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Like Dalí, Gala was his muse. "She's my daughter, she's three years old and she was born with atopic skin." She is the "culprit" that today the entrepreneur Anna Fuster (Barcelona, December 30, 1988) bills half a million euros in a single year since the foundation of her own brand, Two Poles, in El Masnou (Maresme). "The little girl suffered a lot, to the point of not being able to sleep, she scratched everywhere, she had to use corticosteroids ... And I decided to look for more information because I couldn't find solutions for it," she says.

Thus, this passionate about cosmetic formulation who came from the business world began to study a master's degree in dermopharmacy and investigate everything she could also outside the classroom. "I started trying the girl's eczema, to see if they improved, and a lot of products on my own skin, which is also sensitive," she says.

Every day she gathered dozens of questions about skin problems from her own friends and family, taking advantage of her new knowledge. "I opened an Instagram account that started with 10 followers, almost all of them from my environment, and I started sharing and solving all the doubts there."

SKIN EXPERT

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Now the community has grown to 54,000 followers. Without intending to, she says, she has become a reference coach of the skin. "Something like Carlos Ríos and his realfooding movement to explain the basics of food." Its intention is to combat the misinformation that floods social networks. "People attack their skin by throwing everything they see on TikTok, it has done a lot of damage," he explains. Viral challenges multiply and not everything goes. He gives as an example one of the most followed Spaniards, Laura Escanes. "It showed how his face had been irritated by using a vitamin C by day and a retinol at night very potent in concentration and warned that we must be careful what we apply."

But the reality, he describes, is that almost all of us sin of buying what we see that works for others or in those profiles that most influence us and we trust. Therefore, take advantage of this tool to inform about ingredients and actives. "I want them to learn to distinguish what skin they have and what they need to best choose their beauty routine." Because he gets girls with acne tendency who apply comedogenic creams or layer upon layer without knowing exactly why.

THERE ARE NO MIRACLES IN COSMETICS

The ten products that are part of the brand's portfolio. EM

And from consulting to entrepreneurship. "After 400 consultancies where I often ended up prescribing routines, I decided to bet on devising my own brand of effectiveness with the help of a Spanish laboratory". He called it Two Poles to internationalize it. "They are the two poles of cosmetics. The natural, ingredients present in a high percentage of the formulas, added to the effectiveness of active ingredients that we can achieve in the laboratory. We must not demonize everything chemical, because it is a technological advance."

She is not alone in this women's team. She has her great friend Yaiza Bouzas, director of training and with whom she shares a master's degree in dermopharmacy, Carla Pagán, operations & customer manager and Marta Santos Aguilar, responsible for social networks and communication. "We are in 25 pharmacies, a specialized channel where we can train and that allows us to give more expert advice."

Fuster believes that aesthetic touch-ups can be delayed with constancy and a more correct approach to what we use. "Cosmetics are very powerful and sometimes we underestimate them. With a little training we can show off good skin, instead of buying a product because it's viral and then getting disappointed." Of course, it recognizes its limitations. "No eye contour is going to lift your eyelid or remove you from a blepharoplasty or anti-cellulite creams do miracles, and that must be made very clear. We must be honest."

WITH THE FAMILY OIL

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Another of his obsessions is multifunction to have simpler routines. "In the consultancies, they show me their bathroom and I hallucinate with the amount of creams, some even expired. In the end the skin suffocates from so much layer upon layer." Customer support, sensoriality and adherence, because constancy is needed, are its bases.

The success is such that they foresee a 40% growth from 2024, entering the international market. "I started with the idea of that moisturizing and repairing cream for my little girl and a retinol serum that could be used by delicate skin like mine. We encapsulated it to be effective, at a concentration of 0.3%, but balancing the formula. There are people who have written to me thanking me because they had tried everything before or who recognize me on the street of the networks and tell me their case in person, that is what makes you most aware of the repercussion, "he slides.

Their pride is a 37% repeat online purchase rate, their source of income at 70%. They have reached 15,000 units in their first year. "There is a lot of work behind each formula. We create between 13 and 20 samples per product until we find the textures." They have very special products, such as a make-up remover oil based on EVOO harvested by their family. "My grandparents had land with olive trees. They have exported a lot to Italy, but I have always had this oil in mind to undertake and not to be lost. I called my father and did a test with a five-liter carafe and it was viable in the laboratory. I'm very excited because it's respectful and removes waterproof masks."

WHAT's NEW

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At the same time, Fuster continues to discover needs. "Growth factors, which help recover tissues and stimulate the synthesis of collagen and elastin, are the ones that are going to be fashionable and trendy." She has just released a lip balm with vegetable waxes. "In Europe and the United States it is important that waxes are vegan and last you, and here that concern will soon arrive. It took us 10 months of work to achieve them without resorting to beeswax, which is very moisturizing." Now it's after a sunscreen, also hard to get in a tasteful texture that stays stable.

We ask him for two indispensable tips and again he demolishes myths. "Oily skin is the one that should use oil the most, although they flee from oily, and it is very important to clean the face very well and protect yourself from sun damage, especially when using vitamin C, because although it provides a lot of luminosity it degrades in the sun. "

  • Tik Tok
  • beauty
  • Beauty trends

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