Friends and former beauty industry colleagues Caroline and Siobhan met early on in their careers, and they are on a mission to change the way we talk about and view the menopause. In our latest blog; Menopause – What does it mean for your skin? We talked about how a drop in oestrogen at this time of life causes changes to your skincare and a women’s desire not to recapture your youth but to find ways to feel great about yourself as you go through the change.
Living M founders are using their own personal experience with the menopause to do just that. They are reshaping the conversation about how we approach this time of life and are bringing much needed tailor-made skincare to women facing the menopause. We caught up with them to hear how Living M came to be. Read on to hear their story.
Tell us about how the idea for Living M came about?
Siobhan: Caroline and I met early in our careers and have been friends ever since. We have had over 20 years’ experience in beauty marketing developing globally renowned brands in London and New York. We are self-confessed beauty and skincare obsessives and our 40’s sparked a whole new conversation around our changing skin.
Caroline: I had been suffering from perimenopausal symptoms for a couple of years but like most women I hadn’t realised what was causing them. When lockdown hit my symptoms started to get much worse, becoming physical as well as psychological, they varied from increased anxiety, mood swings, night sweats and disruption to my menstrual cycle.
Siobhan: The more we spoke we realised we were assuming our many physical and psychological changes were down to our busy demanding lives when in fact it was the perimenopause, it was quite shocking that we weren’t better informed.
Caroline: As self-confessed skincare addicts our whole adult life, the conversation naturally led towards the change we were seeing in our skin. The main differences for me were increased dryness, loss of radiance, increased sensitivity and even the occasional hormonal breakout.
We both started to research the symptoms of perimenopause and found information on diet, fitness, and well-being but almost nothing on how to switch up and update your skincare needs in perimenopause and menopause.
Siobhan: After spending a small fortune on a lot of different products we found they were either heavily fragranced, seriously lacking in any type of active ingredients (where was the retinol, the antioxidants?) or they were part of a very complicated single ingredient layering regime, that overloaded our skin.
Everything was “anti-ageing, regain your youth” and just seemed so out of touch with the midlife women we are and that we know… We don’t want to turn back time, we want to look and feel the best version of ourselves regardless of age.
Caroline: We wanted to create a brand that could target hormonal skin changes caused by perimenopause and menopause for the millions of women just like us. We’re on a mission to normalise perimenopause and menopause and positively change the conversation around ageing.
Siobhan: Living M was launched in September with two multi-benefit daily skincare essentials, Collagen Boost Moisturiser and Quench & Soothe Serum. Specifically formulated with the right actives at the right levels avoiding known irritants such as fragrance, essential oils and drying alcohol. They are also vegan, cruelty free and made in the UK.
October is Menopause Awareness Month and it is an important part of our mission to raise awareness so this conversation is no longer taboo. We are supporting today’s generation of perimenopausal and menopausal women and all of those who are yet to come.
If you would like to try Living M products, you can get 10% off your first order with the code: WELCOME10. Shop their amazing products now.
