Healthy and Glowing Skin, Key Skincare Ingredients, and Feeling Confident in Your Own Skin - East 29th Founder Victoria Ferguson

This episode is full of hacks for healthy and radiant skin, and transparency as a mom and entrepreneur, and is made without any greenwashing BS. Calling all skincare, wellness and beauty lovers this one is for you. Sofia chats with East 29th Founder Victoria Ferguson to discuss her own personal skin-care journey, the creation of her business and all the trials, tribulations, and (skin) topicals in between.  

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Transcript

 📍 Victoria, my first question for you, I always like to go back with my guests and my very first question is, could you please just share when your skincare journey began with my listeners?/

 📍 /There really is two beginnings or, I like to call it the morning of East 29th because it was the beginning of development. /When I was 14, I became pregnant and I went through puberty and pregnancy at the same time. And if you can imagine that kind of hormonal stress and issue going on when I already had eczema, it was awful.

So that was like the 📍  spark somewhere in the back of my mind that I  📍 just kept there. Obviously at having a baby in the nineteens, I wasn't about to go create something at that point, but I knew that that was kind of an influential moment and I just left it there. Uh, I come from a household where we never.

Really spoke about, we never spoke about skin period. We didn't talk about any kind of, skin care routine. We used a bar of soap and you know what, like that. If that works for some people, that's great, but for me with having really bad eczema and not realizing. How bad fragrance was for you and realizing how you can have different allergens like I was allergic to, fibers and carpet, which really would flare up my eczema on my arms and my hands.

And then when you're rolling around, it would also affect my face. That was something that I wish I knew earlier, but when I got to being in my twenties, I had moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg at 19 to go to makeup school. Now I didn't get into makeup cause I loved skincare or makeup. I was an artist and I drew portraits and I wanted to challenge myself.

I would get really bored and the one way to challenge my artistic abilities is I thought, what canvas is living and breathing? And I was like, oh, skin. So I moved here on a whim just to play with a canvas that could a. Give you a response. It had an opinion. No other canvas has an opinion, but I just wanted to challenge myself.

I'd never used makeup brush before, and when I was in school again, all these products that people were using on me, my skin was just not responding well at all. So that was kind of another like, ooh, like this isn't working. Even the natural products at that time, it just wasn't working for my skin and my skin was really bad.

And there was a point where I had to ask my teacher like, please, can we not, cuz we would practice on each other. Uh, please, can we not do it on me today? My, it got to the point where my eyelids were like sandpaper. So after I left school at 20, I. Was dating someone who introduced me to preserving lemon rhs.

And this was nothing to do with skin, it was all about just kind of adding it to your food, uh, cuz it's really healthy for you. And it kind of sparked this idea, like, what if I played around with lemon RHS and put it. On my face because our pores are like little mouths. They're obviously eating up something.

And that kind of set me down this path of just playing with my own skin, playing with lemon rhs. Uh, I ended up dehydrating them and rehydrating them. And then I just noticed my skin really changed. So that was like the second beginning of East 29th and like understanding the language of my own skin because this whole time and.

Directly spoken about, but we're kind of told to just cover it up, whether it's via marketing or you know, like makeup and just kind of societal standards. Especially When you're growing up in the early two thousands and you know, everything kind of was getting seen more online and there's just so much out there for you to see and everyone kind of looks flawless and beautiful.

So it just, imperfections were not something that was even spoken about then. So it's all about covering it up and I didn't want to cover it up. I wanted my skin to breathe and I wanted to be happy with what I looked like when I removed my makeup. So that was the second part. So those two go hand in hand for me and.

When it, I started noticing that my skin was really different. It kind of just set me on this path of like, okay, I don't just want to cover up my own skin or the skin that's in my makeup chair. I really wanna have a conversation with the medium that I'm working with, and I wanted to prep the canvas instead of just painting it all the time.

So that was my two part transition from, you know, creating. Characters into really creating confidence and working on skin versus working on, you know, making a beautiful painting.

To me, when I met you in person the first time, you shared part of your journey that you struggled with eczema, that you went through pregnancy and puberty at the same time,. And thank you for sharing your  journey and your life like it's. Crazy, but you have the most beautiful skin I have ever seen.

