Brand Spotlight: Happy Paul

Happy Paul wants everyone to feel better about themselves. It’s as simple as that, and we all deserve to feel good! This uplifting, mood-enhancing grooming brand was born out of a lengthy period of depression by the founder Paul Gerrard. Pushing through some dark times, Paul realised the importance of looking after ourselves and poured this into his brand. At the centre of all Happy Paul products is their unique ‘Bright Spice’ fragrance which has been specially formulated using bergamot, eucalyptus, frankincense, jasmine, and cedarwood. This combination of natural oils not only smells fantastic but is guaranteed to brighten up any mood.
 
The collection of products from Happy Paul helps to uncomplicate the daily grooming routine. Their face cleanser, body wash, face scrub, moisturiser, and fragrance oil are the essentials any man needs to get their day started. And by looking after the health of our skin on the outside, we can feel like a new person on the inside. Founder Paul Gerrard understands that finding happiness can be complicated but it’s a good start by making yourself feel energised and revitalised with your grooming products. Happy Paul products contain plant-derived ingredients, such as cocoa butter and palmitic acid which will make your skin feel nourished, softer, and calmer.
 
We spoke with Happy Paul’s founder to discover the reason for him starting this new venture in the grooming industry and we also asked him for his own top tips for self-care.

1. Why did you launch your brand?

For the time-poor, the short story is that Happy Paul is a brand that exists simply to make you smile. To me, a smile is the most basic and yet dynamic form of wellness. It is restorative, transformative and has the ability to spread like wildfire. 

For those who have a little more time on their hands, Happy Paul was born out of my struggles with depression, which go back to my early teens. Over the years I’ve learnt to manage bad days and to recognise when I need to stop and care for me. On the days when I’m doing good (and I’m lucky to be able to have many of those at the moment) I’m able to happily steamroller through most tasks and often have my best ideas. 

Happy Paul is a happy mix of these ideas and my learnt skills to date. From my days as a flawed trainee accountant to a self-pressured creative in adland, to my many years spent in the professional beauty industry. Happy Paul is a creative endeavour started to help support my own mental health: focussing on something which made me happy. 

A curation of joyful experiences delivered, right now, through a fragrance and a collection of carefully crafted self-care products; Happy Paul is here to bring joy to moments where there may be little. Not to say that you can’t use our products when you’re already joyful, because they work pretty well then too :P

2. What are your hero ingredients and why are they good ingredients for men's skincare?

The key to Happy Paul is its mood-lifting fragrance blend. I worked with an amazing lady to develop our fragrance – Ruth is classically trained and has over 30 years experience creating for some of the biggest fragrance houses. She took me on an amazing olfactory journey. The result being Happy Paul’s award winning (see how I shamelessly dropped that in there) fragrance, Bright Spice. It’s a mixture of bergamot, eucalyptus, pink peppercorn, rosemary, jasmine, cedarwood and much much more.

All the products in the Happy Paul range are infused with this fragrance but they also have great skincare benefits. All products have been developed to offer added value with no undesirable ingredients included.

HAPPY PAUL Roll On fragrance

Uplifting Scent with Floral, Earthy Tones + All Natural Fragrance

$34.00

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3. What is your recommendation to a man just getting started with skincare? What should they do and why?

Apart from to try Happy Paul?? I’m a fan of simple routines. Minimum time and effort for maximum gain. Seeing instant results can be key to continuing and progressing with any new regime. No-one needs a complicated skincare routine to do good or feel good. Check out reviews, ask friends what they use or try before you buy.

Experiment and you’ll find out what you like, what you don’t, what works for you and what doesn’t.

4. What is your mantra for self-care?

I didn’t think I had a self-care mantra until I started thinking about this question. Then mantras started jumping out of the woodwork. 

I am blessed with not being too much of a deep thinker, so I guess one mantra would be ‘do first, think later.’ Not saying that this has always worked out well but it has opened me up to some interesting experiences. 

I like to keep things simple, so I tend to approach things from the stance of ‘does it make me happy?’

5. How do you get that “magical” feeling with your own self-care rituals?

I try to do more of the stuff that makes me feel good and less of the stuff that doesn’t. In more practical terms, I love the feel of a great mechanical face scrub. It instantly feels good with instant results. For me, it’s all about the texture, the feel and the focus on what I’m doing right at that moment - shutting off the outside world and quietening the thoughts that often race around my head - at least for a minute or two.

6. For anyone new to the brand, which products would you say are your hero products?

Happy Paul is all about the fragrance, so it’s really down to the individual and how they would like to enjoy that fragrance. The aromatherapy based roll-on Perfume Oil is a great one for on the go – you can just apply it to your pulse points (or anywhere you please) inhale and enjoy. If you like a morning shower then the Body and Hair Wash is a given – it’s refreshing, gentle, naturally foaming and a little goes a very long way.

For those more adventurous, who may love a mechanical exfoliation (like I do), Happy Paul’s Face Scrub is consistently effective with crushed white rice particles and bamboo powder to work deeply but still be gentle enough for daily use.

HAPPY PAUL Face Scrub

Exfoliate Naturally with Crushed Rice & Ground Bamboo

$30.00

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7. Do you have any top self-care hacks we can offer to our readers?

Create the soundtrack to your life or to the life you plan to lead and listen to it over and over and over. I absolutely love getting lost in music. Recognise and enjoy the simplest things that make you feel good - and do them routinely. Start your day with a long smile (real or fake - it doesn’t really matter). Even a false smile can have amazing benefits. It can trick your brain into believing you’re happy which can then spur actual feelings of happiness plus many more health benefits. There’s plenty of research to back this up. Having said that, I don’t wear my fake smile in public as it tends to worry passers-by.

If you find yourself feeling a bit blue, we highly recommend investing in your grooming routine and Happy Paul will undoubtedly give you that boost your skin and soul needs. You can find the full selection from Happy Paul, on Humanery, here.