In an online landscape saturated with trends, algorithms and influencer noise, TypeYourSkin positions itself differently. It is curated, disciplined and unapologetically selective. At its centre is Michalis Stylianoudes, whose background in fashion and first-hand exposure to industry excess shaped a platform built on clarity, performance and trust.

What follows is a conversation about standards, responsibility and the realities of building a beauty concept from Cyprus that aims to scale beyond it.

TypeYourSkin is more than an online shop. It feels like a point of view. What values guided you when you first shaped the platform?

Typeyourskin absolutely has a point of view and it comes from a very specific place.

I come from the fashion scene, and I saw the waste up close: the excess, the disposability, the impact on nature. I respect animals and the natural world deeply, and I reached a point where I couldn't keep investing my energy into work that ignored that cost. I needed to create something meaningful and clean, emotionally and operationally.

So the values that guided Typeyourskin from day one were non-negotiable: vegan-first and cruelty-free, non-toxic and sustainability-led, plant-based innovation that performs, and simple routines with serious results. These were not marketing angles, they were the foundation. I wanted to bring order to the chaos of skincare online, where too much noise and too many opinions leave people buying routines that were never built for their skin.

The name itself is the philosophy. Type your skin means understanding what you are, what you need, and what you should ignore. I have extremely oily skin, and I know how hard it is to find the right formulas and advice without getting pulled into hype. So I built a platform that brings clarity and precision and we are now building a diagnosis tool to help people type their skin and build routines based on their actual concerns.

That point of view, ethical, disciplined, outcome-focused, is what guides every decision. Winning "Most Sustainable Online Skincare Retailer 2024 – Cyprus" by LUXlife validated it. This is not marketing. It is the foundation.

There is a certain decisiveness in the way he speaks about foundations. Not trends, not pivots. Foundations.

How do you decide which brands make it into TypeYourSkin? What is an instant "yes" and what is a clear "no"?

We don't curate by trend, and we don't outsource judgement to influencers. If a brand is "everywhere" on social media, that tells me nothing. What matters is what the formula does on skin, over time, under real use.

Every brand goes through a rigorous two-month trial period before it earns a place at Typeyourskin. I test the products myself, and I test them with a dedicated team of four. Each product gets allocated to the person it makes the most sense for, so the feedback is honest and informed, not generic. We interrogate performance in real life: texture, finish, tolerability, consistency, and whether the results match the claims. At the same time, we audit the fundamentals: full INCI lists, active levels where possible, and any clinical validation the brand can provide. Then we measure everything against our non-negotiables: vegan-first and cruelty-free, non-toxic and sustainability-led, plant-based innovation that performs, and simple routines with serious results.

There isn’t an instant “yes” at Typeyourskin because trust is the product. The closest thing to a “yes” is when a brand shows discipline from the start: a tight, intentional range, clear identity, transparent formulation logic, and products that feel engineered with purpose, not padded for catalogue size. The brand respects the customer’s intelligence, communicates with precision, and the packaging reflects restraint rather than noise. But even then, it still has to survive the trial on real skin, over weeks.

A clear "no" is hype without substance: trend-chasing, influencer-led credibility, vague "clean" language with no formulation detail, inflated storytelling, or products that duplicate what we already carry without being better. And if a brand can't stand up to the trial, if it doesn't perform consistently over weeks, it doesn't enter the edit.

That's the point. Typeyourskin only works if trust is protected. If it's on the site, it has been tested, questioned, and proven on skin, not on a feed.

The word he returns to, again and again, is discipline. In a category built on promise, discipline feels almost subversive.

Cyprus is a small market, but a very specific one. How has being Cyprus-based shaped the way the platform operates and grows?

Cyprus has shaped Typeyourskin into a hybrid model: digital-first for scale, physical-first for trust and momentum.

Because the market is small and word-of-mouth travels fast, we built the platform to be high-touch even when 90% online. Education-led, tightly curated, and operationally disciplined. But we do not treat Cyprus as just e-commerce. We use the island strategically as a real-world stage.

That is why we run four pop-ups per year, timed around novelties, key launches, and partnerships. In Cyprus, physical presence accelerates trust, sampling, and conversion in a way ads never will, so pop-ups are not a side project, they are part of the growth engine.

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And in 2026, we are taking the next step: our first permanent space. I cannot share more yet, but it will be over and above a skincare store, a concept built around curation, experience, and community, designed for Cyprus while remaining a platform that can scale across Europe.

On a small island, proximity is either pressure or power. He seems to have decided it is both.

What are the realities, both challenges and advantages, of running an online beauty and lifestyle concept store in Cyprus?

Cyprus is a small island market, so the realities are very literal. You feel everything faster.

On the challenge side, logistics are the first tax. Freight, lead times, and restocks are less forgiving than on the mainland, and that pressure shows up immediately in margin and availability. The second reality is scale. In Cyprus you do not have endless new customers every day, so you cannot build a business on noise, paid traffic, constant promotions, or viral product cycles. You have to be precise with inventory, and you have to be consistent with service, because reputation travels quickly.

