Foxyskin is the vision of Cholpon Djusueva – a platform for the certified organic personal care products: skin care, hair care and body care for adults and babies. There are so many terms in beauty industry, but Foxyskin intends to revolutionize the beauty industry by providing certified sustainable products from well-known international brands which are proven to be effective and sustainable: organic, vegan and cruelty free. Viki Shah speaks to Choplon to find out more…
The name Foxyskin is inspired from the beautiful and pristine white Arctic Fox. She is a symbol of purity and divinity. She is known to work her magic and charms overall, just as Foxyskin would on your skin.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, however I worked overseas most of my life. My professional experience has been evolving around customer service and beauty industry, perhaps due to my natural curiosity in the product functions and application. I have always been curious about ingredients-based products and how we apply them in professional set ups like salons and barbers.
In line with my work, I came across many brands that are amazing in their proposition value: they strive to provide sustainable ingredients and practice sustainable practices such as product packaging, green manufacturing process and operations. I am excited to work with those brands and bring them to GCC market, as I believe people deserve to have a choice of premium organic products that are not only good for you and your skin, but also good for the environment.
I moved to the UAE few years back and call it home, I pursued my second education and started a family here. I have extensive experience within the beauty industry, including my time in Afghanistan where I worked with the US Department of Defence to manage the beauty and barber shops. This was an amazing experience that I’ll always cherish.
What was the original inspiration/thought process behind setting up the brand?
This pandemic made me think of the way we consume the personal care products and how it affects the environment. It’s evident we have to change our ways of consumption in each industry and try to minimize our footprint on environment.
The beauty industry is very creative in terms of its sustainable offering: there are zero-waste beauty products such as solid shampoo and conditioners, refillable packaging, biodegradable packaging and organic ingredients. But I think there aren’t many brands in the GCC market that can offer both.
What does ‘organic’ mean to you?
The term ‘organic’ refers to how an ingredient is farmed i.e., it must be prepared and grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, GMOs, sulphates/parabens. There are few certification institutions around the world which provide organic personal care certifications. Most of our products are certified by ECOCERT or USDA Organic Bio Based.
Why would I choose to shop with Foxyskin when there is a plethora of offerings available in the market?
You are right, the market is overloaded by many skin, body and hair care products. We don’t play around with terms such as clean beauty and etc. but only organic, certified, and ingredient-based products.
If you are cautious about what you and your family use on your body on daily basis, then go for Foxyskin. Usually our customers come with a specific concern: baby eczema, dandruff and etc. And it warms my heart when we are able to help those with concerns.
In a long list of culprits, what are the three main things we should watch out for while buying skincare/haircare products?
First and foremost, what is our customer’s concern: we are all similar yet very different in terms of our personal care needs. The social media influence is growing, and people buy products just because someone said it’s good on social media. But unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way. We all have different skin and hair types; therefore take time to know yourself so you don’t buy the products which are not necessarily suitable for you.
Second one would be ingredients: are they organic, sustainably sourced and cruelty free? Skin absorbs whatever you put on it. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health looked into the skin’s absorption rates of chemicals found in drinking water. It showed that the skin absorbed an average of 64% of total contaminant dosage.
Third one would be fragrance: try to buy fragrance free product. Fragrance is the biggest cause of cosmetic contact dermatitis, and you don’t need it in your personal care products at all.
What do you look for in brands when you get them on Foxyskin?
We have two main criteria to onboard a brand:
1. Sustainable ingredients: certified organic, cruelty free and vegan
2. A brand should exercise sustainable business practices such as sustainable packaging, ingredient sourcing, green manufacturing process etc.
What are your favourite skincare products?
My skin care routine is very simple and I love following products:
Exfoliate – I use Retinol serum by The Organic Pharmacy.
Moisturize – I like Naveen’s Chamomile moisturizing cream which is gentle and hydrating; it suits my dry skin complexion perfectly well.
Protect – the sunscreens are important to prevent pigmentation, early aging etc. Therefore, I never skip my mineral SPF. I alternate between mineral sunscreen SPF 30 and 50 by Dhyvana Cosmeticos. SPF 30 is light and suitable for a daily use and SPF 50 is thicker and suitable for a day on the beach.