Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ebru Karpuzoglu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ebru, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

The industry is changing and fine tuning the best possible trends this year. The best skincare products are the ones that fit your skin type and individual concerns and needs. These trends are just amazing for all skin types

Skin barrier protection: The last 2 years have been brutal to our skin with maskne and the stress. We are seeing a bigger push for barrier repair, soothing ingredients, as well as multi-tasking products with less amount of products used per skin care routine. We have 4 skin barriers and when they are disrupted, it can leave skin susceptible to dryness, irritation, redness, burning, stinging, sensitivity. When skin barriers are compromised, it becomes more vulnerable to inflammaging and cannot handle harsh skincare products anymore. We are seeing the demand and rise in skin barrier products category. These products are designed to help strengthen and support our skin barriers, which is what our skin needs to keep the good stuff in, like moisture, and the harmful aggressors out, like bad bacteria or external irritants and pollutants.

The Skin barrier products help to boost skin barrier function and protection. The main objective is to improve the overall wellness of the skin and allows to the skin to be healthier and better tolerate other skincare products

Anti-inflammaging skincare: We are increasingly understanding the impact that inflammation on our skin and on our overall health, including our skin. Inflammaging occurs with constant exposure to environmental pollution, toxins, stress, fatigue, sun damage, blue light, chemical irritants, lack of sleep. This chronic micro inflammatory response ( inflammaging) ultimately exhausts skin’s cells, compromising its microbiome and its immune system causing signs of premature aging. Industry is now moving towards skincare products that will help to control and minimize inflammation within the skin, and therefore minimize signs of aging.

Skinminimalism: More and more people are totally overwhelmed by 10 or 20 step skincare with over complicated multiple steps. Consumers realized this loing and complex skincare routine can irritate the skin. The industry is moving towards minimal amount of products in skincare. Afterall the key for a good skincare routine is consistency

Streamlining with Multi-tasking products : As the signs of irritation has increased during last 2 years, people started scaling back on the number of products they used, and continue to reach for multitasking formulas. This has pushed the industry to offer more multi-tasking skin care products now that the world is opened back up again. These minimalist yet potent multi tasking products allows the consumer to touch their face less along with saving time and money and also reduces their individual environmental footprint with decreased amount of packaging involved. Industry is moving towards these effective hybrid products such as one cream that covers night and day with lots of skin barrier supporting ingredients instead of having 4-5 different creams for every sign of aging

Ebru, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I always had problematic skin. From oily, acne prone, cystic acne (some days due to stress thanks to inflammaging) to irritated skin you name it. I used nearly everything in the market, but nothing worked and actually some of them made it worse. As a scientist, I started examining all the ingredients and formulations using my immunology and molecular medicine expertise. During this period, my father was diagnosed with cancer and the treatments were making his skin overly sensitive with lots of dryness and irritation. I was completely disappointed in what I was buying and using. There was this big industry with all the fantastic ingredients available to them and still we had these sub-par ineffective overly priced products. The skincare on the market were definitely not designed for either me or him or anybody who really wanted results. None of the products were designed to defend all skin barriers. Since I couldn’t find anything that was serious and effective enough, I decided to create my own. I love being a scientist and sharing the knowledge to help anyone who is looking for a solution for their own skin. That’s how AveSeena was born.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I grew up in a science and medicine focused household. My grandparents and parents loved their scientific and medical work as well as their self-care. Their passion and commitment to what they love has my inspired me to become an immunologist and also delve into the world of skincare products. Since I couldn’t find anything that worked for me, I used my chemistry and molecular medicine skills and made my own cream which worked great for me. One day my father used my cream when his skin was feeling quite irritated. He was a surgeon and surgeons could be very hard to please when it comes to what they like. When he called me back and asked me what this cream was, I thought he wasn’t happy with it. He said this is great, keep on doing what you are doing. Our loved ones can be or toughest critics, and it is for a good reason because they want us to excel and they are always there for us. That was the key milestone in starting our brand.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Most of the business coaches say follow your competitors know what they are doing. This might be good advice to some but in the long run I learned this chips away the strength you need to put in your path. Here is why. All competitor stories are about success- how they became the big companies. It is like they never failed and they looked fabulous during this whole process. As if failure was a bad thing and they were the superheros of the industry. It wasn’t genuine. When you are working hard, you will fail at one point. Everybody fails but it is how fast you get up, fix and learn fast to continue on the path. You are going to look like you haven’t slept for a week some days. That is real deal. What I had to unlearn was stop following these ‘success stories”. Today my mantra is etched in stone: pursue your own path with grit. What you see in the brand is who I am as a person with genuine successes and failures. If it’s not genuine, it doesn’t work. You always have to be true to who you are with the messy hair, and all the failures that made you stronger and wiser than before. That’s the superpower.

Contact Info:

• Website: aveseena.com
• Instagram: aveseena
• Facebook: aveseena