Naming your brand is such an important piece of the pie. What does KYPRIS mean and how did you decide on it?
KYPRIS is the name of a love, beauty, and fertility goddess who famously rose from the foaming and frothy waters of the Mediterranean Sea. She was worshipped before she had a name and recognized as the libidinal, life-giving energy that causes flowers to bloom, people to fall in love, abundant crops to thrive, success at business ventures, and most importantly she was an alchemical, spa-going goddess who famously went to the baths at Paphos. Unlike most deities, like Greek Aphrodite and Demeter who became Venus and Ceres once the Romans invaded, our modern understanding of who Kypris is is very similar to her pre-Hellenic essence. War never conquered Her.
Whether it's modern slavery, human trafficking, horrific legislation harming women, or grotesque disregard for other living beings including our Earthly home - trying to conquer the Divine Feminine is the biggest self-own. Every single person on this planet was born. You defeat the Feminine; you defeat humanity.
So in this spirit, Kypris felt like the most accurate and elegant expression of Beauty and care we seek to offer our community and the world.
Often, visionaries like yourself start making their product because they see something missing in the marketplace. How and why did you start your own line of skincare?
We take the approach that science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin. They both observe the natural world, just differently.
In the case of science, there's a requirement of observability, measurement, and repeatability. A fantastic approach within formulation for delivering apparent, reliable results.
In the realm of spirit, we each enjoy our divinely unique, subjective experience of the natural world, including the numinous. This is Nature's invitation into personal integrity and the right relationship with the natural world, which of course also includes each of us.
So, leveraging the best of scientific consensus, green biotechnology, and sustainably sourced, regenerative botanicals, we create formulas that gently deliver apparent results, beautiful, elegant wear, and an ecstatic experience of your beauty and being.
On your website, you say: “ If you make one change to your skincare routine it should be this: which speaks to the importance of microemulsions. Please enlighten us! Is this the magic bullet for beautiful skin?
The microemulsion is definitely the foundational KYPRIS offering. It's a customizable combination of one of our Beauty Elixirs with one or more of our Serums.
This is a practice of playing alchemist and making friends with molecules for the sake of glowing, healthy skin and pleasure.
You combine 2-5 drops of your favorite Beauty Elixir with 2-5 drops of your favorite Serums and apply as desired.
The combination allows you to customize how much moisture and hydration you're applying to the skin at each application.
We love all things KYPRIS and the Antioxidant Dew is the desert island product for the Lipstick Angels staff. We can’t live without it! What was your inspiration for this incredible product?
Figuring out how to properly hydrate the skin and how to deliver a meaningful concentration of antioxidants without irritating skin was an interesting challenge that hadn't been figured out yet in the market. Antioxidant Dew is our response to this question.
You have been such an enormous champion and supporter of Lipstick Angels. Can you tell us why our mission resonates so deeply with you?
I absolutely love Lipstick Angels for their feel-good while healing message. Too many people I've loved have been affected by cancer. Cancer is incredibly challenging to navigate on all levels of existence and remembering that you can feel good while on a healing journey is a practice and message the KYPRIS team and I are passionate about. We are incredibly honored to have our work be part of Lipstick Angels' work.
