Beauty news: Glow Recipe Skincare has landed at Mecca Cosmetica

Drop the word "watermelon" into any beauty or skincare conversation and talk will immediately jump to Korean beauty and skincare brand Glow Recipe. With good reason.

Founded by two former L'Oréal execs in 2014, Glow Recipe set out to make K-beauty more accessible to consumers and in a case of right time, right place, they seriously went global. Glow Recipe's mission, Lee has said, is "to break down what K-beauty [is] all about, educate consumers on the unique trends coming out of Korea, bring them best-in-class skincare offerings, and make them accessible to consumers through repositioning and education." The fact that their products are also insanely cute and well priced helps hugely, and now, their cult-favourite Watermelon family, Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser, and the new Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask are now exclusively available at MECCA and via meccabeauty.co.nz from this month.

Glow Recipe Skincare first released the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask and Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser in 2017, hoping to get a little traction. At launch however, the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask sold out over seven times on both glowrecipe.com and at Sephora, generating a waitlist that exceeded 8,000 people! Its success has to do with the blend of AHAs, watermelon extract, hyaluronic acid, antioxidants and peony root that work to hydrate skin overnight. It can be used two to three times a week, and either rinsed off after 10 minutes or left on overnight for more intense results. It is unique in that it simultaneously exfoliates and hydrates skin, which the brand founders and CEOs say is the secret to great skin. “We are huge proponents of chemical exfoliants over physical ones to minimise any rubbing, pulling or friction on the skin,” Chang told HuffPost. “Our Watermelon Sleeping Mask was a huge success as it had an unexpected pairing — AHAs to gently exfoliate to resurface the skin, combined with watermelon extract and hyaluronic acid to hydrate and nourish skin at the same time.”

Watermelon isn’t a common ingredient in the beauty industry, but it’s become a staple for the Glow Recipe brand because of its anti-inflammatory properties and essential vitamins. In Korea, the founders say their grandmothers used to rub watermelon rind on their skins in the summer to soothe and cool heat rash and irritation, and the fact that it looks gorgeous helps too!

Today, Glow Recipe Skincare has expanded to include their Watermelon Pink Juice Moisturizer as well as the Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask and can be found online and in MECCA stores throughout New Zealand. Glow Recipe is proud to be paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, and cruelty-free, and it reportedly feels as good as it looks. Have you tried it yet? I haven’t but am keen as mustard, so maybe see you at a Mecca store soon!