Erika: Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Just a friendly reminder, if you are not already to subscribe to the Babe Skills podcast, I would love for you to do that. Subscribing just essentially means you’re following the podcast, so you never miss an episode. These episodes are released every other week, and today I have an incredible guest. I am joined by Kim Walls. She is the co-founder of Fortuna Skincare. Fortuna is such an amazing clean beauty brand. They go above and beyond when sourcing ingredients from their estate and Sicily. They have a biodynamic farm, a sound bath distilling process, and it is just a cult favorite brand among celebrities.
[00:01:00]Erika: They have a new product dropping, which I had no idea. I got the 411 on this episode. So, let’s jump in. I wanna welcome Kim Walls to the podcast. We are so thrilled to have you here today. Kim is the CEA and co-founder of Fortuna Skin. So welcome Kim. Why don’t you briefly introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are, what you do, and let you take it away.
Kim: Okay, I’ll do that. First of all, thank you for having me on Babe Skills. I love this podcast. I’ve been in the skincare industry my whole life. My father actually founded a skincare company called Epicurean when I was a baby, so I grew up in the space born into beauty feeling very lucky about that because it’s a fun industry. And after school spent about 20 years studying biochemistry, nutrition, skincare, of course, became an aesthetician after graduating with an anthropology degree, which believe it or not, is actually completely relevant to now. And then started founding brands and helping other founders grow their brands.
[00:02:00]Kim: Really just what I’m most excited about right now from a career perspective is that Fortuna skin is really on the forefront, the leading edge of regenerative beauty. And that’s a piece of the industry that I’m just, is so deep in my heart, I’m so excited about it. There’s so much opportunity to create vitality and health and longevity and better feelings in the world.
Kim: So that’s in a nutshell, that’s me. I also have two sons. They’re 20 and 17. Huge part of my life, work from home or, built businesses so that I’m mentioning this because I know you and a lot of your people who listen have kids. So huge fan of incorporating kids into our work lives as much as we can. And all the businesses that I’ve built have had remote work built into them to facilitate that family environment. So that’s, the personal side that’s been really fun for me in the career world.
[00:03:00]Erika: I think that’s incredible and so refreshing. You know, I feel like I had small babies right before the pandemic and before that it was just like hustle culture for me and like I can’t take time off. I remember with my first, I took six weeks off and for me that was kind of like a big like reset and I’m not going back to that and they are part of everything that I do. So, I work from home, we’ve got a sitter, we work it out, and I want them involved in all the things I do. So, it’s so refreshing to hear someone who’s built such an amazing brand such as Fortuna say that. So, it’s kind of, you know, reassuring and you’re speaking my language. I went to school, I was, uh, a chemist for five years, so that’s why I was so excited to have you wanting kind of nerd out in this space a little bit. But I have my gorgeous Fortuna skin oil. I kept the box because this presentation is absolutely insane. When this podcast goes live, I will share a reel so you guys can just see it in all its glory. But let’s talk about, first of all, the Fortuna estate. That is so cool. Tell everybody everything.
[00:04:00]Kim: Okay, so first of all, just a short bit of the history of the estate. So it’s currently 800 acres. It’s gorgeous, it’s rugged, it’s in the heart of Sicily and Corleone, where huge, beautiful mountains and you can see all the way to the ocean. All this a magical microclimate biodiversity that’s at the top of the list globally.
Erika: Are you doing tours?
Kim: Not yet. Not yet. Even. But the way this estate came to be was through, Agatha and I. Agatha and I co-founded this business about five years ago, and we’ll, we could talk about that in a second. She and her husband, Steve, started a journey looking for this land in Sicily because Steve, when he was about eight, eight or 10 years old, made a promise to his Nona that he would, she’s Sicilian, Nona, that he would someday go find the land that she grew up on because she missed it very much. And she would tell him all these incredible.
[00:05:00]Kim: So, they went to go find it. They found a quarter acre parcel with the rubble of that foundation and saw incredible economic struggles there over 50% unemployment rate in Sicily and lands that had were being, you know, taken apart. Essentially. The trees weren’t growing, things were going extinct. Birds that were trying to migrate from Africa to Europe we’re struggling.
Kim: And they decided then in there to help rejuvenate, regenerate this land and this space for these people. So ultimately, they bought that quarter acre parcel and agreed to buy any adjacent land as it grew, which is how it got to be 800 acres. Wow. Yeah, it’s stunning really, the biodiversity that’s there. Plus, the potency of the soil and the regenerative agricultural practices that are being used to cultivate and forage really ultimately create the most potent ingredients that, and you’ll love this from a chemistry perspective, we’ve clinically tested them against several other competitive type ingredients.
