Creating the concept
Mona Masouminia, the founder of New Zealand Secret first conceptualised the company in 2015 following a beauty show in Paris. By combining New Zealand’s reputation for “untouched nature” and the industry’s ongoing calls for natural and anti-ageing items, Masouminia made the switch from being an oil and mining engineer to build New Zealand Secret.
"I had played with making my own make up to keep my skin fresh when I was out in the field on international contracts," said Mona Masouminia, founder of New Zealand Secret.
Making connections within the industry was the next step to realising the launch:"I put the two ideas together and talked to Norm Morgan, of Tradex International. He introduced me to the late Dr Jim Watson, a pioneer of New Zealand's biotechnology industry.”
Knowing the consumer base
Current marketing messages and headlines continue to target anti-ageing, natural and ethical products, which has an effect on customers' shopping baskets — both online and offline.
With these trends continuing to gather pace, Masouminia saw the opportunity with New Zealand Secret to fuse these elements to create a multifunctional prestige range.
“[The duo] easily convinced me that anything I did should be 100% scientific, 100% natural and traceable,” Masouminia went on to say.
To progress with the luxury skin care selection, Masouminia met with a “specialist contract manufacturer with the right plant accreditations”.
After exploring the formulation process and understanding its uniqueness, the formulae for the creams and serums was applied and the products were created.
Trend targeting
Biotechnology is continuing to inspire the cosmetics industry. New Zealand Secret draws upon this developing influence by its formulation choices and product creations.
The high-end skin care collection also contains unusual active ingredients such as wakame, kiwifruit extract and Sauvignon Blanc.
New Zealand Secret has launched anti-ageing items that contain sustainably harvested ingredients in a bid to develop its position within the natural, anti-ageing and sustainable marketplace, as these continue to be hot topics throughout the industry.
Youthful luxury
New Zealand Secret states that these ingredients collectively fight the effects of pollution, stress and age, making skin firmer and more youthful.
Its skin care range consists of anti-aging products including a cleansing cream, anti-ageing toner, hydrating day and night moisturisers eye cream and regenerating collagen serum.
The luxury skin care products range from NZ $300 (€187) for the brand’s secret cleansing cream to $680 (€424) for its regenerating collagen serum.
Masouminia hopes that this collection can compete with luxury skin care leaders in the marketplace such as La Mer, Guerlain and La Prairie: "After working with the formulae during the past 18 months, we can now say that we have a 100% natural range of anti-ageing products that are going to compete strongly against some of the world's biggest luxury brands in this field."