Marci Malbrough Of UltraViolet Skincare – UltraViolet Is About Each Individual Person’s Journey And Finding Their Own Glow

Tell us about yourself? What are your products and what is the story behind UltraViolet Skincare?

My name is Marci Malbrough, I have been an esthetician for almost 21 years and my skincare journey started when I was young. I had problem skin, I struggled with acne and I was always whipping up my own concoctions and masks and skincare and back in the 80s, we just really didn’t have any options but it really formed my passion for skincare, maybe more of an obsession with skincare. I am a Marine Corps wife, my husband retired from the Marine Corps, I am a mom, a business owner and, as I take you back to my story; back in 1999 I told my husband I said okay, we have been moving all over the place it’s time I went back to school. I am going to get my licence to be an esthetician and this is what I really want to do, and from there it started my skincare journey. In about 2007 I started getting very sick, I was back and forth with doctors, later I was diagnosed with my first autoimmune disease and in this time I felt awful, my skin looked awful and as a professional, that’s really devastating and because I had always struggled throughout my life it was something that I felt that I should be able to fix. Fast forward several years of treatments and natural treatments, doctor’s appointments; I came to the realisation that needed to make some serious changes in my life and that was turning my skincare ritual into a full wellness ritual. I had to incorporate a lot of things into it and during this timeframe, I decided I wanted to create UltraViolet Skincare and it really had to be professional-grade so that I could treat my clients in the treatment room, but something that was easy for everybody to use at home. It had to be clean because I was dealing with health issues I wanted the products to be non-toxic, clean, super effective and address multiple skin concerns that was the goal from the beginning is my skin concerns are not just mine. People are struggling with things all over the place and there needs to be something that was professional strength, that used alternative ingredients and got rid of the toxins because a lot of the strong professional strength products were not working. I had access to everything and I still felt like I looked a mess, that’s where ultraviolet was born because I had lost my glow, I had lost that thing that made me who I was and I had to regain that and with UltraViolet, it is about each individual person’s journey and finding their own ultraviolet to glow brighter than the sun.

Can you highlight to us what are the benefits of UltraViolet Skincare? Why would people want to use them?

There are a lot of benefits because I deal with the clients in the treatment room. I have hundreds and hundreds of clients and everybody has different skin concerns and needs, but it all boils down to the same thing is everybody wants to look amazing, they want their skin to be glowing and the biggest thing that I hear is that I want to look great without any makeup on, I don’t wanna have to deal with that anymore. So the products are dealing with multiple skin concerns and issues, we are using ingredients like beta-glucans which stimulate your skin’s own reparative process so we have that in a few of our products. We have the most powerful form of Vitamin C which is THT ascorbate, but it’s in a formulation that doesn’t degrade and it doesn’t oxidize so you get the full benefits. We are using a plant retinoid. It does all the things that actual retinol does or Vitamin A does but without the side effects and redness and irritation. That was something personal for me because I can’t use retinol or I couldn’t use it in the past. I would get really irritated but I want all of the anti-ageing benefits. I am 50 years old and I want to continue to keep my skin as healthy as possible but I am dealing with acne and ageing at the same time which is a terrible combination by the way. And so these products are really formulated to treat multiple skin issues whether that is redness, irritation, rosacea, acne, ageing it is really targeted for people that are wanting to make some serious changes in their skin and are starting their skincare journey or have tried so many other things and it just didn’t work. This is something that is going to target your skin to correct itself and to really glow ultraviolet, it really does. I hear that all the time that it is changing people’s skin and their lives, and maybe it sounds dramatic but it’s true. If you feel good about yourself, it changes your life.   

Who is your target market? And what feedback do your customers say about the products?

I really include men, women and people of all colours. The skincare product line is so effective on skin of colour, skin of all shades and all ethnicities, it works so well. With my family, I have a lot of my family members that are African American and they have got darker skin tones. I wanted to create something that worked for them, just as well as it worked for my fair skin and everybody in between. It is really important to me that it works for as many people as possible and as inclusive as possible, and I have a lot of male clients and they want something that is effective and is treating their skin in easy steps. Most men don’t want things to be super complicated, I love my routine to be super complicated, I want as many things as possible but each product has a lot of things, combo therapies in one product. It’s including everybody and really people are dealing with some sort of skin issue, it is powerful products, they are powerful products that are going to address skin concerns and so I love people that are walking that journey, that maybe have health problems or maybe they have some sort of skin problem and they are really ready to make some changes and turn into a skincare ritual. I include positive affirmations on all of the products and I infuse the intention of giving you the most beautiful skin of your dreams with every single product. I still wrap up everything and I infuse the intention into it, so to me, it’s for people that are really wanting to walk that skincare journey.

What is your skincare ritual? When you wake up in the morning, what UltraViolet products do you use, and what products do you use for your nighttime ritual?

