Behind the Brand - Oxygen

Alana Riley founded New Zealand skincare company Oxygen in Nelson.  A passionate advocate of natural skincare, Alana and her husband Colin have incorporated 20 years of organic experience to bring a product range infused with hop extract; home grown on their award winning organic hop farm Hoplands. 

Beauty Review is both delighted and excited to welcome Alana and Oxygen to our NZ Week and to find out more about them both.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m a mother of 3 grown up children 17,  21 and 23 years old; the two oldest are currently at University and the 17 year old is still in school. I live in Nelson and am married to Colin who is a third generation Hop Farmer.  I have a boxer dog called Miss Madison whom I love dearly and I enjoy spending time with my family and also with my friends.

I have had a few careers in my time ranging from Fire Fighter, Ostrich Farmer, Model Agency Owner and Flight Attendant, I measure my life by experiences not by my age and I love to travel. My favorite place in the world is The Abel Tasman National Park here in Nelson.

My husband and I also part own a microbrewery here in the Nelson region, we are both very entrepreneurial and enjoy the challenges and excitement of owning our own businesses.

What is your background?  How long have you been in the Beauty Industry?

I have an extensive background in all sorts as you see above. I also completed a business degree in my early 30s.

I started teaching Deportment and Grooming classes in schools and through community education centers when I was 22yrs old. I still teach teens and adults these classes and am about to extend this to a NZ 2014 Roadshow through the Intermediate and High Schools throughout NZ this yr.

I am not trained as a beautician, I did do a nail tech course however choose not to pursue it.

How did the idea to launch your own Brand come about?

My inspiration for starting Oxygen came from a vision while sitting on a beach in Nelson in Jan 09. My sister in law was very ill with cancer and my best friend and I were looking at the back of one of our moisturisers and reading out all the nasty chemical ingredients on the label.

From this I decided that I would start my own skincare company and I would also have a teen line of skincare so that teenagers could get a really good healthy start to using skincare that is natural and not harmful to their skin.

What is the philosophy behind your brand?  What does it stand for?

At Oxygen we are about simple effective natural skincare that works. Every person that comes in contact with the Oxygen brand must have an enjoyable experience.

We aim to deliver more than just a purchase, we want to educate and support teens in their confidence and self-esteem, and we want them to feel good about themselves.

We are about stopping to smell the roses, to celebrate life.

To many people, you would have their dream job, what is the best thing about working for such a gorgeous beauty brand?

The feedback that I get from customers is that they get so much enjoyment using our products and the fact that it is natural and good for their skin and bodies.

I also love working with the Teenagers that we teach in our presentation classes, its great when they leave the classes feeling really good about themselves, makes it so worthwhile just to touch them in some way one by one.

It sounds like you have a really glamorous job; do you rub shoulders with the rich and famous?

Well not yet however give me a few years and then let’s see. I did do a roadshow in which Rachel Hunter was the guest speaker at last year and we worked on stage together that was fun.

What is your best selling product?

Our Teen 2 in 1 problem skin cleanser as a very small amount of exfoliator in it, and it can be used every day. Teen’s love it and we love the fact that it helps to keep away the acne due to the skin not been clogged up with dead skin.

The women's “new” Ultimate Botanical Serum is a fab product that glides onto the skin and rapidly penetrates to add moisture. It improves texture and helps to reduce fine lines and winkles, restores elasticity. It contains, like all our products,  NZ Hops which are known to aid collagen production.

What is it about this product that makes it so popular?

For the Teen 2 in 1 Cleanser it is its benefits to a problem skin, we have so much feedback from teens that this product works within a couple of days to help with acne.

The Ultimate Botanical Serum is popular because it looks like a cream however when you apply it, it transforms into a beautiful oil that glides in to the skin quickly and doesn’t linger on the outside, you can apply your foundation straight over it and it doesn’t soak all the foundation away like some oils do.

What’s your favourite product from your range?

Well all of them really, it’s just so much fun using your own skincare brand it gives me a real buzz, however if I had to pick one it would be the Organic Eye Cream, its so effective around my eyes I tried it first after producing it around one eye and in about a week it looked so much different, I think it’s a real winner.

What advice would you give to someone reading this who would like to do what you’ve done?

Go for it - start small and work your way up slowly, and I will race you to the top, remember its fun however it does come with its challenges and hard work.

What’s been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

I have had lots of little and big wins along the way. The highlight would however had been when I first saw my product in a major NZ magazine. It was just amazing to see something that I had created out of an idea come to reality. I stood in the supermarket looking at the page and was so happy I was crying, it was unreal.

What has been the biggest challenge you've faced?

Getting a NZ distributor to come on board and take our product all over the NZ market.

No company wants to know about you when you are small. We finally signed with an amazing company November last year, so this year we will be on fire.

What does a normal day for you consist of?

Usually I am traveling every week for a few days sometimes longer. My week is pretty busy both in the office and out in the field visiting and promoting my brand.

I start work at 9am until 4pm when I’m home in Nelson, however when I’m away from Nelson its all hours.

The great thing about owning your own business is that I get to choose my timetable for the day.

How do you relax?

I love to walk my dog, and in the winter I’m a real DVD chick, nothing better than at home with yummies to eat and a good line up of DVDs. During the summer I try to stay outdoors as long as the day will let me.

Can you give us a hint about what is next for you? - The person and the brand

Well this year is all about growing our NZ market, from there it’s the world we are currently exporting into some countries and this will grow throughout the year. The success of the Teen 2014 roadshow is very important to me so a lot of travel is in the diary for me.

As for myself I still have lots of career go in me so it’s onwards and upwards to the personal success I aim to achieve, in making Oxygen a NZ household brand.

Find out more by visiting www.oxygenskincare.co.nz

Photo Credit: Claire Baxter, C-Bax Photography