How to Launch a Personal Care Brand

All brands start somewhere. Some start as a childhood dream, while others begin the moment someone sees a need in the world, and they have an idea for how to solve it. This week, we want to talk about a personal care line that was both. I spoke with incredible entrepreneur, brand founder, and CEO Brittany Lo about the creation of her business, Beia, on how her dream became a reality.
 

Brittany Lo’s Personal Journey

As I mentioned, Brittany’s story begins in her 2nd grade journal, where she wrote that one day, she would have her own beauty business. In university, Brittany learned what it would take to start her own business, as she knew that’s what she really wanted to do.

After a summer internship at L’Oreal, Brittany had the opportunity to go full-time with this massive leader in the body, hair, and skincare world, but she turned it down in favor of starting her bridal hair and makeup business, Beautini. During her time working with clients at Beautini, she became aware that many women were facing similar issues – worries about sweat, body odor, and the like – but they were embarrassed to discuss them openly.

 

Starting a Personal Care Brand From Scratch

Brittany let us in on a little secret - it’s not as easy as googling “How to start my own business”. Even thought she was already a business owner, there was a lot she had to learn when it came to developing formulas, scaling those formulas up for mass production, and manufacturing.

Luckily, Brittany was able to start with her strengths. She began a mission of branding her product line - what should it look like, and more importantly, how should the branding make consumers feel? She started with Pinterest boards, mood boards, and collections of images that would later inspire Beia’s branding.

At the same time, Brittany connected with friends, family, clients, and anyone else who would listen about her ideas. While she bounced her thoughts off her inner circle, she gathered valuable information about what real women – her future clients – needed.

 

Source High Quality Ingredients - Going Above and Beyond Industry Standards

Industry standards set by the FDA for all things health and beauty aren’t particularly stringent compared to the restrictions in places like Australia, Asia, and the EU. Brittany followed the lead of other industry leaders and sought higher standards for her brand.

Creating a vegan product line also isn’t the path of least resistance (and it’s definitely not the cheapest option). It was important to Brittany to develop a brand that she would use every product from, and for her, that meant creating a 100% vegan product line (even though she herself isn’t vegan in a dietary sense).

 

Find a Chemist Who Can Scale a Formula

How do you create a new skincare product? Unless you’re a chemist, you’re going to need to find a knowledgeable one to help you bring your dream to life. Brittany was grateful to have worked with a chemist who could not only create the prototypes of the products she was envisioning, they also helped her to scale the product up for large-scale manufacturing. Developing a formula that will scale for mass production is critical at the early stages.

 

Skincare Manufacturers - Challenges Faced By New Brands

Finding a skincare manufacturer can be tough. Brittany had it all – the dream, the product, the proof that she could start an incredible, profitable business, but when she went to pitch her product to manufacturers, she ran into some challenges. 

Most manufacturers want to focus on large, established businesses. That’s how they make their money. Luckily, Brittany was able to get a foot in the door through a prior connection. She recommends trying to go through people you know through the industry rather than pitching cold to manufacturers (if you’re trying to save yourself a headache).

 

Ready to Start a Personal Care Brand?

We hope this blog gives you some of the information you need to know to get your brand off the ground. We want to thank Brittany Lo for her amazing insights, which she shared on Episode 010 of the Nourify & Beautify podcast. For more from Brittany, please check her episode out or find her (and her business Beia) on Instagram.