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What happened when The Beauty Dept. caught up with BEAUTY PIE’s CREATIVE ADVISOR-AT-LARGE, Marcia Kilgore
She's given facials to everybody from Uma to Madonna to Oprah, created a day spa boom - with Bliss - in the United States, built Soap & Glory from a brainwave (before selling it to Boots), and created the footwear brand for superwomen - FitFlop. Here, she tells us how she came up with her latest brainwave, BEAUTY PIE.
Well who wouldn't be? Show me a woman who doesn't love this idea. A virtual backstage pass direct onto world-class cosmetic factory production lines, being part of a buyer's club for beauty addicts? It's online. It's easy. It's egalitarian. Fast. Forward. Who wouldn't want to wave the flag?
Shopping BEAUTY PIE is the beauty junkie’s version of being a kid in a candy store. It's riotously self-indulgent, but completely guilt-free.
Well women can be a lot more creative with colour when the electric blue eyeliner doesn't have a whopping effect on their wallet. And as BEAUTY PIE has a roster of great guest make-up artists coming in to curate and create a constant stream of perfectly on-trend product, the best in beauty will no longer only available to those with unlimited budgets! It's the democracy of deluxe.
That would be all BEAUTY PIE - some approved, some lab samples - all the time.
Putting on way too many layers of foundation is just never fresh.
The Everyday Great Skin Foundation which, when dabbed down the centre of your face, massaged around, then a little extra layered on red spots, makes my tired skin look absolutely marvellous. And I'm obsessed with One Powder Wonder, which is like one big invisible blotter...
Two ways: I've either used it all up, or shed a small but palpable tear when I have to rotate my half-used bottle of it to the next-in-line tester.
The only thing that's constant is change, right? And if we're afraid of it, we're frozen. I recently read that 'the simple fact that an industry is moving in a direction is proof that that direction is the only direction'. And transparent pricing is all over fashion and accessories already (look at Everlane, and Warby Parker). Millions of people pay every month for 'access' memberships (to the NYTIMES, or to Amazon Prime, or for NetFlix or PANDORA or SPOTIFY). The only thing new with BEAUTY PIE is that you pay a small fee for your access, and then again for the factory cost of each product. It's like crowdsourcing the ownership of a great global cosmetic factory. BEAUTY PIE is an amalgamation of existing modern marketplace concepts applied to the beauty industry.
Ornate, multi-layered, metallized packaging, which – in cosmetics – is often hundreds of times heavier than the product filled inside it - may look great now, but facing it as landfill in the future is NOT at all luxurious. I advocate for simple, beautiful, elegant packaging that's LIGHTER on the environment, and at BEAUTY PIE, that has meant no weights, no glued-on overshells, no metal cladding or foils, using eco-friendly Earthinks where possible, and keeping it simple and more likely to be recyclable!
I thought you'd never ask.
I once had a product developer on my team at Bliss who I nicknamed FEARLESS (her real name was Susan) because nothing phased her. I love a girl who just goes for it. In fact, I love to see anybody going for it. (Not in a stupid, reckless way, but in a 'go for it' kind of way.)
Humble self-confidence and a dry sense of humour.
My current favourite is borrowed from Seth Godin, who implores:
Don’t just sit there waiting for someone to choose you. Choose yourself.
As Tina Turner without the bad 'Ike' chapter. She was just awesome in every way.
This week I am in my hotel room in Hong Kong, attending Cosmoprof Asia, after having spent a week in China at one of FitFlop's favourite shoe factories. Saskia, who is head of Product Development at BEAUTY PIE, and I are going to hit the tradeshow floors for a couple of days to scout for new suppliers.
Every day is a perfect day. Those that go well are momentum. Those that don't are lessons learned. The biggest challenges are our biggest teachers. So difficult days are actually our best opportunities!
Amelia Earhart, who reminded us that "There's more to life than being a passenger", Hillary Clinton, because she's so tough, who said "Take criticism seriously, not personally" and Rosa Parks, who in the face of uproar, refused to take a seat at the back of the bus.
In fact, I would challenge all women, every day, to refuse to take seats at the back of the bus.
Beauty: Avoid the asymmetrical haircut/perm combination at all costs. Other: Work hard, do a lot of favours, connect with people, give what you can, help who you can, bring opportunities to others, and never hesitate to ask for a favour. Getting a NO is not going to kill you. (I just read something that said we should never think of a NO as a NO, but rather a NOT YET.)
Want to try BEAUTY PIE for yourself?
This glowing woman is Kay Ali – super nutritionist, supplements guru, and sometimes known as 'the hormone whisperer' (because of her in depth knowledge of how diet and nutrition can affect your hormones, your mood, your stress levels, your cycles and your skin and hair).
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