Seven Secrets of Beauty & Wellbeing - Charmaine Chow, CEO of GetHarley
So what makes a City of London investment highflier switch from big finance to an online skincare venture? For Malaysian-born Charmaine Chow, 31, it was spots and pimples with a garnish of fine lines. The skincare platform GetHarley was born of Charmaine’s frustration with finding and buying the best skincare for her dry, blemish-prone Asian skin.
She explains: ‘I tried really expensive creams but just got more breakouts. Then trying to find the right practitioner who understood Asian skin took up so much time and was so costly, it was like going down a rabbit hole. Even accessing the recommended products, all from different sources, was a battle. It all seemed crazy.’
Speaking to a professional about her beauty concerns is the best thing she’s learnt, Charmaine says, and that’s what she wants to pass on to her clients. ‘I always got it wrong before I learned to approach someone who knows best. Now I am lucky that I have the GetHarley skin professionals at my fingertips. Just like our customers, I have my own dedicated professional and whatever skin needs I have, I always have a solution nowadays. There’s no waste and no guesswork.’
Charmaine sees GetHarley as ‘democratising’ the process of getting the best products for your skin by offering people access to skincare and aesthetics professionals for an initial, modestly priced consultation (currently £30 for up to 30 minutes) with an expert matched to each individual. This leads to a bespoke regime of pharma-grade skincare from a range of ‘in clinic’ brands. Consumers who choose to buy the products can have them delivered to their door.
It’s a clever concept, which could well be a real disruptor. (In our latest prize draw GetHarley is offering a fantastic main prize plus five runner up prizes, here.) In this column, Charmaine reveals the secrets that help her live, work and look well.
1. Managing my anxiety. I worry a lot – about everything! I manage this by speaking to people who are good listeners and calm me down. I am lucky to have a great network of people I trust who I can tap into. This is crucial for me because it can be lonely being an entrepreneur.
2. Learning how to switch off. My go-to if I feel myself getting extremely stressed is a massage and a hot bath; it totally calms me down and relaxes my mind. I always sleep well afterwards.
3. Finding the right skincare products. I use Duac Gel, a prescription product, daily to keep my blemishes at bay. Another product I can’t live without is Obagi Hydrate, which instantly hydrates my skin and keeps it moisturised throughout the day and night. It has a great buttery texture but it’s non-comedogenic so it never breaks my skin out, which is rare for a moisturiser.
4. My three key make-up products: My Hourglass Eyebrow Pencil to define my brows and Jane Iredale Blusher, which instantly gives me a fresher look. Jane Iredale Mineral Make up is great for my breakout prone skin.
The third is my SkinBetter Science Sunscreen Compact. It’s part SPF part compact foundation. I love how it looks on my skin and stays put, but I did have an issue with breaking out and I spoke to Dr Amiee Vyas (a skin professional at GetHarley); she said I needed to clean the pad regularly… It was something so simple, but it still took an expert to tell me that.
5. Taking good supplements. I take vitamin D daily in the autumn and winter months, and in the summer I make sure I get plenty of sunlight. We are now acutely aware of how important this vitamin is for the immune system, so it’s made me very strict about taking it regularly.
I try to get all my nutrients from my food, but it’s often hard when you are busy, not at home or on-the-go. So I take a high-quality multi-vitamin daily, as a top up.
I always take an Omega 3 capsule daily. Although I try to eat plenty of oily fish, it isn’t always possible with my work schedule, so I like to supplement to make sure my brain is healthy.
Turmeric capsules are a recent addition to my regime, as curcumin [the main active compound] is a really great antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
6. Having role models: A few people inspired me to start GetHarley. They include Katrina Lake, founder of Stitch Fix [a fashion based subscription service], who started a company at around the same age as me and came from a similar background from an early career and education perspective. Our similarities made me think that if she can do it, maybe I can too! Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of social and dating app Bumble, also inspired me because she’s bold and she owns her story.
7. I try to surround myself with people with a big heart… The other characteristics I most rate in others are being genuine, generous and kind. I hope I have these qualities too.
