MAKE UP TESTED ON MOVIE STARS
Spurred on by actress' request to wear chemical free make-up, Hollywood make-up artist joAnn Fowler set about creating a line of high performance organic cosmetics. Almost eight years on, she talks to CosmeticNews about growing the brand and encouraging all women to "make-up fearlessly"
How did Sappho organics come about?
I was a make up artist on The L Word (TV Show) for six and a half years. One day, one of the actresses, Mia Kirshner, announced that she wouldn't be wearing any more parabens. So i started to use all teh organics make up lines that i could find. I found that these ranges just didn't work on screen. A lot of european brands seemed to have a beige base, and I always used olive bases as I believe they suit most skin tones and allow you to cover redness without plastering on make-up. Out of desperation, I decided to create my own line.
What's Sappho's USP?
The range is free of chemicals, performance-driven and beautiful on the skin. It lasts and is a professionally developed product. It's not just organic. It's tried and tested - I spent an entire season testing it on the girls on the show so I often say "tested on movie stars not animals." I looked at a lot of mineral make up out there and developed recipes by using the best parts of everything before I tested it on the girls until I matched all their skin tones. In fact, actress Jennifer Beals has just recently become our brand spokesperson, at her request.
In which markets are you available?
We're in about 40 doors, mainly in upper-end pharmacies in Canada. We're in one store in Los Angeles, and hope the extend more widely into the US next year. We've also just sold to three stores in Saudi Arabia and have been offered distributorship in Korea. Our recent move into the UK via Nutricentre stores and the Nutribeauty website came about as a synergistic move.
How has the brand been performing so far?
Our sales have tripled in the last six months. For the first four years, i didn't have a distributor and had just six stores in Canada. We're now in about 40 doors and our website sales have triples so it's really taken off.
Who has been your main customer?
The demographic is the kind of woman who would be interested in yoga, inner health and they're generally in their 30s to 40s. At the moment, I'm really trying to get the brand to the 20s market. Women that age have more petrochemicals in their bloodstream than any other demographic, and yet they're at child-bearing age.
What's to come in the range?
I'm developing a lip range in biodegradable tubes adn there will also be some new eye shadows and blush colours before Christmas. we also have a couple more foundation colours coming in February. One of my many passions is to come up with a chemical-free make-up line for women of colour. That would be something to develop in the future.
Beatrix Hon, London
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