It is easier than ever to start a beauty brand, but with rising costs and stiff competition among the challenges for founders, building a business that resonates with consumers and successfully scaling it is far harder.
However, a new wave of beauty brands coming out of Ireland appear to have cracked the code.
Trust and authenticity emerged as one of the standout foundations of Irish beauty brands, according to founders themselves – as has a supportive environment for entrepreneurs to pursue global ambitions.
“The brands breaking through in Ireland are almost all built by people with real credentials, whether that is nutritionists, make-up artists, skin therapists, or pharmacists, at a time when consumers place more trust in practitioner-led brands over the big legacy houses,” say Nutritional Therapists Jennie Haire and Lisa Hughes, the founders of Gigi, the Ireland-founded female health brand which launched in the UK this summer.
“Irish consumers are incredibly discerning,” says Pippa O’Connor Ormond, Director and Founder at Poco Beauty, the three-year-old Irish make-up brand which recently entered Selfridges in London, UK.
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