Bonjour & Yassas!
Hello kind humans! Or should I say Bonjour & Yassas!
If you have been following along, you may have noticed that I am having a combined work and personal trip over to Europe. What started out as a long-planned 40th birthday trip to Greece eventually rolled into work (I can't help myself!). After an incredible 12 days in Greece, I have just finished up a week in France, where I worked for a few days with meetings and attended Makeup Paris.
I am writing this from my taxi after just touching down in Milan, where I am spending the day to meet one of our manufacturers before flying to Naples this afternoon for another meeting. It feels like the days of being in one place for weeks at a time are long gone, but I know that at this critical growth stage of the business, time is precious. However, life is also precious, and having sacrificed so much for the business thus far, I prioritised my first actual holiday in years to spend with Ben as I turn 40. We also have our 10-year wedding anniversary.
Since I last spoke with you, so much has happened! We have launched the Alignment Lip Liners AND the Empowder Duette—both products that have taken such a long time to come to fruition! Now that it's been a couple of weeks since the launch, the team and I are beyond overwhelmed with all of the amazing feedback coming in for them.
The accessibility focus around the lip liner launch was a long time coming, and after years of wanting it to happen, it's great that we are up and away! We know it's most certainly not perfect, but we are excited to learn and adapt as we grow. Elly Desmarchelier is such an incredible ambassador for them, and we are so lucky to have had her support and leadership through this journey. We are excited to see her show the world why she's a powerhouse and making a big impact.
For the Empowder Launch, we had Chloe Fisher, who was wonderful to shoot and another perfect ambassador thanks to her existing love for the brand (especially as a big lover of the primer!). This shoot was in Bali and quite a big mission for us, but a really fun one. Sadly, at launch, Chloe had a health scare with her baby, who was keen to say hello to the world much earlier than expected. We had to cancel our Queensland event with her, but the launch was nonetheless really successful, and she looked absolutely stunning in the campaign.
I can't wait to touch base with you again when I'm back in Australia, and we can have some fun talking about more than just updates. I hope this finds you safe and healthy. It's a really tough time in the world right now with all of the horror going on with the genocide in Palestine and so much war and death (and lack of protection from governments). It's a really tough time to navigate emotionally, so my love is with you.
Till then, Ciao!
Hilary x