BEAUTY INTERVIEW : with Lula Braithwaite, founder of Lovelula.com
The past few years have been extremely exciting for the award-winning online organic apothecary LoveLula.com. In 2009 the company won Best Retail Website in the Natural Health Magazine Beauty Awards and was awarded the prize again this year. Dare 2 sits down with the founder of Lovelula.com, Lula Braithwaite, to talk about organic beauty, a change in the industry and life as a mother.
What inspired you to start LoveLula.com?
I’ve always been passionate about natural beauty products but the idea really began to form when I trained as a naturopath 10 years ago. I wanted to create a retail company that gave natural brands a platform to shout about how great natural skincare products are and to make these niche and hard to find brands more widely available.
Why do you think customers keep coming back?
We’ve always focused on offering customers a great service with everything from our easy to navigate website, speedy delivery and offering generous reward points on every online order.
Have you noticed an increase in the number of customers wanting to buy more natural, greener, ethical products from more conscious companies?
Natural ingredients are creeping into many more main stream products; although sometimes unfortunately it’s more about green wash than anything else (when you read the ingredient label often there’ll be a small amount of one or two natural ingredients amongst a host of synthetics). I don’t think natural and organic products are just a trend though. Traditionally women have used natural skincare products for millennia and they really do work; once a woman decides to convert to natural products she tends to stick to it.
Research has shown that the chemicals used in many beauty products can lead to cancer, especially breast cancer, what would your advise be to women when choosing beauty products?
As a naturopath I firmly believe that we can best serve our health by sticking as closely as possible to natural ways of living. Synthetic chemicals have only recently (in terms of human evolution) been introduced into products that are used on and in our bodies and it’s far too soon for us to really understand the wider reaching effects of this.
There are a number of new organic and natural beauty brands hitting the market at the moment that have been designed by celebrities – like Miranda Kerr and Gisele Buchanan, what do you think about this? I think that the quality & therapeutic benefits of truly natural skincare products are still under appreciated and if people see that top models use these products too it may help them consider trying organic skincare for themselves.
Would you ever consider creating your our LoveLula beauty line? Maybe one day… !
What is one of your biggest selling items?
Trilogy’s rosehip oil has always been popular with LoveLula.com customers from the beginning. It’s simple but very effective (rosehip oil is a powerful anti aging treatment, can help reduce scars and stretch marks and is an excellent moisturizer for dry skin) and embodies so much about what natural and organic beauty is about; nature knows best.
How do you relax? Losing myself in a good book, walking in the beautiful forest behind my house or going out for a good meal with my husband or friends
Sum up your life in four words? Simple, family, fun, happy
Best kept secret in London? Jivamukti (Yoga centre)
Tea or coffee? Green Tea
Beauty secret? Know yourself and don’t be afraid of who you are
Favourite item of clothing at the moment? My holistic silk slippers
What would you like to have achieved by the end of this year?
I gave birth last month to a little boy…I think that’s enough achievement for one year!
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