It seems like a life-time away now but a few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be invited to John Lewis, Sheffield to meet the owner and founder of Mermumaya Skincare Range, Maleka Dattu. We were honoured as it was a very intimate meeting. Just ourselves, Georgina from She might be loved and Bridie (plus her mum) from Upon-my sleeve. If we’re being honest, neither of us heard of the range before but after a spot of Googling, we were more than a little bit interested and intrigued to find out more.

After being greeted by the lovely Lekha, PR for Merumaya, we were then introduced to the equally gorgeous Maleka. We had a quick ‘bit about us’ kind of chat before Maleka gave us the ‘low down’ on everything Merumaya. She was fascinating. We have never met anyone so passionate about their brand/company. We were hooked.

Maleka hails from beauty business royalty – she (in her words); worked from ground up, had success in Field Sales, Training, Marketing, Communications, New Product Development, General Management and had P&L responsibility on both sides of the Atlantic. She was part of the team that grew Clinique to the number one position in the UK. After which she established the market positioning and growth of Origins while General Manager UK/ROI; latterly, Senior Vice President/General Manager for North America, based out of New York City. At Lancôme, provided a retail and consumer focus to revitalise engagement and the top and bottom line performance; she was credited by many for their most successful skincare launch (Genefique), in the UK’s recorded history. She has also been voted as the Cosmetic Executive Womens Achiever of the Year.

We knew we were in safe hands and that this lady knew her stuff. She eventually left her corporate life behind her and fulfilled her dream, launching Merumaya in October 2012. If, like us, you’re wondering what the name means…STOP…it doesn’t mean anything, it’s a made up name using the first two letters of Maleka, her mum, dad sister and daughter. She doesn’t care how you pronounce it but do yourselves a favour ladies (and gents) – remember the name. The products are amazing.  You can thank us later for introducing you to the brand…

After the above introduction it was onto the products themselves. Maleka ran through the whole product range with us, letting us test the products on the back of our hands, smell and feel them. Yep…Delicious. She discussed ingredients, how to use them, the reasoning behind the product, skin type etc. It was very insightful and also lovely to see somebody enthuse about their products with so much passion.

The full range includes:

Treatment toner, Bi-phase plus Eyemake up remover, Cleansing Clothes, Melting Cleansing Balm, Luxury Facial Wash and Manual Cleansing Brush, Skin Brightening Exfoliating Peel, Pure Radiance Mask, Intensely Youthful Eye Cream, Youth Preservation Moisturiser, Overnight Recharge Moisturiser, Confidensual Hand Wash, Iconic Youth Serum, Skin Brilliance Supplements, Concentrated Spot Treatment and lastly the Tease me, Please Me Tester Set- a great way to sample the basics.

We also learnt that one of Maleka’s ‘desert island must haves’ would be her mascara.

 

As we were leaving we were each handed a very generous goodie bag (Yay…does happy dance) containing a full size product plus 3 or 4 smaller sized samples to try in the convenience of our own homes. Tracey received the Overnight Recharge Night Cream and Liz got Iconic Youth Serum. We were both very excited to try them…

Separate reviews will follow.

Just like the pants you used to wear when you were little (hell some of you may still wear them!)… not pants but dated cleansing cloths !Genius.

 

 

 

Below:Maleka and Georgina. I think we both fell in love with Georgina’s amazing hair!!

And lastly it is us the Naughty Forty Ladies with Maleka and Georgina.I think Bridie must have left at this point. How dare she before we had managed to get a photo.

Merumaya is now available in John Lewis stores nationwide. If you’ve not already tried the range then we highly recommend that you do – When your skins glowing and you are receiving compliments then you may thank us…. or rather Maleka and her Merumaya Skincare range.

 

Liz & Tracey x