A new week..a new British Beauty brand! Introducing @Merumaya Integrative Effective Skincare

Watch out for this name…and remember that my blog was one of the places where you heard (or read!!) about it first…because I have no doubt that one of the newest skincare brands to launch onto the market – Merumaya Integrative Effective Skincare – will be a resounding success!

Why am I so confident, you may ask??

Well, I have had the awesome privilege to have worked with the founder and creator of the line, Maleka Dattu. I even contributed a small part to the creation of the line! So I know FIRST HAND the amount of care, attention to detail, energy and sheer man hours that has gone into bringing this brand into fruition.

Maleka is a formidable business woman, with a passion for the beauty industry and the results and successes that testify to her abilities and expertise. She has worked in the beauty industry for the best part of 30 years.

Working from the ground up, Maleka has had success in Field Sales, Training, Marketing, Communications, New Product Development and General Management. She was part of the team that grew Clinique to the number one position in the UK. After which she established the market positioning and growth of Origins when she was the General Manager for the UK and ROI.

This is when our paths first crossed.

Maleka collects her award in 2006.

I was in the early stages of developing a career in beauty and was hitting many a brick wall in making this a reality. One afternoon, in early 2007, I was flicking through the latest copy of Esprit magazine (which describes itslef as ‘the original printed source of news and comment for everyone working in the premium side of the perfumery, cosmetics and skincare market‘) and I read the most inspiring and motivating feature – Maleka had just been awarded recognised by the industry as Cosmetic Executive Women’s Achiever of the Year in 2006 and her article stressed the importance of dreaming big and never giving up! I was so inspired, that I decided there and then that I was going to contact her and see if there would be ANY possibility at all to do an internship under her leadership – after all…what did I have to lose??

The rest – as they say is history! Maleka did indeed open a door for me to work as a sales and marketing intern at Origins for 6 months – which really was the springboard for my marketing career!

Maleka went on to become the Senior Vice President/General Manager for Origins North America, based out of New York City. Upon returning to the UK, she went on to hold several more prominent positions before deciding that the time had finally come for her to create and launch her very own skin care line….and once again – after almost 7 years our paths cross and I was able to work with Maleka during the final stages of the creation of the brand; sourcing packaging and ancillary components in the line as well as assisting with the development of the social media platforms – especially Maleka’s blog – which is a candid account of the life of an entrepreneur; the ups, the downs, the elation, the challenges and everything in between! It is a fascinating read – you can subscribe to her blog here.

The product line


Maleka has harnessed her knowledge and experience to create a new concept of ‘integrative, effective skincare’ made right here in Great Britain.

Maleka worked with some of the world’s foremost authorities in skin science and integrates the best global skin intelligence with natural, nature identical and human-created active ingredients to deliver the most effective results. The brand integrates on all levels; preventative skin ageing with anti-ageing, inside out supplements with outside-in topical treatments, anti-ageing that does not exacerbate adult spot prone skin with anti-spot treatments that don’t undermine anti-ageing efforts and high-end potent formulas with accessible pricing – the most expensive product in the line is just £34.50! There is now no need to sacrifice efficacy for price.

High number of actives, in potent concentrations are enveloped in luxurious, sensual, feminine, velvety formulas that put the pleasure back into skin care. These are further enhanced with the integration of Maleka’s very own Signature Essence Blend, which has ingredients reputed to uplift confidence levels.

The portfolio of products in the Merumaya collection includes:


ICONIC YOUTH SERUM™ – RRP £34.50
Intensely Youthful Eye Cream™ – RRP £24.50
Youth Preservation Moisturiser™ SPF 15 –RRP £29.50
Melting Cleansing Balm™ –RRP £14.50
Luxury Facial Wash™ – RRP £14.50
Skin Brightening Exfoliating Peel™ – RRP £19.50
Pure Radiance Mask™ – RRP £19.50
Concentrated Spot Treatment™ – RRP £14.50
Confidensual® Handwash with Signature Essence Blend – RRP £12.50
Tease Me, Please Me™ Taster Set – RRP £24.50
Manual Cleansing Brush™ – RRP £12.50
Daily Cleansing Cloths™ – RRP £12.50

The hero product is the ICONIC YOUTH SERUM™, which contains 10 active ingredients in powerful concentrations bringing a youthful luminosity and radiance, and works overtime to improve the texture and diminish the signs of skin ageing.

It is a luxuriously velvety formulation, that glides onto the skin. It is light, yet nourishing and not at all tacky or sticky. My only word of caution is that if you have oily skin (as I do), you may want to skip using moisturiser in conjunction with the serum, as I found that when I did so, my skin was overly shiny. You don’t have to worry about the skin looking or feeling dehydrated because of the high percentage of the ingredient Revitelix™ – which has been clinically shown to reduce water loss through the epidermis.

My top 3 products are:

1) Melting Cleansing Balm™ and Luxury Facial Wash™ (ok.. so I have mentioned two products here – but I use them together for a deep double cleanse).

The cleansing products are a dream to use. Inhaling the signature essence blend as I massage the balm into my skin, the creamy formula transforms into a milky emulsion which is then removed with a cleansing cloth or a good old flannel! I do like to ‘wash’ my face so following the first cleanse with the Luxury Facial Wash™ ensures that my skin is squeaky clean. The wash contains AC.NET™ – a holistic combination of active ingredients that keep spots and blemishes away!. This is just what I need as I tend to suffer from a blemish or two from time to time.

2) Concentrated Spot Treatment™

As I just mentioned, I am prone to the odd breakout – especially at THAT time of the month – so I loved using this product, as it speedily reduced spots without causing irritation. Neither did I experience any stinging that is often common when using such products. This product also contains AC.NET™. AC.NET™’s effectiveness is boosted by the presence of STYROL A, which acts to block the activity of the enzymes that contribute to the formation of those pesky blemishes!

3) Skin Brightening Exfoliating Peel™

This is my hero product! It claims that it will ‘re-texture all skin types to reveal a clearer, brighter and more vibrant complexion’…and I found that it did just that! It has an instantaneous effect and I immediately saw that my skin looked more luminous and felt very, very smooth! It integrates two complimentary peeling techniques and contains glycolic acid, pomegranate enzymes and a wonder ingredient called p-REFINYL™, a lentil extract rich in a naturally occurring sugar complex that helps to reduce pore diameter, thereby improving the complexion’s radiance!

The products are available to purchase via the company’s website and will available to purchase at select John Lewis stores and JLP.com from the 12 January 2013

Follow Merumaya on Twitter
Like the Merumaya Facebook page

If you try the products, do let me know what you think!

5 comments for “A new week..a new British Beauty brand! Introducing @Merumaya Integrative Effective Skincare

  1. J
    October 23, 2012 at 3:42 am

    This is such a great read – I love learning about the people behind the brand. Maleka’s accomplishments are impressive to say the least!

    • October 23, 2012 at 8:45 am

      Thanks for reading J! I to love to read about the people behind a brand – it really brings it to life!

  2. October 24, 2012 at 10:04 am

    We designed the identity and packaging graphics for the Merumaya brand…glad you’re approving!

    • October 24, 2012 at 10:12 am

      A job well done! It is great to see British businesses working together!!

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