The story of Vanessa Megan: My best friend uttered one line to me when she was dying of cancer that changed my life. Now it’s at the core of my multi-million dollar skincare business

Vanessa Lyndon lives by the motto 'never put anything on your skin that you wouldn't put in your mouth'.

The 51-year-old was inspired by the phrase, told by her best friend Mel, who died of cancer almost two decades ago, and uses it as the ethos behind her natural skincare brand Vanessa Megan.

She has always been a fan of natural remedies since growing up on a farm in rural Western Australia, where she could cure spider bites with honey.

She also studied biochemistry and herbalism to help find non-toxic skin care solutions for Mel while she underwent treatment.

Vanessa told FEMAIL that she started formulating natural 'food grade' skincare products as a hobby, while working as an actress and model alongside big names in the industry.

In 2013, she launched Vanessa Megan to a loyal fan base she gained by selling her remedies at Bondi Markets and talking to women about their beauty and skin concerns.

The brand is now a multi-million dollar empire and has been on track for 70 percent sales growth since October last year alone.

Vanessa's in-depth knowledge of what the nasty properties of big brand skin care products are and the natural ingredients we should be using instead comes from years of studies and a keen interest in non-synthetic chemicals.

She started looking into natural ingredients when Mel was battling aggressive melanoma, wanting to know which chemicals would help and hinder her health during treatment.

“Mel was such an advocate. She was a vegetarian and always very healthy, but eventually she developed melanoma. It spread to her lymph nodes and brain. It was a very fast, bloody thing,” she recalled.

'It was that time when I saw her deteriorate so quickly that I experienced and understood what was in skin care.

“I couldn't believe that we weren't informed about it and that all these ingredients exist. We are pretty good with our food because we know what the fats are, carbohydrates and sugars.”

Vanessa said she “dive down the rabbit hole of biochemistry” and looked “head first” at the most beneficial non-synthetic ingredients and how they affect the skin.

What she discovered was alarming.

'Mineral oil, under the guise of liquid paraffin, is a petrochemical. It is the second leading cause of aging and more carcinogenic than smoking. It's like putting Glad Wrap on your skin so nothing good can get in,” Vanessa explained.

Parabens were another ingredient used in many beauty and skin care products; Vanessa avoids it because it has been linked to breast cancer.

'Parabens are an ingredient that mimics estrogen. They are used in deodorants and when people use them under their arms. It's very close to the breast tissue,” she said.

'They find parabens in the tumors of breast cancer patients. That's why we see a lot of paraben-free products at the moment. They are also linked to hormone disruptions.'

According to Partners for Breast Cancer PreventionSeveral studies have found that parabens, found in things like sunscreen, makeup, and even mouthwash, can damage normal breast cells and possibly lead to abnormal growths.

“Another ingredient that scares me is phthalates, which are in perfume and are so toxic,” Vanessa added.

'Perfumes are a melting pot of toxins. They use a synthetic toxic ingredient to take away bad odors so you only smell the good smell.”

In her late teens and early twenties, Vanessa traveled the world modeling with the likes of Claudia Schiffer in Paris when she suddenly had a change of heart.

'When I was 23, I was going through a midlife crisis. I thought there was more to life than just being a human coat hanger. “I wanted to be a little more creative,” she said.

Vanessa turned her attention to acting. She graduated from NIDA and landed roles in the US and Australia, but was still pursuing her skincare hobby.

“I was working with Ray Liotta and Dom Purcell, some big names, which was so exciting, but at the same time I was working on my skincare and going to the Bondi markets and educating women about what they were putting on their skin,” she said.

In her 20s and 30s, she bought ingredients and herbs wholesale to make remedies for her migraines and her then-partner's eczema and psoriasis.

'A friend asked me what I did on the weekend. I said, 'I'm making a cream for (my partner) and she said, 'You're not. I just thought that because I'd been making cream for eight years, everyone was making cream, right?' she said.

Vanessa immediately invited all her friends to teach them how to make their own skin care.

'They brought their Tupperware containers. Someone had the calculator, someone was measuring, someone was pouring. They saw the ingredients in their raw form and we turned it into a cream,” she said.

“These were really intelligent, smart women in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and they didn't know what they were putting on their skin.”

Vanessa started selling her homemade products at Bondi markets and sharing what she learned.

“It was always the education piece that I pushed for, but with that there were people who said, 'Well, you're educating me, now give me something to solve this,'” she said.

In 2013, she started bottling and selling her homemade products under the name Vanessa Megan at Bondi markets, speaking to women about her skin care knowledge.

“I did a lot of market research when I was in the markets. People come up and say, 'You've got this. But what about this?', 'My baby is being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Can you make something?' and I said, 'Yes, come back next week and I'll have something,'” she said.

'It was like wildfire. It went from Bondi markets to health food stores, locally and nationally, within six months, and then internationally within a year,” she said.

Vanessa's acting career took off when she met her husband and had children, so she turned her full attention to developing her brand.

'We didn't really know where we would fit in Australia. “We had taken the brand to the next level, and it was a bit too expensive for health food stores, and we didn't necessarily want to go to the big box stores,” she said.

Vanessa presented her products to luxury spas who began using Vanessa Megan for their clients.

“A lot of people don't know the brand exists, so when people go to a spa and experience it and have it on their skin, they say, 'Oh my gosh, this really works on my skin,'” Vanessa said.

Over the past four years, Vanessa Megan has turned over $8 million and in September she just had her biggest month with $500,000 in revenue.

Under the brand, Vanessa still sells the cream she made for her ex-partner all those years ago.

“I would make that cream and his eczema would go away. I knew it worked and that is now our Rose and Calendula Moisture and Face Cream. “I have always kept that because it is soothing and calming,” she said.

Vanessa's best-selling product of the past two weeks has been the Metamorphosis The Other Lips Balm Vaginal Moisturizer, which only launched last month.

With opportunities abroad to scale the business even further, Vanessa Megan is looking to raise capital to expand the business' growth. The company is looking to raise up to $1.4 million from Equity Crowdfunding platform Birchal.