Dr. Colette Haydon, founder of lixirskin, has been in the beauty industry for decades, initially to create and formulate skincare products for other brands. Her wealth of experience and knowledge led her to create her own brand, lixirskin.
Can you tell us a little about your background and the company?
I am a doctor in dermopharmacy, working with various brands and I had my own consultancy developing skincare for them before lixirskin started five years ago.
How did the idea come to you for the company?
Whilst working with these various brands and on different products I saw from clinical trials of multiple active ingredients that the results were not good. The skin gets tired, just like us if we’re asked to do too much. This ignited an idea inside me. I wanted to create a minimialist routine where a good formula does it all and lixirskin was created.
How did you achieve awareness?
I would recommend an excellent PR as this is fundamental to awareness. Digital marketing and social media are also important but you can’t grow awareness solely through this, press is very important.
How have you been able to gain funding and grow?
I personally have invested into the brand to fund it and grow.
What are the key successes?
Lixirskin is a product-driven brand, as opposed to marketing-driven, and the key successes have been the products we have created which deliver results for people and customers keep coming back to us which is the ultimate success of a business.
What were/are the challenges and how have you overcome these?
Like most businesses, we’ve seen challenges with Covid, Ukraine and also Brexit. In the past, we dealt directly with European retailers, but we are moving to distributors. This reduces the profit margin, but it is best to overcome the Brexit challenge.
What are your plans now/for the future?
The UK market is currently very difficult for indie brands, so we are looking to export further afield, in particular the Middle East and the EU with the right distributor as mentioned above. As an indie brand, we need to diversify to survive.
What would you like to share with others to encourage them to start their own entrepreneurship journey?
I always knew I wanted to have my own business. I would suggest people think very hard about whether you are an entrepreneur at heart before starting their own business. There are many advantages but there are also disadvantages, for example at the end of the day the buck stops with you!
Can you share your top tips for entrepreneurial success?
I believe there are 2 reasons for failure in business – not enough money or too much money! Not enough and you can’t budget properly, too much and a lot of money is wasted.
Who are the 5 people who inspire you the most and why?
I have 2:
Vivienne Westwood was my hero. I loved her creativity, her controversy and yet she was an excellent businesswoman.
My Grandfather – he had a small factory where I grew up in France and he taught me business values that I still use to this day.
What are your favourite inspirational /motivational quotes?
Business is a merry-go-round – you have to ride the wave of it, the ups and the downs.
What are your Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn social handles and also website links so our readers can connect with you?
https://www.instagram.com/lixirskin/
https://www.facebook.com/LixirSkin
https://www.linkedin.com/company/lixir-skin-ltd/
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