[00:06:00]Kim: So, for example, extra virgin organic olive oil. You have, there are certain criteria, it has to be meat to be extra virgin or to be organic. And when we take olive oil, that’s that same functional criteria and test them. Ours is actually 66% higher in polyphenols, 8% higher in steriles, and these things are very good for scan, right?
Kim: The steriles are building blocks for collagen. The polyphenols are helping fend off free radical damage, and then 3.4 times lower in free acids, which is a great thing. Fatty acids are good but free acids are not because they’re going to help increase radical activity in the. So, you have this incredibly potent oil. And then we marry that with incredibly potent olive leaf water. 300% more potent than commercially tested, same standard. To use the basis of these ingredients and the reason they’re so potent is one, the agricultural practices there. Regenerative agriculture, which is how we end up being the leaders in regenerative beauty, because that really stands off the shoulders of regenerative agriculture.
[00:07:00]Kim: And how we’re able to create clinically effective, essentially medis spa level performance, but still be far beyond clean and organic in terms of that, the health of these things.
Erika: I’m so glad you brought this up because I think that’s a big conversation that I’ve been having a lot lately with people is, you know, these celebrity skincare lines are so diluted and you know, they label themselves as maybe clean, but it’s just, they’ve taken out a few ingredients. So, I’m so glad that you mentioned like that about your process because they’re, you know, medical grade skincare in the US is still like the gold standard apparently. If you want, you know a certain look, but I feel like people like you are changing that narrative because you can come in and say, we’ve got just as potent ingredients without all the ick.
[00:08:00]Erika: And you can have both. And that’s sort of my mission at Babe Skills too, is you know, to replacing my toxic medical great things with clean beauty, luxury items that work just as good, if not better. So, it’s so exciting to hear this. Yes. The best small world clearly. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And I think, I think we’re headed there, right? There’s so many amazing people in the space doing wonderful things. And can you tell us about some of your, uh, hero products?
Kim: Oh, absolutely. So, I saw you actually hold one up there. Um, our bi phase oil is definitely our hero for a few reasons. The performance of it. Essentially, one of the editors called it the anti-oilers oil. So anybody who’s oil or even had acneic or oily skin, this is an ideal way to step into all the benefits of an oils for the skin. And then the, it doesn’t leave any residue on the skin at all, so it’s got extra stabilized vitamin C added to it. It has the antioxidant complexes that were wild foraging off the farm and adding to our olive oil and olive leaf bases that are made up of extremified plants.
[00:09:00]Kim: So, I described to the farm a little bit earlier. You can see when you, when you see it, if you see pictures or videos or anything, especially on our website, there’s all kinds of amazing, beautiful visual content to see what it’s like there. But you can see. The different types of plants growing in different microclimates are all living from thousands and thousands of years ago through volcanic eruptions, through crazy winds, through really extreme environments. And so they’ve developed these very high levels of survival ingredients, so components within them, so the antioxidants, the polyphenols, the things I’m talking about. And we use a method called sound bath extraction, which is an ultrasound technique pulled out of the pharmaceutical industry.
[00:10:00]Kim: We brought it into the skincare space because these ingredients that are wild, foraged and grown on the farm are able to be processed at low heat with no solvents. You can actually take the fibers right out, put them in the soil, and they’ll make the soil stronger and protects the potency. So, it solves some of the age-old problems in our industry of inconsistent performance and sort of textures that may or may not be so nice.
Kim: So, the sound bath extraction then is how we get the raw materials and make them. And the BioPhase is particularly cool because you can see it. It’s actually an oil layer and a water layer. And before using it, you shake it together and then massage it into the skin. So, it’s getting hydration plus the oil barrier protection in a single product.
Kim: All Fortuna skin products are multipurpose, and this one is all about hydration, vitamin C, brightening, and barrier protection in one.
Erika: So, it’s, and you can use it morning and night?
Kim: Oh yes, absolutely. It’s a great base for makeup. It’s fantastic. Before bed. Personally, I have about a five-step routine. I’ll, if I’m really tired or lazy or maybe camping, I’ll do three.
[00:11:00]Kim: But, um, most of the time it’s at least five. And I’ll actually start within micellar, go to the face cream and eye serum, then the eye cream, which is extraordinary for lifting and dark circles and puffiness and all of that. Then either the day or night cream, depending on the day of what the time of day, because circadian rhythm is so important for skin. Then the biface, then the replenishing bomb. That’s my personal routine, and that’s all our products basically. But what I’m really excited about is a new product that’s launching very, very soon here, which is a cleansing oil blonde.
