#1 It’s all Fluff.
Originally posted via Mailchimp: August 14, 2017.
Making a (new) brand up.
A year ago, I left two businesses that I started with my two best friends. It was hard, for everyone.
In many ways, my life seemed full, but I felt empty. I was presented with an opportunity in time to walk away, and I took it. Since then I’ve had to ask myself what I really want to do with the next few years of my life.
I’ve been lucky to meet some incredible people in the beauty industry over the last five years, and have learnt so much from my time in the US.
So often I would talk to brands about who their target audience was, and 9 out of 10 times they would reply: 18–35-year-olds. It’s an easy win because you catch the old and the young on either side. But the more time I spent online (for better or worse), the more I saw how differently younger generations were behaving and communicating with each other, separately from everyone else. I believe brands are ignoring this.
What I’ve come to realise is this: I’m 28 years old, and I’m still figuring out so much about myself. We all know the pressures and confusion of social and digital media, and how it can challenge our sense of who we are. And I was part of the last generation to grow up without this level of noise and confusion during my teens — the time when figuring myself out was at its hardest.
Today’s teenage girls appear to have less and less time and space to figure themselves out. And unfortunately, there aren’t many brands supporting them, rather they’re feeding the confusion, and encouraging an unrealistic idea of many things, including beauty.
And that’s where it all begins again for me.
A beauty brand that helps girls figure themselves out. A foundation without a foundation.
We’re starting with what I (think) I know best: content. Currently, we’re creating a digital and printed magazine where girls define and talk about what beauty means to them.
Then, we’re going to make makeup. Promoting a casual approach to cosmetics. Starting with the basics.
Hopefully, we’ll help girls click. Without the clique.
We’ll be launching late 2017.
This goes beyond makeup. I think that for a lot of people, especially girls — inspiration and aspiration is in excess. But useful information is not. I’m hoping that these posts can change the want from having your own business to understanding what’s involved in starting one.
I’ll be talking about our whole process; from investment to production, organisation, people, products and branding.
I’m really excited to be excited again. It’s also shit scary starting over from nothing. But then I realise that this isn’t the beginning, it’s just the next step. I’ve had some amazing support from incredible people already, and their belief in my idea is enough for me to know that this is what I should be doing. This is also a thank you to them.
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