Like you are the walking ad for East 29th. So it's just

thank you, 

No, it's so true. It stopped me in my tracks,  that's how I think the conversation began because I needed to compliment how bright and clear your skin was. So it's just  hard to wrap my brain around that. It wasn't always like, , but also someone I myself this past year have for the first women in my life struggled with skin.

And it takes such a toll on your confidence. And even with the best makeup in the world, it's hard when you take that off and you look at yourself and you don't recognize the person in the mirror or it's painful, or you're comparing yourself to people online. So the fact that you 

you went out and saw something that was making a difference and you didn't just accept what was given to you. You did the research, but I wanna know more about what did you learn about yourself going through so many big life changes and physical changes at once.

It's funny to me because even when we met, I was having what I would've considered a bad skin day, which, and it's so funny the perspective of like different people and how they perceive things, but because I now have a skincare company, I feel even more pressure to make sure my skin looks good. So if I feel a little bit off, especially when I'm going somewhere.

And I'm showcasing East way ninth, I still am human and I feel like, oh gosh, like this could look better. And I think that's really important to make note of as well, because just because you might get to a point on a Monday or whenever it is,  you're not, it doesn't go away. The conversation internally doesn't always go away, which is why.

It was so important for me to actually make East 29th cuz I didn't just want to fix skin. I wanted it to be internal as well. I wanted to work on being softer inside and out. And even if you think or someone else thinks, or I think that my skin is glowing, I wanna feel like my skin is glowing, you know, like I want that confidence, but it's never going to be a hundred percent of the time.

There's always gonna be that up and down. And I think when we think about life changes or we think about growth,  in our minds, we kind of glamorize it or we romanticize it and it's this like beautiful thing. Everything's better and we're super happy. But that's not always the case. You know, growth is really uncom.

Change is really uncomfortable. And when you're in the thick of even a great thing, it can feel so daunting and so heavy. So when I went through all these massive life changes at once, I wasn't sitting there thinking like, oh, this is so great. Like I'm doing something amazing. Like, no, it was like brutal.

It was, you know, if I didn't. Put a hundred percent effort in, like it wasn't going to work out. And I constantly lived in that state of I just need to push, push, push, push, push. And it's hard because we're in that era of burnout and I definitely, definitely feel it. And I don't want my skin to look like I'm burnt out either.

So it's like how do we find that fine line of really working hard, really, you know, going with the waves of life and all these challenges, but also make sure that we are taking care of ourselves. So self care and skincare has been. You know, the core of the business being really empathy driven has been a big part of it.

And that's just simply because I know the struggle. Like looking back now, if you were to have asked me at any point from pregnant 14 into my early twenties, would I be doing this? The answer would be no, because I didn't think anything I was doing was big or crazy. For me, it was really normal to have a kid this whole time.

I look back now and I'm like, oh my gosh, now that he's turning 15 and I've just turned 30, so half my life, it's wild to me. But when I have to look back and I have to dissect it, and that is the fuel to push me further today. So it's an interesting thing how I almost, not clueless, but I just, you know, innocence is bliss.

I had no idea. Truly what I was going through was really hard because it was just my normal looking back now and like seeing my son at that similar age, it's definitely not normal and I think because I didn't understand the weight of what I was carrying, it was the only reason I was able to get to where I am today.

But because I have already, you know, given birth and had a son, and clearly he's still alive and well it. Seemed like a big deal to launch a business, and I know that's really weird to think of. I understand that. So I assume other people will see that too, but because I'd already gone through something so much harder, this to me didn't feel like such a big challenge.

It just felt kind of natural and I had a dream once that I told myself. To follow whatever my intuition spoke really highly of, and I've just kind of stuck by that, whether that's in parenting or like my own life choices, and I'm just kind of, I'm winging it. I know people want like, what's the secret? But I'm just winging it.

I wake up every day not knowing , what the next day looks like.

thank you for sharing that because I think everyone, at least to some degree is winging it. And I often ask entrepreneurs that I have on what gave you the courage to follow through,, but it makes so much sense from your perspective. Everything you went through in your life was your life, so it seems normal.

