Drunk Elephant – why are shoppers mad about the cult, ‘clean’ skincare range, recently sold for US$845 million?
Stay-at-home mum of four Tiffany Masterson founded the fragrance-free line from her Houston home in 2012 – and recently sold it to Japan’s Shiseido – we quizzed the grass roots skincare guru about her daily routine and why we should all avoid the ‘suspicious six’
Hongkongers are always waiting for the latest beauty products, and the opening of Drunk Elephant has had them scrambling to its stores. We spoke to Tiffany Masterson, the founder of the skincare brand, to find out more about its range of products, what clean beauty means to her, the “suspicious six” and why she agreed to sell her company to Shiseido in 2019.
Drunk Elephant’s approach doesn’t differentiate between different skin types. Are you saying there are no oily or dry skin types?
I do have a different approach to skin in general. I believe there are true types we are born with, but I don’t think those types need different ingredients to thrive, or different treatment. All skin has an acid mantle that needs to be supported and respected; skin is skin. Skin that tends to be more dry just needs more moisturising ingredients, skin that naturally produces more oil needs less.
True sensitive skin is rare, but still needs nourishing ingredients that it’s biocompatible with. The types I don’t necessarily believe in are ingredient-induced – acne-prone, sensitised (most people call this sensitive), oily (the kind when skin is overcompensating from being stripped over and over) and combinations.
They blame those types on their own skin when they should be blaming them on the unnecessary, disruptive ingredients they are using every day. I am convinced that more often than not these behaviours, or conditions as I like to call them, are ingredient-induced. The ingredients responsible can be found in some combination in almost every skincare product on the market.
We notice mixing products together to create a smoothie is encouraged. What inspired this? What are the rules?
No rules! All of my products are formulated to be bioavailable, or highly absorbable. The only exception to this are the cleansers and sunscreen. When mixed, my sera, oil and moisturisers will all melt into the skin when applied alone or together, so you can create customised smoothies based on your skin’s needs at the time.
