Joining our collection of Great British Beauty Brands is Made of More, a skincare brand that we love for its optimistic, strong and rallying mission to inspire a brighter, more vibrant outlook for skin impacted by hormonal changes.
With a focus on peri- and menopausal skin, Made of More has turned the tables on this category, making products for menopausal skin something to be coveted rather than cupboarded.
With bold packaging and a vibrant energy, the brand stands for celebrating this stage of life rather than hiding from it. We asked the founder, Jackie, to tell us more about what led her to launch the brand.
How Did You Come To Create Made of More?
I’ve always been a big fan of beauty brands, yet my background was originally in finance and then farming. So I’m often asked why and how I ended up launching a skincare brand, in particular one with such a niche focus that talks specifically to peri and menopausal women.
Honestly, it all came from a painful experience. At the age of 42 things started happening to my body. Tinnitus, dry itchy mouth, weight change and changes to my hair which began thinning & greying.
Most distressing was how my usually well-behaved skin stopped playing by adult rules and threw an enormous teenage-style tantrum. Redness, sensitivity, severe dryness and spots - symptoms that decided to have a field day with my face and my confidence. Any skincare I applied would flake and sting immediately and over a few months I felt like a completely different person. I no longer recognised myself. In fact, I started to avoid mirrors all together as it was just easier not to confront how devastating it all felt.
Around that time, however, thanks to the brilliant efforts of leading influential women and female doctors, the impact of fluctuating hormones, perimenopause & menopause were becoming more mainstream discussions. So, I read, I listened, I swallowed any info I could find, and I realised how far short my knowledge fell. There were 48 (48!!!) identified symptoms of perimenopause. I felt totally out of my depth, and from conversations with girlfriends I knew they did too.
I met with Dr Sunny Dhesi, GP and an expert in female health (and now Made of More’s Clinical Lead). He spotted straight away that the issues I had been having with my skin were linked with my perimenopause symptoms, hormone fluctuations and a disrupted skin barrier. I’d been trying so hard to ‘fix’ my skin that I’d blasted it with anything I could get my hands on, and my skin was crying out for mercy.
And then I felt angry. Furious. The more things started falling into place, the more I realised how lost, confused, upset and let-down women were feeling. Educated, curious, intelligent women with so much life experience to offer. It was, and is, a tragedy that I couldn’t put out of my mind....so I decided to do something about it and that is Made of More.
How Does Made of More Differ From Other Brands?
Firstly, with my own skin I resolved to change my approach entirely and find skincare to support what my skin needed during this time of life without fragrance or aggravating ingredients. I wanted high performance and also long-term results; not just a sticking plaster to mask the symptoms.
What I found was that products designed specifically for the menopause either treated symptoms only (cooling sprays for hot flashes that were loaded with irritating menthol or alcohol, or worse, nothing useful at all) and the existing brand offerings seemed out of date. I’d always been adventurous with my skincare and loved new textures, clever names, humour and exciting packaging, yet there was nothing available that combined both a brand experience and results.
I worked with our incredible chemist who has 30 years’ experience of developing luxury skincare and she, herself was struggling with menopausal skin, so we got right to the WHY.
- Why is our skin more reactive?
- Why does it feel grey and sluggish?
Only by addressing the real causes would we get to the solution. We dug deeply into the cause of the visible symptoms, from sluggish circulation that led to dullness, erratic circadian rhythms, temperature spikes that degraded collagen, gene expressions that stimulated inflammation, erratic sebum production, unhappy microbiome, and extreme dehydration. Together we worked out how to fight them at a dermatological level.
It was a yes to the building blocks of great skin (ceramides, peptides, moisturisers) and months of research into the other ingredients that were clinically proven to tackle the challenges above. And a no to anything that might upset the balance - essential oils, harsh foaming agents, pore-blocking mineral oils.
And textures - I love a jelly, a balm, a soufflé - so we crafted protection-packed textures that felt irresistible to touch. We tested and tested and tested, on friends, family, the wife of the milkman, kid’s teachers, you name them, we found them! We tweaked and we tweaked until we got it right.
Made of More Really Feels Like A Brand On A Mission...
Yes! We are celebrating change, for our skin, for our midlife years, for how we treat women at this age. This is our rallying cry. We are spreading the word that midlife is far from 'the end' - it’s a confident, bright and interesting new beginning. Great skin included!
