Baby skincare

Oh baby!

A new start-up is putting science into balm for babies, with a focus on prebiotics and probiotics for skin

WORDS LIZ McGRATH

BELOW Vikki Maroulis and Lianne Keymer

Finding a gap in the market

Rewind two years and Vikki Sydney couple Vikki Maroulis and Lianne Keymer are passionate about many things — their beachside home and Lianne, who originally met through friends, were working in the skincare and probiotics in Bronte, spending time outdoors and their industry when they identified Boston terrier Bowie. a need for baby skincare with

But it is another more unusual passion that “none of the nasties”. has occupied their every waking moment for “We’d worked in the past two years — baby skincare. pharmaceuticals for years and

“We’re obsessed by the microbiome, the had been involved in pretty community of teeny, tiny microorganisms much everything from R&D to that protect the skin and keep the skin barrier marketing and global sales,” functioning,” UK- Lianne explains. born Lianne, 37, says. “Like the gut, skin needs “We knew the

“It feels like all of good bacteria to be happy, scientists and the our conversations have been about particularly baby’s skin.” formulators, and we learnt about the good and bad bacteria that live on the how important developing skin of little humans. And how important it is and maintaining a diverse to get the balance right.” microbiome was for healthy

The go-getting pair — partners in life and in infant skin.” business — are the brains behind Bunjie, a baby “We wanted our own business,” skincare start-up, with the first range recently Vikki adds. landing in pharmacies across Australia. “But rather than dewy face

According to Vikki, Bunjie is “the first masks for adults, we could see 100 per cent naturally derived prebiotic and a need for innovation in the baby probiotic range for infant skin”. skincare category.”

“Like the gut, skin needs good bacteria to be The Bunjie team’s “Minibiotics”� happy, particularly baby’s skin,” Vikki, 39, says. formula is a patented prebiotic

“But we didn’t think we’d be bringing and probiotic complex a new business into the world in a global scientifically formulated to pandemic,” Lianne says with a laugh. support good skin bacteria in “We got our bottles on to the shelves babies and to boost their natural a week before lockdown.” immune system.

Learning along the journey

As with many start-ups, the journey from light-bulb moment to product was beset with obstacles and complications, and Vikki and Lianne say they have become self-taught experts in everything from trademark law to olfactory compositions.

As well as working with scientists to get product formulas right, they were involved in all aspects of the business from bottle designs to marketing, to special infant “testers”.

“I’m from a big Greek family and everyone from first cousins to second cousins and beyond has mini humans, and they’ve all been involved in developing our products,” Vikki says with a grin.

The Bunjie “pinky promise” is to make it easy to give little skin the best start to life, say the “chief executive aunties” (the title they prefer).

And the future? “Well, we named our brand after ‘bungie’ as in bungy jumping, so hopefully this big leap we’re taking will end with our products on shelves around the world, because everyone’s skin deserves the best start to life.”