Family is the heart and soul of an Australian skincare breakthrough

WORDS: Deanna Nott PHOTOGRAPHY Renae Droop

A battle against skin cancer inspired a Gold Coast family to develop a unique healing serum.

THE beauty business could not be more different to their lifetime career in the construction industry but the switch made perfect sense to this enterprising Gold Coast family.

Inspired by their dad Tony’s battle to heal following skin cancer treatments, the Painter family threw their support behind the invention of an all-natural, soothing skincare serum. Three years and a steep learning curve later, their Epi-gN serum is on the shelves and their fledgling skincare beauty business, Ellus & Krue, is ready to go global.

“We didn’t know anything about anything when we started because none of us were from this industry,” says Anthony Painter, who co-founded the brand Ellus & Krue with sisters Jo Painter and Kimberley Verschuur. “We didn’t know where to make a skincare product or how to make it. I was in construction management, so my background was building houses, same as Dad.”

Years of outdoor work, combined with a love of fishing – mostly without sun protection – had left Tony with a legacy of skin cancer from the age of 50. With eight basal cell carcinomas removed over 20 years, the topical creams he had been prescribed were not helping his skin to heal and recover. Tony’s family became determined to find a solution.

“After his treatments, his skin would always be dry from the liquid nitrogen and he struggled with finding skincare products that would actually help him. He’d had a lot of treatments and his skin was terribly red and inflamed. We just wanted to make a natural product that would help,” Anthony says.

After going back and forth with ingredient profiles for the basis of a skincare product, and experimentation with a local compounding pharmacist, the family had a stroke of serendipitous fortune.

Two years earlier, they attended an event where they met Professor Derek Richard, a microbiologist renowned for his work on the science of ageing. Originally from Dundee, Scotland, he was now scientific director of the Cancer and Ageing Research Foundation at Queensland University of Technology. Professor Richard’s lifelong research into the proteins responsible for the ageing process led him to pinpoint the most effective ingredients for repairing and revitalising skin.

“We reached out to Derek and we said we wanted to start a skincare company and really, since then, we have been collaborating, going backwards and forwards with the ingredients and samples and doing months and months of testing,” Anthony says.

“This wasn’t like building a house. This was a delicate product people were going to use on their body so there was a lot of testing for safety and stability and also microbial testing and efficacy testing. We didn’t know it at the time but working with Professor Richard, we were creating a game-changing skincare product. After using the serum, our dad’s skin healed rapidly but there were other benefits based on the formulation.

“We decided to have the rest of our family and friends try our new face serum. No matter what anyone’s skin type was, from oily to sensitive, everyone saw the same results – fewer fine lines and wrinkles, a refined skin tone and skin that was more hydrated than it had been in a long time.”

For the Painter family, building a relationship with Professor Richard became an opportunity not only to promote evidence-based skincare but to support ongoing research into cancer and ageing.

As a microbiologist, Professor Richard brings a unique perspective to our skincare – ingredients and formulations that work for all skin types that target skin concerns like dehydration, uneven skin tone, redness and pigmentation while helping to combat the signs of ageing,” Anthony says.

“His wealth of experience and world-renowned research are a cornerstone to the efficacy and success of the Ellus & Krue skincare range and we are proud to donate 20 per cent of every sale to the Cancer and Ageing Research Foundation.”

Professor Richard agrees it is a win-win relationship.

“Working together with Ellus & Krue presented a new philanthropic model where we could bring the research together with their business acumen and knowledge and this enabled us to take it to the public, so it’s been a win-win situation,” he says.

Professor Richard says the Epi-gN serum took a year to formulate to ensure it had all the right ingredients, and most importantly, at the right percentage to create real change in the skin.

“One thing I was sure of was that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it properly without cutting corners. And I was going to make sure that whatever we used was made from the ground up,” he says.

What’s in the serum? The super serum contains antioxidants to clean up free radicals, stimulate collagen and elastin production, reduce redness and stimulate cell growth. The all-natural formula includes:

– Curcumin, with its soothing antibacterial properties, to reduce redness;

– Wakame seaweed to soothe the skin back to plump and hydrated;

– French lilac for antioxidants and phytonutrients;

– Naringenin to protect skin against moisture loss;

– Nicotinamide to refine texture and create firmness.

“All these active ingredients, combined with peptides, work in unison and the correct concentration of each ingredient ensures the skin receives the precise amount of what it needs,” Professor Richard says.

“What’s unique is that every ingredient in the serum does a job in the serum. There are no fillers and every product is at the right strength without compromise. What does it do to combat ageing? It reduces redness, it targets hyper-pigmentation and uneven skin tone, controls bacteria on the skin, restores cell growth.

“We haven’t skimped on them to save money. This ethos is how we approached the rest of the skincare range – a skincare routine for men and women that has the right ingredients in the right amount so that you can see real change in your skin within the first month of usage.”

There are now seven products in the Ellus & Krue range including the serum, hydro gel cleanser and detoxifying exfoliant. The company has its sights on a UK launch in 2022, with other international markets identified for future expansion.

“We have some exciting products coming out next year,” Professor Richard says. “Epi-gN is still the original and flagship product and we are seeing some amazing results from it. For many people, it’s changed their skin, so it’s changed their life.”