I always cleanse my skin every morning and night, I have never missed that since I was a teenager, never missed a day but I use the UltraViolet AHA BHA Clarifying Cleansing Mousse. My skin tolerates that every single day, morning and night. I always use UltraViolet Formula 28 Perfector which is a hyaluronic acid serum but it is so much more than that, it has beta-glucans in there that help the skin correct itself and it is a mushroom complex – the tremella mushroom hydrates the skin 5 times more powerfully than hyaluronic acid. It helps the skin go through an adapting and correcting process, so UltraViolet Formula 28 always. I always use Vitamin C, so I use our UltraViolet C3+E in the morning with our UltraViolet Glass Smooth Skin Complex Serum – it is a blend of alpha-hydroxy acids like glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid and amino acid complex that keeps the skin exfoliated and smooth so that is done in the morning as well. This is my morning routine – cleanse with the UltraViolet Formula 28 Perfector, the UltraViolet Glass Serum, the UltraViolet C3+E, Vitamin C and moisturise. Sometimes I need a little bit more moisture after the Vitamin C so if I do, right now I am using the UltraViolet Revital Ageless Complex and then UltraViolet Solscreen Mousse, UltraViolet Revital Illuminating Eye Cream, our UltraViolet Lip Reform product and then I am out of the door.

Night Time I cleanse again, I use the UltraViolet Formula 28 Perfector and the UltraViolet Glass Smooth Skin Serum, and then our UltraViolet Phyto Retinol. I just launched a new retinol product so I have used Phyto Retinol for years and that’s what brought me into the retinol world but now we just launched the UltraViolet VIO A+, and the A+ is retinol and resurfacing serum, and it is pro retinol that is encapsulated and time-released to the skin so that there is no sensitivity to the skin or irritation with this one either. So I have been able to finally graduate into stronger retinol, so I use that and then our UltraViolet Revital Illuminating Eye Cream, UltraViolet Lip Reform again and moisturise with UltraViolet Revital Ageless Complex, and then top it off with the UltraViolet Lipid Drench Luxury Facial Oil drench oil. But again I love to layer things up and that’s the beauty of the products, they can be blended together and layered up. There’s no pilling or balling up of the product, it blends soo beautifully so I love to layer.

Where do you see UltraViolet Skincare in the next 12 months to 2 years? Are you planning on adding new products? If so, what are they?

Right now we are undergoing an exciting new rebranding, we are working with a designer and we are coming up with the new brand colours, it is going to be bold and futuristic, vibrant and it is going to include all of the things that are UltraViolet that are just incredibly bold and vibrant. So that’s the first thing that we are doing, we are rebranding, and as far as products are concerned I feel like we have got a really comprehensive line right now. I might add a mask into the lineup soon but we just added in the UltraViolet VIO A+ and the UltraViolet Glass Smooth Skin Serum so I feel like we have really hit all of the corners here but I am open to the growth of expanding the product line and dialling things in a little bit more but right now, I think we are pretty set. I have listened to everybody and people are looking for something, I am trying to fill the holes in the market where people are not meeting the results that they want or they have tried this and that, and there’s something missing, and so that’s where I listen to my clients all the time and were in the gap can I create a solution for a need and right now I feel like we have done that. As far as where I see the brand itself, I mean the sky’s the limit right, really working on pitching to some major retail right now and I want to get the word out. It really is important, this is a beautiful journey that I have taught my clients for the last 21 years to make this part of your whole wellness and skincare ritual, I have been talking about it for 21 years and now it’s time for everybody to know how important it is to be ultraviolet and don’t let anything squash your glow so I want everybody to know about it and that is what we are working on right now is some major growth, expanding the team, expanding everything.

What do you like most about meeschell.com? How has UltraViolet Skincare benefited from our platform?

The first thing that I will say about meeschell.com is the founder Michelle, she is fantastic, she is hands-on, she works as hard as I do and she is really passionate about bringing brands together that have a commonality. That have this common mission of being as clean or as green as possible and putting it on a platform that everybody can reach really easily and I just love her passion and how she’s working for the bigger picture. She has been a joy to work with and having our line on another platform has been fantastic – it’s just getting the word out even more. She is really fantastic to work with and I enjoy her mission. I think when we all have that same commonality and that mission, we are really trying to make people healthier and happier. That’s really special.

Do you have any give back program that positively impacts your community?

I have been looking into Terre cycles and having more of a recycling program. But I have always mentored other estheticians from the time that I started in the business, I have trained and mentored several estheticians and I do it free of charge. I have always just been there for them. I donate to military families, coming from a military family myself and black lives matter are some of the areas that I am passionate about.

What key takeaway of your brand and journey would you like to share that can inspire someone taking on a new venture?

I would say that to remind people that if it was easy everybody would be doing it, and so just to keep pushing forward if you desire something you are destined for it and I truly believe that so you are not given that desire for no reason. This is your destiny, so do not let obstacles get in your way, make sure you push forward and know that it is going to be difficult at times. And my biggest thing that I would say on that is to give yourself that opportunity to take care of yourself and rest and rejuvenate when you are pushing forward and launching a brand or business, you can get really caught up in I have to work constantly, I have to do all these things and if you forget to take care of yourself in that process; you are not going to be healthy enough to enjoy what you worked so hard for. So just know that you’re destined for it because you already desire it and the universe is going to make it happen, as long as you are taking some inspired action and you are working towards your goal.

Any positive affirmations that you live by that keep you motivated?

I have a few – I am the vibe, I am ageless, I am timeless and I am destined for greatness.

As told to Tendai Kamusikiri