Beauty Business - Women who made it BIG!

Beauty is a multi-billion pound industry touching the lives of women (and some men) all over the world.  I’m all for women making their mark on their world.  Not only have all these ladies made their mark in the beauty business, they have all found the time to write books about it. 

Back in September 2006, sisters Kirstie and Aisling McDermott launched Beaut.ie, fast forward just 4 years and the beauty blog wins both Best Blog and Best Beauty/Fashion Blog categories in the Irish Blog Awards – pretty impressive stuff. Why do I like them so much? Well first and foremost McDermott was my Maternal Grandmothers maiden name so I have to like them. Secondly I love the name of the website. Clever, original and almost guaranteed a visit when it hits the first page on Google. Lastly and most importantly is the actual content. Visiting Beaut.ie gives you a warm fuzzy feeling similar only to that garnered from cooing at cute babies or stroking a puppy. The posts are not only useful but they are written with a sense of fun - they call it ‘witty editorial voices’. Witty indeed! Aside from their regular posts on the site, both ladies keep themselves busy with Aisling writing a best selling beauty book aptly named Beaut.ie, and Kirstie working as a freelance beauty writer for Confetti, Prudence and The Sunday Times Style Ireland Edition amongst others AND she designed the rather wonderful WordPress theme herself – KUDOS!

Former Accountant Gail Reynolds became an Avon Representative in 2002 and quickly took the step up to Avon Sales Leader reaching Senior Executive Status in 2005. She now heads up a nationwide team of around 2000 Representatives including 150 Sales Leaders and earns the company more than £4 million in sales every year. Gail is currently the third highest earner in the UK for the global beauty business that is Avon. First and third are Debbie Davis and her partner Dave Carter. So why not make this article about them? Well the reason I chose to focus on Gail over the higher earners is simply out of admiration for the way Gail has harnessed the power of social media and the Internet to build her Avon Beauty Business. Whether your chosen media is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Lifestream, you will find that Gail has a built herself a notable and well followed presence. She appears regularly in the press, runs her own Avon Recruitment website and has written two books, one available for general sale ‘Make Up Money’ (MUM’s the word – I LOVE IT!) and one for the sole use of her ever-expanding team ‘ The Little Book of Big Ideas’. And who said Accountants were boring?

Australia’s self-styled Lipstick Queen Poppy King launched her brand Poppy Industries just a few months after leaving high school in 1992. She was just 18. Specialising in her own brand of rich, opaque and pigment filled lipstick reminiscent of the 1940s, the brand grew into a multi-million dollar beauty business and Poppy herself became Australian royalty, for the ladies at least. Estee Lauder bought Poppy Industries back in 2002 and for a while Poppy moved to New York to work with the cosmetics company full-time. Now back at the helm of her own beauty business, aptly called Lipstick Queen, Poppy has brought us all manner of lip smackingly good products including delights ranging from Jeans Queen (JEANius), Fired Up Power Gloss, Sheer Lipsticks, Exact Match Eyeliners. Oh I could get carried away here so I’ll move on the book! Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea That Can Change Your Life was released in 2008. A guide to life in the beauty business and some lessons to help you on the way, the ‘Female Entrepreneurial’ force is strong with this one.

So there you have it, a small selection of women who have made it big in the beauty business. These ladies from the UK, Ireland and Australia have taken the term Lipstick Entrepreneur and made it inspirational, whether it’s through direct sales, beauty blogging or product development. Go Ladies!