With the exciting launch of celebrity dentist Dr Hanna Kinsella's evolutionary dental whitening cosmetic brand developed and designed by the lady herself, we caught up with Housewives of Cheshire stars Hanna and Martin to talk about life with their new baby boy and the juggle balancing motherhood with a very hectic work schedule.
How are you both?
Hanna: ‘We’re good! We’re getting used to parenthood. It’s all a bit crazy. It’s good – it’s hard – but it’s really rewarding. He’s not a bad baby.
Martin: ‘Unless he’s really tired or he’s hungry, he doesn’t kick off. It’s good. He’s four months old now so it’s all we can ask for.’
What’s been the hardest thing about parenthood so far?
Hanna: ‘Probably sleep deprivation. I think that’s hard. Waking up at 4am and trying to get to sleep after that, it is difficult. Leaving the house now is also a friggin’ mission. There’s one hundred things you have to think about – wipes, nappies, milk, everything.’
And how was it having a baby during a pandemic?
Hanna: ‘It’s actually been alright. It’s just things like swimming that you’d usually take them to normally – at the beginning I felt like I had missed out on those kind of little things. But to be honest I think we timed it really well. I was pregnant during the pandemic and had my baby during the pandemic when nobody was going out.
Martin: ‘I think we would have felt like we were missing out. It worked really well for us.’
How’s it been balancing motherhood with work?
Hanna: ‘I went off on maternity leave but obviously there’s still a lot of admin stuff and having to touch base with the practice. I have a fabulous practice manager but your mind is still there. It’s been okay for me really, because I’ve been removed from the practice. But then again, we’ve got our business Icy Bear that I run remotely from home. So to be honest I feel like I haven’t really had a proper maternity leave.
Martin: ‘I had a couple of weeks off when he was born and then I was back in work. I’m fortunate in many ways because I can finish early and I don’t travel as much. In terms of being in clinic, I can start in the morning and 2pm or 3pm in the afternoon. I think the problem we have is that we’re always doing something or working on something. It’s just trying to find a balance. But compared to other people we’re in a very fortunate position.’
So what was the thinking behind Icy Bear?
Hanna: ‘It’s been a project that’s been born out of love and passion. It’s one of those things that I’ve always, always wanted to do. In general practice, my work was very much about cosmetic dentistry – so whitening and composite veneer for example. I was constantly getting asked by patients products that I’d recommend for them. You get asked all the time. So it was a no brainer for me really. I knew I’d love to have my own product range, be involved in all aspects of it and the design and the branding.’
How’s it been so far?
Hanna: ‘It’s been amazing. We’ve really, really enjoyed every single part of it really. Even from the logo design, coming up with the name and the concept and liaising with the manufacturers. It’s all been really good fun. It’s a product range that we’re really proud of.’
Did you come across any obstacles?
Hanna: ‘You don’t realise how much goes into an e-commerce type business. When you see the finished product you go on the website, buy it and have it delivered – that’s it. But actually there are a lot of cogs that turn.’
Martin: ‘And if one of those cogs don’t turn properly, it causes everything else to cascade.’
Hanna: ‘I remember when we first launched – especially with the whitening strips – we hadn’t anticipated how many we were going to sell in such a short space of time. That was a case of toing and froing with the manufacturers telling that we need more. Obviously we didn’t want the waiting time to be too long.
‘We also had a massive issue with boxes, I remember. The actual boxes that they were sent in were silver and quite fancy. We were finding we were having some trouble with the courier and they were getting tampered with. As a result, people would receive them and having some product missing. I think there were some delivery drivers going in and tampering with them. There’s a load of drivers somewhere who have very white, shiny teeth. But yeah, there were definitely a few obstacles we had to overcome.’
Have you seen a spike in interest during the pandemic?
Hanna: ‘Definitely. People have been sat at home and they haven’t been going on holiday so they haven’t had much to spend their money on. You know what it’s like when you’re at home and you start looking in the mirror more and spending more time on social media.’
Martin: ‘Also when you’re on Zoom – you’re just looking at your appearance all the time’
Hanna: ‘I think people have definitely become a bit more conscious of how they look.’
You can find out more product information here and enter our competition to win a sonic whitening toothbrush, toothpaste and whitening strips bundle here.
