This N.B. Skin-Care Business Uses Clean, Cruelty Free Ingredients
MONCTON – In her 40s, Shannon Lifance wanted anti-ageing skin care products that don’t carry “toxic” ingredients, especially after she had dealt with an autoimmune disease that led to removal and reconstruction of her bladder.
Lifance says the relationship between her decade-long illness and those ingredients are unclear. But it led her to change the products in her household – everything from cleaning products to face cream – to ones that are “clean,” she says.
So she set out to create and sell high-end products through her company, Lifance Natural Skin Care, which was launched two years ago. Now her products can be found at Boutique Zekara‘s two locations in Rothesay and Halifax, USVA Nordic Spa in Moncton, Dastoudio Spa in Dieppe and another spa in Ontario.
“There’s a lot of natural skin care available today that, few, if any, incorporate serious anti-ageing ingredients. Seems like the anti-ageing products come along with a lot of things that shouldn’t be in your skin care,” she said.
For instance, she says, many face creams use fillers, parabens and gliding agents – all unnecessary and unnatural for the skin. And ingredients that matter are not as high in concentration as those that don’t, she added.
Starting in 2013, she spent three to four years on cosmetics formulation training, pulling from her science background from university. She learned how to make natural skin care products, and how to preserve them naturally and safely.
Lifance chose ingredients like sea-kelp bio-ferment, marine collagen, botanical stem cells, nano-sized hyaluronic acid, and various oils. She wanted to create cruelty-free skin care products with higher quality ingredients in higher concentrations without toxic and unnecessary ingredients.
Focusing on facial skin, Lifance offers botanical cream cleanser, botanical oil cleanser, rosewater toner, day and night moisturizers, eye creams, serums, and face oil. The company is also starting a second line of products under the “Intense” collection, “with more luxurious ingredients in even higher concentrations,” she said.
The face cleansers are priced at around $50 each and moisturizers range between $75 and $145. The products are available online, and Lifance began wholesale distribution in the past six months.
For now,Lifance produces all of them herself in a 2,500-square-foot dedicated space in her home near Moncton. But she has bigger plans.
She’ll be attending the ESI Esthetique Spa International Trade Show in Toronto this April to help expand her wholesale reach across Canada.
Originally from Ontario, Lifance has been in New Brunswick for a year and a half, operating her business from both Quispamsis and Murray Corner, near Moncton. The alumni of NBCC’s Oasis program started the business when she lived in Alberta.
“I honestly feel like the timing could not have been better for me to move to this province because I’m just overwhelmed by the level of support, and that’s so important when you’re starting a business and you’re on your own,” she said.