Erika: Oh wow. Lovely. Tell us everything.
Kim: Okay. I do ask. This is, so I mentioned earlier I’ve been formulating, I’ve formulated hundreds of products and I’ve been doing this for about 30 years. So it’s for me to have never loved a cleanser before.
[00:12:00]Erika: I was just gonna say that when I said, tell us everything, I do not have a cleansing oil bomb. That I love and that is one of the top requested things, and I never have an answer for people.
Kim: Yeah, well, there’s a good reason why there’s nothing like this has existed, so we, we all know oil cleansers best for our health, right? There’s no question that oil is gonna lift debris, it’s going to cleanse, it’s going to hydrate, it’s not going to interfere with your microbiome. All these benefits of oil. The problem is it leaves the residue on your face or it’s slick, sticky, or it’s just weird because it’s something left on your skin. And then from a from a clinical perspective or the aesthetician or medical perspective, it, because it’s leaving a barrier on out of the gate, you’re not getting the full benefit of whatever you put on next because your skin’s not, it’s got a barrier protection on it already. So that’s the oil piece. And then, what most people prefer is the foaming or the lathering because it gives you that nice, clean feeling and it’s a familiar texture. It feels good. It’s not all weird. So, but in that case then usually the skin ends up feeling dry. The microbiome is disrupted. There are all kinds of issues with that.
[00:13:00]Kim: So, this product has what we call a triple texture technology. So, it starts as a bomb. You take an oil size scoop of it, warm it just a little bit in your fingers before you apply it, it’ll start to become an oil and then massage it in. As you’re massaging it in, it will liquefy into oil and then you add a little bit of water.
Kim: You can pat the water on or you can spray it on our estheticians, like to use a little steam to add the water level and then massage that in. And when you rinse it away, your skin feels incredibly soft and silky and hydrated. We have people who tell us, they don’t even need to use a moisturizer after it because it’s so hydrated, which personally I think is crazy. Everybody should use moisturizer all the time. But to hear that kind of feedback is really, it’s really rewarding is what it is.
[00:14:00]Erika: Sorry, as you’re talking my, did you see my mouth just like jaw open, like nodding my head to all these things? That sounds incredible. I’m so excited. And then it’s launching this week.
Kim: It is, yes, it’s launching about now. And um, I guess one other thing I’d love to add, just because we’re talking about sort of what it feels like to be able to create these kinds of things and how amazing it is to get people’s responses is before we ever launch, we do all kinds of clinical testing because we have that scientific background, or we’re all about marrying agent wisdom with modern science. And so clinical testing is a huge part of our routine before we launch a product.
Erika: Very important. We’ve talked about this before on the podcast, that for a company to go out there and do that and be able to support their claims, I think that’s so admirable. So just wanted to chime in for, you know, people not in the industry.
[00:15:00]Kim: We just got the results in just in time for the launch, and it’s been unbelievable like crazy. 98%, 96%, and not just like, oh, it makes my skin feel soft, which is a great claim, but things like it improves the texture of my skin. Like positive. And this gets back to our whole mission, and you were talking about this right before, is the idea of clean beauty. It’s very much about do no harm, right? It’s like, don’t hurt your body, don’t hurt the environment. That’s really important and super valuable. But what we have the opportunity to do through regenerative beauty is radically improve. And so we really wanna move the conversation. Into how do we improve, what can we do for our health, for our community, for our bodies, for the places where we source ingredients?
Kim: Ideally a little cheesy, I know, but for the world, like how do we make this place better? We have kids, we wanna leave it behind a little better. And even if we don’t have kids, we have nieces, we have nephews, we have, you know, the world that it feels valuable to have a sense of agency and to be able to contribute.
[00:16:00]Kim: It’s, you know, can, can your choice of cleanser affect climate change? Yeah, it actually can.
Erika: Wow, that’s incredible. And I’m with you, you and the listeners here too, I think really resonate with this. It’s, you know, the collective conscious we, you know, so I think that that totally makes sense. I feel like this is such a holistic approach and a beautiful, beautiful brand.
Erika: I wanna also talk about, so I’m a hundred percent Italian. My families from Calabria and my grandparents actually had an arranged marriage, which is so crazy to think about. And they were so in love too. It’s, it’s wild. But I love to tell that story so very close to Sicily. But I was, you know, reading on your website and intrigued about using extra virgin olive oil to biohack the genetics of your aging skin. And I know we touched on it briefly, but is there anything else you can touch on there?
