My Melasma Journey

Hi, I’m Lucy — designer of the Sunshe brand, one of the Sunshe girls, and a very lucky mumma to two beautiful kids.

I was blessed with two healthy pregnancies, and since we live by the beach, I spent most of those months out in the sun, soaking up every moment of freedom before my little boy arrived. Bikini on, belly out, salt in my hair. Life was golden.

But about halfway through my first pregnancy, I started noticing dark, blotchy patches forming on my cheeks and nose. I had no idea what it was. Confused, I asked my mum. She laughed and said,
“Oh, you must be getting melasma! I had it when I was pregnant with you — it formed a giant black mask all over my face.”

Naturally horrified at yet another surprise from pregnancy (wasn’t the heartburn enough?!), I chose to ignore it, hoping it would disappear after my son, Henry, was born.

But a few months postpartum, it hadn’t faded. In fact, it was getting darker.

This is me next to Henry, the main culpriate of my crazy melasma mask. Also pictured: me at the beach with no hat or sunscreen 🙄

Cue panic.

I did what most of us do — Googled frantically, tried to self-diagnose, and stressed myself out. Laser? Too expensive. Prescription creams? Harsh and flaky. Fancy brightening serums? $120 a bottle, and still no promises. I ended up covering it with thick foundation and pretending it didn’t exist.

Until I met Hannah.

She reached out to me about designing packaging for a new skincare brand she was building — one specifically for melasma. I almost jumped out of my chair.
“You’re kidding! I have melasma!”

She didn’t believe me at first. I had a fringe that hid most of it, plus some well-placed makeup. But once we started working together, I became one of the first people to test Melamend.

I started small — just dabbing it on the darkest patches. But honestly? Within two weeks, the pigment started lifting. Slowly, gently, my skin tone began to even out. I began using it all over, and it even helped fade my acne scars and post-baby patchiness.

This picture was right at the beginning of my treatment with MelaMend, but you can already see the depth of brown has faded on my forehead...baby steps right!

And I’m not someone with a 10-step routine. I forget to wear sunscreen before a surf half the time. But Sunshe products are genuinely easy to use, and Melamend is like having three serums in one — it works on pigmentation at a cellular level, while softening skin and reducing fine lines thanks to ingredients like Vitamin C and niacinamide.

Hannah also taught me something super important — if you want to treat melasma, you have to protect your skin from the sun. Daily SPF is essential, and reapplying throughout the day is non-negotiable. I’ve now got a new beach uniform: big hat, big sunnies, and my Sunshe SPF50+. I even swim in my hat and glasses now — it’s second nature.

Melamend truly changed my skin, but more than that, it gave me confidence. I’ve never been ashamed of my melasma — it was like a little mask I wore while growing two perfect babies — but seeing those dark patches fade meant I could wear less makeup and feel more like me. And after all the ways our bodies change through motherhood, sometimes it’s really nice to feel a little closer to your old self.

Anndddddd this is now. Well is it perfect? No, but when I look back at how dark my pigmentation was before Sunshe I'm honestly shocked! 

It’s been such a dream to create the Sunshe brand — from the design to the testing to the real results I’ve seen in my own skin. I feel lucky to have been part of it from the beginning, and I can't wait to see other mums get the same glow-up I did.

Lucy x