From Skin Struggles to Skincare Solutions

At Forest Mist Skin, every product begins with purpose, and that purpose comes from the lived experience of our founder, Ixis Santos.

Skincare has always been personal for Ixis. After welcoming her first child, a joyful moment quickly turned into a crisis. Lifelong skin sensitivities and allergies flared into a severe reaction that landed her in hospital. “I was covered in a rash,” she recalls. “There was nothing I could put on my skin, so I started experimenting, one ingredient at a time, to find something that could help me.”

What started as an urgent need to heal turned into a deeper journey of discovery. Driven by a desire to understand the science behind skincare, Ixis enrolled in a Diploma in Cosmetic Science, diving into formulation, ingredient safety, and how lifestyle impacts the skin. It wasn’t about mixing creams. It was about creating real, evidence-backed solutions that her body could accept.

“My friends started noticing the change in my skin,” she says. “They asked if they could buy the products I was making. They loved them.” That spark, the realization that her formulas could help others, was the beginning of Forest Mist Skin.

But turning a deeply personal solution into a skincare brand came with challenges. Skincare in the EU is tightly regulated, and launching a product means extensive paperwork, third-party safety assessments, and sometimes clinical testing. “It’s not enough to say it works,” Ixis explains. “You need data to back it up. I want to be able to make real claims about our products, not just because I know they work for me, but because we have the proof to show they work for others too.”

Born in Honduras, with a background in engineering and healthcare, Ixis brings a rare mix of scientific curiosity and personal empathy to everything she creates. After years of living and working in Italy, she and her Irish husband made County Limerick their home, and it’s here, that Forest Mist Skin was born. The name "Forest Mist" is inspired by Curraghchase Forest Park.

“I know what it feels like to not be able to put anything on your skin,” Ixis says. “Forest Mist exists because I needed it. And now, I get to help other people feel good in their skin too.”

Learn more about our natural, simple, holistic products here.