[00:17:00]
Kim: I would love to. So, this is such an exciting time in the skincare world. Historically, we really not, well, not we, I haven’t, but people I think in general, looked at the skin more like a celle wrapper, like what can we do topically?
Kim: It’s all a topical conversation. And when you step back and look at the skin as the largest organ of the body, and from a holistic perspective, which is very much like the regenerative agriculture perspective, right? It’s the farming and harmony with nature, and this is skincare and harmony with our own bodies.
Kim: The part that we could address historically, or that we thought about from an industry perspective moves the topical, and that’s about 40% extrinsic. gauging factors like stress, sleep, the weather, pollution from cars, these things, that’s about 40% of what causes the skin to degenerate breakdown of collagen, loss of elasticity, dehydration, reduced production of things like ceramides.
[00:18:00]Kim: Those are all coming from about 40% extrinsic, and then about 60% genetic because of recent research that’s coming out from places like Harvard and Yale, like real serious studies here, double blinds, all kinds of things. And very recent we’re learning that olive oil has the ability to address telomere health telomere link.
Kim: So, telomeres are the caps that sit over the ends of your genetic strands that allow for genes to replicate without loss of data, essentially without loss of integrity. So, replicate in whole, and as telomeres get shorter. You start to see in signs of this, see it in signs of the skin and that deterioration, which we talked about, loss of elasticity, dehydration, lines, and wrinkles.
Kim: And so when we can lengthen teal omes and increase our health from the inside out at the cellular level, we have the ability to bring the vitality back into skin and really shoot for the longevity in a different way. Consuming olive oil using olive oil. I will say not all olive oil is created equal, but using these very potent, high quality ingredients, we actually have the ability to address genetic health, which I think is pretty amazing and incredibly interesting.
[00:19:00]Erika: Yes, I have a few things to say. First thing. I actually found Fortuna through Melissa Wood Health.
Kim: Oh, that’s awesome.
Erika: Love her. And it’s so funny because I feel like, okay, so she’s, you know all about the fitness and meditation and there’s studies that meditation help lengthen your telomeres. And it’s like, I feel like telomere health is the new sexy thing, but it’s because it’s true. You know? So, to be able to influence that from the inside out and the outside in is incredible. And I’m curious of you, do you have any like, um, self-care practices, meditation, mindfulness, that you use in your daily life?
Kim: Absolutely. I do. And actually I have some that I’d love to share. With people listening to, especially during skincare. This is a really incredible time because it’s a routine that many of us, most of us really have built into our lives already at least once a day.
[00:20:00]Kim: Most people do have an evening skincare routine. I like to encourage people to do it with their eyes closed. So, turn away from the mirror. You don’t need the mirror and use your fingers and breathing while you’re doing it. So, massage the products in turn inward. Do positive mantras during that time. Practice appreciation, whether it’s your kids or a teacher, or you know, anybody in your life, a husband, a boyfriend, a wife, to just really use that time when you’re doing skincare to embrace positive thinking. And a few physiological markers around that.
Kim: Just to share with kind of the how it works piece is when you’re doing facial massage, you’re increasing blood flow and increasing that blood flow increases oxygenation levels, nutrient bioavailability, all kinds of good things that will make your skin more vibrant and healthy but it also increases blood F flow, especially to the frontal lobes.
[00:21:00]Kim: And that’s where memory is and that’s where when we’re able to bring ourselves. During this practicing massage, positive thinking mantras or meditation and all at the same time, it’s really amazing what two or five minutes of this can do to shift your mood if you’re feeling sad or if it’s a nighttime routine to prepare your body for sleep in a way that’s really going to enhance depth of sleep and how quickly you’re able to go to sleep.
Kim: So, including really wrapping everything together. Bailey is my favorite, my favorite practice to share.
Erika: I love that because before, you know, I became a mother, I had very extensive self-care practices and I just don’t have the time anymore. So, I do what I call microdosing my moments and stuff. And I think, like to your point, everyone ha does this at least once a day. If you’re listening and you feel like you wanna incorporate some of these things in your life, it doesn’t have to be 10 minutes setting in silent meditation, you can just do your process.
[00:22:00]Erika: And I love that. Massaging it in maybe doing some gratitude work or some affirmations. I think that sometimes when we feel we have to start these new routines or be perfect at something, it keeps us from doing it like dry brushing for example.
Erika: I was like so hugged back on dry brushing because I felt like if I didn’t keep up with it, I was letting myself down. So I kind of took that pressure off myself, put it by my shower, and I’m like, okay, if I remember to do it, I do it. And that’s one extra day I did it versus I didn’t do it. So just start. And you’ve already got that time worked into your day, to your point, and I think that’s so beautiful.
