A woman from Cardiff is set to make £5million this year from a company she launched from a £6,000 credit card balance.
Growing tired of seeing skincare companies selling an “unachievable dream” of “flawless skin”, Laura Mallows, 31, wanted to come up with her own brand that “celebrates imperfections” and empowers people to “love themselves”.
Now turning over millions of pounds, Mallows Beauty has grown a cult following since going viral on TikTok and Instagram after its launch in 2020 and is now aiming for “world domination”.
Taking it back to the start, Ms Mallows told Express.co.uk: “I sat at my dining room table, brainstormed, found suppliers, found an amazing graphic designer and borrowed my parent’s credit card with £6,000 on and went from there! I repaid it in a month, which I think they were happily surprised at.”
Ms Mallows said her plan was to launch with retailers and initially received orders from Superdrug, Skinnydip London and Missguided, just by showing graphics of a Christmas gift pack.
But when the world closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Mallows had to “completely” change her tactics.
She said: “No retailers were taking on new brands and orders were reduced massively, so I started posting on Instagram and TikTok. I had never created any content but I had no choice. I couldn’t afford to hire anyone who specialised in social media and it was so expensive to pay an agency.
“I quickly learnt what worked and what didn’t. We initially went viral on Instagram and then started going viral on TikTok.
“TikTok changed my business massively. In a year we went up 200,000 followers and I couldn’t keep anything in stock. As soon as we had it, it sold out.”
Ms Mallows launched the brand with three masks, which included her viral Pineapple Enzyme Peel Mask and two body scrubs. Now, Mallows Beauty boasts a full skincare range, including serums, scrubs, cleansers, toners, and accessories.
Ms Mallows added: “All my skin and body care is vegan and made in the UK, too.”
Ms Mallows says she still “pinches herself” about the fast success of her business and feels “empowered” that she and her daughter are now financially secure.
Ms Mallows said: “I’m not really money motivated, I am success motivated. Worldwide domination is what I am going for, I want to expand globally as fast as I possibly can.
“I don’t really stop and think about what I have accomplished as I am purely focused on what I need to do to build the business.”
Ms Mallows continued: “I am proud of the amazing community that I have built, and that me and my daughter are financially secure, we don’t need to rely on anyone else which is really empowering. I always thought that I could do anything I set my mind to, and I’m out to prove everyone who ever doubted me wrong.
“Body and skin positivity isn’t just a marketing campaign for us – it’s in every decision we make, every label, every graphic, and every post on social media.
“I am on a mission to change the world one body scrub at a time, and hopefully make the world an easier place for my daughter to live in so she and young people growing up today can love themselves rather than growing up hating every inch of their being.”
