A Day in the Life of a Skincare Entrepreneur

There is nothing more fascinating than having a sneak peek into someone else’s life. What could be more interesting than finding out what a natural skincare entrepreneur does on a typical day? We asked some of our graduates who run their own businesses as well as Formula Botanica’s Director Lorraine. This is what they told us…

Pascale Edwards-Labelle runs Blue Labelle on the Isle of Wight. Her wonderful botanical skincare oils are in hot demand! She has a passion for all things natural, especially skincare, & has been making botanical oil blends for many years since discovering the amazing benefits of natural nut, seed, & essential oils. Blue Labelle’s range of products will leave your skin soft & nourished as well as smelling gorgeous. This is how Pascale spends her typical day:

 

Every day working for yourself is different which is great, but I normally start by going through emails and checking our social media- it’s such an important part of the business in this modern age! I’ve spent many hours going through Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, you can get lost in them! Then I go to wrap any orders that have come through from our website.

If I’m making batches that day I’ll make sure I have enough bottles sterilised, then make up the blends! It can be a long process but the ‘lab’ smells wonderful throughout. Pouring, fastening, labelling and storing follows, until the bottles are bought by one of our stockists or online. 

There is so much more that is involved with running the business- R&D, contacting suppliers, answering customer queries, sourcing new ingredients or packaging, market research, paperwork, accounting, delivering to shops or dispatching parcels, etc etc! Every day is filled with different tasks and I love every minute.

Anca Grigoras runs Mettā Skincare in Australia. Mettā Skincare is a range of natural skincare products created for you and your skin with an environmental and social consciousness. Using 100% natural ingredients and established relationships with local and international artisan producers, Mettā Skincare helps you reconnect your skincare routine to nature through a practice of loving-kindness for your skin. This is what Anca told us when we asked her about her typical day:

 

As with any entrepreneurial project I believe it’s important to know your own strengths and what helps you stay focused and be productive while at the same time remaining open enough to allow for the (many) unexpected things that come up every day.

This is why I love starting my day with 30 minutes of yoga and being reminded of the equal importance of grounding and flexibility. My creativity works best earlier in the day so my mornings are usually spent doing things that require the most mental focus: product making, writing, research, brainstorming ideas for new projects, etc.

In the afternoons I look after correspondence and social media as well as packing and mailing orders. I am very keen on developing partnerships with other businesses so at least one afternoon a week is usually reserved for meetings with like-minded entrepreneurs.

In the early evening I usually catch up on the latest natural beauty industry news, ingredients and formulation ideas. On most Sundays I have a stall at various local art and design markets where I spend most of the time talking to customers about the products and benefits of natural skincare and just love being surrounded by so many incredibly talented people and the beautiful products they make.

Obviously not every day is perfect and there are often unexpected delays or things that just don’t go according to plan. Running your own business can feel challenging sometimes because you know it is your responsibility to make everything happen. But at the same time it’s also incredibly rewarding to see that every day contributes towards shaping the growth and future direction of the business and I really enjoy every aspect of it.

Juliette Scarfe is the Founder of Bareskin Beauty, an award-winning UK-based natural skincare business. Juliette’s mission is to create exquisite skincare, drawing upon her knowledge of nutrition, vitality and wellness. Bare Skin Beauty was borne out of her determination to formulate and hand produce skincare with love, made with the finest, raw ingredients for radiant, blissfully youthful, healthy skin. Here’s a snapshot of Juliette’s typical busy day:

 

I am extremely fortunate to have been able to craft my dream and passions into a unique business; Bareskin Beauty. No two days are the same, and every day is a school day, in the sense that I am always learning and developing my skills.

The skin food organic skincare products that I created and formulated over a period of 3 years, using nutritional and holistic healing principles as their basis, is only part of my day-to-day activities. I hand craft and prepare each and every product in micro batches using a raw manufacturing process to preserve the precious nutrients to create exceptional skincare that supports and empowers the body’s ability to heal and regenerate.

I specialise in formulating customised skincare for clients that want or need bespoke products. This work I adore, as it uses my creative and problem-solving skills and draws upon all my knowledge and intuition to create products that bring joy to people’s lives and help them to love the skin they’re in. They may be simple formulations, for example a client recently asked me to make her a facial water-based serum, with the viscosity of baby lotion but with no essential oils. I made an aloe-based serum with organic hemp seed oil, organic aloe vera gel, organic monoi de tahiti and organic witch hazel, using organic sugar esters as the emulsifier. I love the product so much, that I am currently using it. A more complex product would be those I am asked to make for people with cancer or other chronic diseases to make them more comfortable in their final months. It is truly humbling and makes me feel like I am making a positive difference.

I run a busy holistic skin clinic every day for both adults and children to help them to overcome and heal skin conditions both common and rare. My unique holistic approach uses the skin as a diagnostic tool, I ‘read’ the skin and interpret what the condition of the skin tells me about the current and past health of the individual. I then go through analysis and the consultation process, am able to identify the underlying nutritional deficiencies and imbalances that are the cause of the skin condition. Once these are addressed via nutrition and lifestyle changes, the skin problem heals and does not return. The consultation report that follows is a blueprint for lifelong health, vitality and happy skin. I seek to inspire my clients to put themselves back at the centre of their health and wellbeing to understand that the food you eat today is the skin and hair you wear tomorrow.

I write all the content for my social media, newsletters and blogs and articles I write for others, this takes time out of every day. Each day I spend at least 2 hours researching innovative health reports and analysis for the purposes of my clinic work and for potential content for any future written work.

Every evening I run my organic treatment clinic offering bespoke facials and holistic treatments to stressed out Londoners looking for some blissful time out. I also offer teenage facials for those with congested and problematic skin and work with parents on the best nutrition for their kids to help to rebalance their hormones and reduce inflammation in the body.

Emails and calls, I get so many each day from all over the world, I spend a great deal of time responding to product enquiries, sales enquiries, stockist enquires etc. I research recipes every day and make them, for my new recipe e-book for optimal skin health. For the last 6 months I have been building a new, innovative website to create a Bareskin Beauty community so that we can all benefit from each other’s tips and advice on all things natural and healthy. It means I have very little time to myself to relax and reflect, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Finally, Formula Botanica’s Director Lorraine Dallmeier also wanted to chip in with her experiences in running the day-to-day business of your favourite Organic Cosmetic Science School.

 

I start my day by checking the messages that we’ve received overnight from our students and prospective students all around the world.  I will deal with these as they come in. Then I check into social media to see what’s happening, read how people are engaging with us and find out the latest science or gossip in the world of natural skincare.

Most mornings I’ve got coursework to mark and I spend my time going through the assignments that have been submitted by our students. If I’m doing some private label work that week I’ll then do some experiments in my skincare lab. After lunch when I get the opportunity I’ll write a blog post for Formula Botanica or my personal skincare science blog Herb & Hedgerow, or perhaps I’ll upload a DIY beauty recipe to my DIY Beauty Diva website. I’m also trying to write and collaborate on new courses for the School so I spend my time juggling lots of different ideas and getting excited about new opportunities.

My day always involves sorting out something technical or financial, or tweaking something on one of my websites – it’s a never-ending story when you have your own home on the web! However, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The freedom provided by running my own business is priceless and most importantly it means that I’m at home for my two young sons.

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Lorraine Dallmeier

Lorraine Dallmeier is a Biologist, Chartered Environmentalist and the CEO of Formula Botanica, the award-winning online organic cosmetic science school. Read more about Lorraine and the Formula Botanica Team.