Everything happens for a reason
LAST wasn’t born out of my disappointment with skincare products available on the market that pushed me into creating my own perfect cosmetic line. Nor was it the story where I wanted to quit working in a corporation and decided to launch a startup which happened to be a skincare business. Actually, it was more of a coincidence, a set of events put into motion that took me to my new destination.
One thing is for sure, all of that was unexpected.
Sisterhood
Our flagship Skin Repair Serum was inspired by my father in law. It was quite a story. In 2018 he was looking for the perfect cream for his wife, didn’t know what to choose or where to start. He asked his skincare savy longtime friend for advice, yet didn’t receive a name but a list of ingredients… Frankincense. Myrrh. Copaiba. This is where it started.
I remember saving money to buy the first precious ingredients, I remember nights spent online on pages like ResearchGate, PubMed or NCBI looking for more knowledge and complimentary raw materials, verifying their effectiveness, collecting documentation. I remember the time when, while reading the polish VOGUE, I came across a biotechnologist discussing skincare with ayurvedic, natural and clean approach that I also shared. I remember our first meeting and the warm, powerful, exhilarating feeling when she agreed to work together. I remember my best friend advising me to meet an artist she ran into on a design expo in Paris. I will never forget how many versions of the wooden cap we went through before reaching the perfect – in both design and meaning – shape and style. Shortly after that, my dream come true: Sonia Szóstak photoshooting our first campaign! I just couldn’t believe I am there, in the studio, and the shoot is actually happening. Then my high school best friend art directing the product session, another friend creating first newsletters and checking up every day if I was properly running my Instagram account… These were all women. Wonderful women, who all made it happen. I could never express my gratitude enough for what they have done and continue to do.
What we give you
After tens of iterations, with final composition of 35+ additional active ingredients, we launched our hero Skin Repair Serum. Adaptogenic, biomimetic, protective and aromatherapeutic, clinically proven to profoundly improve skin’s condition, carefully manufactured with valuable ingredients from different corners of the world. One serum to rule them all. With all the effort put into the creation of this formula, trying to avoid being bias, we conducted additional, external apparatus tests to objectively verify how powerful the Skin Repair Serum really is. The results after using only one bottle were astonishing: 18% diminished wrinkles, 13,3% increased skin elasticity, 20,3% improved hydration, 40,7% reduced transepidermal water loss, 22,5% more even pigmentation, 13,3% diminished erythema in just 6 weeks of usage.
A fingerprint of each product
Shou sugi ban (焼杉板) is the Japanese art of preserving wood by charring the surface with hot flames. Traditionally, Japanese charred the cedar (Sugi means cedar) – we use our local species – European ash (Fraxinus excelsior). It is a hard wood with beautiful and distinctive grain, which gains additional unique structure after burning and brushing, revealing its fingerprint like form. We use a special burner and manually control the process – it requires precision and mastery, for the flames to treat the surface in an even and expected way. Next, by brushing, we remove charred, soft growths. This is due to the natural difference in the hardness of the early and late wood increments why we are able to obtain this beautiful and unique structure. When touching the cap, we touch the history of the tree it once was. Finally, we cover the caps with the natural oil and let them dry. It is a multi-step ritual-like process based on understanding wood construction and craftsmanship.
