While picking up cheap London Drugs' face masks for sleepovers and girls' nights was a rite of passage growing up, like a scene from an early 2000s teen movie, if you at all suffered from skin issues the seemingly fun activity is remembered very differently.
Such was the case for sisters Kelli and Brittni Kling.
"I have a form of rosacea and [Brittni] has had cystic acne in the past," says Kelli Kling over the phone. "When shopping at Sephora and drugstores, we always had to be really careful about what products we chose."
Ten years later, their childhood sleepovers inspired them to develop reusable under-eye masks suitable for sensitive skin and with cute phrases that make them perfect for girls' night.
Their Vancouver-based beauty brand is called and the sisters hope to eventually introduce skincare products of their own to the collection.
"My sister and I have always wanted to start a business together, but we never really knew what," explains Kling. "We wanted to create something that celebrated self-expression and was suitable and inclusive for all skin types and was also better for the environment. So we came up with the idea to create So Eye-Ronic reusable under-eye masks."
Most undereye masks come pre-soaked in a product that usually includes fragrance but the Eye-ronic masks are made from 100 per cent medical grade silicone and are meant to be paired with your favourite serum.
Kelli's background is in geography and she says that the environment has always been at the forefront of her life so when developing a product with Brittini, whose expertise lies in marketing, they wanted it to be something that was sustainable yet statement-making on social media.
"Our boxes are recyclable, we use recyclable plastic discs that hold the eye masks together. And then the silicone itself can be recycled if you decide to not use them anymore, it can be melted down and repurposed," says Kling.
The mask's shape is also specially designed by the sisters to be usable under either eye and the sassy phrases like "selfie care," "slow down," and "f*** off," can be read in a mirror and show up perfectly legible in a selfie. "We wanted it to be a product that people feel comfortable taking a selfie with no makeup, celebrating self-expression," says Kling.
She says that filters are so pervasive in social media that they home their "statement skincare" will encourage and empower people to show off without makeup.
