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After noticing how sensitive her skin has become, Mathilde Gauvin started to make her own cosmetics and bath products. The passion for living more sustainably led to the creation of MYTHYN, a luxurious all-natural bath, beauty & home rituals brand handmade in small batches in Bedfordshire, UK. Here, she talks about the importance of crafting an authentic brand message, being mindful about your purpose and the best way to research & experiment in order to grow the business.
Project M: What motivated you to launch the brand?
Mathilde Gauvain: My motivations were entirely selfish to start with. A few years ago I started to notice how sensitive my skin had become. I couldn’t understand why, so I looked into everything: the food I ate, the products I used, my daily rituals. I realised that all the bath & beauty products I used were actually toxic. All of them. Even the candles I was burning into my own home were toxic, made with petroleum derivatives. I’d had enough and I wanted to change.
I looked for alternatives and the products I found for sensitive skin were so… bland and uninspired. I wanted more: nourishing, healthy, luxurious, and scented bath & beauty rituals. I wanted something I didn’t find and when I started making it for myself and those close to me I found that I loved the process, not just the results.
I fell in love with formulating the most potent, completely natural products. My passion for living more sustainably and using natural, holistically minded products in my daily life is what led me to starting MYTHYN. And yet, it’s a drive to share this ethic with like-minded people, and offer uncompromisingly luxurious all-natural bath, beauty & home rituals that pushes me to continue each day.
Project M: What are the biggest challenges you have faced so far?
Mathilde Gauvain: I’m still learning on how to get my message out there. It’s always a challenge to communicate your brand across a variety of platforms & mediums. There’s a lot of noise you need to filter out to be yourself as a brand, but doing so will make you stand out. Running your own brand, especially handmade, you need to be accountable for every step of the creation process – from idea to how your products live in with your customers. You have to make hundreds of decisions work cohesively in order to create a brand that is truly authentic. You also have to come across and get out of your shell as a creator otherwise you’re not promoting your business well enough.
Project M: What advice would you share with those thinking about creating a business?
Mathilde Gauvain: Be 100% clear what you stand for, it’s the most important part of the process and I find that having a clear guideline makes every decision easier to make. It also means I create with purpose, and that my creations are mindful, and more potent.
Also, learn every day and be very careful with your investments. It’s not always easy to know what will work and what won’t, but if you do your research before agreeing to an event, picking this over that for packaging, etc., and it still doesn’t turn out how you expected, then take note and learn from it. Research & experiment – that’s how you grow and create something unique. Learn from absolutely everything that you do.