Just 18 months after launching Australia’s first ‘customisable probiotic skincare range’, Amperna is moving into the salon market.
According to founder Kiri Yanchenko, the brand (which features probiotics and antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial ingredients) is moving into the market due to repeated requests from salon owners.
“When I launched Amperna I began just selling it on my website, but I have now begun selling into salons too as many owners have approached me after hearing about the brand through their family and friends.”
Kiri founded Amperna after searching for a solution for her own skincare problems.
When she was 30, her father developed a serious illness and Kiri became his sole carer, and soon found herself battling her own health issues. To help deal with the situation, she was prescribed medication which gave her “normal skin” a severe case of pustular acne and perioral dermatitis.
During her search for treatment options she was prescribed a topical steroid which “made it worse” leaving her with sore, flaky and inflamed skin and “desperate to find a solution”.
However, Kiri quickly discovered “that no therapeutic skincare products in the Australian market worked for her condition as her skin “reacted to many common irritants” (including sulphates, parabens and synthetic fragrances) found in skincare”.
Identifying a gap in the market for “active skincare gentle enough for sensitive skin” Kiri set about developing the solution herself.
After five years working with a skincare chemist and testing formulas on “people suffering relevant skin conditions”, Kiri launched Amerpena.
“Amperna is the bridge between 100 percent natural skincare and prescription medication,” she says.
“Amperna products contain only the necessary base ingredients plus skin-changing actives, such as a probiotic complex, glycolic acid and vitamins B and C to help promote an optimal healthy holistic skin balance.
Kiri says that although she didn’t initially plan to sell the brand into the professional beauty market, she now realises that salons and clinics are ideal stockists as “the owners and therapists are skin experts who totally understand the brand and its benefit ‒ and they are likely to have many clients whose skin can’t tolerate other brands”.
“We’ve partnered with like-minded stockists to help more people,” she says.
“Driven by my deep personal understanding of the challenges faced by having problem skin.
ultimately I am in business to help others in similar situations.”
“Women are affected both physically and emotionally by the appearance of their skin.
“They’re looking for an effective, affordable solution they can trust.”
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