Can you tell us about Curate Beauty and what inspired you to start the business?
 

Margot: Curate Beauty is a wholesale marketplace built for independently owned beauty and lifestyle brands. Our customers are retailers who want to discover, browse, and buy the best indie beauty inventory for their shops, quickly, painlessly, and online. We’ve basically built an e-commerce solution for business purchasing.

 

Sam and I both had experienced the inefficient and outdated wholesale model in our previous roles, hers as a beauty editor and mine in buying at a luxury department store. We were so inspired by the passion and purpose built into all the indie beauty brands we came across, but were frustrated that nobody was providing them with the proper tools to make their lives easier and streamline their buying process. So we decided to change things.

 

What are some amazing things you’ve learnt from other indie brands that you’ve worked with?
 

Margot: Definitely the power of community and sharing resources. We’ve met so many wonderful people who have been enthusiastic about helping each other out, I think this is probably the best part of being in the startup world.

 

As an independent business yourself, what advice can you give to other self-starters?

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Samantha: Networking really is key! Meet everyone you have the opportunity to, you never know where that person will go next, or how they can help you later on your journey. It’s definitely been a great way for us to get the business to where it is today, c, that was down to a lot of meetings! Take advantage of free events within your network - Eventbrite, Business of Fashion and we also host regular events that are free to join!

 

What are some of the important lessons you’ve learned as founders?
 

Margot: For us, I think the key lesson is to experiment frequently and gradually, but to make sure we’re continually taking risks. We’ve learned a lot of expensive lessons that maybe we could have learned for less if we had approached them more cautiously. But also, being too cautious can hinder growth. It’s a fine, fine line!

 

Any independent brands that you want to shout-out / reasons you love them?
 

Samantha: That’s like asking us to pick our favourite child! There are so many, a few we really love right now if we really had to pick would be:

• Manta Hair - this award winning hairbrush really is the gold standard of brushes, it combs your hair like you’re using your fingers, is gentle, minimises hair fall out and massages your scalp helping to stimulate new hair growth.

• The Muses London are a British brand that create the most gorgeous copper candles that smell absolutely delicious - even when not lit (a real bonus!) They offset their carbon footprint and plant a tree for every candle sold, and you can also reuse the pot as a makeup brush holder when it’s finished!

• HOLM - you may be familiar with House of Lady Muck (the nail salon) well their founder has now created her own range of products, and they’re epic. Their ‘Chill The F*ck Out’ gift set is so dreamy and contains their Liquid Gold Bath Oil, The OG Bergamot + Parsley Scented Candle and some pink tipped matches.

 

Anything we should look out for with Curate Beauty in 2021?
 

Samantha: We are in the process of having a bit of a website refresh - so that’s the first exciting thing. We should see it launch in Q2 and it will come complete with some really great factors like brand-retailer chat and also a much more streamlined user experience. We have also been busy planning a partnership with a big department store, which should launch in April - all fingers crossed!

 

What can we do to support your business?
 

Margot: Shouting about us and sharing contacts! Like I said before, we love how supportive everyone is in the indie community, and we want to meet as many people as possible, even just to share stories, get to know new businesses, and see how we can help each other.

find more at: curatebeauty.com

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