Forest Mist shines bright: Prestigious award for Limerick-based skincare brand

Forest Mist Skincare, based in Askeaton, County Limerick, has been named Best Emerging Entrepreneur by LEO Limerick at the Limerick County Final ahead of the National Enterprise Awards 2025.

This accolade highlights their commitment to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction and their proven track record makes them a very worthy recipient of this award.

The Local Enterprise Office Limerick has worked with Forest Mist over the past year, to identify how the various supports and grants available to SMEs in Limerick through the LEO, could help them achieve their ambition for growth and development.

The National Enterprise Awards are organised by Ireland's network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEO) to give recognition to the contribution of micro enterprises to the local and national economy.

According to Ixis Santos, founder of Forest Mist, over one in five people globally are affected by a skin condition. Often dismissed medically because they are not life threatening, the long-term impact of skin diseases on someone’s quality of life and psychosocial health is both profound and well-documented.

The inspiration behind Forest Mist came from the lived experience of the founder herself. Welcoming a new child to the family is usually a period of joy and excitement. For Ixis, however, it heralded a flare-up of the skin sensitivities and allergies that she had struggled with all her life.

Admitted to hospital, and unable to tolerate even the gentlest of products, she found herself at a crossroads. “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.”

It wasn’t a quick fix. What began as an urgent need to heal her own skin transformed into a journey of discovery. Ixis dived into research and enrolled in a Diploma in Cosmetic Science, immersing herself in the magic and method behind skincare formulations. It wasn’t just about mixing creams – it was about decoding what her body needed, finding balance through diet, stress management, and of course, the right skincare.

Other people noticed the transformation her creations were having on her skin. “My friends started asking if they could buy the products. They loved them.” It was at this point that Ixis wondered if it was time to turn her personal solution into something bigger. But creating a business was a whole new challenge, one that required skills beyond product development.

Skincare is a heavily regulated industry, and products must comply with EU regulations, one of which is that they are assessed by a cosmetic chemist. A huge amount of paperwork needs to be submitted for approval before a product can be sold.

In addition, products that make specific health claims must provide scientific evidence through efficacy testing conducted by independent laboratories.

“It’s not enough to say it works, you need data to back it up. Anyone can ask a manufacturer to produce a skincare product, and they don’t even need to be involved in the formulation. But I’ve been through this; these are solutions I created because I needed them. I want to be able to make real claims about my products – not just because I know they work for me, but because we have the proof to show they work for others too,” said Ixis.

In a crowded marketplace, she faces the challenge of maintaining her meticulous standards once she moves to an outsourced production facility in order to scale. It’s a necessary step as demand grows, but she knows that the quality of the ingredients will be key. Later on, she has plans to add a cleanser and other products to the Forest Mist Skincare range.

It’s not unusual for a startup to emerge from one person’s critical need. Ixis clearly has a passion for what she is doing, but her path to this point was far from linear. Born in Honduras, she took a break from her engineering degree to gain work experience in Italy, where she settled and pursued a career in healthcare before she and her Irish husband decided to make County Limerick their home.

Forest Mist Skincare isn’t just about selling products; it’s about offering solutions born from real need, backed by science, and inspired by the belief that we can all overcome the challenges we face.

As the health claim testing comes to a close, Ixis will focus on her marketing strategy to broadcast her message as wide as possible – building her organic skincare empire one bottle at a time.

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