Tell us a little bit about your background, and how you got your start in the beauty industry.
When my plan to study at university fell through, I started my career as an intern at a PR agency and slowly built a career in social media which was still a new industry at the time for brands. Working for Selfridges and Burberry and getting the opportunity to work on campaigns featuring supermodels Kate Moss, Cara Delevigne and Jourdan Dunn for clients including London
Fashion Week, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors and Victoria Beckham, built my background.
What inspired LILY ENGLAND?
Looking to Instagram for inspiration, Founder Kayleigh Graham said she started the brand in 2015 after seeing a gap in the market for vegan, cruelty-free, beautiful beauty tools that were also affordable.
The collection represents more than just beauty tools. What is the concept behind the brand?
We set out from the start to create a portfolio of beauty tools that are all beautiful, cruelty-free, vegan and never compromising on quality. Hair brushes and makeup brushes are some of our most loved products. We work with the same suppliers as luxury brands but we are able to offer our products for less than the typical cost by cutting out crazy markups, middleman and excessive marketing spend.
Is there a particular beauty tool that was most exciting or enjoyable for you to create?
Our hairdryer was one of our most successful launches in 2020, we started the design process and searched for specialist factories from 2017 so after 3 years of development, it was amazing to see this product come to life.
We have also recently brought out a Lazy Makeup Bag that utilises cooling fabric technology that is perfect for summer holidays or sunny camping trips that helps keep your cosmetics cool and avoid melted makeup.
What sets your brand apart from other beauty tool brands in the market?
Lily England listens to consumers. Spending hours trawling the internet reading thousands product reviews, we take the consumers feedback and flip it into a positive, by injecting it back into the tools we develop – from make-up brushes, hair brushes and straighteners to beauty bags – each product in the collection is always thoughtfully crafted to give the consumer exactly what they want and what they can’t find elsewhere.
What are the benefits of LILY ENGLAND products?
All of our products are 100% Cruelty-Free and Vegan. Lily England products are luxury, beautiful tools that have been crafted to meet the needs of our customers while remaining affordable and accessible.
What is your advice for an aspiring beauty entrepreneur?
The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to believe in myself, at first I was always so nervous about designing new products and worried whether people would love them, however as time has gone on I’ve become more confident and worry less about failures and this has helped excel the company forward
What are your tips for incorporating beauty tools into our stay-at-home routines?
As hard as it has been with salons having to close, it’s a great opportunity to master your at home beauty skills, whether it’s finally learning how to achieve the perfect bouncy blow-dry with our Round Brushes or taking time to pamper yourself. Using our Lily England Manicure Set can save you time and money to spend on other things. Spending time on yourself is a great way to boost your wellbeing and confidence.
What is your favourite make-up trend right now? And your least favourite?
I am pregnant and loving the shift from heavy, mattified makeup trends to more natural, glowy products. I find myself reaching for cream blushes, bronzers and lightweight foundations and tinted lip balms like NARS Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm. I’m all for being more confident with your own skin and letting your natural beauty shine through by enhancing what you already have.
What has been your career highlight?
I think the biggest challenge but most rewarding part of my career has been adapting to running a business while raising my daughter, I had to adapt to utilising my time efficiently by working during nap times, replying to emails at the 3am wake-ups and night feeds and sit in on meetings while breastfeeding, but luckily I had a great support network which allowed me to continue working on growing Lily England.
Another highlight is knowing thousands of people have our products sitting under their Christmas tree every year and the joy those gifts can bring.
What is next for Lily England? And would you ever think to dabble into another area of beauty?
We are constantly evolving and creating new ideas, our team has doubled in the past year and we’re working hard on being better with everything we do. We plan to continue our expansion with new innovative products and expanding to a worldwide audience. Our customers are constantly asking us for different products so we’re looking at expanding our range of products into different beauty niches later this year – watch this space!
And finally, what does beauty mean to you?
Beauty is a means of empowering yourself, feeling comfortable in your own skin and embracing your imperfections and feeling confident.
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