The Scottish Herald

Journalist Erin Mc Dermott from the Scottish Herald writes about our sales boom during the pandemic. The following are some excerpts from the article:

Sarah, who grew up in Dublin, had worked as a nurse for 15 years before delving into beauty therapy, though having been unable to find her niche in that line of work she turned back to the care sector. But a few years ago, a friend told her about a body butter recipe that she thought was quite cool, so she experimented by making it.

"I just realised how fun it was to make a product so I started making other things," she says. "I think because I've had my training as a nurse and as a beauty therapist, I thought, 'this isn't just fun, but I've got the background knowledge to really do this'.

"So, it started as a hobby and friends and family then encouraged me to go into business. I also qualified as a clinical aromatherapist, to give myself more knowledge."

Sarah believes the recent growth in sales for Amaranthine is in part due to an increasing amount of people turning their backs on larger beauty firms.

"I think people are starting to move away from these larger companies and are wanting to support small local brands these days," she says. "People are realising that with these big companies, a commercial product will have a lot of fillers in it. Water is the main ingredient in a lot of these products, with active ingredients far down the list. Whereas if you are using natural ingredients such as shea butter or raspberry seed oil - natural ingredients that come from plants which are full of nutrients, it acts like skin food."

Despite not being able to compete with the marketing budget of large brands, Sarah believes customers prefer to order from indie brands now more than ever. She says: "With social media sites like Instagram, people can get to know you and your brand and gain a more personal connection."

Read the full article here.