time to use it up before it reaches the Expiry Date.
Which NUORI products should have every women in her handbag?
Jasmi: I would say that both our Vital Hand Cream and Lip Treat are must-haves for the handbag.
What I really like about our hand cream is that – besides being quite moisturizing and quick absorbing – there is good amount of antioxidants in the formula to protect the hands. We often tend to forget that our hands are just as exposed to pollution, seasonal changes, and other environmental influences as our faces.
Lip Treat is also ideal for every woman’s purse. It is filled with nurturing ingredients that hydrate and soften the lips. We actually decided to call the product “Lip Treat” because you can in fact eat all the ingredients in it – not that we recommend it. However, there is always a greater risk to get product applied to lips into your system and we wanted to be extra careful when selecting the ingredients.
Finding the right packaging for both these products has also been very important to us. I think we have all experienced those cracked aluminum tubes, greasing up the whole handbag. Both these NUORI products use a three-layered technology that protects the formula from light, air, and bacteria but still makes the tubes bendable.
What are your main ingredients? How do NUORI products benefits our skin compared to conventional products?
Jasmi: At NUORI, we only use natural ingredients of the highest quality, but the selection of ingredients differs from product to product. Our philosophy is that there is no main or “wonder” ingredient. Rather, we look for ingredients that have been tested and proven to address specific skin concerns, then we locate the natural variants of these ingredients, and then formulate a combination that gives us the desired result. It is often much more difficult, and expensive, to find natural variants of ingredients, since their availability is dependent on the outcome of crops, and thus climate changes. Also, natural variants of ingredients often come from smaller manufacturers who are not as good at promoting themselves as larger, chemical companies are. So finding them sometimes takes some detective work but it’s worth it.
Our whole concept is built around the simple truth that the fresher your skincare product is, the more effective the active ingredients in it are. For example, pure vitamin C has been shown to be a very effective antioxidant active, but it is also known to be a very unstable ingredient in cosmetic formulations. This means that Vitamin C starts breaking down immediately after it has been mixed into any formula containing water. Already 4 months after blending the molecule will have lost 30% of its original effect. This is for example why NUORI’s Supreme-C Serum Treatment is designed so that the vitamin C is freshly mixed into the serum at home, just prior to its use so we can ensure peak efficacy.
All NUORI products are also formulated without synthetic preservatives and other artificial ingredients that are only added in order to prolong shelf life. We do, however, use some brilliant natural ingredients which have several beneficial functions for the skin as well being able to preserve the products. For example, we use a very newly developed natural variant of pentylene glycol in our creams. This ingredient has fantastic hydrating properties, creates a lovely texture and, as an added bonus, it naturally preserves our creams against bacteria and mold. The old, synthetic variant of pentylene glycol was found to be toxic in old animal studies in the 70’s. More recently some studies have shown synthetic pentylene glycol to be a skin irritant and thus a potential cause of contact dermatitis. The new, natural pentyelene glycol we use is extracted from corn and sugar cane, as opposed to petrochemicals, and is both ECOCERT and COSMOS approved.
Your product packaging is one of the most beautiful in the shelf. What makes the packaging special, besides the reusability?
Jasmi: Packaging is a very important factor for keeping the formulas protected and stable. At NUORI we have carefully researched and selected our containers and we only use protective packaging which minimizes the exposure to air, light, and bacteria before and during use. All of our pumps are for example airless and we use glass containers with opaque glass in order to keep damaging sunlight out. That way, we are certain that our pure and effective fresh formulas stay protected from outside influences.
The visual identity of our packaging is of course also important for us. We wanted to create a range that both speaks to lovers of design and that can fit into every bathroom around the globe.
Which upcoming products are on the top of your list and in our shelf, soon?
Jasmi: I am big believer in simpler living and think that most people’s beauty regimes are in need of serious decluttering. We are therefore not interested in developing a large, complicated product assortment for NUORI. Rather, we wish to extent our range with selected, smart products that can be integrated into professional facials, or used at home to boost a daily skincare routine.
With that in mind, I can in fact let you know that we will very soon be launching our next product in the NUORI range: Vital Unifier – Toner, Essence & Mist in One. This product singlehandedly establishes a completely now product category known as “unifiers”. It not only combines several different actions into one product, it also acts as the unifying element in your daily skincare routine. The launch date is in July and we are very excited to present this new innovation to the world.
In cooperation with NUORI.COM
Thank you for the interview Jasmi!
