GABBY and Will Magin have come a long way since launching their sustainable and wellness beauty brand, Love Beauty Foods.
In January, the couple will celebrate five years since they founded the business, which is built on the ethos of developing natural and organic products made with nutrient-dense ingredients, and creating a brand that is sustainable.
That means no plastics used in packaging and a commitment to partnering with Australian conservation charities.
As demand for natural beauty and wellness products has grown, Love Beauty Foods has too. In August, the business upgraded its warehouse to larger premises in Redhead where its entire line, including toothpaste, teeth whitener, body butter, face oil, remedy balm and wellness powders, is made on-site.
Love Beauty Foods employs 10 staff and its offshoot company Imaginelle, which manufactures organic, natural and sustainable products for other brands, recently won the excellence for sustainability category at the Lake Mac Business Excellence Awards.
On Wednesday Imaginelle added the Hunter Business Awards' excellence in sustainability honour to their list of accolades.
The couple's journey with Love Beauty Foods began when they both left high-stress jobs in Sydney to return to Newcastle in search of a better lifestyle.
Despite living and working in Sydney at the same time, Gabby (who grew up in Valentine) and Will (originally from Coal Point) didn't meet until they came back to Newcastle and found that their lives had both taken a similar path.
"I was working in a PR firm in Sydney and it was a great job, but I was just really burnt out," Gabby tells Weekender.
She switched to a career in organic food manufacturing, where she met Will, and discovered that he shared the same values about wanting to live more consciously.
"We started experimenting with formulas at home and we were one of the first to manufacture a beauty supplement, essentially, and that's what got us started," Will says.
Love Beauty Foods' start began in Newcastle East. The couple self-funded the business, experimenting with various formulas until they developed their first product ready for launch.
"We lived in this tiny little flat above Scottie's in Newcastle East, which is Will's mum's restaurant, and we were mixing all of these little products from there and then also using the Scottie's kitchen when they weren't cooking," Gabby recalls.
"I can remember working around the clock early on, packing orders. We would get these big orders from overseas and my Grandpa would be there with us helping pack the stock. He is 90 by the way."
The couple take a holistic approach to beauty which is built around the idea that what you put on your skin should be just as good as what you put inside your body. Hence the word "food' in the brand's name.
"It's food-grade beauty, so we always use the food-grade level with our products," Will explains.
"There was a lot involved getting it started, especially with manufacturing a food product, with hours and hours of research into different formulas and finding out how we could make it as pure and natural and organic as possible, so a lot went into it to get to where it is today."
The brand is stocked in more than 150 stores online as well as health food shops in New Zealand and Singapore, plus international retailers Urban Outfitters in the US and TJ Maxx in the US, UK and Canada.
Love Beauty Foods' range of "simple, everyday essentials" is poised to grow, with deodorant and soap bars joining their top-selling water-free toothpaste.
"It's essentially like a conventional toothpaste but it's in a glass jar and we use all organic essential oils," Gabby says.
"It is definitely our most popular product. One of the glass jars replaces two to three plastic tubes of toothpaste so it's a much more sustainable way to brush your teeth, that's for sure."
They are committed to growing the brand to offer most of the staples that you would find in your bathroom, but in a plastic-free format.
"When we initially started five years ago, packaging wasn't on our radar as much," Will says.
"But in the last five years the movement toward plastic-free has grown massively and it's a must now. We don't use any plastic in our packaging at all. It's crucial."
Visit lovebeautyfoods.com.
