Formulating is my super power!
Founding and formulating products for Kiss Kiss Goodnight is what I was born to do, it’s what I love to do, it’s what I have trained years to do, it’s what I do well.
I am a chemical engineer by trade. I have a bachelor’s and master’s in chemical engineering from Columbia and Princeton University, respectively. I’m not (really) an Ivy League snob; I‘m more of an underdog, an underdog that sometimes felt she did not belong but worked hard to prove herself wrong.
Why did I become a chemical engineer?
Because I wanted to make hundreds of chocolate chip cookies… no joke. When I was in high school the “Society of Women Engineers-SWE” presented the different engineering disciplines to my class. They described a chemical engineer as someone who developed processes to make not one cookie but hundreds. - I have a soft spot for chocolate chip cookies.
After I received my degrees I started working in the pharmaceutical field developing processes for diabetes drugs. It was a noble profession, but I wasn’t very excited about it. I later worked as a chemist in a color lab and formulated lipsticks; that was fun, formulating cosmetics was fun, especially mixing color.
I then got married and moved from New York to Maryland. I worked for an adhesive manufacturing company and I developed processes to make pharmaceutical and cosmetic adhesives like birth control patches and colored nail strips.
After I had my first baby, I stopped working and started my MBA part-time. Six years later, I had three kids total, an MBA and lots of DIY skincare projects under my belt.
After graduating with my MBA I decided my TRUE NORTH was formulating skincare and I wanted to run my own business. I enrolled in Formula Botanica, an organic skincare cosmetic school and learned to formulate organic skincare.
So much has happened in between starting at Formula Botanica and now… I started my first skincare brand - Shell’s Formula, I went back to work as an engineer and I am now a momma of four. During those five years, I have also...
- Read about 1000 articles about ingredients and the science behind the skin
- Tried almost 200 raw ingredients
- Made 100s of formulations
- Filled dozens of notebooks with my ideas and vision
- Attended dozens of tradeshows
- Launched dozens of products and reformulated some
Each product I make has gone through hundreds of iterations.
- I test and substitute dozens of oils
- I perform experiments to ensure each raw ingredient is present in the right amount, not too much, not too little
- I push the formulas until they fail
- I send the products for 3rd party testing - My customers test the products, my business partners test them, my children bathe in them
- I can give you all the mundane details about the formulation of each and every product, from the pH to the fatty acid profile
- I have my own lab in my house where I manufacture all my products
- I can make hundreds of products a day
I work with an amazing team that helps with branding, copy, and graphics... but I am the formulator and manufacture.
FORMULATING IS MY SUPERPOWER.
I don’t formulate in a bubble, I use customer feedback to improve my products. If you have tried our products, let me know what you think.
Check out our new prices on our website. I’m getting better at scaling and you’re benefiting from it.
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+Meet Shelly Ann Winokur.
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Shelly is the founder and formulator of Kiss Kiss Goodnight products. She created Kiss Kiss Goodnight based on her experience as a mother of three, her years of experience as a chemical engineer and her specialized training in organic skincare.
For Shelly, Kiss Kiss Goodnight is more than just a line of products. It’s a way to support mothers everywhere.
Founding and formulating products for Kiss Kiss Goodnight is what I was born to do, it’s what I love to do, it’s what I have trained years to do, it’s what I do well.
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