Kim: I’m glad you like it.
Erika: I like it a lot. So do you get to visit the estate often?
Kim: Not as often as I’d like. Definitely not. Once a year is generally how it goes. So we’re very, we have a couple of people who actually work out of Italy. We have of course, Dr. Marina Pasquali, who is on the farm. He’s our, he’s a, the world’s foremost authority Sicilne botany, a double PhD in bot in biology.
[00:23:00]Kim: And so he’s there day in, day out. And then we also have someone else who’s working with the lab in Milan and working with the labs that do our sound bath extraction to ensure that as our materials go from farm to sound, bath extraction to labs, and then to us, where we can give them to our customers, um, that all those processes are going smoothly and that the integrity of the brand is held up and transparency is maintained and all of those different things that are so important to us.
Kim: So, I don’t actually need to be there very often, but boy, do I wish I did.
Erika: Yes, absolutely. So, take us through a day in your life.
[00:24:00]Kim: I’m on the West Coast, so yes. A day in my life usually starts in Southern California, in South Pasadena, just outside of downtown LA and I do not look at my phone right away when I wake up.
Kim: That’s really important to me. I try not to look at it for the time. The only thing I use it for is an alarm. And I try, this doesn’t always work, but I try really hard to give myself 30 minutes to an hour without any external input except for the people who are in my life who are there. That’s really important to me.
Kim: And then coffee. I love coffee. And then it’s, then it’s just hitting the ground running. Because we’re a global remote company, We’ll often have calls scheduled very early or very late because we’re selling the products globally, but also our team is all over the world.
Kim: Agatha is in Paris. That’s where she’s based, and then we have other people in other countries in other places. So, my days are very long with work, but I’ll also have larger gaps where I can fill in with whatever is needed. Maybe it’s taking my younger son to the dentist or stopping by school for a meeting or what have you.
[00:25:00]Kim: So, my days are really fluid and they’re very different, different things on different days, which I like a lot that I’m not very good at doing the same thing all the time.
Erika: Yeah, I love that. And before we let you go, I know you’re a busy lady, what are three tips, three things’ people can start doing with their skin to improve their skin right now, today?
Kim: Well, the first thing I would always say, which might not be relevant to your audience, is cut out the toxins. Make sure that even your makeup is clean. That’s really important. And the fastest way to do that in my experience, is to look for parabens and petroleum or fragrances. So not all fragrances are bad, petroleum is inert, so it’s not necessarily harmful.
Kim: But these are things that companies generally, when they live by the values that, or, or work by the values that we hold and that I think you, I know you and your audience hold. They’ll generally avoid those kinds of things the companies will.
[00:26:00]Kim: So, it’s a shortcut to just look through your entire cabinet of stuff and cut out those things, drink more water, of course, very important, but it, it’s not drink more water because the water itself is gonna make such a huge difference.
Kim: It’s because most people are drinking all kinds of other things that are harmful, like diet soda. So, if your focus is drinking water, then by default you won’t be drinking the other things, that’s like keeping it, keeping it pure inside, keeping it easy. Sleep is by far the most important thing for stress reduction.
Kim: There’s probably not much that we can do to our skin that’s more harmful than not getting enough sleep and then being stressed out because the cortisol levels will create all kinds of hormonal imbalance. They will put people into a negative cycle of not being able to sleep well even when they try to go to sleep.
Kim: Those would be my top big three and I realize none of those are about skincare. The reason for that is because I’m assuming that your audience already is using good skincare. Maybe not Fortuna skin level. But we’re we company existed for a couple of years, so that’s understandable.
[00:27:00]Erika: I am so grateful to have you here and to spend time with you today and to learn about your new product at launching. I’m so excited. Tell everybody where they can find you and keep up with you guys online.
Kim: Thank you Fortunaskin.com and also at for Fortunaskin on Instagram. And then personally, I’m KimWallsLA.
Erika: Amazing. Well, thank you again for being here with us. I loved our conversation and we will have to have you back on again and there’s so much more we can talk about.
Kim: I love to come back. I love all your shows and I’m super grateful to be here. A lot of stories to tell and a lot of passion behind them. And if it weren’t for people like you who are helping get those messages out to people who care about these messages, none of it would ever happen. So, thank you for being in community with us.
[00:28:00]Erika: Thanks so much for tuning into today’s episode. Please remember to subscribe rates and review because I wanna hear from. Let me know what you liked about today’s episode and we’ll catch you next week. In the meantime, you can connect with me on Instagram at Babe Skills or catch me on the blog Babeskills.com.
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