When Davey Rooney first launched his skincare company he was just making ends meet, scraping through on $5,000 worth of sales over three months. 

A year later and he’s making a whopping $200,000-per-month with his unique products. 

The 29-year-old skincare enthusiast from Melbourne is the founder of Born Without You, a brand he developed after realising nothing on the market was made to treat his combination skin.

Davey, from Melbourne, poured two years of his life into formulating a face mask specifically for combination skin while studying cosmetic science and making a lot of costly mistakes along the way.

Speaking to FEMAIL he says none of that matters now as he has a product line and thriving business he couldn’t be more proud of. 

The hero of Boring Without You is its $64 For Face Sake Multi Mask, perfect for those with combination skin where some areas are oily and some are dry. 

‘It’s got two formulas. One formula is a soothing, hydrating jelly it’s really it’s going to reduce texture, smooth your skin, brighten and hydrate,’ Davey explained. 

‘Then on oily areas you apply the whipped butter. Because it’s oil soluble, it means it can penetrate through the sebum in your skin and get to deeper layers. It’s a gold standard for reducing blackheads.’

The For Face Sake mask should be left on the face for 10 to 15 minutes two to three times a week for glowing results.  

Combination skin often presents as an oily T-zone or the nose and forehead while the cheeks and jaw are dry. 

People with combination skin often experience blackheads and find it difficult to find the right skincare, apply make up and treat blemishes. 

‘There’s no skin care dedicated to this skin type. The different parts of your face behave differently so they should be treated differently,’ Davey said. 

Davey has combination skin himself and came up with the idea for Boring Without You during one of Melbourne’s many Covid lockdowns. 

‘I used to go for socially-distanced walks in the park and during one of these walks I went to Chemist Warehouse,’ he recalled. 

‘I was always an avid consumer of skincare, and would see brands for oily skin, dry skin, sensitive skin but there was nothing for combination skin.’ 

Davey decided to quit his media job, start studying cosmetic science and develop his own combination skin care line. 

‘We went through so many formulas, and we did about 50 different iterations, partly because we didn’t know what we wanted and partly because we were just trying to perfect it,’ Davey said. 

Using his new-found skincare knowledge from his studies, Davey was able to determine what he wanted to achieve with Boring Without You. 

‘One of the first things I learned studying cosmetic science is skincare brands include ingredients in their formula at such a low percentage just so they can put the ingredient on the label,’ he said. 

‘I was like, ‘No way are we going to do that’, so we made a vow that every ingredient we included is not only going to be evidence-based, but we’re going to use it at the concentration that’s proven to be effective.’

Finding the right formula Davey was happy with was a long two-year process of tests, trials, feedback and changes. 

‘We made so many mistakes along the way. If I was doing it all again I’d do so many things differently, but it turned out great and we have an amazing product,’ Davey said. 

One of the main focuses of the face mask Davey said was to have a product that hydrated combination skin while controlling the build up of oil. 

He said it was a common myth that people with oily skin do not need moisturising products. 

‘Oily skin can actually be dehydrated as well. That’s part of the reason why our clay mask doesn’t dry like a normal clay mask,’ he explained. 

‘It has 15 per cent glycerin, which is really really high for clay mask, because we wanted to not only control the oil but we wanted to hydrate at the same time.’ 

Davey does however say there is no one-size-fits-all approach to skincare and it’s important to test and trial what works for you. 

‘Skincare is so nuanced and everyone’s skin is different so it’s really difficult to give generalised advice to people,’ he said. 

‘Sometimes you just need to try a product to know whether it’s going to be beneficial to you or not.’

After launching in July 2022, Boring Without You made less than $5,000 in its first three months.

However each following quarter saw a 110 per cent growth in sales as the word got out that there was finally something available for people who struggled to treat their combination skin. 

Davey started sharing the skincare tidbits he was learning as well as behind the scenes videos from the brand on TikTok.

‘We didn’t have money to invest in ads so we were like this is how we’re going to market this thing,’ he said. 

‘Slowly we built a strong community of people with combination skin who resonate with the product and who also resonate with our message behind the brand.’

The face mask also caught the attention of influencer and podcaster Lillian ‘Flex Mami’ Ahenkan as well as OnlyFans megastar and social media personality Anna Paul.

The For Face Sake mask had also sold out five times since launching but Davey wanted to give the brand an extra boost.

‘I knew I needed expertise of someone who had been there and done it before to actually grow it and take it to the next level,’ Davey said.

He applied to go on the TV program Shark Tank and present his case to five Aussie investors including Jane Lu, the CEO of online fashion boutique Showpo, Shark Tank US regular, Robert Herjavec and Oodie owner Davie Fogarty.

‘Halfway through the pitch there was a point where I was opening the jar, and I was so nervous that my hand was shaking. The lid flew out of my hand and then I mucked up my line,’ Davey laughed. 

‘All the sharks started laughing at me but once I saw them laughing I was like ‘Oh okay, it’s fine. I’ve already mucked up. How bad can it get?’ From that point on I nailed it.’

Davey had meticulously rehearsed his pitch and various answers to any potential questions the sharks could throw at him ‘non-stop’ during the prior four weeks with his boyfriend. 

‘I think that energy came across. They ended up driving up the asking price or the valuation because I got an offer from four of the sharks,’ he said.  

Davey accepted Fogarty’s offer of a 20 per cent stake in the business and started putting money into advertising and marketing.

‘The day Shark Tank aired, we did a week’s worth of sales in a couple of hours. We’re going to do $200,000 in revenue this month, that is crazy,’ Davey said.

‘The countless messages we’ve had from people who are already part of our community and then the amazing messages we’ve had from people who have only just learned about us have been incredible.’

Davey is currently working on growing the range and developing three new combination skincare products. 

‘We want to be the home for people with combination skin and we know that to do that you need you need more products than just the one,’ he said. 

‘Most skincare take a one-size-fits-all approach. But we know for people with combination skin, different parts of your face behave differently, so it makes sense to treat them differently. And that’s exactly what we do.’