Sea the light

CINDY MELK has a wrinkle-free eye for opportunity. The founder and chief executive of H2O Plus has smoothed her way into the highly competitive world of face creams, moisturisers, anti-ageing serums and shower gels, building a skin- care business worth US$100 million into the bargain.

Before she made her foray into cosmetics at the age of 27, Melk worked as a designer in Chicago's food industry on products such as cereal boxes. With a background in architecture, photography and graphic design, Melk says she wanted more of a challenge. 'I had disdain for what I was doing,' she says. 'I was interested in designing more interesting things. What I really wanted to do was to marry these different interests.'

A self-confessed product junkie, Melk noticed that the most beautiful packaging was coming out of the cosmetics industry. By starting her own skin-care business, she could design every aspect of the line, from the packaging and store interior right down to the details of staff uniforms.

Melk opened her first H2O Plus store in 1989. Within two years, there were 52 stores in the US. Not a bad effort, particularly given that the Body Shop - lauded for its natural beauty approach - opened its first US store that same year. Now, there are more than 70 stores and 500 outlets worldwide, including 17 outlets in Hong Kong and 88 outlets on the mainland.

Melk credits the line's success to a new approach and sound financial backing. 'The beauty trend was being interpreted in a natural earth way. We presented it through water - H2O. We distinguished ourselves from any brand that existed using the idea that water-based products can moisturise as effectively as oil, without clogging the pores. And we also had the luxury of good financing.'

According to Melk, the skin-care industry in the 1980s was a market that consisted of white-creams, face-only products, soaps, excessive packaging and technological speak that used hi-tech ingredients with names that were 20 letters long. 'So, my philosophy - after looking at all the brands, trying all the textures and getting a firm understanding of the market - was that there was a really a big opportunity to streamline products and take them back to a level of simplicity,' she says.

Melk says she's a true believer in algae, which is a main component of the products. She says it's loaded with vitamins, amino acids, proteins and anti-oxidant benefits. 'Algae is like a sponge that grabs everything [nutrients] around it and traps it.

'New research technologies into the sea mean endless developments in resources, with endlessly creative possibilities and benefits for the skin. Globally, people have responded to the very positive associations of water,' she says.

Sitting in the Noble Court restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Beijing, Melk looks years younger than 42. She's tall with short, blonde hair and light make-up.

On a four-day trip from Chicago, Melk is in China's capital for the first time. She's here to meet executives from Water Oasis, the company's sole distributor in Hong Kong, the mainland, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia (the first store is opening there in a few months). Another distributor controls the Thailand and South Korean markets.

Talking about what inspired her to start the company, she says a turning point was spending three years at school in London. 'I was introduced to the European style of taking care of the body from the neck down. In the US, beauty was only about the neck up - taking care of your face,' says Melk.

'It really became a primary piece of the concept - designing skin care that took care of your body from your head down to your toes. And it also opened up my mind to the global possibilities, of not thinking about a brand finite to North America.

'It was the most influential time of my life - it changed absolutely everything.'

Of H2O Plus' 250 unisex products, the best seller worldwide is the oil-free, water-based, eight-hour moisturiser. The company has also recently launched a moisturiser with SPF 15. 'Predominantly, [our collections are] weightless formulations, gel-textured with time-release hydration married with marine extracts,' she says.

Melk says she uses H2O's cleansing water and, while travelling, adds a hydrating booster and a mint body wash to her regime.

Most of the time, however, Melk says she's a guinea pig, testing competitors' products. Using her hand to draw an imaginary line across her face, she says: 'Often, my face is split into four quadrants. I might try X and Y products on my eyes, and something [else] on my lips, or different parts of my body.'

H2O Plus is now focusing some of its product development on anti-ageing. 'I always joke that it's because I'm a little older than when I started the company,' she says. 'I'm in my 40s now, so I'm doing a lot of age prevention - selfishly for me, but also for the market.'

Moving into the company's 15th year, Melk still feels the pressure of managing 250 staff, the business, and raising her seven-year-old daughter. 'The pressure is part of the drive, of wanting to be successful. Another trait is that I have a constant curiosity for opportunity. The challenge is to choose the right one. Overall, I feel very confident.

'Life is good. It's more balanced than it has been in the past. I like to think I'm a little wiser now than when I was 27.'