Zeus Style meets Mediskin - Partners in business series

We start at any age with parental consent. So sometimes we would have young boys with acne or girls coming in with specific skin issues or unwanted hair. We treat all ages really.

Would most of your customers come from The Midlands or would people come visit from all over Ireland?

We would have a lot of people who travel from around Ireland. Because I worked in Dublin, a lot of my Dublin clients still travel down to Nenagh. Day trips are popular as there are plenty of cafes and boutiques, and it is just off the motorway. A lot of bridal parties come and visit us. We have had bridal parties from Dublin, Kildare, Clare, and we have had a party travelled from the far side of Wexford just to come up for their bridal skincare and tans.

Do many men visit your clinic? If so, what skin and laser treatments would they come in for?

Our majority male clientele would be husbands, boyfriends, sons and brothers of current customers, but we do get walk-in male clients too. As our clinic is based on a laneway, and it is discrete, I think men find it easier to pop up and see if we can help them. The main issues that we treat for men would be for red veins and broken capillaries. Because we are based rurally, there are a lot of farmers in the area or men who work outside, so their skin is quite exposed to the harsh weather conditions. We also do a lot of laser hair removal for men.

What is your most popular treatment?

Our most popular treatment is chemical peels. We do a broad range of chemical peels, and we can provide bespoke treatments. There are different chemicals for acne, ageing and pigmentation. A lot of people think chemical peels are very scary and sound really invasive, but you can start with very mild peels. For example, lactic acid is found in the skin and can be used to exfoliate the skin topically.

How do you treat red veins at Mediskin?

We use a treatment called IPL thread vein removal. It’s a pulsed light treatment that cauterizes the little blood vessels. The heat cauterizes the vein, and the vein disintegrates within the body straight away. It’s a very successful treatment.

What is your most popular product?

The most popular product every single month since the day I opened is from IMAGE Skincare. It’s a matte day moisturizer with an SPF. It’s a huge seller for both men and women - they love it. Buy from Mediskin here.

You do a regular blog piece called ‘product of the week’. Any product you would like to highlight for the coming week?

We stock a product called Melanie Mills that I have imported from America. This is our summer glow product. It’s an instant body makeup that gives the skin a healthy gleam. All of the ingredients have skin hydrating properties as well, so it's not just a body makeup. It can be used to disguise stretch marks, cellulite and any imperfections on the skin. Buy from Mediskin here.

When you’re researching products, where and how do you do it?

I am a product junkie, I do a lot of research when it comes to new products. Last year I took a trip to one of the biggest trade shows in the world in Vegas to find quality, niche brands that aren't big in the market yet. We like to source and research our products. For instance, the body butters that we stock come from this really small, cute company in America who are just starting out. They're made with 100% natural ingredients and have body hydrating properties.  We’ve two new brands that we are bringing into Ireland soon. Lilac cleansing bars are one, which are developed by dermatologists in Belgium. We’re also bringing in a product called Bioeffect from Iceland. Another great product based on growth factors.

Your company has won a few awards over the last few months. Tell us a little bit about these.

I am a member of a women’s network called Network Ireland, and I’m vice-president of the Tipperary branch. Every year we run businesswomen of the year awards. Just two weeks ago, I won businesswoman of the year for 2018 in the Small SME Category. That same weekend my clinic coordinator, Áine, and I flew to the UK as we were a nominee in the Business Game Changer category at the iiaa salon awards. We were delighted to win that award too and bring it home for the Mediskin team.

Mediskin is quite active on Snapchat and Instagram. What kind of content do you run on these channels and why should people follow you?

What I like to see on Snapchat is the personality behind the business. Snapchat and Instagram enable us to talk through treatments in a bit more depth. We also talk through products that we are currently using. We find that people like to see it on somebody before they buy it, and I think because they know us, they can relate, and it’s not just some person they’ve never met before talking about a product.

Any skincare events coming up that people should know about?

We have an event here in the clinic on July 12th with IMAGE Skincare, where we will be doing free skin scanning. People can book in, and we’ll be doing a skin analysis under a visia skin scanner. This will show people things that we can't show them on the surface. After we have done the skin analysis, we will recommend products that they can use. Six months later, we will rescan them to show them how much their skin has improved.

You have a new venture called The Joneses. Tell us about this.

