Can you please share with the AILLEA audience a little background about yourself, both personally and professionally?
Yes! I’m originally from the countryside in Sweden. I’m half Swedish – half Pakistani. I moved to NYC in my early twenties where I started assisting a celebrity makeup artist.
After learning as much as I could, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my career in makeup artistry. I got signed with an agency and worked with many wonderful clients on the red carpets, press junkets, and magazines.
At the same time, I started a beauty blog where I would write about the different makeup looks I did for clients on the red carpet. Because of my work, I started getting a lot of makeup and skincare sent to me. I started looking at the ingredients of the products I was using, and after learning more about it, I felt compelled to switch out my entire professional makeup kit and started using more natural products in my work.
In 2009, I decided more people needed to learn about this, so I wrote a book called “Eco-Beautiful- The Ultimate Guide to Natural Beauty and Wellness” It featured information on how to detox your life and start incorporating a more holistic approach to beauty and wellness. I also wanted to encourage women (and men) to start making more informed decisions on the beauty products they were using.
What was your inspiration when initially launching the Lina Hanson brand
After years of working as a makeup artist, I learned so much about skin and found myself spending more time trying to achieve a beautiful, healthy glow to the skin of my clients more than anything else. This was way before face oils became trendy, but I had already been using them for years prior. I started doing research on the best, most antioxidant-rich oils I could find around the world and created blends I would use on all my clients before makeup.
That was the start of my first product The Global Face Serum. I wanted to create a face oil that was super-rich in antioxidants, would work on all skin types, and would keep skin healthy, vibrant, and glowing. It took 2 years to come up with the formula. That was the beginning of the Global Collection.
I find a lot of inspiration from different parts of the world. Learning about various beauty rituals and ingredients that people globally have been using for centuries. The Global Collection is a celebration and a modern twist on ancient beauty secrets.
Why was creating a clean beauty and fragrance line important to you?
For me, it’s always been important to create skincare and fragrance that are of the highest quality, that are made with love and integrity, that feels good, and is in harmony with the earth. I call this Global Beauty because it’s all-encompassing. It’s about looking at the whole, not just the ingredients but also a broader way of looking at the world and finding the beauty that is all around us, from different races, faces, and everything in between.
Your perfume oils also offer aromatherapy benefits, can you please explain more about those mood-boosting benefits?
Yes! What I love about natural fragrances is that high-quality natural and organic essential oils offer so many therapeutic benefits apart from just smelling good. Aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years to enhance both physical and emotional wellbeing.
When developing the three fragrances, I picked essential oils depending on the mood I wanted to create. They are also inspired by different regions in the world.
For example, LAGOM, inspired by Scandinavia and thanks to essential oils like Juniper Berry, Spearmint, Eucalyptus is about refreshing the mind, creating mental clarity and balance. It’s wonderful for brain fog or mental exhaustion. Think of it as a refreshing walk in the forest. It’s a fresh scent that gives clarity.
SATORI, inspired by Southeast Asia, features ingredients such as Ginger, Yuzu, and Grapefruit, which are known to energize and uplift our being when we feel tired or depressed. It’s the energy I feel when I’m in Southeast Asia, happy people, and warm sunny weather. It’s the happy scent.
VIBE, inspired by the Middle East thanks to Oud, Sandalwood, and Black Pepper is warming, grounding, and relaxing and thanks to Cardamom is even known to be an aphrodisiac. It’s like that feeling when you’re in a hot, desert area exploring the spice markets. It’s comforting, a bit mysterious, and overall a very sexy scent.
I also made the perfume so you can easily bring them with you everywhere you go and used the rollerballs to make reapplying easy for whenever you need a little mood boost.
What is your personal favorite Lina Hanson perfume oil scent? And why?
It’s tough to just pick one because I love them all equally. I use all three and rotate them depending on my mood. If I’m working on my computer for hours, I always like to keep LAGOM by my side. I love SATORI for daytime use and right now I’m having a VIBE moment. Maybe because I’ve been traveling a lot lately and I like something to ground myself and relax. I also think it’s the perfect evening scent.
Do you have any pro tips that you can share for how to use your fragrances?
Yes, I’ve created what I call the “Espresso Meditation.” It’s about taking a 30 second time out to apply the perfume oil to your pulse points. Then, take your time to inhale the aroma. Taking deep breathes in and out. Staying present in the moment. This ritual has helped me a lot over the years.
Natural fragrances don’t last as long as conventional, and they’re not meant to. Re-applying scent throughout the day can be an enjoyable experience, a mindful practice, a reminder to be present.
Our “Espresso Meditation” is really just an encouragement to carve out a little time for yourself throughout the day to be present during the moment as you’re applying the perfume. Creating a bit of a mindfulness ritual for yourself.
Are there any new scents that you will be launching soon? Can you share any details?
I don’t have any plans to launch any new scents yet since both Vibe and Lagom are new additions to our line but I love the process of formulating them so who knows, there may be more in the future.
I am, however, working on a skincare product that I’m very excited about, that will hopefully be launching later this year.
What are your favorite non-Lina Hanson products or brands at AILLEA?
As far as non-Lina Hanson products, I love multi-use products and I’m currently loving the ILIA beauty multi-sticks. My favorite shades are ALL OF ME and I PUT A SPELL ON YOU. I use them for both my lips and cheeks, and they always brighten up my face.
