An interview with modest. Founder, Joyce Hung and brand story

I have always had all sorts of skin problems since I was a kid: mild eczema, dry, flaky skin. Then when I reached my teenage years: mild rosacea, oily T-zone, occasional breakouts. Battling with different skin issues had become a norm for me, and there was not a day that I did not have to worry about skin having flare-ups or breakouts.

When I was in college, my skin was so weak and dry that it cracked. Devastated and desperate to rescue my skin, I bought a whole set of luxurious skincare products from an international brand which claimed to supply the skin with the most nourishing ingredients and could fix my skin within a week’s time. But it was all a lie. Not only did my skin not improve, but I also had more rashes and breakouts. I checked out the ingredient list and noticed a whole list of junk in it: alcohol, paraben, fragrances etc. I felt so naive at that time for not reading the ingredients list carefully before using the products, and since then, I have been very meticulous about the products that I use on my skin.

When I created this brand, I just asked myself what I would like to see in a brand, and I decided I wanted a brand that could be very honest with its users and the public. Hence for modest, we clearly state all the ingredients and percentages of each active ingredients, so users can be well-informed and choose the most suitable product for themselves. As a basic requirement, we also excluded all harmful ingredients in our formulation, such as parabens, methylisothiazolinone (MIT), mineral oils, heavy metals, artificial colorings and hydroquinone, making modest very safe for everyone.

And why the name modest? We are a very low-profile brand and we want customers to pay for the product itself at an affordable and reasonable price, and not pay for the other add-ons such as expensive brand campaigns, celebrity endorsements etc. We never exaggerate the functions and effects of our products. We market them as they are and spread through word-of-mouth. We are committed to keeping our formulation simple yet effective at an affordable price, by only using ingredients that are directly beneficial to the health of the skin and avoiding harmful ingredients that might intoxicate us. Modest is synonymous to our tagline “a humbly effective formulation”.