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11 April 2010 Beauty and the best: Meet the skincare and cosmetics revolutionaries By Fiona Mccarthy Fiona Mcarthy of the Mail on Sunday realised that it takes courage to take on the big guns of the beauty industry, but found seven women that with a bit of bravado and a great idea are making it off. Despite the global recession and an increasingly competitive market, they are proving that the revolutaionry spirit of grand beauty pioneers such as Estée Lauder, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden still thrives today. Our very own Kirstie was considered just one of these 7 revolutionary spirits and here is what they had to say about her. THE NEW SPA STAR 'Oxford history graduate Kirstie Allen, 29, could have pursued a corporate career. But, with her professional rugby player husband Luke Sherriff’s help and inspired by their travels to Asia, she opted for organically revolutionising the spa experience with the launch of Pinks Boutique in 2009. When I left Oxford, I was planning a management consultancy career and got a job with British Airways. Then 9/11 happened and it went pear-shaped, so I opted for a sports marketing internship. The girlie part of me, though, fancied having a pink beauty salon. My parents had worked in beauty wholesale and it interested me, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a therapist. I did a series of courses and set up a Pinks mobile beauty service. Then a nail tutor asked me to fill in for her class and I realised that my heart was in teaching. As a tutor, I met others like me – lawyers, doctors – who wanted to do something different but were time poor. So I set up Pinks Beauty Training Academy in 2004, offering fast-track beauty courses; we now train up to 2,000 people a year. At that time Luke, a human science graduate, was playing rugby for the Harlequins and his coach had decided to ‘organic’ the team – washing-up liquid, food, etc, had to be organic and natural. It made a huge difference to their fitness and made me rethink the products used on our courses.  I realised there were no organic professional ranges on the market, so Pinks Boutique was born. It’s the first spa brand – with everything for manicures, waxing, etc – to be Soil Association certified. Products are handmade in the UK and we’ve used our passion for Asia, from native flower scents to their holistic treatment approach, in the formulations. When I doubt what I’m doing, and think of the ‘safe’ route into professions such as law that my friends took, I realise that even though it’s hard to switch off and Pinks is with me everywhere I go, that’s what keeps me so inspired.' For full article click here

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11 April 2010

Beauty and the best: Meet the skincare and cosmetics revolutionaries

By Fiona Mccarthy

Fiona Mcarthy of the Mail on Sunday realised that it takes courage to take on the big guns of the beauty industry, but found seven women that with a bit of bravado and a great idea are making it off. Despite the global recession and an increasingly competitive market, they are proving that the revolutaionry spirit of grand beauty pioneers such as Estée Lauder, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden still thrives today.

Our very own Kirstie was considered just one of these 7 revolutionary spirits and here is what they had to say about her.

THE NEW SPA STAR

'Oxford history graduate Kirstie Allen, 29, could have pursued a corporate career. But, with her professional rugby player husband Luke Sherriff’s help and inspired by their travels to Asia, she opted for organically revolutionising the spa experience with the launch of Pinks Boutique in 2009.
When I left Oxford, I was planning a management consultancy career and got a job with British Airways. Then 9/11 happened and it went pear-shaped, so I opted for a sports marketing internship.

The girlie part of me, though, fancied having a pink beauty salon. My parents had worked in beauty wholesale and it interested me, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a therapist. I did a series of courses and set up a Pinks mobile beauty service. Then a nail tutor asked me to fill in for her class and I realised that my heart was in teaching.

As a tutor, I met others like me – lawyers, doctors – who wanted to do something different but were time poor. So I set up Pinks Beauty Training Academy in 2004, offering fast-track beauty courses; we now train up to 2,000 people a year.

At that time Luke, a human science graduate, was playing rugby for the Harlequins and his coach had decided to ‘organic’ the team – washing-up liquid, food, etc, had to be organic and natural. It made a huge difference to their fitness and made me rethink the products used on our courses.  I realised there were no organic professional ranges on the market, so Pinks Boutique was born. It’s the first spa brand – with everything for manicures, waxing, etc – to be Soil Association certified. Products are handmade in the UK and we’ve used our passion for Asia, from native flower scents to their holistic treatment approach, in the formulations.

When I doubt what I’m doing, and think of the ‘safe’ route into professions such as law that my friends took, I realise that even though it’s hard to switch off and Pinks is with me everywhere I go, that’s what keeps me so inspired.'

For full article click here