As if Zoe Foster Blake didn't have enough on her plate... now she's doing this.

Former Mamamia beauty writer and author of Amazing Face, Zoë Foster Blake has just launched her very own skin care line, Go-To. To celebrate, we thought we might interview her. Except that she wanted to do the interviewing as well as the answering. Because she’s nuts.

Q: You have a seed or something in between your front teeth. How awkward for you.

A:  (Picks at teeth.) Gone?

Q: Gone. Now let’s begin. Why did you launch your own line? Do you honestly believe there aren’t enough good skin care products out there already?

A: Correct! I looked at what was available and thought, ‘Well. What a pile of shit. I could do so much better.’ So I called my-NO. Of course not. In fact, it’s that there ARE so many excellent products out there that I created Go-To.

Q: That doesn’t make any sense. Make it make sense.

A: Okay. After being a beauty editor for 10 years and testing hundreds of products, I’m well aware of just how many lotions and potions exist, and how complicated it can all be. I’m supposed to be a beauty know-all, and I don’t know half the words used or pronounce ‘yeux’ correctly. In that time I have also been the recipient of some incredible feedback from Aussie women, a lot of it during my time here at Mamamia in fact, and it became obvious to me that there is a LOT of confusion and frustration out there… WHY do I need toner? Isn’t that for schoolgirls? I have pimples and dry skin, how do I fix that? Which product should I use? Why? I’m using glycolic cleanser and night cream, is that too much? Do I need a serum? Which one? Why do you say to use physical sunscreen? When do I exfoliate? With what? Can I wash my face with vodka? And so on. So I decided to create a range that cut through all that noise, and was instantly easy to figure out and use.

Q: So Go-To is a skin care line for dummies, is that it?

A: No. And I resent your tone, frankly. It’s that Go-To comes without all the confusion generally associated with skin care. It’s uncomplicated and simple to use, while being effective and purposeful. And while the range is exceptionally pure, don’t be fooled into thinking natural can’t be active. (Ever had a green peel? Yeah.)

Q: How come it’s so small? You don’t even have a toner.

A. Because most of us don’t really need that many skin care products. In fact, I know that a lot of women barely slap on some BB cream each day before belting out the door. And so, unless you have specific skin issues – acne, hyperpigmentation, etc – you can get by with a few basics. There are only five Go-To products – cleanser, face cream, lip balm, exfoliant and multi-purpose body oil –all of which I would class as essentials.

Q:  No serums? But you love serums. Always banging on about them.

A: No serums. (Not yet anyway.) The idea is that Go-To is your skin care framework… you can inject whichever serums and masques and peels you like on top of that. I just supply you with the basics. Foolproof, failsafe, reliable everyday items.

Q: What makes your products so good, then? What sets them apart from the four million others out there?

A: The fun coral colour and the sassy wording? Also, we send $100 notes to anyone who buys a product. No, no, it’s the ingredients. Every single ingredient has a job to do, and I only used those I know work, and that are well respected among the beauty editor/skin care/human being community.

So, for example, there are lots of lovely (skin refining, glow-inducing) AHAs in the Exfoliating Swipeys, but I chose to use lactic acid, which is the least irritating of the AHA gang, but just as effective. Properly Clean is a response to all those cleansers that aren’t up to the layers of products modern women use each day (primer, sunscreen, long-wear makeup etc). It’s a skin-softening mousse with Willow Bark Extract to give a gentle but thorough removal of grime and makeup without ANY irritation, drying or pH-level-upsetting.

My moisturiser, Very Useful Face Cream is flush with anti-oxidants, including the mega power Amla Berry (30x more vitamin C than oranges), because I think defending the skin against free radicals (the cause of premature ageing, AKA, wrinkles and pigmentation) is as important as hydrating it. Lips!, my turbo lip balm, has ultra medical grade lanolin, waxes, butters and oils plus calendula to authentically restore and nourish, and finally there is Exceptionoil, a do-it-all multi-purposer, great for everything from dry heels to split ends, ragged cuticles, stretch-marks and even dehydrated faces. It features over 10 glorious, nourishing, skin loving and healing oils, as well as lush butters and certified Monoi di Tiare for a delicious paradisey fragrance.

Q: I read that Go-To is free of “nasties”. Is it? Why?

A: Consumers demand a certain level of purity these days. And rightly so: our skin is more sensitised than ever before, there is much more awareness about certain ingredients and their implications, and allergies are rocketing. In lieu of this, Go-To is free of all known irritants: petrochemicals, PEGs, mineral oils, parabens, sulfates, silicones, GMOs, synthetic colours and fragrances. They have not been tested on animals (besides me), and being that I am an ambassador for The Orangutan Project, none of them contain palm oil. Everybody’s skin reacts individually, of course, but I feel confident saying Go-To will not piss your skin off. And feedback I’ve had from girls using the range who have sensitive or rash-prone skin, and even eczema, has been wildly positive. Which is so nice.

Q: Well. SOMEone sounds quite proud of herself!

A: I’m happy is all. It’s a big ask, getting women to put things on their skin and then hope they’re happy with the results. Plus, Go-To is sold exclusively online, so they don’t even have the chance to go into store and sniff and squeeze and sample the products before buying them. So yes, I’m thrilled with the positive feedback. Thrilled and pretty f*cking relieved, to be honest. It’s terrifying hurling your own range out into the world after years of judging others.

Q: How much does Go-To cost? All those fancy oils sound expensive.

A: For just three easy payments of $99 a month you get… I jest, I jest. We start at $15 for the lip balm, and we stop at $49.95 for the Exceptionoil. Happy, healthy skin needn’t cost a lot.

Q: Any regrets? You must have at least one.

A: Probably just choosing you to interview me.

Zo x