Back in 2014, when I was trying to open Mediskin, I found it difficult to get support from distributors and other companies that I was going to work with. They all wanted opening orders of 5000 or 10000, and when you are investing in machinery and a new unit, these are very high orders to try and come up with initially. I wanted to create a company where small salons who wanted to expand and offer their clients a premium product and premium service had somewhere to go without investing thousands. So The Joneses basically came about based on that philosophy. I want to help smaller businesses grow by offering products that no one else is offering, and through giving them support and training on these products.

What is ‘The Joneses Effect’ and how can it help salons nationwide?

The Joneses Effect is a one to one business consultancy service that we provide to the owners of salons. I opened my salon 4 years ago. I’ve gone from one employee to a team of ten. I know what it takes to do it. Through ‘The Joneses Effect’, we want to help other salons get to our level of business. There are simple things that people don’t know about when starting out. There’s also a lot of financial support available through the local enterprise offices, and support networks can be built through getting involved in women’s network just like the one that I’m involved in. I love helping people, and I suppose that’s what we do at Mediskin, get results for people. So it is a business to business consultancy service that will take from what we already do at Mediskin - get results for people and offer them great advice and products.

How can salons register?

On our website, The Joneses, there’s a section for stockists and professionals where they can send us an email to register. Once registered, they will be able to place orders and book business consultancy appointments with myself.

You’re developing your own range of products that will be available on the Joneses?

Yes, I am in the middle of developing my own range of products which I’ve been working on for the last two and a half years. I’m working with a cosmetic chemist in the UK, so I’m over and back to the UK developing these products. We will be stocking these on The Joneses website also later in the year.

How did you come across Zeus and Zeus Style?

A friend of mine was working for a company in Dublin who worked with Zeus regularly.  She recommended I contact Zeus to talk about new designs for our packaging.

What were the main things you were looking for when it came to your branded packaging and how did Zeus Style deliver?

Premium quality. I had opened initially with plain white bags with stickers on them, which were fine for when I opened, but I suppose we are offering a premium service, and we needed to back that up with some premium packaging that people could take home. I also really wanted a bag that people would want to reuse. In terms of the actual design of the bag, I knew what I wanted, but I didn't really know how to verbalise it. I told Ronan (Zeus Style representative) I wanted a pretty bag, and he came back with some fabulous designs. The small things were all looked after, even down to the cotton rope handle matching in with our logo and branding. Zeus Style really nailed the brief on all fronts for us.

What has the reaction been to your new fashion packaging from Zeus Style?

People love the nice packaging - it really makes a difference. With the branded Mediskin tissue paper that Zeus Style supplied us with, we spray this paper with a really nice Jo Malone perfume, and some of our customers have told me that they take the paper out of the bag and put it into their drawers at home. In terms of our branded bags, I’ve heard that some people bring their lunch to work in the bag or have kept the bag for special occasions when they need a nice bag. The new packaging really adds to the experience of visiting Mediskin I think. When a customer buys something, you are not just handing them a box. We wrap everything in tissue paper, we spray the paper and have branded high-quality bags. We have been really impressed with the quality and durability of our packaging. We have some clients who bring back in the same bag, and they say “I don’t want to waste your bags”, so that’s testament to the quality of the bags - they can bring back in the same bag 4 or 5 times.

What do you use the cups for that you got from Zeus Style?

We use the cups for post-treatment. We offer our customers herbal tea which they can take away with them in our branded cups. It’s amazing the amount of people who will do an Instagram boomerang or Snapchat of the cup in their car before they leave.

What has the reaction been to your new cups from Zeus Style?

The reaction has been great. We’re amazed at the amount of tags we get on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook of people showing off their Mediskin branded cups and bags. People love to share nice things and we’re noticing that it helps to build our brand too.

Would you recommend Zeus Style to other retailers?

Yeah definitely, and I already have to my husband and his shop (E Jones Golf, Nenagh). He, too, is delighted with his bags and cups from Zeus. We both have invested in our packaging with Zeus and have felt the benefits to our businesses.

Any nice words for our super Zeus Style sales rep Ronan Murphy?

From the get-go, Ronan has been so pleasant and so nice to deal with. He’s been really good to communicate with throughout the whole process of getting our new branded packaging. Ronan even went out of his way to drop stuff off to us from time to time, so there has always been a strong and friendly working relationship there.