“Years of using skincare products have taught me not all products deliver on their promises. Made of more delivers. We are educated, experienced, interested women who deserve better at this stage of life. Straight forward, results driven skincare that gives your skin everything you need and nothing you don't. It’s a rollercoaster but together we are Made Of More.’
Jackie Lamyman, Founder
As someone who has always been a big fan of beauty brands (and in possession of a heaving skincare drawer) yet with a background that was originally finance and then farming, I’m often asked the question as to why and how I ended up launching a skincare brand, in particular one with such a niche focus, aimed specifically at Peri and menopausal women.
And the honest answer is that it came from painful experience. At the age of 42 funny things started happening to my body. Tinnitus, dry itchy mouth, thickening of girth and thinning & greying of hair. For years I was blessed with normal, well behaved skin but, all of a sudden, my skin stopped playing by adult rules and threw an enormous teenage-style tantrum. It was Hello to redness, sensitivity, severe dryness and spots - a symphony of symptoms that decided to have a field day with my usually uncomplicated face. My skin felt so sore it was painful to smile and painful to touch. Any skincare I applied would pill and sting immediately. I couldn’t believe that over a matter of months I felt like a completely different person. When I looked in the mirror I no longer recognised myself. In fact I started to avoid mirrors all together as it was just easier not to confront my new reality. I look back now with real sadness at the fact that I had no idea this all to come.
Around that time, however, thanks to the brilliant efforts of Davina Taylor and a few leading female doctors, menopause was becoming a more mainstream discussion. I started to listen to podcasts, read the books, swallowed all of the information I could find. When I realised that there were actually 48 symptoms attributable to menopause, I realised my knowledge fell far short, and if I felt that way, surely other women did too?
And then I felt angry. Furious in fact. And the more things started falling into place, the more I realised that other women must be feeling this way too - lost, confused, upset and let-down. Women who were educated, curious, intelligent and had so much life experience to offer. To me it was a tragedy and the more I read the more I couldn’t put it out of my mind.
During that period I was working with a CBD company and had a growing awareness of the plant and the beneficial compounds for the skin. CBD was an ingredient of interest in skincare due to it’s anti inflammatory and anti bacterial benefits, but I knew from experience that it was just one of many beneficial cannabinoids. I set about in-depth research and developement with industry experts and came to understand that CBG, otherwise known as ‘the mother cannabinoid’, had huge potential in treating my skin problems, has properties that extended way beyond what we know of CBD, and yet consumers were largely unaware of it. We’d already been working with the hemp on our family farm in Lincolnshire to capture its moisturising qualities and essential omegas, and were keen to look at what would happen if we put the two together.
When I met with Dr Sunny Dhesi, GP and women’s health expert to discuss the issues I had been having with my skin, it instantly became clear that my skin issues were clearly linked with my perimenopause symptoms and a resulting disrupted skin mantle (not helped by my trying acids, physical exfoliants and anything else I could get my hands on) with lowered estrogen at increased sensitivity at the heart of it. We also reviewed a number of online blood tests that I had taken to see if I was deficient in any key nutrients that might help with my skin’s journey.
I resolved to upgrade my skincare to support what my skin needed during this time of life. I wanted a simple routine that would give me skin everything it needed with no fragrance or aggravating ingredients. I wanted high performance and also long-term results; not just a sticking plaster to mask the symptoms. It was a resounding NO to Cooling sprays frequently offered to my age group, a ‘there-there’ that would only aggravate symptoms. Even worse, products designed specifically for the menopause seemed dowdy and boring with language , product formats and textures and colours that belonged in the 80s. Til then I’d loved trying new and interesting products, loved the clever names, the tongue in cheek language and unique packaging of the products I’d eagerly browsed in boutiques. Yet it seemed inevitable that I couldn’t have both brand experience and results .
My disillusionment led me to ask why no one was doing this better. I wanted everyone touched by menopause to feel that they were not alone and I felt strongly that it could be a time for celebration and rejuvenation. It was a new chapter that was inevitable and I resolved to make a difference - the yearning was there, so why fight it? And through work with an incredible strategic design agency and our brilliant team, Made of More was born. It was and always will be my baby.
During our development stage I worked closely with UK chemist who herself had been through the menopause and had over 30 years experience of developing luxury skincare. Our approach was simple - get to the WHY. Why is our skin more reactive? Why does it feel grey and sluggish? We knew we had to work out what was going on underneath - what were the causes? Only by addressing those would we get to the solution. We dug deeply into the cause of the visible symptoms, from sluggish circulation that led to dullness, erratic circadian rhythms, temperature spikes that degraded collagen, Gene expressions that stimulated inflammation, erratic sebum production, unhappy microbiome, and extreme dehydration.
We identified all of physiolo culprits and how to fight them at a dermatological level. We started with the building blocks of great skin (ceramides, peptides, moisturisers) and then bolted-on those ingredients that were clinically proven to tackle the challenges above. And we said no to anything that might upset the balance - essential oil, harsh foaming agents, pore-blocking mineral oils. And textures - oh how we love a jelly, a balm, a soufflé - we crafted delicious protection-packed powerhouses that felt irresistible to touch. We tested and tested and tested. We asked our friends, school teachers, family, wife of the milkman to try the products and feedback. We tweaked and we tweaked and we tweaked. We cried, we beat our chests, and then we did it.
Made Of More products are borne out of very personal research and a personal mission to do better by every woman. Everything your skin needs and nothing it doesn’t in joyful and jubilant products and playful packaging. Out with boring dated products that whisper the A word (ageing) and calming pastels. This is our rallying cry, and we hope you will join us on this journey and spread the word that menopause does not mean the end, but instead a confident, bright and interesting new beginning.
