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WORDS: SARAH JOSEPH

The Beauty of Silk

Co-Founder of Slip®, Fiona Stewart has created a brand that promises to enhance your beauty sleep and beyond

What do the first 30 mins of your day look like, your morning routine? It starts very early with a 5AM espresso, while everyone else in my household is still asleep, followed by emails and a daily meditation. I greatly value this time to myself and embrace the quiet before the craziness of my two boys and a business starts. What inspired you to create Slip®? Slip® was born out of a genuine need. In 2003, I was prescribed acne medication which resulted in extremely sensitive skin and thinning hair. My dermatologist suggested sleeping on a silk pillowcase and a er I was unable to find one, we sourced the best silk we could find and wrapped it around my pillow. The results were dramatic and immediate. We had stumbled upon a longforgotten beauty secret and Slip® was born. The following year alongside my partner, Justin Dubois we o cially launched Slip® – the first silk pillowcase to be branded and marketed as a beauty product. What defines the DNA of Slip® and how has the o ering evolved since the outset? We are an authentic brand that has evolved over the last 17 years from a home o ce side hustle

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with a cot next to my desk into a global, hardworking yet fun team of people around the world whom I consider to not just be friends but family. We are passionate about creating a product and a genuine brand that I needed when I had skin issues.

For many years, our only product was a slip silk pillowcase in four colours and we had to do a lot of educating as to why a slip silk product was a must-have beauty product. The goal has always been to make a slip silk pillowcase a cult beauty product. Our product assortment is now available in many colours and some fun patterns and has grown to include sleep masks, awardwinning hair scrunchies, double-lined silk turbans, a specially formulated gentle silk wash, some wellness products, gorgeous silk robes, and some really exciting products that are on their way for later this year. What are the beauty benefits of sleeping on a silk pillowcase? If you’re spending money on blow-dries, serums, creams and hair treatments you need to switch to sleeping on a Slip® silk pillowcase. Sleeping on silk is a great expert beauty tip and a long-time beauty secret. Slipsilk™ fibres are significantly less absorbent than other fibres such as cotton, so they are less likely to steal your expensive face cream during the night. In laboratory testing, slipsilk™ was shown to absorb significantly less face cream and create 43% less friction on average, versus cotton pillowcases with a 220-360 thread count, helping your face glide along the pillowcase all night long. All this adds up to good news for beauty sleep and considering we spend a third of our lives in bed, I wanted to make it count. How should you care for your silk pillowcase? Traditionally, silk is hand wash and dry clean only. Ours are of the highest quality so they are machine washable, but they are still silk and need as much care as we can give them. We developed a silk wash that is dermatologist tested and is the perfect detergent for your Slip® products. Does using a silk eye mask have the same e ect as a pillowcase? Our sleep mask is designed to help you get your beauty sleep. It is gentle on your delicate eye area and the perfect travel companion but our Slip® silk pillowcase is the hero product with all of the beauty benefits. How can you tell the level of quality when it comes to silk and where do you source your

“Beauty to me is about being your genuine self.”

fabrics? Not all silk is created equal. Slipsilk™ is specially-commissioned and made to our exacting standards, developed and refined to provide the ultimate combination of shine, thickness, so ness and durability. Which pieces and colourways are driving sales? Our number one hero product is and I think always will be, our white queen silk pillowcase. It’s our cult product and the whole reason the brand exists. Scrunchies continue to blow me away and I still get a thrill, seeing them in peoples’ hair or on their wrists. You’ve partnered on some collaborations. Which has been the most interesting to date? There have been so many exciting collaborations our team has been involved in. When some of the biggest celebrities and the biggest brands in skincare and make up contact us we still get excited. There are some really amazing collaborations coming up, watch this space. What advice would you give to your younger self starting out? Be fearless, be grateful, value your time as it’s not unlimited and focus on your goal. No matter the obstacles, no matter how many times you hear no, keep going and be kind and generous to everyone on your way. This is ‘The Beauty Issue’ – what does beauty mean to you? Beauty to me is about being your genuine self and embracing every age and stage of your life. Beauty to me is about being imperfectly beautiful and comfortable with yourself. Shop Slip® products at apothecabeauty.com