When the founder of a skincare brand Nicholas Travis decided to start a beauty business, it was not only a business venture, but also a life-saving business. Marking a milestone in what Travis calls his era of healing, the unveiling of Allies of Skin provided the Singaporean businessman with a forum to share his own pain, while inspiring others to see that beauty is far from being superficial.

After experiencing severe acne As a teenager, Travis found the beauty industry intimidating and intimidating. Then, at the age of 19, he suffered a horrific accident in his bathroom, slipping and breaking several parts of his face. Travis needed reconstructive surgery – but the surgeon he hired botched his proceduresleaving Travis suffering from necrosis, a disease that causes body tissues to break down and die.

Nicolas Travis at 17 before the accident

Following this harrowing experience, Travis suffered from depression and attempted suicide before being referred to a therapist. That’s when he thought maybe he could harness his own trauma to help others suffering from the same distress.

“My therapist said to me, ‘OK, let’s list all the things you want to achieve by the age of 30. What does that list look like?’ That’s when I realized that if I hated myself and came out of my skin every day, then maybe other people would feel that way,” he told PS . “And I thought I could somehow channel that pain into helping people feel more confident or more fearless in their own skin.”

Following his accident and failed surgeries, Travis sought comfort in skin careexplaining that it was the only area of ​​his life where he still had control.

Nicolas Travis at 26 after botched surgery

“I had a lot of failed surgeries, it was really bad and it felt like I had nothing to do but take care of my skin,” he says. “It was the only modality I could control. And that’s when I thought, ‘OK, if I can’t control how I look, then maybe I can control how I look. of my skin.” That’s when it all started.”

Now, nearly two decades (and dozens of products) later, Travis believes it was predestined that he would one day launch his own brand to help others realize the power of “spiritual” beauty. After studying biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, he was in a unique position to found a skincare brand – and his initial business model actually grew out of an old university mission.

“In graduate school, for my master’s thesis, I was writing a business plan for a skincare startup,” he says. “I spent six months doing all the research. I talked to the labs and the packaging suppliers; I did all the groundwork. I guess you could say all roads lead to this . I think that in this life, this is my destiny.”

He worked different jobs, but he couldn’t resist the irresistible urge to revisit his business plans, and that’s when the first seeds of Allies of Skin were sown.

Nicholas Travis Now

The brand develops multifunctional formulas that boost clinically proven active ingredients (like vitamin C, growth factors and retinoids) to create unique products with multiple benefits.

Allied Products – which include heroic formulas like Advanced Repair Serum with Copper Tripeptide and Ectoine ($199) and the Retinal Repair Night Cream 0.05% & Peptides ($116) – helps heal all types of skin problems, from acne to severe scarring. Her goal is to inspire anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and hated what they saw to feel a sense of hope.

“What I aspire to do with the brand is create the most effective products that provide the most visible results. So no matter what stage of life you are in, you see improvement keeps going and you feel hope,” he says. “We’re trying to spread that joy and that feeling of hope. Especially in dark times, you need light.”

Charlie Lanston is a freelance beauty, fashion and lifestyle writer and media strategist based in New York, having moved to the United States in 2014 from her home in London. Charlie spent 10 years working at DailyMail.com, where she oversaw the website’s style, beauty, fashion and lifestyle content. Charlie also appears as a royal and celebrity correspondent on air.