A clean beauty brand filling the gap

COSSMA: What made you get involved with the cosmetics industry?

Elsie Rutterford, Co-Founder, BYBI Beauty (ER): We first became involved in cosmetics via Clean Beauty Insiders, an online platform initially called Clean Beauty Co., a natural beauty blog and podcast that both of us initiated.

After trying many other natural skin care brands and also making our own products, there was a clear gap for a beauty brand that upheld ethics around sustainability and ingredients, but that was marketed in a way that spoke to a mainstream beauty consumer. So we made the decision to create our own brand, BYBI Beauty. BYBI stands for by beauty insiders.

How do you define clean beauty?

Dominika Minarovic, Co-Founder, BYBI Beauty (DM): Clean beauty is a term that is still open to interpretation. We believe in avoiding ingredients such as animal by-products, alcohol, fragrances and other synthetic fillers such as silicone, as we don’t believe they make the most efficacious products.

What made you found the platform Clean Beauty Insiders and what is it all about?

DM: As beauty bloggers, formulators and entrepreneurs, Clean Beauty Co was a document of our journey into natural beauty. We shared simple DIY beauty recipes on our site and social media, which enabled our audience to take control of their beauty routines and understand exactly what they’re putting on their skin.

What were your major achievements there?

ER: The most notable achievement was publishing our book Clean Beauty with Penguin Random House UK. This book is your go-to bible for DIY beauty recipes. This handbook educates readers on ingredients such as essential oils and how to effectively make your own products at home. Some of the recipes in Clean Beauty are the foundations of current BYBI products.