The advantage is that the same closeness that limits scale also creates strength. You are not operating in a faceless market, you are building trust in a community. Customers hold you accountable, but they also reward you when you deliver. That makes it possible to build loyalty without playing the discount game.

And Cyprus gives you a very specific lens for beauty: strong sun, heat, humidity, and long summers. People here are not shopping for fantasy routines. They want products that behave in real life, under SPF, in the heat, on sensitive skin, with results you can actually see. That pushes the platform toward performance and restraint.

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So yes, it is harder in some ways. But it is also a clean environment to build something serious: disciplined operations, high trust, and a point of view that can travel beyond the island.

The constraints sound almost architectural. Limits that define the shape of what is built.

Many of the brands you carry are international. How do you balance global curation with local relevance?

I curate globally, but I filter everything through Cyprus.

I travel a lot, and discovering new brands is one of my key assets. I am constantly looking for founders and formulas that feel genuinely considered, not trend-built. But global does not automatically mean relevant. Many brands are developed for colder, heavier winters, and even in Cyprus winter those rich, occlusive textures can feel too much.

So the balance is simple: I source internationally for quality and innovation, but I only bring in what performs in our reality, heat, humidity, strong sun, and skin that often needs results without weight.

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I also choose international brands because the best of them work properly: with labs, chemists, and formulators. We are not a plant-based only store in the simplistic sense. Yes, we are vegan-first and plant-led, but the formulas we carry are science-backed, ingredient-transparent, and often independently recognised. Several of the brands we carry have been recognised by The Business of Beauty Global Awards, an awards programme by The Business of Fashion.

And that is exactly why we test and examine every brand that approaches us for partnership. Global discovery is the starting point. Local performance and proof are the decision.

It is a filtering process, but also a translation. Not everything travels well across climates.

What is one thing customers often underestimate about the work that goes into curating and maintaining an online store like yours?

Customers underestimate that an online store does not run itself once it looks good.

The real work is keeping it visible and viable every day in a market where you are competing with everyone: global retailers, marketplaces, brand-direct sites, and constant paid noise. Traffic has a cost, content has a cost, retention has a cost and if you stop, the store goes quiet.

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They also underestimate the hidden costs of selling beyond Cyprus. Shipping, returns, packaging, payment fees, duties and VAT handling, customer support time, and the margin you lose to get a parcel delivered properly. Those are not optional extras, they are the price of being credible abroad.

So the job is not just curation. It is building demand, protecting margin, and delivering a flawless experience at distance every single day.

Behind the aesthetic of calm, there is clearly a machine running at full precision.

Looking at your community, what kind of relationship do you want people to have with TypeYourSkin beyond transactions?

I want people to feel safe, genuinely safe, with what they are buying and how they use it.

That means they should never doubt a product we stock. And they should feel completely free to ask me anything, a thousand times over, and get a real answer. I am always available for that.

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For most of my customers, I build their monthly routines and then revisit them regularly to make sure we are on the right track together. It is not a one-time transaction. I see them as part of the Typeyourskin vortex, invested, understood, and moving toward real skin outcomes.

That relationship is the whole point. Without it, we are just another online store.

Safety, in this context, is not softness. It is assurance.

Looking ahead, what would you love TypeYourSkin to represent for Cyprus' beauty and wellness landscape in the next few years?

I would love Typeyourskin to represent a higher standard for Cyprus, where beauty and wellness decisions are made with awareness, not marketing.

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We spend a lot of energy educating people that what you apply on your skin is not superficial. Ingredients matter, and the conversation should go beyond natural claims on the front label. If, in a few years, more people in Cyprus instinctively read INCI lists, ask better questions, and understand that skincare is a daily exposure, not a harmless hobby, then we have done something right. And I already see that awareness increasing year after year.

I am especially focused on younger customers. Teen girls start experimenting early, and parents often buy cute or trendy products that look safe but are not actually clean when you investigate the ingredient list. I want Typeyourskin to be the place that protects that next generation by making it easier to choose better from the beginning, without fear and without confusion.

Ultimately, I want Typeyourskin to be Cyprus' reference point for curated, science-backed, non-toxic beauty. An ecosystem built on trust, education, and long-term wellbeing, not quick sales.

From Screen To Scene V3.0 Lands In Nicosia

As with every TypeYourSkin initiative, the emphasis is on clarity, ingredient literacy and long-term results. The pop-up is designed as a space for conversation and education, where formulations are examined in relation to each other, not in isolation. This marks the first TypeYourSkin pop-up event in Nicosia, a physical extension of a platform that has so far operated primarily online, and a preview of the more permanent space the brand has announced for 2026.

Location: Georgia Moditi Studio, Kaimakli, Nicosia

Dates: 13–15 February

Opening hours:

13 February: 15:30 – 19:30

14 February: 11:00 – 19:00

15 February: 11:00 – 19:00

Visitors are invited to explore the brands in context, ask questions directly, and build routines grounded in performance rather than noise.

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