Anna Lahey, founder of Australian brand Vida Glow, describes how she built her business on ingestible marine collagen – and where she has taken the company since. Photos: Handout
The brand started with just one product – marine collagen – but now has a range stocked by global retailers like Harrods and Selfridges
Anna Lahey was just 24 when she launched Vida Glow, the Australian ingestible beauty brand. Distinguished by its colourful, eye-catching packaging and its targeted approach to holistic healthcare, at that time in 2014, Vida Glow started out with just one product – marine collagen, derived from fish skin. Ten years later, it’s evolved to have multiple product lines targeting different health concerns common among women of all ages.
On a recent trip to Hong Kong to promote Vida Glow’s latest product aimed at skin brightening – Luminous – Style sat down with Lahey to learn more about how growing her brand has mirrored the evolution of beauty industry trends at large, and why consumers now care just as much about how they feel as how they look.
Vida Glow Luminous, the brand’s latest product
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Why are consumers coming around to ingestibles after years of scepticism?
I believe in a bidirectional approach to beauty products. I still think that topicals are always going to play a role. The big difference is that when you’re using a topical product, for example to treat pigmentation, you’re using it on a very surface level. You’re using it on the top epidermal level of the skin. That’s about 3 per cent [of the skin]. Ingestibles target the other 97 per cent. Consistency is key, because if you dabble in this product and take one on Monday and one on Thursday and expect to see results, you won’t. We are leading with that education, teaching consumers to be consistent, and we’re seeing incredible, really visible, tangible results in decreasing the appearance of dark spots, brightening the skin, reducing hair loss, clearing acne.
Consumers are becoming more discerning. We’re looking at what’s on the back of packaging. We’re not being sold the dream. The guidelines of what you can sell in supplements are becoming stricter. There’s a lot of trust that consumers have in us. And the other thing is a systemic approach to ingestible beauty. I’ve had four children, so melasma pigmentation has been significant for me. If you’re using a topical, you might be applying it there [on areas of concern]. When you’re taking an ingestible, you’re treating the whole body systemically as opposed to the localised approach.
Anna Lahey, founder of Vida Glow
How do you address the shift in what consumers want from looking a certain way to looking their best?
Absolutely. The lifestyle aspect is huge with ingestible beauty. The way you feel is so important to how you look. The trend of less is more is really growing with consumers. Generally, people want results, and people are getting them faster, in a more tangible manner, when it comes to ingestible beauty. We’re not really seeing anti-ageing like we saw in the 2000s. It’s ageing gracefully. And I know this sounds really cliché, but being the best version of yourself. Not trying to enhance as much and change features, but to improve.
Vida Glow products
What gave you faith to start a business based solely on marine collagen?
