Our story, told by our founder Gabrielle.
I was 26 when I decided I wanted to make skincare.
It started in a treatment room...
At the time I was working in my clinic, and I loved it. I loved my clients, I loved the work, and I loved watching someone's skin change over months and understanding exactly why it was changing.
But there are only so many faces you can see in a day. I wanted to reach more people than a treatment room would ever allow me to, and skincare felt like the way to do it.
So off I went. Twenty-six years old, completely new to this side of business, with absolutely no idea what I was doing and completely certain I was going to do it anyway.
I look back at my first naming lists now and cringe. Genuinely. I nearly launched something that sounded like a French pharmacy brand, full of serious syllables and absolutely nothing of me in it.
Eventually I landed on Cosmology Skincare. I wanted a name that sounded medical, clinical and serious.
Looking back, I know exactly why. I was 26, and I wasn't sure anyone would take me seriously, so I created a brand that sounded like it would do that job for me.
It took almost two years to bring the branding and formulations to life. When I finally launched, I did it with 20 products.
Twenty. Most brands begin with one.
Apparently I decided to begin with an entire skincare wardrobe. I'm not sure who was going to stop me, but nobody did.
We went live in September 2020, in the middle of covid.
I had imagined a launch event for years. A room filled with people, products lined up beautifully, and a real moment that made everything feel official.
Suddenly none of that was possible. There was no event, no room full of people and no big reveal. I remember sitting there thinking, how do you launch a brand with no exposure and no launch?
That became my first real lesson in building a brand, and probably one of the most valuable. Nobody was coming to save it. It was going to be slow, it was going to take patience, and it was going to be built one person at a time.
Then in 2021 we launched the BB Cream, and she became the thing. Our hero, our bestseller, and the product you messaged me about, recommended to your friends and came back for again and again.
So many of you loved her, and she is still the reason many of you found us in the first place.
Years had passed, and I had changed within them. I had grown as a woman, a mum, a wife and a business owner. I had become someone who genuinely understood how to run a business, rather than someone simply hoping it would all work out.
My view of skincare had evolved too.
I didn't want the brand to feel cold anymore. I didn't want it to feel intimidating or overly clinical, and I didn't want a brand that made women feel as though they were being told off for not doing enough.
Skincare had become another chore for so many of the women I spoke to. Another list, another expectation, another thing they felt they were failing at.
I wanted to create something warmer and more inviting. Something that made you genuinely look forward to coming home and taking care of your skin at the end of the day.
The rebrand took what felt like a lifetime. A complete brand strategy, naming sessions that went nowhere, packaging development, the psychology of colour, and a lot of starting again.
Two more years of it.
We stripped almost everything back. We went from 21 products to the essentials, because somewhere along the way I had recreated the exact problem I originally wanted to solve.
Skincare shouldn't feel complicated.
So I removed far more than I added, and it is still one of the decisions I am proudest of.
What comes next?
That is the history of iyvos, but the part that excites me most is what comes next.
We are entering a future built around real innovation, working alongside one of the world's leading skincare manufacturers in Korea, the place shaping so much of where skincare is going.
It opens up what we can create enormously. It means we can focus properly on skin longevity instead of quick fixes. It means we can explore better ingredients, smarter delivery systems and more meaningful formulations.
It also means I can bring you the best of what is coming early, rather than three years after everyone else.
Six years
Two names. One idea that never really changed.
At 26, standing in my treatment room, I wanted to help more people than I could ever see in a single day. That is still what I want now.
Thank you for being here for any part of it. Whether you have been with me since Cosmology, found us through the BB Cream, or only discovered iyvos last week, you are part of the reason we made it to six.
And truly, I feel like we are only just beginning 🤍
Gabrielle