That's your story. But having a child at a young age compared to launching a business, it's like, of course I can do that. Like, look at all the things I've already done with my life and have been successful at. , why not do something that I'm also passionate about and can help others  that Makes sense.

Hearing your perspective on it, but I really appreciate hearing your hindsight now being like, oh my God. , look at all these things I, I've done.  I hope that you're proud of yourself, of all the things you've done. I keep saying this, but how successful you are and being able to share your story. I find it really inspiring, and especially being a wellness skincare beauty lover now that this amazing brand has come out of it,  on a granular level, even if you're helping someone add to their self care routine because of your products you're doing.

So much. Good. And I'm skipping ahead a little bit, but I wanna know, as an entrepreneur and as a mom, what do you do to take care of yourself? It seems like you give a lot to the people around you and people who love your brand and East 29th, but what do you do for 

yourself? 

Well, it's funny cuz East my ninth, I consider to be a love letter from my current self to anyone in the shoes of my past, just honestly based on knowing what I needed all that time. And for me, that really fills my cup because. You know, when I went through what I went through, I couldn't just find people who understood what I was going through or understood any kind of similarities.

And I just feel like if you were to Google something today, , even if you were a teen mom or single mom, young mom, whatever it is, or someone struggling with hormonal imbalances, puberty,, for me, it makes me feel really good to know when people reach out and tell me that they found some kind of connection with what I've shared.

So for me, that is an emotional aspect of self care for myself because it calms me down and helps me sleep at night. Another one is reading. I love reading so much. It is one of the. Only times that you can be still yet moved at the same time. And for me, that's so fascinating. I love learning. So a lot of the topics that I read about, are not your typical, like I love psychology and neuroscience, and I would read that.

24 7 if I could, because I just have this desire to learn. I love gaining knowledge and I think it comes from, not having your standard education. So, which is also interesting to me. I think we take. School and education for granted because it's something that we have to do. So when you remove someone from that situation of having to do it like myself, uh, I have a grade eight education.

I used to be really embarrassed about that. I'm not now. I thought that meant that I was uneducated, just simply because of that. I have come to understand that that is not true. But for me, when you. The have to do something and the fact that I've just naturally gravitated toward it, and my thing is, is I'll do psychology courses online or I will read, and that's kind of my self care.

Like, it really just makes me feel good and calm, and I find it so fascinating that I have gravitated towards education as something to kind of calm my soul when a lot of people see it as, you know, it is stressful. I'm not saying school is not stressful. Or learning isn't stressful, it is. But when you can kind of find yourself 15 years later looking at the things that you were told you have to do and didn't loved, to me, that's been such a cool part of growing up and kind of figuring out who I am.

But another one, obviously skin care is my self care. I love doing, just kind of like a skin skincare treatment, relaxing, reading a book, having a cup of tea, and just passing out That's 

That sounds like the perfect night for me as well. I've been really trying to get more into reading this past year just because, like you were saying, every entrepreneur I've interviewed or podcast I listen to, no matter how traditionally educated you are, there's so much you can learn. Like you can never stop learning, and I think that's one of the most important attributes as a person in terms of business, self development, empathy, it applies to everyth. but I really loved what you said about how we can take traditional education for granted. That opened my eyes as someone who has been through high school and been through university, and I never at one time felt ungrateful or unappreciative that I had that opportunity. But it's easy to get wrapped up in the fact of all these things you have to do or how stressful moving away can be, or how stressful exams can be In thinking of your future, It's such a privilege that we get to go through that experience, and I love the fact that you are embracing your journey and you're sharing your story and you're like, this, this didn't once stop me from doing what I was passionate about or doing what I felt was important.

 I, I keep saying this, I'm gonna have to edit this out, but I'm so inspired by your journey and I really think that people can have a lot to take away from you. You. You were never the person that said no to yourself, if that makes sense. I feel like, and I get the sense you, as soon as you put your mind to something, that you do it with a hundred percent to the best of your abilities, and I love that.

There was, there's a really large part of me that I think. You know, I'm, I'm still from that generation where we were kind of told, if you have tattoos, you'll never get a job. If you've got like body mos, you'll never get a job. If you don't have an education, you won't get a good job. You know, that was really driven into me by society, and what was really cool is my, well, my dad was very silent.

