Partner Spotlight: One Fine Secret (Clean Beauty in Melbourne, Australia)

One Fine Secret is a one-stop clean beauty store in the Melbourne CBD and one of Honua's stockists. We chatted with founder Kayla about her journey into clean beauty, where the idea for One Fine Secret came from, and how she sees the clean beauty industry evolving. Read our full interview below! 

*All photos provided by One Fine Secret 

1.) Tell us a little about yourselves. Who are you and what has your personal journey to wellness and clean beauty look liked?

Kayla: I’m not one for having a massive life plan, but I definitely never expected that my wandering life journey would lead me to creating a clean beauty store! I do get lots of amused laughter from guests when they hear I was a tax accountant. A trained makeup artist and accountant, it really is worlds apart!

I created One Fine Secret together with my husband, John, who I met back at hotel management school. We worked in luxury hotels around Australia before both moving on to corporate careers in accounting and finance. This gave us a solid grounding in customer service and has really influenced the personalized guest experience we strive for at One Fine Secret.

After several years of working in firms, as much as I loved working with inspirational entrepreneurial clients and small businesses, I was feeling out of balance and exhausted. I began focussing on restorative exercises such as yoga and pilates for the first time in my life and it was around this time I attended a women’s event where I met Therese Kerr (Miranda Kerr’s mum), an ambassador for Certified Organic Australia. It was Therese’s eye-opening talk which led me to question what’s really in our beauty and lifestyle products, and it kicked off my whole exciting journey into clean beauty and conscious living.

2.) Where did the idea for "One Fine Secret" come from? And when did you open up your doors?

Kayla: When transitioning to natural beauty myself a few years ago, I had experienced how frustratingly hard it was to shop for clean swaps in Melbourne that were beautiful and effective. Too often the brands labelled ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ in the beauty stores turned out not to be as healthy as they appeared. Or the health store products were not providing the extraordinary experience I was after.

After diving into researching beauty product ingredients, I realized how complicated it was to really get your head around assessing exactly how natural and healthy your products are, let alone checking if it met various ethical and other criteria. Excited at the opportunity to make it easier for ladies to shop for clean beauty, I dreamed of creating a sanctuary where you could not only shop leading green and clean brands but where our mindful community could gather and truly connect.

We set about making this dream a reality, and One Fine Secret opened its doors in October 2018, nestled in a beautiful character-filled heritage building in the Melbourne CBD and online too.

We wanted the name One Fine Secret to reflect the exciting treasure trove of exquisite indie brands that sometimes takes a little more searching to discover. Our name also symbolises that the secret to a wellness-focused, thriving life all comes back to living as close to nature as possible and being really in tune with our bodies.

3.) What does conscious beauty mean to you?

Kayla: It’s quite a holistic concept of nurturing your whole well-being including your physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of your life, to enable your vibrant glow to really shine. When being conscious about how we’re feeding our bodies goodness both inside and out, I feel that conscious beauty is about embracing mindfully created beauty brands that go beyond strictly healthy natural and organic formulations. It’s about supporting brands that also care about the positive impact they can have on our environment, and socially and ethically in our community too, for example with ethical sourcing of ingredients, being cruelty-free and supporting social causes.

4.) How did you hear/ get connected with Honua?

Kayla: I first experienced Honua through a natural beauty subscription box from the US which included the Honua Moana Mask and Malu Day Cream that month. I was immediately in love!

5.) What do you love most about the products?

Kayla: In addition to being packed with active traditional Hawaiian healing botanicals that really support glowing, healthy skin, the Honua collection provides such a gorgeous sensory experience. The fresh exotic botanicals and stunning pink hues of the Hibiscus infused Pa’akai Cleanser and Hawaiian Beauty Water truly transports you to the lush, exotic landscape of Hawaii. You can truly feel the love and care that’s been infused into these creations.

6.) What's the most popular Honua product in the store?

Kayla: The Malu Protecting Day Cream SPF30, it’s such a uniquely luscious and deeply hydrating texture with a gorgeous jasmine floral scent. It sinks in beautifully without being greasy and makes a lovely primer under makeup too.

7.) How do you see the clean beauty industry evolving in the next few years?

Kayla: As the broader community focuses on more conscious consumerism and the convergence of wellness and beauty, I believe there’ll be a rise in popularity of indie clean beauty brands that have strong ethical, environmental and social values. Inner beauty supplements are likely to become even more popular. We’ll also see greater use of exotic and powerful plant extracts and more exciting new products being developed with the continuous advancements in natural formulation technology. Definitely an exciting time ahead!