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Sleeping under the stars has always been a romantic notion. But now Slip is making that an easily accessible reality in a fun way—you can snooze under your astrological star—and get your beauty sleep. The Australian brand is launching The Zodiac Collection, offering their beloved signature silk eye masks in every star sign.
“I wanted to do something more like a piece of art,” says Fiona Stewart, Co-founder and CEO of Slip. “These are wild and wonderful. They’re an artist interpretation of the star signs. I think that’s such a beautiful gift for yourself and your best friend.”
The Slip Zodiac Collection
A zodiac collection had always been on Stewart’s wish list, but she needed to nail all the details. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for ages, but we had to find the right textile artist to work with. We’re working with a very talented Australian lady.” Each of the designs and color palettes are custom for all of the 12 signs. “They’re just really unique,” Stewart says.
True to Slip’s Eye Masks, they have all of the usual beauty perks. The masks are crafted from pure silk, which is clinically proven to minimize fine lines around the eyes, improve skin texture and smoothness, hydrate, brighten and boost radiance.
The Slip Libra Sleep Mask
Those beauty benefits are exactly why Stewart started Slip in the first place. About 20 years ago, she was suffering from serious cystic acne, despite never having battled breakouts before. She tried everything, from changing her diet to prescription acne drugs. Her dermatologist suggested she try sleeping on a silk pillowcase to ease the dry skin and brittle hair that was a consequence of her acne medication, but only synthetic pillowcases were an option. So, she took matters into her own hands and went to her local fabric store.
“The only silk that was really soft and shiny was bright red,” she recalls. “We literally bought it and wrapped it around my pillow. The next morning I was like, oh my god—it was instant. My skin wasn’t as sensitive. I didn’t have the sleep creases—my skin was so dehydrated from the acne medication that it wasn’t bouncing back like it used to. So that’s how it started.”
The Slip Zodiac Collection
That sparked Stewart to do a deep dive on the beauty benefits of silk. She learned that not only was it great for skin, but it was also excellent for nourishing hair and preserving hairstyles. Silk boosts hair health, preventing frizz and maintaining its texture. “The more I researched it, the more I was like, okay, someone needs to be doing this, but it needs to be a beauty product,” she says. “It really does have skin and hair benefits for every age, whether to keep kids’ hair from getting tangled to grandmothers with their hair getting set. But no one was doing it.”
Despite finding a true white space in the market, Stewart faced a lot of push back getting Slip off the ground, since retailers doubted customers would invest the money and didn’t see an obvious home for it in the beauty marketplace. But when they gave samples to family and friends, everyone loved it after they tried it. “From day one, there was a lot of conversion around why everyone needs this,” Stewart says. “We did a lot of education, with clinicals to back it up. It’s actually a great investment if you think about how much money you spend on creams and serums, and that sort of thing, so it’s not expensive because I use it every night and it doesn’t steal your expensive creams and serums from your face.”
The Leo Slip Sleep Mask
Now it’s been 15 years since Slip launched in Australia and eight since their introduction to the US. They’ve remained a family-owned business, with Justin Dubois—her partner in life and work—as her co-founder. “We basically started the business in our house, with children running around the office,” Stewart says. “We’ve wanted to keep it that way and take it as far as we can. We’ve really loved working together. He does all the technical things and I do the marketing, so we’re a good team. It’s important to us that we keep that feeling of how it started.”
Since then, they’ve launched a range of products, including their beloved scrunchies that go easy on hair and have collaborated with a range of brands and designers, from Tatcha to Alice + Olivia, to name a few. “I think my personal favorite is still a white queen pillowcase because that was our first product and it’s still the number one best-seller,” Stewart says. “But the most exciting thing we’ve done recently is the Zodiac collection. We’ve got 12 signs, obviously, but they’re so wild and pieces of art that are really nice. It’s something that we’ve never done before.”