He didn't really give his opinions, but my mom just always kind of, Let me be me. You know, she was the person that would, when I wanted my hair, I mean, everyone has colored hair today, but when I was before grade eight, I had every color hair of the rainbow. And no one else had that where I was from. And I was known as the girl with pink hair.

And I never talk about this, but my mom would be the one that would like bleach my hair and then dye, which is totally bad, I'm sorry, hair stylist. But she would, I was very young,  and you know, like she just kind of let me be, me and I. Looking back, that's a really big part of my story, because when I became the person who, yeah, I stretched my ears.

Yes, I got tattoos right after my son was born. They're all in relation to my son being named after my grandpa. Or my grandpa, or just my son in general. They're all very meaningful and I stand by all of them today, which is so funny cause I haven't been tattooed in 10 years. And not having that standard education, all those things that were kind of drilled into me and then it just never stopped me.

I don't know why. I never stopped to think, Hm, like, I'm not going to be able to do this because I don't have A, B, C, or d. I just kind of did it and I, I, I guess it's because. Innocence is bliss. But at the same time, I was so focused on raising my son that I didn't stop and think about all these things holding me back.

I didn't stop and think about like, oh, you can't do this because you have tattoos. Oh, you can't do this because you know you have these things. You can't do this because you don't have an education. What I would do is I would reach out.  and I would say, Hey, like if you ever need an extra set of hands, uh, this is what I can do.

And I would never wait for someone to knock on my door. I would 100% reach out and knock on others. And that brought me every opportunity I've ever had. I've had so many nos, but that kind of, I just had no choice. I had to do it because I just wanted to provide for my son. And I think having my son, It's the reason I am who I am today because it just gave me that push, like I have no choice.

And it's the same thing today, like with East 29th. I don't have the luxury of just kind of taking it slow or you know, taking a long weekend. I don't know what a weekend looks like because I have to keep working. And for me it makes sense because, I'm not doing this for me. I've never been able to have like a studio apartment or a one bedroom.

Like I have always had to have minimum two. And if you live in Vancouver, and you know what that kind of, you know, looks like price wise, I've never had the ability to just kind of, you know, slow down. It has to be, I have to just keep going. And that just gives you a different kind of, Fuel. So when people are like, oh, I'm so inspired by you, in my mind I'm like, well, like I, you know this.

That's great. I really love that. But I've never thought what I'm doing is inspiring. I've just kind of had to do it. Survival. I've been in survival mode for so long and I think, you know, going back to your point of saying  traditional education as a privilege  to me, and so obviously other places in the world, it is a privilege.

Now I am definitely more privileged than, you know, countries that don't have education quite available to them at all. But as someone who just deeply wants to learn and wishes, like I look back and wish I had a grade 12 education and I wish that I was, went straight to university. My kind of setup has been I will reach out and someone will say, oh, you.

You know, a grade 12 diploma. So I write essays just to prove that I have some level of intelligence, and it's been a struggle, but I learned so much about myself every time I write something. And to be able to have done financial. Accounting and marketing management and intro to psychology University courses.

For me, that's been such a highlight of my life and yeah, they're not, you know, the main things that I've done in my life, but that's a big thing for me because of the embarrassment that I did feel for not having an education. And I think the drive to kind of, Make my parents proud because I felt like they weren't based on what happened to me, they have never not been proud of me.

But there was just something so internal in me that I just wanted to make people proud that that also gave me the fire to just do, do, do, do. Which again, burn oaks real and not great, but I think. When you can learn so much and, and learn how to center yourself, even if you're working really hard in small moments, you learn how to, to find the calm.

And I think that's what I've been able to do.

Oh, completely. And like you were talking about burnout, what you just mentioned, it's this really fine line to cross because it sounds like you've never been comfortable, like you've, like you were saying, you've always been in that survival mode of what can I do next? Like, what's next in the burner?

