BYBI Q&A: A chat with Elsie & Dominika

Taking vegan skincare from spoon to superstore, BYBI’s ethos is “skin-positive, pro-planet beauty”. 

This vibrant natural brand stems from Clean Beauty Insiders founders Elsie and Dominika. 

BYBI believes in smooth, invigorated skin using superfoods that might usually go to waste. 

Now authors, podcasters, and qualified skincare formulators, the founders share their Earth-conscious efforts with the world. 

We couldn’t be more excited to hear from this admirable pair. 

We ask:

• How do they juggle a skyrocketing beauty startup?
• How have they kept their climate imprint as glowing as their complexion?
• What’s it been like producing the world’s first carbon-neutral skincare product? 

Thanks so much for speaking to us! For those who need introducing - would you mind telling us a bit about who you are and how BYBI came about?

We started with pretty humble beginnings, making skincare literally in our kitchens. Inspired by the lack of high-performance ingredients in our favourite skincare products and wanting better for our skin, we created Clean Beauty Insiders in 2015, a DIY beauty blog.

As we shared DIY beauty recipes and our passion for DIY formulating grew, we went on to train as skincare formulators to understand how to better harness the power of potent natural ingredients. We were blown away by the transformational skin benefits we saw from using pure, natural ingredients and decided to bottle those results!

We could see there was real appetite for a skincare brand that could deliver great skincare results naturally, that was upheld by great ethics, but that felt modern, fun, and fresh. And so, in 2017, BYBI was born! 

You’re on a desert island! Or…you’re newer to skincare. Which 3 products would be your ultimate trio?

That’s like picking a favourite child!! But if we have to choose, it’d probably be:

Milk Melt Vegan Oat Milk Cleanser - this one should be a staple on anyone’s bathroom shelf. It’s a creamy oat cleanser that delivers a powerful cleanse but is incredibly gentle on the skin.

If we were specifically on a desert island, then it has to be Mega Mist for its cooling and hydrating properties. This is a hyaluronic acid face mist that’s like a drink for thirsty skin, it plumps and softens whilst attracting moisture to the skin. Perfect for under or over makeup, or in place of a toner.

Finally, everyone needs a Bakuchiol Booster in their top 3! Our bestseller is a vegan, natural alternative to retinol and helps to firm, smooth, and repair skin texture damage, but is gentle enough to be used by most skin types.

How have you juggled BYBI with the blog, the podcast, full-time jobs, parenthood - with life? How did you know when to take the leap and when to pause?

Juggling everything isn’t easy, but it’s an important skill to master, because if parts of the puzzle begin to feel stressful then you’re less likely to enjoy them.

And if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years it’s that we’re best at what we do when we’re having a good time! So finding balance is key.

Giving time to activities that don’t involve work is incredibly important. In our case it’s our families; we both have sons under 2 years old that demand our full attention.

But before our families, it was exercise classes, yoga sessions, time out with friends… Taking time out is as important as your time on and there are no prizes for working 24/7.

Prior to starting the business, we knew it was the right time to take the leap as we could no longer manage BYBI as a side hustle!

The workload was too much to manage alongside our old day jobs and so we were able to acknowledge it was time to pack it in and go 100% BYBI. 5 years on, we haven’t looked back!

What changes do you want to see in the wider beauty industry in the next few years?

We’re excited to see the industry move towards more inclusive messaging and beginning to hero real skin.

We’re a skin positive brand which means celebrating skin in every form and rejecting what the beauty industry has traditionally dubbed as “flaws”.

There’s no such thing as perfect or imperfect skin and the industry spreading that message helps everyone to feel confident and accepted in their skin.

What old-school beauty trend would you bring back given the chance?

The high-shine lip gloss look of our youth! It was a little less effort than full colour and wearing a freshly-glossed lip is oddly satisfying.

One of our BYBI hacks is actually using our Boosters on the lips – our Strawberry Booster works especially well – they moisturise and you get a subtle glossy look (although not quite the staying power of an old-school sticky lip gloss).

What advice would you give to businesses who are trying to be more environmentally conscious?

Decide on your mission and stick to it. Our mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of our business and products, but yours might be to only work with ocean recycled plastic, or to give back to an environmental charity.

Once you decide on that mission, it will help you make clear decisions and have a bigger impact overall.

What’s coming for BYBI? What are you most excited about?

In addition to our environmental mission, we haven’t lost sight of creating exciting products and driving innovation.

We’re thoughtful about new product development and will only launch products that we believe deliver something that our customers really want.

We know that our customers are excited about our innovative ingredients, specifically finding natural and vegan alternatives to classic skincare ingredients. We are experimenting with some brilliant bio-retinols, so watch this space…

It’s been a joy to hear from Elsie and Dominika! They’ve made waves in the sustainable beauty world with their commitment and innovation - and their whole range is a dream.

Follow BYBI on Facebook and Instagram, or catch a day in the founders’ lives at @bybifounders.

Last updated: 21 July 2022