Founder Notes: On daily life and Launching Saela

People who know us well will tell you that we are, in many ways, opposites. Kirsty moves fast, decides even faster, and has operated from day one with an almost unreasonable conviction that this will work. Elke thinks carefully, weighs everything, and has spent considerably more time than she would like to admit sitting with the uncomfortable questions. Between us, we have the full spectrum covered.

This is our honest reflection on that life and what it actually felt like to bring Saela into the world.

Kirsty

My mornings right now are what you may like to call beautiful chaos. I am in the final stretch of my third pregnancy, with two boys under five who have no interest in easing me into the day gently. There are cuddles, wrestling (I am the umpire) and then the kettle goes on, because a cup of tea is the one thing I will not negotiate on. The quiet lasts approximately four minutes before someone needs something.

From there, a shower, a short meditation, a quick scan of emails and messages. On the best mornings, there is movement, a session in the sauna (pre-pregnancy), a few minutes of journaling, something that feels like proper self-care. But I will be honest: in this season, those mornings are infrequent. The list of rituals I aspire to is long. The ones I actually protect are few. Morning cuddles and a cup of tea. That is the non-negotiable. Everything else is an added bonus when it happens.

What this season has taught me, more than anything, is the value of simplicity. Not the extensive routine you do when life cooperates, but the one you return to when it doesn't. The skincare equivalent of that cup of tea. Something that requires very little time and no deliberation and still delivers. That is exactly what I wanted Saela to be.

Elke

I am a morning person, which I say with full awareness that this is not necessarily relatable. My day begins with a run or a Pilates session before the day ramps up. There is something about that early run I genuinely cannot function well without. It is my version of Kirsty's cup of tea. The non-negotiable.

After that, the morning becomes a familiar kind of controlled chaos. Getting myself ready quickly before turning my full attention to getting the kids organised and out the door for school. The window for my own skincare is not long. It never is.

My relationship with my skin has been its own journey. I spent years searching for the balance between effective and gentle. My skin sits on the reactive side, and the sensitivity has only become more pronounced as I have gotten older and as hormones have done what hormones do. What I have learned, mostly through trial and a fair amount of error, is that my skin doesn't do well with high intensity, it craves consistency.

Kirsty, on launching Saela

From the moment Saela started taking shape, I was certain. Probably to a degree that Elke found mildly alarming at times. But that certainty is what gets something like this built, especially with a life as full as ours. You have to be a little delusional. You have to decide it will work before you have any real evidence that it will.

And now it is here. And I cannot wait for you to experience it for yourself. To open the products, to build the routine, to feel what we felt when we knew we had something worth sharing. The excitement is real, but so is the anticipation of what comes next.

Elke, on launching Saela

Every decision in this process: the formulations, the positioning, the timing, I mulled over carefully. Multiple times. Definitely more times than Kirsty was ready for! I needed to feel genuinely ready and sure. That's just who I am.

The nerves were real. The questions that keep you up at night when you have built something you care about deeply — is it good enough, is it ready, will people like it — those were real too. But here is what I know now: it was worth every moment of hesitation. Because the care I put into those questions and decisions is exactly what is inside every product. Saela is out in the world now and I couldn't be more excited.

A note from both of us

Saela was built between school runs, client calls, building other businesses, during pregnancies and hormonal shifts, in the early mornings before anyone else was awake.

The person we built it for is living that same life. She is not looking for a 20-step routine or a product line up that fills her cupboards and demands her full attention. She is looking for something she can trust. Something that works consistently, that fits into the rhythm of her days without adding to the noise.

That is Saela. Your Skincare Routine, Refined.

We are so glad it is finally here!

Kirsty & Elke