Like what's on my to-do list, like to keep going. But it's a hard balance cuz then to also keep going, you need those moments of rest and you need those times of clarity and calmness. So I hope now that you're in, I know like you were saying this weekend, you still have a million things to do and you're still working, but I hope now you have a bit more of a balance just because you deserve that time to have rest as well so that you can keep going and keep doing the amazing work you're doing with East 20. I wanna get a bit more into East 29th. We've mentioned it quite a few times now. I'm sure my listeners are familiar with the brand and with skincare. We're all skincare and wellness lovers here. But I wanna ask you a few questions just on skincare. So in your opinion, what are some ingredients that are worth the hype and what are some that people should steer clear of?

I know this is a really personalized question, but just in your.

I think you should steer clear of fragrance for sure. I think. Okay, so fragrance for me, it's a ver not just for me, but it's, it's a very nostalgic thing. So people love a good scent, and I get that. I feel you 100%, but there are so many other ways. To get a scent put on a nice candle, put on your diffuser, you can still get that moment of nostalgia and relaxation and calmness doing your routine.

It just doesn't have to be in the product itself. I think that is such. An important thing to talk about because fragrance is a number one skin irritant, and it's basically a volatile reaction. So if you imagine little sparks, you know, responding to one another on your skin when it's such a sensitive organ, I think that is the one thing I would recommend, uh, avoiding at all costs.

But I understand, I totally, I always try and put myself in the shoes of others and I get why they love it. But for me, that's a total no. There's a lot of people that are like, oh, I thought your products would smell like lemons, like, darn. And it's like, I get why you would think that. But we are a fragrance free brand for, I mean, we're built to create or to, help eczema, any kind of sensitive skin.

The last thing we want is an, the number one irrit. Being put onto it, right? So that's my avoid. I think that hyaluronic acid is a staple. You should definitely be having a vitamin C and a ni amide. Those are my three favorite ingredients. Uh, you can tell that cuz my first product that I released, the vital Serum has all of those in it.

L I think the more ingredients you can have in one product, the better for me. To be relaxed, to have an efficient morning or night, it has to be simple. It has to be less. I don't want individual bottles for each product. I know that there's some enjoyment of nine step, 12 step routines, but for me as a mother, you know, I had three minutes in the morning and I had three minutes at night, and that's why the Vital Serum was our first product launched because it was the one product that if you had no time for anything else, that was the one that would really do the most for you.

I think it's really important to  understand what you're using it for. Like I know when you're following trends, Dewey skin is really in, and I love that for everyone. . But a lot of the time when you look at the molecule structure of something, like for me, a lot of people call our serum and oil, and I wanna clarify that it is not an oil because a serum has a small molecule versus a oil having a thicker molecule.

Both are equally great, but they do different things. So smaller molecule and a serum will deeply penetrate. The deeper layers of your skin and a bigger molecule in an oil, it really protects the moisture barrier, both great, but you would want the serum if you want to do more work. And then you wanna lock in the benefits of the serum with something like a lotion or an oil.

So for me, it's really important that people understand that because if your skin is only looking dewy, we don't just want it to look at an Instagram, we want it to do the work at the same time. So investing in a great serum. Is number one for me. I know you asked those ingredients, but I went on to product as well.

So having hyaluronic acid, ni amide, and vitamin C and then you can use whatever oil or, moisturizer that you want afterwards. I think that's how you'll get the best dewy skin.

I am writing notes here because I am willing to do literally anything to have that dewy, healthy skin look. And my skin is so dry right now, so I'm like, okay, got it. We'll be purchasing, need this on my face asap. But fragrance is, I wanna go back to that just for a moment. There's like influencers who talk about how bad fragrance is, but they don't go into the why I found so I appreciate that. Tell us why. Cuz for some people it does take some of the fun out of a product and you get that spa feeling of opening a jar or something and having like this wonderful scent come from it. So when you take it away, I think it's really important to say, this is why, because it can cause all these irritants, it can interact with your skin in a poor or negative way.

So I appreciate that you give like the science behind the skincare and the why of why you've created these. I also relate to you in wanting a quick routine. I think during Covid when we were all, it still is Covid, but while we were all at home in lockdown, it was great having a 12 step routine because that was the only thing for a lot of us that we would fill our day with.

But now going to work, being a mom, just life in general is so busy, but having a product that does so much work at once and saves you time, I think that's the. Gift you can give someone in any skincare or wellness practice is the gift of time. And knowing that if you have this on, then you're good to go.

