'WITH some fellas, you would have to talk about football and that kind of thing, but Chris was very good at listening to 'women's' things,'" says Mary Mitchell, describing what first attracted her to her husband Chris.

"He was really nice, and was very easy to get on with. He was a gentle type as well, which I liked -- he wasn't in any way brash or harsh."

Mary and Chris are the duo behind Green Angel, an exclusive range of seaweed and oil-based beauty products, sourced and hand-made in Ireland. They first met two decades ago, when both were demonstrating products side-by-side at the Brighter Homes Exhibition.

"Chris was demonstrating a pen, and I noticed that his voice was going towards the end of the day," recalls Mary. "So being the caring and thoughtful person that I am, I brought him over a bottle of water."

At that time, Mary was importing and selling tropical air plants glued to bog oak. These plants, tillandsia, don't root in soil and live off the dust in the air.

Prior to that, she worked as a freelance display artist (under the name Mary Bolger) for stores such as Clery's and Brown Thomas, looking after the animated Christmas windows and doing trade shows.

"I thought she was really caring and nice, and pretty as well," says Chris, who was born in Nottingham, England. "I couldn't really take my eyes off her."

On the last night of the exhibition show, Chris and Mary went for a drink, and that was it, in terms of falling for one another. They went to Spain, where Chris had a novelty-items-vending-machine business along the Costas Blanca and Brava. It was a carefree, fun life, travelling up and down in their motor home, servicing the machines and enjoying the scenery.

When they came back to Ireland, Mary and Chris lived together for several years, before marrying in 1994.

"I thought we were going to live together forever," laughs Mary. "We had a great life, and were always entertaining people, and we also travelled a lot. We were very happy and the most easy-going people you could meet, but one day we decided that we were grown-up and getting older and we'd better settle down ... a little bit."

The pair were married in Mount Argus in 1994, and held their reception at Lumville House on the Curragh. Chris's parents Geoff and Jean came over from their home in Skegness, with a busload of the residents from the nursing home they ran.

"The residents had known me since I was a child," says Chris, who studied hotel management and originally worked in banqueting. He then acquired a gift shop, which turned into seven shops by the time he was 22, but decided to scale things back and work at promoting products instead.

Chris booked a five-week

trip to Thailand as a surprise honeymoon for his new wife, although it nearly ended in disaster. Mary woke up on the morning they were going to find Chris sitting ashen-faced at the end of the bed, clutching the tickets in his hand. "I realised that we should have flown out the previous day," he says. "We went to the airport and I told the girl at the desk that I had only just got married and might be divorced if they couldn't sort it out for me. They brought us up to the top and gave us fantastic treatment. As a wife, Mary is very sensitive and loving -- she's the best really!"

Chris and Mary moved into their new home in Templeogue, and then their thoughts turned to starting a family. This didn't go smoothly, so they then decided to adopt a child from Thailand, a country they chose because they had witnessed some of the poverty there on their honeymoon. It was a long process, taking four years to complete, and their son Darragh was nearly four when they adopted him.

"Darragh spoke Thai and no English at first, but he was fantastic at communicating with us," says Mary. "I used to draw pictures to communicate with him, and he'd draw them back. He's nearly 12 now, and is very resilient and a real survivor."

Chris and Mary then adopted a three-month old girl from Vietman, called Loana. Now aged six, she's very outgoing, and into singing and dancing. She has already won medals and trophies for ballroom and tap dancing. The adoption process, they say, was a positive experience, but also their biggest challenge as a couple.

Chris continued with the promotions business, while Mary stayed at home with the children for a few years. She had always been interested in alternative therapies, as she suffered with dry skin, and had done courses, studied and researched various products.

Over the course of a few years, she and Chris began experimenting with new products based on the fusion of seaweed and essential oils, and once they were happy with what they had created they sent them to experts to test out.

Gradually, this developed into a range of gorgeous artisan skincare and healthcare products, which they've called Green Angel. Chris and Mary run the business together, and as it's grown, they've moved the home-based business to premises in Newcastle.

The range contains natural ingredients such as juniper, lavender and frankincense and is available in Clery's and local pharmacies. Imminent plans include expanding their distribution nationwide, and promoting the product range at trade fairs around the country.

Living and working together can be hard on a couple, but Mary and Chris have found a modus operandi.

"It's fine because we've worked together quite a lot from the very beginning," says Mary. "The hardest part is switching off at home, but we have to do it for the children. My dad Jim passed away this year, so my mum Peggy lives with us now too. We have a great life, but Chris and I have had some tough times as well. We've got through them together because we're soul-mates."

For Green Angel stockists, and to see the product range, please visit www.greenangel.com or tel: (01) 412-4900

- Andrea Smith