Our Guardian Angel Story

It began in that luminous twilight just before sleep. The previous day I had been furious — certain things I had been counting on had not materialized, and I was livid at my guardian angels and the universe in general. I had been following my intuition, doing everything I was told, and yet nothing was working. Alone in my little house, I said out loud: 'You had better show me something. Now.' By the next night I had calmed down. I had finished my meditation and prayers when a list of ingredients appeared before my closed eyes — written on a piece of lined notebook paper as clearly as if I were wide awake. At the top of the list: Icelandic Sea Kelp. I am of Icelandic heritage, yet I had never heard of it.

Then I heard my father's voice. Hannes Arthur had been my guardian angel for many years, but he had never spoken so firmly. He told me to get up and write it down. I complied — and didn't think too much more about it until the following day.

While I was out shopping for the ingredients, a friend called and I told her what I had experienced. She said, "You what?" She looked up one of the ingredients — something I had thought was an abbreviation — in her mother's medical dictionary. It turned out to be a tissue tightener, also used to purify water. Now it was my turn to say, "What?"

I had a list of ingredients but no quantities, so I simply started making it — and experimenting. I began using it myself every day, not yet knowing that a single treatment's results last for days; there is no need to apply it again until that baby-soft feeling begins to fade. Even though I was overdoing it, my skin grew more and more luminous with every passing day — I simply didn't know yet that the SeaMasque rewards patience, not repetition. My neighbours noticed first, and asked to try it. Their results were equally dramatic — so much so that their co-workers and friends began arriving at my house with empty mayonnaise jars, asking for some of the 'green goo.' It never once occurred to me that I had the beginnings of a business. I was simply giving it away.

One day, a gorgeous flight attendant arrived — she lived in Hawaii and flew internationally. Her tanned skin was overlaid with what looked like a fine spider web of lines. Two weeks later she returned, glowing, without a single line on her face. I could barely believe what I was seeing. Her husband tried to buy the company on the spot. There was no company to buy.

I finally understood that I had something truly special, and I moved forward — knowing absolutely nothing about founding a skincare brand.

Divine providence intervened again when I was searching for Icelandic kelp at a drugstore and a stranger mentioned a chemist who had been the head of a major cosmetics laboratory. He had retired and started a natural products company. I brought him my cups-and-teaspoons formula along with a sample, and we argued about preservatives. I told him it simply didn't go bad. With no money for formal testing, I had kept a jar in the trunk of my car through the heat of a North Hollywood summer — for an entire year. I would stir it occasionally, and it remained perfect. He was astonished. He performed all of the accelerated stability testing for free, and was so enthusiastic I could barely get him off the phone.

The sad chapter of that beautiful relationship is this: by the time I finally had enough money to place my first order at his lab, he had passed away — just three days earlier. I arrived at his funeral and sat in the corner, quietly crying, overwhelmed with gratitude for everything he had so generously done for me. He is surely a guardian angel still.

There are many stories — some funny, some humbling. I once changed an ingredient and unknowingly created an exploding version of the formula. I was driving to meet a Beverly Hills investor, unknowingly carrying exploding samples, when my father's voice told me to turn around, go home, and reschedule. Thank God I listened. When I arrived home, I barely touched one of the bags and a sample exploded with a loud bang, shot straight through the paper bag, flew across the room, and stuck to the wall. There was still a dent in that wall when I moved out. The sofa and my dogs were covered in bits of green goo. That investor would have handed those samples to his clients.

Determined to get it right for the next meeting, I changed another ingredient — because I couldn't source Icelandic kelp in time. The formula seemed fine. It seemed fine, that is, until the investor opened a sample jar and it had turned a bilious shade of brown and smelled absolutely terrible. I made a graceful excuse and left.

It was finally clear that I was not allowed to change anything in the formula. Ever.

There are more stories, but that gives you the essence of what it has been like to bring this blessed formula from the divine invisible into this beautiful world — to help beautify us all.

The other formulas came to me as gifts as well, though none quite as dramatic as my beloved father coming through.

I am certain that my vision was a gift from God and my father, Hannes Arthur Kristjanson — the most spectacular dad in the world, and the man for whom I named this company. I believe what animates all people in life is God, and that we carry that divinity within us. I am grateful every single day for the gift of a vision that heals, and that helps people look as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside.

It remains a family business — and without question, my biggest joy and greatest blessings are having the honor of working alongside my sister Cheri, my late husband Bobby Zoe, and my mom Beverly. We still have our very first customer from our first trade show. We have always offered a money-back guarantee, because I never want anyone to be less than absolutely delighted with their new skin — and we truly almost never have to use it. Loyal, loving, glowing customers who look younger and more radiant with every passing year.

I could not be more grateful for all of it.

Thanks, Dad. Love, Janis