Face to face: Ashleigh Scott
Ashleigh Scott holds a world of expertise in luxurious skincare experiences in her head, and all the passion in her heart. Metropol Deputy Editor Nina Tucker caught up with the skincare specialist and founder of renowned brand, The Facialist.
She was just as I expected. Bubbly and genuine, but eager not to slow down for a second. It’s the kind of fire you would predict from someone with so much prowess in her arena. Even so, Ashleigh leads a life that exists entirely around her family–or her new sauna. “We try to have those moments to reset and recharge,” Ashleigh says, prioritising any free time with her family creating special memories, and keeping up with exercise.
Some days, free time doesn’t come often. “It’s pretty chaotic. There’s that cliche that no day is the same, but it is quite true,” she admits. The variety is something she loves about the job. Product development, future planning, training team members and working in the salon are on rotation, and it means office admin is never boring, more or less a welcomed time to catch up.
Ashleigh has lived through years of the transformative beauty industry, from her teens to time in London, before bringing her skills home and opening her salon, The Facialist, now a mega brand in New Zealand skincare. Her second venture, Noody, launched this year and was the answer to her children’s chronic eczema. 
Laughing, Ashleigh tells me she’s the wrong person to ask about juggling two businesses and two young children. “It’s pure chaos. It’s not always juggled well.” As many will know, being a parent is often making your children the top priority. “I think you just go where you need to go,” she explains. After that, it’s a juggle of whichever business has a longer to-do list. An established team in The Facialist, and a hands-on husband who she co-founded Noody with, means the flexibility is there when needed.
As well as being their mother, Ashleigh was just what her children needed when they began suffering from chronic eczema. She felt responsible, as a mother and skincare expert, to find a solution. “It really held them back,” she says, hindering their growth and development. “Given my background, I knew what their skin needed to be healthy and thrive, but I struggled to find that on the market,” Ashleigh remembers. She also considered the aesthetic appeal, only seeing products with uninspiring packaging. “We wanted to create something that was engaging for children, and that you would be happy to have sitting in your bathroom.”
Since then, Ashleigh has helped many families tackle some of the torment of similar skin conditions. In its 10th year of business, The Facialist is hitting heights too, yet Ashleigh isn’t forgetting the effort and hours it took to get there. “It has been years of working towards that and building a strong reputation, a strong customer base.” Upholding trust with a team of trained professionals is something Ashleigh gives a lot of time to. Managing cash flow is one of the biggest challenges for Ashleigh as a small business owner. “We are completely self-funded, so everything we put into the business we keep reinvesting.”
Aside from the chaos of launching products and the relief when they do well, winning one of the New Zealand Best in Beauty awards is something Ashleigh looks back on with satisfaction. “It was such a cool moment to be recognised as an industry leader.” Deservingly so, because she imagined the salon experience into products that could be accessible nationwide. As new beauty brands overflow the industry with the surge in self-care, Ashleigh is proud that hers is one of knowledge and experience. “I’ve worked with skin, hands-on, for over 15 years,” she confirms. It can be overwhelming, trawling through the hundreds of brands to find the appropriate one, and Ashleigh agrees. “I don’t know how, as a consumer, you would navigate that. Packaging is getting crazier and crazier. It’s cluttered and noisy.”
Holistic skincare is why Ashleigh’s brands stand out. “We look at the skin, we look at the body as a whole, because the skin is a true reflection of what’s happening inside the body.” Diet, hormones, stress, digestion, and sleep all play into it, she says. Aside from a luxurious facial and equally gorgeous products to go with it, Ashleigh encourages looking into deeper problems too, with recommendations such as diet shifts or lifestyle changes, or avoiding potential trigger foods.
The passion in her voice tells me there is no denying she loves what she does–and she knew she would always get there. “It sounds corny, but where I am right now is exactly where I would have imagined I would be.” Ashleigh has her sights set firmly on growth. “I’m so focused on what we’re working towards. It’s genuinely such a joy,” she remarks. Bigger things are coming, and skincare fanatics are ready for it.
