This passion led me to a job in a salon where I trained as a beauty therapist.

I spent years with the salon that eventually saw me fly to London to work in their corporate office and allowed me to hone my skills on brand development, and ultimately saw me networking with accomplished and inspiring industry figureheads. I continued like this for seven years.

Looking back, as a young woman I have been quite blessed to have relatively blemish-free skin through my teenage years and into my 20’s. Because I lacked visible problems, as a young girl I never put too much thought into the value of skincare, into upkeep, or even into what the future might have in store for me. Being from Australia, I often lived in the sun and have a sense of that Aussie carefree nature meaning that I didn’t protect my skin, treat my skin, or ever really properly examine my skin to understand what’s best for it. Yes – growing up I held a passion for beauty, but initially this didn’t break into skincare. It wasn’t about care, but about modification. And oh, the lessons I have learnt since. Hindsight is a great teacher that taught me many lessons – lessons which I hope to share with you through my creation of Amatus.

Like many people, I was guided by the word-of-mouth reviews from close friends when it came to skincare in my 20’s. In the early stages, Instagram wasn’t fully-fledged or yet spilling over with “Influencer Skincare”, so I would put my trust in friends or in the beauty of packaging on store shelves without a second thought to how I needed something that was right for just me. For Amy. Once I began to notice changes in my skin that come with ageing and lack of care - the slight adjustment in pigmentation, or the addition of new freckles, and even that of blackheads appearing where they were very much unwarranted, I started my research.

Safe to say, I became skin obsessed. From noticing the slightest change in my complexion, to deliberating with friends about what did and didn’t work for each other, to listening to talks from advisors and reading journalistic articles on ingredients that I, specifically, wanted to target.

There was just so much.

So many brands and reviews and advisors and ingredients and options.

At one-point, I levelled out. Some brands wouldn’t disclose their full ingredients list unless you purchased a product, others would use different names for common ingredients, and the biggest issue I faced is that most brands have over 20 types of ingredients per product. I found it overwhelming in my testing to navigate the nuances that came with the addition of so many ingredients. I needed a sense of skin minimalism, and I needed transparency.

Based on these values, I knew that I needed to create my own brand. A brand with a simple heart – Amatus. Because I had the experience, I had the brand building knowledge, I had the industry leads, I had the scientific connections, and, most importantly, it’s what I love.