I wanna know, do you have any skincare hacks though? So maybe applying a product in a certain way or a tool that you love in conjunction with products or something that just gives a little bit extra to your routine when you have some more time?

Absolutely. I wanna make one more note about fragrance though. So fragrance is a umbrella term, so, If you had a, say you had a product and you read the word fragrance on the back and the ingredients, what a company can do is they can have their own, you know, like, I don't know, pick a company that has a very specific smell and what they can say is, Hey, we don't wanna put the ingredients for this fragrance on the back of our box, cuz we don't want a different company taking it.

So they're allowed to legally use the word fragrance. But what happens is, is they hide toxic ingredients. That are not included in the fragrance, in the formula into the umbrella term fragrance, and they just say that's part of that ingredient or that you know, formula. So you can have a skincare company that claims that they're nontoxic and they can put the toxic ingredients under the word fragrance, and so you don't actually have the transparency of the full ingredient list.

We're made in Canada. So our regulations are more strict than America, but American regulations haven't been updated. Uh, I believe it used to be 82 years since it was last regulated. I believe it's longer than that now. But you know, they've really been, that's why the clean beauty movement was made in America because there weren't the exact regulations.

It's more regulated. What's actually put on your crops versus what you can put on your skin hasn't been updated in that long. So for me, It was really important. I know Canada has more strict rules, but that a lot of the time, you know, we are buying American products all the time. It's part of our daily life here in Canada.

You can hide those toxic ingredients. So that's also why fragrance is really bad. It's not transparent. If a brand has fragrance and maybe they're very transparent of what goes into making it, maybe it's essential oil. Uh, I still wouldn't put an essential oil on my skin, but that's a different topic. I think that's really important to make note of as well.

Yes, it's this nostalgic, amazing thing, but you know, for me, I put on a rosemary uh, diffuser and it is the best smell. It is my every day. You can, and you can customize it. Maybe on Monday you're feeling this way. On Tuesday you're feeling this way, you're using the same products, getting the same results that you love, but you can kind of change up.

It's like an outfit. You can change up the ascent that you get and never get bored by it. So that's just my piece of advice for brs. 

Fragrance is shady as fuck.

it. Really it is, and it's sad to me. It makes, it's like putting yellow number seven in something, you know, like, what is yellow number seven? What does that even mean?

It's obviously not something you want to, you know, eat. So like why would we wanna put fragrance on our skin again? I get it. I try really hard to understand the. The, you know, psychology behind why we're, why we make the decisions we make and yeah, like we've evolved, you know, before there wasn't clean beauty and green beauty and blue beauty and all these things growing up and I get it.

But now that we know better, like we should do better, right? So for me, it's important to not only live by that for myself, but express it. So if you ever go to our. Eastwin i.com. There is a section about clean beauty. It breaks down greenwashing because it is legal in the states to say, uh, vegan on the front and in the back the ingredients.

It could say, honey. Like you can, or I could say non-toxic on the front and have toxic ingredients on the back. It's totally legal to greenwash. So I break down all of that on our website as well because I know that we, we have an abundance of product and we don't have an abundance of knowledge always.

And like you mentioned earlier, there are people on TikTok who will talk about stuff and at the same time it's so hard because a lot of their time, their opinions are very biased. And that's great cuz everyone has their own opinion. Again, east Winans created based on what I needed. So for me, it's very lovely to hear and other people need it or love it too because it was before it became East 29th.

It was just what sat and was used on my face, right? So, There's always gonna be be people that you agree with and people that you don't. But when someone says, Hey, this doesn't work for you, even if they're right or wrong, if there isn't the understanding or the teaching that goes along with it, it's kind of hard to fully understand and you won't implement change if you don't actually grasp why you need the change.

So for me, it's been really important to share that. To go back to your question about any kind of tips, our products are meant for head to toe. They're not just for your face, which is why I don't call it a face serum or, um, anything like that. Like it's for head to toe. A lot of the time people's eczema far extends beyond their face.

I get it on my fingers, I get it on my hands, especially when covid started and I was in public and they gave me hand sanitizers and I would have to use it to go in the store to get groceries or whatever. My. Became raw. So for me, using it head to toe is really important. You can spot treatment it, so I put it between my fingers.

