Introduce yourself. 

I'm Dr. Joanne Reilly, the CEO and founder of Kinvara Skincare, a Galway based business I set up in 2012.  I’m Mum to two beautiful daughters who were part of why I started making skincare products.  Along with my husband, Ciaran, they're still the first people I go to to test a new product.

What inspired you to join the natural health sector? 

I had always gone into my local health store - I just like health stores, they feel safe and where you can take your time and have a good look at things.  So when my own skin issues gently forced me into making products to look after my skin I went into my local health store to see if they'd pass muster with the very educated customer base that shops there.

Where did you get the idea for your brand?

I really started with no plan - for the first few years I told myself that I could stop in 3 months if I didn't like what I was doing - back then I was researching, formulating and physically making everything - filling the jars and bottles and labelling myself.  I was trying to work out how to run a business, and everything was new.  Google was my best friend.  It turns out that I did like what I was doing, there was a need and there was a demand for what I had to offer.  It's very challenging but so rewarding to know that thousands of women across Ireland will turn to Kinvara products today to look after their skin and that of their loved ones.  We’ve literally part of people's lives and that's a deep honour that I cherish.

What makes your brand unique?

I think it's a unique combination of many things from our championing of amazing plant ingredients like hyaluronic acid and bakuchiol before they go mainstream to innovative product formulations like our waterless low tox products, to our distinctive natural scents that come from essential oils not parfum.  

It's the value our high-quality long long-lasting products offer to the values we live as a brand from sustainability efforts like reducing plastic with our refill and gift sets and projects we support. We offer health store customers quality, innovation, value and as well as real results with proven products that turn routines into rituals.

What are your company’s core values?

We work to make a difference in peoples lives by making a difference to their skin.  To do that we look to do good through our products and our business.  We use the lenses of People, Product & Planet to filter our daily decision making and keep us living our values.

I'm trained as a zoologist and was lucky enough to be part of some special expeditions allowing me to work on endangered species.  I've seen first hand the consequences of poor resource management for our world, its environment and the people, plants and animals, and I'm not interested in compromising my ideals or beliefs to churn out average products for money. 

How do you support your community?

We give away a lot of products to good causes and do most of that quietly.  We also support 4 international environmental and community-based projects that are working on climate change and improving peoples lives in small but significant ways from providing simple self-made stoves that use less wood to massive wind farms projects in South America. We also collect plastic from the seas and plant trees through our NGO partner Greenspark. We’ve planted over 20 football pitches with trees at last count!

What has been the most rewarding part of your brand's journey? 

Becoming a daily part of our customers lives, being the brand that women reach for everyday to look after themselves, Giving our customers a few well deserved moments of me time at the start and finish of their days. That's very rewarding.

What in your opinion makes Irish brands unique? 

Such a good question and I think its the people behind them and those people are nearly all women, and the brands reflect those women and cater for their market in a way that bigger multi national brands just can't. Irish brands listen really well and can serve out Irish customers in a bespoke manner than the more mainstream big box brands.

What is your favourite product from your brand?

Probably the 24HR Rosehip face serum because it's so loved by our customers and because I know what it can do for people.  I have to stop myself from stopping people on the street when I see their skin and know they could benefit from it. It's a mega calming hydrator that has a place in everyone's routine and its so good to help people with tricky skin. Men love it post shave but they have to buy their own - we’ve a good few stories of customers who've found out that their partners and sons were using their serum on the QT!

Tell us about something that has shaped your brand? 

Calling the brand Kinvara, after the beautiful town located on the west coast of Ireland. It's shaped the brand by rooting us in Ireland. It's a small town that hugs the Atlantic Ocean and the Burren and those wild land and seascapes are reminders for us to keep our products pure, natural and standard bearers of the highest quality. Kinvara products are made in Ireland and I'm very proud of that.

What do you hope to accomplish in the future? 

I've so many products yet to hit the shelves - I don't ever want to overwhelm our customers or confuse them with multiple options of the same thing, but we have obvious gaps in our range that I really want to get out there for our customers.  I'm also working on something very exciting that you’ll hear about in the next 6 months.