Ep 181-Founder’s Formula- Annie Holden

So I’ve got a very special guest with us today. Her name is Annie Holden, and she is the owner creator the inspiration behind Founders Formula, which are these wicked little jars of the most amazing oils and serums for the skin. And the reason I’ve asked anyone is because I’ve been using them and I love them. So you know, we’re not allowed, you know all of this Instagram thing and all the stuff but you know, I purchased my products. And so I’m not being paid for advertising. What I’ve asked me to do is come on and talk to us about how she got into this it’s a dream come true for many of us, isn’t it is how to create our own product and and Annie’s gone ahead and done that she’s working out a bit of a thing with naturopath and nutritionist. And she’s going to tell us all about it and about how she got into this. So Annie, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.

Annie  

Thanks, Geraldine.My pleasure.

Geraldine

So how did you get into this? What was the what started you into face formulas? Should we call them?

Annie  

Okay, so I’ve always been a beauty junkie and a wellness junkie anyway, I’m actually an anthropologist. So I’ve spent 35 years working in remote and very remote parts of Australia. And so you just become very passionate about everything really, when you work in those kinds of places, the way plants are used and what they used for where they grow, how unique they are. And I went with a friend to Cosmoprof, which is the big world trade show for beauty in Italy about four years ago. And I was really stumped because there was no Australian botanicals on show. There were a couple of Yeah, I know because if you look into it, Australian botanicals are extremely potent. 

For a start, we’re geographically isolated so our plants have evolved independently of what else is happening in the rest of the world. So they are quite unique. We’re an incredibly harsh environment. And you’ve got to remember that plants are living cells, so you know what they need, all living cells really need. So for example, you know, we’ve all heard of Kakadu plum has the most vitamin C of any plant on Earth and you know that that’s incredible. The thing about Vitamin C is, as you know, it’s an antioxidant plants in the desert and elsewhere are exposed to the sun. And so of course Kakadu Plum is you know, a Northern Australian desert tree but another example is I think a lot of people have heard of gotu kola, I never know how to pronounce it.

Geraldine

Got it right, we all use we use it as naturopaths in the herbal tincture form all the time amazing for cardiac and all of the veins and arteries and everything that’s going on there. It’s amazing stuff got lots of properties. Yeah.

Annie  

So what you may not realize is that what people are using as gotu kola is centella asiatica. But the Australian version which is called cordifolia has twice the amount of the three active in what sometimes called Pennywort Swamp what we call it in Australia or so those three phyto compounds that make it so amazing to build connective tissue and so forth. It’s actually in greater concentrations in Australian plants. I mean I could go on and on with the macadamia is incredible like macadamia is reaching up which is just down the road from me I live just north of Maroochydore it’s very high in Omega seven which of course is the beauty Amiga. And you know, I think another one that has a lot of fat is sea buckthorn oil and things like that. So very high very good for skin. Macadamia also has a lot of squalane, as distinct from squalane, which is a synthetic squalane is what the skin produces anyway to moisturize itself. So Uh, anyway, I’ll stop this.

Geraldine

No. I was getting super interested. But it is the Bite Size podcast. So yeah. The oil that I’ve got, it’s got pepperberry in it, which, from Tasmania, which I’ve only just been introduced to because I was in Tasmania last November. So it’s in, you know, tonics and all sorts of things, and then gin and all the things over there. And then here it is now in something I’m putting on my face as well. So you’ve got this past looking at all these plants but what made you go okay, I’ve been to this yet. How am I going to do it? What was the inspiration to put them into oils and create them as they are? How did you go about doing all that finding people to help you? Because I would assume you’ve not ever made moisturizer for.

