Behind the Brand - Antipodes Scientific Organic Beauty

3 March, 2014 - 11:31am by - First Lady | 10 Comments

Elizabeth Barbalich, founding director and creator of international green beauty brand Antipodes, has a background in pure science, so she's a firm believer in the importance of scientifically validating her organic beauty products.

Many products in the Antipodes range have received international awards for performance, but Elizabeth is also often complimented on the brand's creativity: the poetic names of products, the enticing mixes of exotic fragrances and the beautiful packaging design

BR: Tell us a bit about yourself. Have you always lived and worked in NZ?
I grew up in the South Island and spent most of my adult life living and working in Auckland before moving to Wellington to raise my family.

BR: What is your background? How long have you been in the Beauty Industry?
After graduating from university in science and before founding Antipodes®, I secured a role representing a cutting-edge United States medical company. The United States Surgical Corporation pioneered keyhole surgery, and for eight years I trained New Zealand surgeons in the use of its laparoscopic and stapling instruments in major operations. The understanding of anatomy and physiology, coupled with my subsequent study of naturopathy, has been a vital element in the development of Antipodes® genuinely green and anti-ageing skincare formulations.

BR: When did you create Antipodes?
Antipodes was born in 2006, and today Antipodes is winning rave reviews in international magazines, beauty and health industry awards and accolades from the likes of Elle Macpherson and Evangeline Lilly. In just seven short years, Antipodes has developed a range of 26 skincare products, five natural mineral foundations and six lipsticks.

BR: What is the philosophy behind the business? What does it stand for?
Connect with Nature and Scientifically Validated Organic Beauty.

Antipodes is trailblazing a new niche in the global market! We’re for eco-conscious women and men who expect their natural and organic skincare to be results-orientated and uncompromising high performace.

Our intelligent formulations are richly hydrating, while allowing skin to breath naturally, feel better, and look at its best. Antipodes culture is build around a love of nature, style and science. We seek to deliver on emotive experiences; add a love-factor into everyday beauty rituals with avant-garde fragrances, and poetry inspired descriptions.

BR: To many people, you would have their dream job, what is the best thing about owning and running your own beauty brand?
Being able to make a difference to people’s skin conditions. Having access to the key science mentors in NZ and formulating products that have scientific validation.

BR: In this business in particular you must rub shoulders with the glitterati. Have you ever met anyone really famous and if so what were they really like?
No not really. Antipodes HQ is based in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city so it is unlike the glitterati of Paris, UK or America. We do have celebrity devotees that love the brand including, Evangeline Lilly, Elle Macpherson, Cate Blanchett and Georgia Jagger.

BR: What is the best selling Antipodes product?
Antipodes Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream is one of our hero products with its own cult following worldwide.

BR: What is it about this product that makes it so popular?
Definitely the scientific results!

The results for Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream are impressive, showing that synthesis of collagen was significantly stimulated in human fibroblast skin cells by up to 92%*
Scientific validation has been a key priority for Antipodes. We engage with an independent laboratory to undertake blind study scientific investigations of our products on human fibroblast skin cells. This third-party laboratory in vitro analysis is much more sophisticated and less subjective than the ‘clinical testing /trials’ used by other beauty brands.

BR: What’s been the biggest highlight of your years in the Beauty Industry?
Winning several awards in The Green Beauty Bible for Best Night Cream, Best Natural Sunscreen, and Best Mineral Foundation. Written by Jo Fairley and Sarah Stacey, this book accurately critiques brands in the market, the judges are very objective and it uses a large sample base for independent reviews around the world.

BR: What’s your favourite Antipodes product?

It’s very difficult to choose just one.

Hallelujah Lime & Patchouli Cleanser to remove excess sebum and nourish my skin, Apostle Skin-Brightening & Tone-Correcting Serum, Hosanna H20 Intensive Skin-Plumping Serum, Rejoice Light Facial day cream, Immortal Natural SPF Hand & Body moisturiser, Antipodes Mineral Foundation, Skin Brightening Mineral Powder, and Hungry Like the Wolf blood red lipstick!

BR: What advice would you give to readers who want to get into the Beauty Industry and one day maybe do what you do?
Research the market thoroughly and understand what you could be getting into. Its extremely demanding and investment is high.

