- What inspired you to create Malin+Goetz?
- What is the design process for Malin+Goetz?
- Why are the ingredients at the front?
- Malin+Goetz tips for sensitive skin
- What is the best selling Malin+Goetz product?
- What are your own skincare routines?
- What's next for Malin+Goetz?
This week we spoke with Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz, co-founders of the renowned New York-based skincare brand MALIN+GOETZ. Born in 2004 as a small apothecary brand, the unisex range has been developed using natural ingredients to simplify your skin, hair and body routine. Formulated with sensitive skin in mind, MALIN+GOETZ combines trusted natural ingredients with advanced technology to create everyday essentials and targeted treatments that not only offer effective solutions but do so with minimal fuss and complication.
How were you inspired to start Malin+Goetz, and what is at the core of the brand’s DNA?
Matthew Malin: The idea behind MALIN+GOETZ was to make skincare simpler, starting with sensitive skin. Part of what we tried to accomplish is keeping things authentic in a time when businesses are becoming more and more commercial.
Andrew Goetz: We were doing exactly the opposite of the market. The market was about more, more, more, and then more and we were about less, less, less… is more. We came at it from a very minimalist, very different direction – not only in our packaging and design, but also in our formulations and the protocol that you would use within the line.
How do you make all of your products and what is the creation process like?
Andrew Goetz: It is important we decide what kind of product or problem we want to address. Then we work diligently with our chemist to create the formula. We as a brand are not interested in trends, but rather creating solutions for skin issues and problems. We source chemists and perfumers to work directly with us to interpret our ideas for M+G and offer competitive feedback to our mutual benefit.
Matthew Malin: As a beauty professional in NYC for most of my career, I have also suffered from rosacea, eczema, seborrhea, and fragrance allergies. These issues cause acute irritation and skin ailments guide our initial development. If the most sensitive skin can enjoy the treatment, then it is a winner. We also work with many chemists to discern traditional, natural ingredients that are tried and tested along with trusted technology to create efficacy and effectiveness. We are not afraid to use science to alter products to be both gentle and effective. Hopefully this offers some insight into the painstaking process that can go on for often one year of development.
Tell us a little about the packaging of your products… Why was it important to have all the ingredients at the front?
Andrew Goetz: We are extremely proud of our packaging! It was inspired by old 19th century apothecary jars that we’ve collected over the years. We loved how straight forward and beautiful they were. So, when it was time to design our packaging, we brought these jars to our graphic designers, 2X4 (also from New York) and said that we wanted to create a modern interpretation of them. They came up with the idea of making Malin and Goetz into a “formula” – (MALIN+GOETZ), and creating a graduating graphic texture on the bottles. While beautiful, they are also very pragmatic. All the ingredients are easily found, as well as other pertinent information. They are also coded by color, so that it’s really easy to shop our brand – whether you are in a Malin+Goetz shop in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, or a posh retailer somewhere else in the world.
If you have sensitive skin, you know that it can be tough to find products that work for you. What are your top tips to take care of sensitive skin and what ingredients would you recommend?
Andrew Goetz: One of the overriding principles and terminology of what we try to accomplish is that we make skincare simple but, first and foremost, starting with the most sensitive skin. If you can tackle the most sensitive skin, you can address every product to almost anyone that comes along.
We use the finest and highest quality gentle (yet efficacious) ingredients that we can find in our formulas. We don’t include anything unnecessary in our skincare formulas – like artificial fragrance, which can often cause irritation. Matthew suffers from a number of skin ailments – so we literally formulated everything around his sensitivities. I on the other hand have much more resilient skins. All our cleansers are based on an amino-acid technology, which makes them very hydrating, and all our moisturizers are based on a Fatty-Acid technology which allows them to absorb really quickly without any greasy residue. Of course, all our products are PH balanced as well. The appropriately formulated product will work on most skin types; assuming you don’t have a dermatological condition.
What is the best-selling product? Why do you think that is?
Matthew Malin: It’s a tie. Our Malin+Goetz Eucalyptus Deodorant and our Grapefruit Face Cleanser. First, both are daily use staples, exceptional, and effective. Specifically, the deodorant is alcohol and aluminium free—great selling points if you want a natural deodorant. Our Malin+Goetz Grapefruit Face Cleanser is just awesome—it is both gentle and thorough—removing the day’s grime and dirt without stripping or drying. It even doubles as a make-up remover. Easy and effective.
What does your skincare routine look like and what’s one product you can’t live without?
Matthew Malin: Malin+Goetz Grapefruit Face Cleanser and Malin+Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisturizer, twice/day. I often integrate our Malin+Goetz Replenishing Face Serum when I need more. I use our Malin+Goetz Eye Gel during the day and Eye Cream at night. I also suffer from rosacea and eczema (and seborrhoea and fragrance allergies) so I keep my routine to a highly effective “less is more” regimen.
Andrew Goetz: I usually just wash my face with a washcloth first thing in the morning. My skincare routine does not begin until I’m back from the gym. I hop in the shower, wash my face with our Grapefruit Face Cleanser. Shave with our Vitamin E Shaving Cream and moisturize with our Malin+Goetz Advanced Renewal Moisturizer.
What can we expect next for Malin+Goetz?
Matthew Malin: More of what we do. More stores (we now have 13), growing and expanding our wholesale distribution, and broadening our online customer base who are seeking access and replenishment.
We’ve had a couple of successful limited-edition products that we’re hoping to bring back. We also have a new facial cleanser in the works. One of the things that we’ve tried to do is stay very focused on keeping the regimen simple but as the brand has expanded, in Asia specifically, there’s been a request for us to take our cleansing to the next level. As our exposure continues to grow, requests for products continue to grow. We’ve tried to keep our assortment tight and fill voids with products that make sense for who we are and what we do.