BYS, the Australian makeup brand, launches its first skincare line in the Philippines, a largely homegrown effort that’s cruelty-free, vegan-friendly and non-carcinogenic, and uses only the best Aussie and Korean technology.
By Alex Y. Vergara
You have a wonderful canvas and the materials and tools to enhance it with, but what do you do to that one-and-only canvas you were born with? You maintain and take care of it the best way you can. And with this, BYS, an Australian makeup brand marketed exclusively by Manila-based iFace, is introducing Skin by BYS.
A complete skin-care line—from micellar water to cleanser, toner to serum and moisturizer, eye cream to sunblock—Skin by BYS is a local initiative using the latest advances in skincare technology from Korea. The line is now available at all Watsons branches in the Philippines, and will soon be marketed globally.
Short for Be Yourself, BYS, since it was launched in the Philippines in 2012, has steadily captured a growing chunk of the Philippine beauty market. To reach out and get its message across to more Filipinos, it has, over the years, also collaborated with a number of celebrities such as Regine Velasquez, Nadine Lustre and even Korean heartthrob Park Seo-joon.
And with equal emphasis being put these days on skincare as more people work and connect with family and friends from home through digital technology, the launch of its “cruelty-free, vegan-friendly and hypoallergenic” skin-care line couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
Present during the products’ recent digital launch was Angie Goyena, GM of iFace and the driving force behind the development and introduction of various beauty and skincare brands in the Philippines, cosmetic surgeon and dermatologist Maika Slatensek and Amanda Aitken, managing director of GFA Australia, producer of over 15,000 beauty and personal care products, including BYS.
“Today, the Philippine team is leading a global makeup brand into its first full skincare line,” said Goyena, who also revealed that it took them and their Australian and Korean collaborators one year to formulate and perfect the Skin by BYS line—from the formulation down to the clean, no-frills packaging either in white or see-through containers devoid of bright colors.
Although Goyena and her team sought the help of BYS’s global partners in spreading the brand’s mantra of “loving yourself harder,” every aspect of Skin by BYS has been “thoughtfully and wholeheartedly” initiated and crafted in the Philippines. “Locally initiated, but ready for global distribution wherever BYS is sold,” she said.
“When our teams came together to brainstorm, we realized that BYS also had to take care of the blank canvas, which is your skin,” Goyena continued. The same medium that allows you to express yourself is all about loving both the creativity and the canvas.
For her part, Aitken said, “we have had great demand for quality skincare, products that work. But most importantly, products we can trust. We think we’ve got it right this time and we really hope you love Skin by BYS as much as we do.”
The digital launch culminated in the unboxing of beauty kits containing a full range of Skin by BYS products given in advance to launch participants. Led by Dr. Slatensek, the unboxing also became an opportunity for her to discuss each product and the harmful ingredients—from petrolatum to parabens, silicone to sulfates, phthalates to triclosan—Skin by BYS doesn’t contain, as well as a cornucopia of safe, natural and effective ingredients the brand makes use of.