BR: Favorite scent?
I love fragrances by Chloe and Dolce & Gabbana

BR: What does a normal day for you consist of?
Early rise with exercise to begin the day, and then ensure everyone is out the door by 8.30 am. I currently take my espresso at Prefab, a fabulous light and airy new cafe en route to the office. The day is broken down into new product development, and business development, dependent on the time of year and what cycle we are in for each market. There is literally no downtime, and I leave the office around 6pm, to head home to the family and sporting commitments.

BR: How do you relax?
I like to exercise early in the morning, before anyone arises, and I have a whole hour to myself.
A long haul flight is forced relaxation and I love reading and catching up on recent movies.
I like to ensure I get along to Saturday sport to watch my three teenagers. I find this strangely relaxing, especially now that I have relinquished my coaching duties!

BR: Can you give us a hint about what’s next for Antipodes?
You will have to watch this space...

* Investigation into the Effects of Antipodes Products on the Production of Collagen by Human Skin Fibroblasts in Culture, Trinity Bioactives (2009)

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Comments

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islaygould

17th February, 2022

I now use Antipodes products and I have to say the ethos of the brand alongside the quality products, ingredients and eco-friendly sustainable packaging has me really hooked. It would be great to be able to review the products on here!

SmileyPisces

25th May, 2021

Since Antipode products aren’t available for review, i must recommend it here. Just started using Antipodes Joyous Protein-Rich night replenishing serum and i am loving it. This oil-based serum smells nice and feels great on my dehydrated skin.

Kimrose

15th April, 2015

I didnt realise this was a New Zealand company. Well done and I will definitely look out for some products to try

Macs

30th August, 2014

I want to try this range.

ChristieMJ

29th July, 2014

Absolutely love Antipodes stuff!! The price is steep but for me its worth it, definitely recommend to anyone thinking of trying it :)

Jesse

27th March, 2014

I knew Antipodes was a 'natural' beauty brand, I had no idea there was so much scientific validation for their products though. Very interesting read, I definately want to check out their product range now!

Susilia

5th March, 2014

It's a good brand, I've had a sample of their night cream and it was amazing. I just find the prices horrendous!:S

Whittakers-lover

4th March, 2014

The cleanser and night cream sound delicious. I need to find out some more about Antipodes.

tannygirl

4th March, 2014

I have used so many of their products some are amazing and some you could find a cheaper natural brand that performs about as good and a few I've haven't had the best experiences with. My favorites are the Ananda toner, Hosanna Hydrating serum, Kiwi Seed Oil eye cream and Rejoice facial moisturizer. Other products that are really good is their Divine facial oil, Resurrect toner, Juliet Cleanser and Joyful hand and body cream. I haven't tried their Hallelujah cleanser because it's a bit pricey, but one day when I can afford it hallelujah. I would like to try their Hydrating day cream, Aura face masque, heavenly body oil, jubilation body cream and Deliverance hand cream some day. I like that their sunscreen is natural but it's very thick and whitening and only has an spf of 15 and you will need to use more of it than if you were just using a moisturizer so it can turn out to be very whitening and pricey. I like the scent of their Joyous night serum but it's way too oily for my skin so far even during winter, same as the night cream. I liked the scent and texture of Apostle but it did nothing for me except make a hole in my wallet and that was after over six-seven months of twice daily or more if I washed my face more often use. I use their Mineral finishing powder and kabuki brush and it's pretty good if you have fair skin and gives a subtle glow to my skin. I did end up with very irritated, itchy red, burning skin using their foundation and I kept on using it because I wanted it to work but it didn't. It does have a lot of bismuth oyxchloride it's like the main ingredient and that is bad for your skin, I wonder what happened to the research idea when they decided to do that. Luckily it wasn't in the mineral finishing powder so I can use that regularly. Their lipsticks are great, I gave my mom one for Christmas and she loved it. I will buy one for myself when I have project panned off one of my lipsticks. They recently released a hand and body named Delight which is honestly the nickname my parents gave me so I was eager to find out what it smelt like and it wasn't my style of scent which was a bit disappointing but when you have a name like Delight you find your name on a lot of things and not everything you will like. Well that pretty sums up my experience with Antipodes products. I'm still a fan of their products and some are staples and some I have found other better priced options for and some are on my list of things to try when I have more money.

pintsize

3rd March, 2014

I have seen this brand about more and more, fascinating read! xx I am now wanting to buy the Hallelujah Lime & Patchouli Cleanser, and the Apostle Skin-Brightening & Tone-Correcting Serum. Oh and I didn't realise there is make-up in the range.