BIG TIME
With his partner in life and love he’s the face of his own awardwinning skin care range, has a daughter, a legion of social media fans, and is enjoying business success. Chris Glebatsas, welcome to the…
With his partner in life and love, Chris Glebatsas is the face of his own, awardwinning men’s skin care range, has a daughter and a legion of social media fans. He knows how to rock a pair of briefs, too!
DNA: Chris, your face, your body and your “package” are the brand identity of Lqd Skin Care. Is that a heavy weight on your incredibly strong shoulders?
Chris Glebatsas: It’s a blessing and a curse to be perfectly honest. Anthony and I decided to use ourselves [in marketing images] as there are so many young, 20-year-olds out there as the face of other skin care brands with perfect, airbrushed skin and not a wrinkle in sight, so we felt it was more honest for people to see us as the face of the brand.
So, what’s the curse? It means that I now have to remain addicted to the gym! I think it might have been Anthony’s way of keeping me in shape. You and partner Anthony McDonough not only feature in the Lqd advertising, you also promote yourselves and Lqd through social media. Do you think this direct contact with your audience is important? Yes, absolutely. It’s been the cornerstone of our success to date. Everyone knows they can talk to the owners of the brand; we are not some big, multi-national corporation. We are real guys going through the same issues and experiences as our customers, so we are always able to relate to their concerns. It doesn’t matter where we go today, whether it’s New York City or Hong Kong, we have guys coming up and introducing themselves, and they already know our story. It’s one of the wonderful things about
social media – you can share as much or as little of yourself as you want, and we choose to put it all out there. It sounds like you get to meet your customers
face-to-face. Yes, and we have quite a diverse customer base, even including some women who have fallen in love with our products.
Who is the typical Lqd customer? Our core customer is a 25- to 45-year-old guy who wants the best for himself and is educated about what he puts into his body and onto his skin. We’re also seeing significant interest from younger guys, and those who are 45-plus who are looking for a specific skin care regime for men that hasn’t been repurposed from a company’s women’s skin care line. The Lqd range has won Best New Product awards and cracked the important Asian market. Has the story unfolded the way you
expected it to? It really has exceeded our wildest dreams. To win t wo major grooming awards for our products last year was a massive coup. Also, we’d hoped we would get into Sephora when t hey launched in Australia and, sure enough, we are now t heir key men’s skin care brand in t heir 2,000th store, which has just opened in Sydney. Geographically, where is the world’s biggest
skin care market for men? It was South Korea for a long time but China has recently taken over due to its sheer population size. But in South Korea, men don’t only use skin care products, they wear foundation, eyeliner and other cosmetics. In fact, they still lead the world in spend per capita and spend nearly three times as much per head as the country in second place, which is Denmark.
Why do you think that is? It’s due to the culture there – men are wanting to look the best they can so they can go further professionally and personally. You have a lot of famous singers and actors in South Korea promoting the use of cosmetic products, and men look up to them as they set the trends. You’ve spoken before about the ingredients in some cosmetics and grooming products being harmful. Can you give us some examples? Yes, there are a number of ingredients commonly used in skin care products that actually cause skin irritation – like sulphates, menthol, fragrances, colours and essential oils, and any skin irritation leads to inf lammation which in turn leads to more wrinkles. There are also some ingredients that can do even more harm, like parabens, which build up in your body and there has been a lot of speculation around them being linked to cancer. We take the “better to be safe than sorry” approach and don’t put any known skin irritants into our products. That way, our products can be used safely by anyone, even those guys with really sensitive skin. Are the ingredients in your products ethical,
safe and eco-friendly? We don’t test our products on animals – only humans – and we research every ingredient that we put in to understand where it comes from and what the environmental implications are. As an example, we would never use palm oil or its derivatives in our products. We are also conscious of our packaging and making sure it can be recycled. You’ve gone from managing large investment accounts for banks to men’s skin care. Do
you miss the banking? I spent the first 13 years of my career in the finance industry both here and in the UK, so it has been most of my working life. It’s a great change to now be following my passion and helping guys look the best they can while also running my own business. It’s one of those clichés but it’s true: find something that you love doing and you’ll never work another day in your life. We might now be busy 24/7, but for us it’s not work – it’s our passion.
When you and Anthony became a couple you also became a dad to his daughter, Grace.
Are you happy in the role of dad? I’d always wanted to be a dad, so to now have Grace in my life has been a real blessing. Experiencing the unconditional love of a child is something that you can never explain, but it fills my heart with love.
Would you like more children? I would love to have another child. Anthony and I have a lot of love to give and another child would be amazing. The only thing is timing at the moment. Your body: there’s obviously a lot of work involved in looking the way you do. But it’s more than just a few days down at the gym,
right? It’s a lifestyle, wouldn’t you say? It’s absolutely the foundation of everything we do. There’s a standing joke with our family and friends around whether I’m allowed to have a drink or not. My problem is I love a drink or two, but alcohol is one of the key triggers for fat gain, so when you are 35 you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. We constantly monitor what we eat, what we drink and how we train. Nothing is left to chance. The more disciplined we are the better the results we achieve. It’s really important for us to practice what we preach and hopefully demonstrate that you can look great regardless of your age. Are there days you think, “I can’t be bothered with the gym – give me a cinnamon muffin!” [Laughing] I think that everyday! But I resist the urge most of the time and hit the gym instead. Having said that, we do splash out and eat things we know we shouldn’t occasionally, as balance is also really important to us. And on those days we try not to feel guilty. It’s what you do 90 percent of the time that counts. Are straight men more body conscious than they were 10 years ago? Are gay men less body conscious? Straight men are now
spending more time than ever before on their appearance, due to societal pressures to look their best. In the past, it was enough to be a nice guy, however, now every woman and man wants a nice guy with abs. Of course, it is a generalisation, but it is one of the mega trends that’s running through society. The metrosexual has now been replaced with the porno-sexual – everyone wants to look good in their selfie whether they are homo or hetero. Because you’re so often photographed in skimpy gear, do you ever feel vulnerable? Or do you find your effect on people
empowering? As the saying goes, it’s easy to look good in clothes as they cover a lot of sins. When you’ve got to be in shape for a shoot in your speedos or underwear, it’s a lot tougher, and some people can be incredibly judgemental – they will quickly tell you if they don’t think you are in shape. I’ve learnt not to care about what other people think, as you need a tough skin to put yourself out there in the public eye. It’s more important to listen to the people who are inspired by what we do, than listen to people who just want to bring others down as a way to feel better about their lives. But surely you attract more positive than negative comments? You must have a legion of admirers, yes? [Laughs] Yes, many more positive than negative. I’m still amazed by how many messages I get, on a daily basis, from guys who feel inspired by what Anthony
and I do across our business, lifestyle and our relationship. I’m also quite surprised by how much people we’ve never met know about our life, but humbled by the fact that there are guys who have taken us on as their gay roles models. Do people make assumptions about you
based on your physique and looks? We get that all the time. People who don’t know Anthony and I personally will quite often assume we will be arrogant ego-maniacs because of the way we look, but are always surprised when they meet us to find that we are just normal down-to-earth guys. Is life fun? You always seem to be having
some sort of adventure on Facebook. That’s the thing about social media – people only post
The metrosexual has been replaced by the porno-sexual – and everyone wants to look good in their selfie whether they are homo or hetero.
It’s more important to listen to the people who are inspired by what we do, than listen to people who just want to bring others down.