If I have a flare up, I put it on the back of my hands. It's a great, uh, hand moisturizer. I use it on my lips. Uh, my favorite tip for the vital serum is, you know, when you're wearing concealer and during the day it gets really crazy. I will dab a little bit of , I'll dab a little bit of the vital serum under my eye and just rease it.

and it gives a nice hydration, smooth look. Like I just redid my makeup fully. So that's my favorite.

. And it just goes to show too, going back to what you. About the fragrance. It's a really transparent, universal product, which I love and which is part of why I wanted to learn more about it and learn more about you, the creator behind it. Like there's so much BS out there in every industry, but especially in the beauty industry.

And like you were saying, I think it's becoming more of a movement to talk about how, especially the US doesn't have the best regulat. With what goes into products, but opening up the conversation is something I so appreciate and I really thank you and your knowledge and background for coming on here and sharing that as well.

It's one thing to have a beautiful bottle of something and you get great results, but understanding what goes into it and the thought behind it and the science behind it is a whole nother level of appreciation I think that you can only get from having these type of convers.

I think it's really interesting because for me, as a creator or someone who's so deeply invested, I thought everyone and every brand was the exact same way. Like there's not one detail about East 29th that is not deeply personal, and I thought that's how all brands were. I found out that that's not true, like the two in East 29th, it's the bottom shape of a lemon, which is because lemon rind extract is our number one.

Like it's our hero ingredient. You know, it's named East 29th because I lived on Fraser and East 29th when I created it, and uh, my son and I lived there at the time.  and uh, the vital serum is named Vital cause I'm from St. Patel in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like, there's just nothing 

that isn't fully like put together and everything is starting.

All names start with the letter V because my name is Victoria and I go by the nickname V. So everything is V related and V goes down to five. In the future we will have five products, like everything is structured to be so specific and every product name has five letter.

I love all the little Easter eggs. I feel like I'm dissecting, I don't know if you're a Taylor Swift person, but dissecting a Taylor Swift song right now. The album. It just makes it more fun as you discover these details and all the thinking that goes behind the brand name and like every single detail.

I love that.

Well, and it's funny because I, most people don't look at our skews or anything, but our skew numbers, they all are the age that my son and I were at the time that they were created and launched.

Oh my God. Wait, I 

So like the vital serum skew is 27 12. Right? Like everything for me has just been so, it's so deeply personal and I thought that that's how everyone and everything was.

And then it's like, no, it's not out. It's like, oh, it's okay. Just me. But another tip that I just thought of that I keep getting told is the, our lotion mis is a liquid for many reasons, but our, our line is gender. There's no gender to our brand. Men and women can use it. And what's interesting is as someone who's done makeup and film for years, when we're told that we have to shave a men's face for a role, you know, a lot of the time that that skin hasn't been cared for in so long, nevermind now that it is getting shaved off, and that's a sensitive thing as well.

But our, verse lotion. Is really great because you can get under your beard to your skin and it really makes your beard glow nicely. It you can nourish that skin with, with having a full beard. And I keep getting told that people's boyfriends or husbands are stealing, uh, their lotion mis because they've now realized that they can actually get to the skin under their beard.

And with a cream, obviously that's not going to go very well because then you would just be applying cream to your beard.

I feel like with the miss too, it makes the application super easy, which for not to stereotype, but generally speaking, I guy to do a skin care routine, the easier, the better. So it makes sense to me why they're stealing and just using it for themselves. totally see that.

Simple. Simple, simple. I wanna simplify your routine. I want it to be gentle and effective. That's the, that's the whole goal. I don't have time to do so many steps, and even when I do have time, you know, if I can get results in three steps, why would I do it? You know, in 12, and I get it, that is, that is something that some people love and I love that for them.

But for me personally, again, the brand was created because it's such a personal thing to me, it just didn't make sense. And you know, to all the single parents or young moms out there that just needed like some kind of, when they didn't have the time for self care, or even someone who's not a mom. Or dad, like someone who just like doesn't have a lot of time.

You deserve to be able to have such a nice experience that actually gives you the results. I've got a lot of men who have eczema or rosacea and any kind of dermatitis, and you know it, it's not like. Some of 'em are embarrassed. They don't know even how to ask the questions of like, what do I do about this?

