The saying goes, 'You are what you eat,' so why then do so many of us reach for chemical-laden products to care for our skin?
Even products labelled 'free from' aren't necessarily as clean as we might think, but what if your skincare was as safe and natural as baby food?
That's the thinking behind Face Nom Nom, the just-launched Irish brand founded by Louise Kane and her husband John.
Like so many, Louise struggles with her skin, which can get very dry at times, and reacts when she tries new makeup. Trying to decipher what is triggering the reaction from the list of ingredients on the back is an exercise in futility, she says.
It was this search for wholly natural products that led to the creation of her range of face masks. At the time, she and John had just sold their publishing business and were keen to create a direct-to-consumer business but hadn't settled on the perfect product.
A line of food-based face masks proved to be the perfect fit, both for the business and Louise's skin care dilemma.
'The reason I suppose for these face masks is we've tried and tested everything, and they've been used for centuries and any single [makeup] thing that I've used with these, I've had zero problems,' she says.
'...The four ingredients that are on the front of this pack are the four ingredients that go into the paste. All of these products have been used on people's faces for years, and we've sampled them on a lot of people.
'A lot of them are surprised at how good these masks are and their faces and the next day I'm getting texts and photographs from people going, "my face looks like a baby's bum.'
Their next brainwave was figuring out how to make them without resorting to including nasty preservatives.
'We came across the same concept as baby food... you see baby food on the shelf, it's completely natural and it has to go through the whole [regulatory] rigmarole, so we worked out the same formula that baby food uses,' she tells EVOKE
Another lightbulb moment came with the packaging. They noticed that pouches of baby food have a shelf life of 12-18 months.
[We thought,] 'If they can put baby food out, which is the Holy Grail of needing to be perfectly [safe], we can put food out in a pouch in a face mask paste.'
The next thought was to create a subscription service for their masks so that they can be delivered directly to customers' doors and no doubt serve as a handy reminder to use the products.
The pouches also cut down on waste instead of products steadily going out of date on your bathroom shelf, you get a fresh set delivered to your door and can use them as you need.
'I love little treats coming in the door every month... people can go on the website and buy a monthly subscription for themselves which is a fiver a month including delivery which is like the price of coffee.
'Or if they want to spend €15, they can buy a three-month subscription for a friend.' Other options include €30 for six months and €60 for a year,' she said.
They also have a sample box for those who want to give the products a try and comes with a face cloth for €20, including delivery.
Currently, they stock four masks: Hydrating, Anti-aging, Detox and the Glow face mask.
Her personal favourite is the Detox mask. 'It has coffee in it, which lightens marks and reduces dark circles around my eyes. It also has cocoa powder for skin cell renewal and brightens the complexion, and then it has honey, which is the moisturiser and then it also has coconut milk, which maintains the skin's elasticity and cleaneses the pores.
Shop the full range of masks at facenomnom.com
