Last week, Brown Thomas Dundrum hosted a live Q&A with beauty entrepreneur Jamie Genevieve to discuss the latest launch from her cult beauty brand, VIEVE.
Detailing her journey from working behind the counter of Estée Lauder as a make-up artist, right up to her current her role as founder and CCO of VIEVE, it is clear that the Scottish woman has prioritised the customer at every turn.
Sitting in front of an intimate group of beauty lovers and super fans, discussing everything from motherhood to the latest beauty trends, Genevieve was as warm and welcoming as her wildly popular social media channels (she has a combined following of over 2.6 million) would suggest.
"I thought that to be a successful make-up artist, you had to do red carpet and you had to do A-list, but I realised that's just not for me," she said. "It's people that I love. Beauty is so different for each person, in the way that we wear it and in the way it makes us feel."
In the early days of her career, the MUA would share photos to Instagram in the morning and upload vlogs to YouTube at night, all while working behind the counters of multiple beauty brands during the day, and picking up the odd shift at a local bar.
"I was pouring everything into it, but I don't know how I managed to do it," she laughs. "I started YouTube in such an organic way. I remember starting these weekly vlogs, moving away from beauty a little bit, and all these people who found me through make-up started to find out more about me and my life."
Throughout the pandemic, Genevieve continued to post beauty content online, growing her community throughout the worst of the lockdowns. Developing a relationship with her followers, she says she was inspired to bite the bullet and launch her own brand in November of 2020.
"I wanted it to be a small collection so that people could give me their feedback and start a bit more of a dialogue," she explains.
From designing an eye-liner wand with a flat edge for better control, to creating skincare infused make-up for tired mums, Genevieve insists that feedback and discussions from within her community are key to how she runs her business.
As well as online discussions, she enjoys taking inspiration from around the globe, and has become particularly interested in the world of K-Beauty since manufacturing her products in Korea.
"I'm desperate to go there just to see what the beauty industry is like," she says. "It's a step ahead. The labs there are incredible for blending skincare ingredients but they don't have much experience in working with pigments for deeper skin."
While products such as Skin Nova, a primer packed enriched with Beta-Glucan and Niacinamide, were blended together seamlessly, the founder says she had to fight to create a sheen that would suit all skin tones.
"I had to get this pigment right," she insists, adding that creating diverse products should be a "non-negotiable" to beauty brands.
"Similarly to the brand being vegan and cruelty-free, I just knew that had to be the standard," she said. "When creating products, I just knew that it had they had to be universal products or accessible products for everyone."
To hear Jamie Genevieve discuss the make-up scene in Ireland, and how her relationship with beauty has changed since becoming a mum, click on the video above.