And so we've really simplified their routines and they're so thankful because what they were doing before was just going to buy whatever was kind of advertised more, which has the fragrance in it, which is really toxic, and it strips their skin even more and then it irritates 'em even more and they kind of give up.

And we don't want them to give up. We want someone to be confident. You know, our faces are walking business card for whatever we're doing, even if it's just going to get a coffee. It, it promotes an internal feeling. Uh, you know, as much as what we look like shouldn't matter, it's not about what we look like.

It's how we feel. Based on what we see in the mirror. And I just think if we can remove redness or we can take your enlarged pores and make them smaller, or we can remove an inflamed eczema patch on your lip or on your cheek, like to me that's so important because it's about how we feel internally about ourselves and the dialogue that we have internally can be so brutal, like so brutal.

And I want to just kind of soften that internal dialogue. We will always still have some kind of. Voice that is maybe negative or harsher on ourselves than others, but like we can soften it. And even if it's just a little bit, you know, that little baby step eventually over time will become something that, you know, hopefully we decrease.

And I just think. The more we're mindful about what we're putting on our skin, hopefully it translates to being more mindful about how we talk to ourself, and I think the less cluttered our counter spaces, the less cluttered our mind will be. Also, when we think about what we're putting out into the environment, all of these factors come together and that's just kind of what East 29th is and you know who I am and but also what I am inspired to keep creating with the brand and inspired to keep doing for myself.

I get asked all the time, Will you release more cleansers? Will you do this? Will you do that? I'm not trying to make a 27 product line. I'm trying to keep it very simple. Yes, there are more products that I have, but they're not going to be duplicates of the same thing. I really want to just hone in on problems that people are having that there seems to not be a lot of knowledge about, and if it works for me, then of course I want it to work for others.

I think that's really, I.

I don't know if this was really intentional. Or it kind of happened, or a combination of both. But everything is so well thought out from your point of view and the consumer point of view from before even having awareness of E 29th or any products, the issues that they could be facing, the things that they're saying to themselves about the issues they're facing with their skin. Actually using the product, making it easy, thinking of what their day to day looks like, thinking of the greater impact it has and then after how it affects their life. Like I so appreciate that entire thought process. And again, I'm not sure if that was always intentional from the beginning or if it's kind of happened over time, but I think that's really important in a brand and something that I so love about your approach to.

I wanna know, this is something I ask all my guests and I love hearing the response, but what is a product book, TV show? Just anything that you're loving and wanna recommend and share to my listeners.

I am a big Oliver Sax fan at the River of Consciousness. I'm currently rereading it for like the fifth time. I love it. I recommend it. I think. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I love learning and I read his books all the time. There's, I just finish the mind's eye and hallucination.  also his case study book on who, the man who mistook his wife for a hat.

I just find reading about other people's journeys so fascinating. I mean, as someone who's so visually inclined, like, I love, love, love art. I love, you know, creating things and making things, but understanding how other people's minds work, even just simply by reading a case study. Like the guy that most took his wife for hat, he couldn't, he doesn't recognize faces and I don't think I've ever thought about.

I've never thought to myself, oh, like I can recognize a face. I take this for granted cuz some people can't register faces. I've never thought that. But reading case studies about what other people have gone through, and that's just a blip in this, you know, psychologist life. But for me, that has given me so much perspective.

So I love reading about other people's lives because sometimes, you know, people say to me, I can't believe, you know, you had a baby so young, I can't believe, you know, blah, blah, blah. When I think about it, you know, I. I can think that what I've gone through is so much easier than some of the struggles that other people have gone through, and I just think it's really important to live in the shoes of someone else.

I think having that empathy when you're reading about someone else's life is just so important. So I recommend any Oliver Sax book. I love the River of Consciousness. I've read it so many times, and I will continue to keep reading it over and over again. I never part with that book.

I'm adding that to my cue. That seems like something I need in my life. Thank you. So, so much for taking the time and chatting with me today, sharing your story, sharing your story about starting East 29th, and of course, giving us some great skin care hacks. We can never have enough in our lives.

I love chatting with you today.

thank you so much for having me. It was great.