Annie  

I haven’t. Okay, so what I did was, like I knew I had already read, I’m a researcher, I’ve got a PhD. So I’m always going down the rabbit hole. So I already knew that they were really incredible Australian plants. So I came back to Australia, and I found an amazing cosmetic formulator. So the way we work together is that I will go and do the research as Australia’s, you know, at the cutting edge of research into Plant Sciences. And so there’s 23,000 Australians plant species, and only 1000 have been studied so far. So the research, it’s coming out every day almost. So I stay on top of the research, say something like pepperberry. So I personally have a salicylates intolerance. So I have a skin condition to manage as a result of that. So I’m very careful about what I put on my skin. And I know from experience that there’s no question that the skin absorbs in the body absorbs what you put on the skin. So I’ll work with her and I’ll say, Hey, this is, let’s say, pepperberry. This is so amazing. It stops the inflammatory response. There’s clinical studies, I’ve found a supplier whose their particulars, you might find 50 suppliers of pepperberry but only one has actually done clinical studies on their extract so that you can ensure that it’s got the correct levels of the act of cytokines, and that she and I will say, Well, that would be perfect for a calming serum that people can use with their microcurrent machine, for example. And so then we’ll sit down and we’ll work out well, what else should we put in it? Oh, we’ll create it in a base of organic aloe vera, we’ll put some hyaluronic acid in it, which is their naturally derived hyaluronic acid so we’ll use that .we choose which weight hyaluronic acid is going to work. So obviously different size molecules absorb more deeply into the skin than others, some will stay on top of the skin if we want it to stay a little bit thicker on moist on the skin, etc. So then we’ll just go through all of that. And then we try it on me. I don’t react, but it’s okay and then on others, and that’s how our process.

Geraldine

That’s amazing. So I was introduced to it locally here in Adelaide, and then I have actually started using it and now if I want to sell it to my client, she got a naturopath, nutritionist, you’ve got a natural therapists link in it and something they can tell us about that. What are we get in our little kit?

Annie  

Okay, well, I’m really keen for Founder’s Formula to be at that intersection of wellness and beauty. And as someone with a skin condition, I know how important it is. So I’m really to use the right sort of skincare you know, so I’m want to do whatever I can actually to support naturopaths and other wellness professionals to use our products. So we’ve put together a little sort of naturopath starter kit, which is sort of like a retail pack of I think it’s got Commelina, which is our calming serum, Kakadu plum Vitamin C serum which also has finger lime extract in it which is very high and naturally high in folic acid which stabilizes the vitamin C and I think it might have a fight away. I mean faraway is another example of Australian native tobacco serum so Australian native tobacco is you want me to shut up or loving it.

Geraldine 

I’m actually loving it I know that people listening will be going yay Okay, so I can get the product that’s great. God no has the link in the show notes but what she can say that tobacco.

Annie  

Okay, so the leads on Australian native tobacco are very, very fragile. So they’re really super for virologists they use actually they’ve been using them to develop vaccines and things like that.

Geraldine:

Wow. 

Annie:

But there is a peptide that has been farmed out of that particular plant and the clinical studies show that it is four times more effective than retinol and retinoic acid at stimulating collagen. And so the clinical studies, they’ve actually measured it with a spectrometer or whatever it is that measures the radiance of the skin. I’d have to check nothing is but it’s like 57% after four weeks, something like that. So you know, it’s there are results there. And that’s a really exciting product. And we’re Tony, my chemist and I are currently developing that into a body moisturizer as well. 

Geraldine:

Oh, wow.  That’d be amazing. It’ll be it fabulous 

It will be fabulous. I mean, some bottles, I mean, they’re not cheap, I gotta say, and there’s small bottles, but I have to also say the results, and my skin is amazing on it. And to be able to go from, you know, right at the beginning there where it’s a totally different thing that you do, you just get inspired by a meeting that you go to. And you come back and you go, Hey, look at what we’ve got, I know this stuff, I can do this, I can find these people. And I can create this incredible product that can be used. You know, for anyone on this, it’s just, I mean, it is beautiful. So obviously, everyone who’s listening to the podcast, normally, we’re only talking about herbs. And but I have had on here, every so often, a few people who have a product that I think really needs to get out there. And we all need to know about I think yours is one of those products. So I’m really excited. And so in the shownotes everyone, there will be a link to Founders Formula, because a lot of us also we talked about this just before we came on Live, a lot of us are actually online. And so we don’t necessarily have a clinic. So that can be sorted out on a one-to-one basis with Founders Formula. So don’t worry about that. guys, if you’re not actually in a clinic having something on your shelf, the Drop Shipping situation, it can all be figured out. But it is a one-to-one once you’ve started purchasing so another of mine, look at my skin. 

Now you can’t you’re on a podcast. You’re I’m in your ears. Instead, you’ll just have to believe me when I say that my skin has improved and jump. So I wanted to get anyone to talk to us about it. So one, and that since we are the bite sized podcast, it probably is time to go the website and everything will be in the show notes. 

So thank you so much, Andy, for coming and talking to us. It’s incredible what we’ve got out there in Australia and what we’re just not using that we need to know more about we need more education around these things. So that’s the point. If you’re listening to the podcast, and you can help us more with our education, then contact me for another podcast. So absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for coming in Annie.

Annie  

Thanks, Geraldine. I really appreciate it.