Living in a tropical country like Malaysia, which is basically summer all year round, it is a constant battle to ensure that your skin is oil-free when you are sweating under the hot sun. Nonetheless, ironically, applying oil to your face seems to be one of the hottest trends in the beauty scene. Aren’t we suppose to avoid products that results in oily skin? To clarify this, I turned to the founder of Daughter Earth, an online skin care store that sells facial oil.
“If your skin is fully cleansed and are replaced by wonderful plant oil, that are rich with nutritive properties, it can prevent the skin from overcompensating with more oil thus balancing your skin’s natural oil production while healing wounds caused by acne,” explained Tatiana Aziz, the founder of Daughter Earth.
Daughter Earth is an online beauty store on Instagram which specialises in home-made facial oils that are free of paraben, alcohol and mineral oil.
“I’m a real advocate when it comes to beauty products of nature origin, growing up in a Malay family my mom always have her beauty ‘petua’ ever since I was a little girl, for example she would made me pick hibiscus flower and leaf, crush them and massage them on my hair and scalp like a hair mask, and I remember having the most gorgeous lock of hair, thick curly with ringlets that dangles up to my waist,” said Tatiana.
Nutrients For Your Skin
Oil-based products are generally not affordable compared to other products in cosmetic chain stores. Seeing as there is a lack of affordable facial oil products in the market, Tatiana had the idea of starting her own facial oil brand.
“I saw an opportunity to create a much-needed product, and I realised that if I’m going to start selling them, making essential oils from scratch by myself could be an incredibly high risk. So I look up for factories that could provide high quality essential oils that are purer and safer for cosmetic use.”
The process of starting an online beauty store requires much research as you’re producing products that’s to be applied on your skin. “I would not stop researching until I’m absolutely satisfied with the type of oils that would work well with my product and would deliver the results that I expect them to, while catering for all the different skin types out there,” said the ambitious owner who’s really passionate about her products.
When asked about the ingredients of the facial oils, Tatiana explained that she sources most from overseas as she has to look around and be picky with the suppliers to ensure that they produce 100% organic oils and have suitable effects on various skin types. Then she has her own house lab whereby she mixes the essential oils in the correct ratio.
With the facial oils set at a standard price of RM67 including postage, Daughter Earth facial oils is packaged in a pretty three-side box. Being a new beauty store in the industry, Tatiana is always improving her products and taking constructive criticism. For instance, Tatiana shared that she recently changed her product bottles to be more convenient and user friendly with an attached dropper.
Juggling a part-time business while working full-time
Despite the well response received by her facial oils, being a businesswoman is not Tatiana’s full-time gig. After graduating with a Diploma in Interior Design, Tatiana has been working in two different art galleries. “I absolutely love what I do here; working on exhibitions, meeting new artist and sometimes the gallery requires hands-on work,” described Tatiana about her job in the art gallery. However at the same time, she also takes her own side business seriously.
While most of us working adults would rather use our day offs to relax and be a couch potato, Tatiana does just the opposite. “I usually take my day offs from work to process all my deliveries in the morning and an hour or two after work for 3-4 days of the week to help with production and packaging,” she said.
“I try my best to keep my customers updated when I’m out and about, nevertheless I do believe that time management is really important if you’re running a business with a full-time job because I don’t want this business to negatively affect my performance at work.”
It may not be an easy task to juggle different jobs, but Tatiana certainly has no complaints about these because she absolutely enjoys what she is doing without affecting her personal life.
“I get to play biochemist every time I’m mixing chemicals and preparing my products is truly a lot of fun, also I would like to make sure that I don’t use up bonding time with my family and loved ones since they are the reason why I work so hard in the first place.”
On Entrepreneurship
Back in the days before Tatiana started Daughter Earth, she was already involved in entrepreneurship whereby she was selling items from whole sellers that she didn’t produce herself. Compared to what she is running right now, it is a whole different ball game. “It really is exciting once you get the momentum running, but it doesn’t top the feeling you get when the stuff you sell came out of your own research, hardwork and creativity.”
When she was asked about words of encouragement for people who would like to have their own startup, Tatiana has this to say:
“Start with something, it doesn’t have to be anything big with a large capital, you can start small with limited amount of things or products to sell. The thing with business is, it will grow, you just gotta be there to nurture it.”