Sharon sat down with FASHION MAGAZINE writer Lesa Hannah back in 2018 to chinwag about the industry, share how she got started – and discuss why her stance on organic certification is quite a controversial one. Read on to revisit the original article below, but for those of you who want ‘just the highlights’ and can’t wait to learn the MV stance on organic certification, here is the bite sized version (spoiler alert) …
- Our world-famous Rose Soothing & Protective Moisturiser, loved by celebs and adored by the sensitive skinned – contains pure H2O as the base for us to whip this luxurious rich cream.
- Water cannot legally be counted as an ‘organic’ ingredient.
- We could, as some ‘green’ companies do – simply add dehydrated aloe vera powder into the water, and VOILA the entire water content could now be counted as ‘organic’.
- We did try this! As we do always favour organic ingredients and will always use them when they meet our exacting standards. However, our luxurious and rich cream formulation became a light and sticky lotion when Aloe Vera was added to the water component. So there it was decided, we will never be a certified organic brand and we will honour our formulas in favour of seeking certification.
.....and some other points not mentioned in the article below,
- Certified organic ingredients aren't always superior.
We acquire samples of ingredients from a few places we trust, and in some instances the certified organic versions are really not right for us. For example, the colours and odours of some ingredients can be completely uncharacteristic, albeit still 'certified organic'. This is something we are not willing to compromise on. We always choose the highest quality, we source from ethical farms, and when organically certified versions meet our criteria this is a perfect combo.
- Not all farms can afford to undergo certification themselves. Even if they are small, family-run, ethical, and don't use pesticides - they may not fit the criteria to gain certification because they happen to be located within the vicinity of other farms who use pesticides.
This Skincare Brand Is Proudly Not Certified Organic
“I want to say I’ve got a bloody good cream. Not a certified organic one.”
Sharon McGlinchey never wanted to make her own skincare line, much less an organic one. “I was dragged there kicking and screaming,” says the skin therapist and founder of MV Skintherapy, seated in the brightly lit sitting area outside her facial room in Sydney, Australia. “I was a cosmetics snob. I thought good skincare could only come from France, Switzerland or Germany.” But while on a quest to help a client who’d developed “a severe petrochemical sensitivity,” McGlinchey attended a workshop on how to make natural skincare. “It blew my head off,” she recalls of what she discovered over 20 years ago. “What I learned in that weekend, there was no going back from.”
In addition to feeling “literally stupid” for having never questioned “the ratio of ingredients within a product,” McGlinchey was blown away by the ingredients themselves like liquid paraffin, petrolatum and propylene glycol. A bit more digging revealed that not only was this not really public knowledge but some of the brands she contacted for more info were evasive about offering any. “So then my little terrier personality went, mmmm, I wanna know the answer to this,” she says.
“I thought I could create the cream and tell everybody how toxic everything was and start to make changes in the industry.”
She went on to formulate a cream for her client, and later added rose essential oil and it became her cult product, Rose Soothing & Protective Moisturizer. “I thought I could create the cream and tell everybody how toxic everything was and start to make changes in the industry.” But everyone she told was resistant.
Since then, McGlinchey has been on a path on which she makes absolutely no compromises, beginning with being certified organic. Her moisturizers don’t bear that label because in order to qualify, she would need to add a higher content of water combined with powdered aloe vera; water alone can’t be classified as organic. It’s a highly common practice among beauty brands who want the certification. And it would essentially render hers a lotion and she refuses. “I want to say I’ve got a bloody good cream,” she says. “Not a certified organic one.” She follows the same principle when sourcing her lavender oil; most certified organic ones smell like rosemary so instead she buys it from a handful of small suppliers she trusts that provide her with one that has a “beautiful, smooth aroma.”
“I want to say I’ve got a bloody good cream. Not a certified organic one.”
She also turns down most retailers who want to carry her line; interest got particularly high when makeup artist Dotti revealed she used MV 9 oil Radiance Tonic as well as Pure Jojoba Oil on Alicia Keys. McGlinchey asks interested merchants if they have had a personal experience with the brand. “And if they say, no but they’ve heard all about MV, that’s instantly ‘ehh ehh’,” she says wagging her finger. (The one store that does carry her line in North America is The Detox Market, which McGlinchey was connected to through Dotti and yes, owner Romain Gaillard’s wife had tried it.) Quite simply, she is not interested in ‘scaling’ as they say in the business world, saying “I’m not motivated by money” and has no desire for an investor. “I entertained it once and she almost sent me bankrupt.”
What matters more to her is treating clients with skin sensitivities and that she can stand behind the pureness and integrity of her 16 products, which doesn’t include an eye cream or a traditional exfoliator. She prefers to gently remove dead skin daily “respectfully” with a warm cloth cleansing and a weekly mask, which she teaches everyone who lies down on her treatment bed. “My devoted MV clients were like ‘Wow, I can’t believe it, I’m hardly doing anything to my skin Sharon’. It’s like ‘No, you’re doing lots but lots of nurturing. That’s why your skin is happy.’'
