We all have tried selling stuff for some extra cash,
“I used to resell a lot of stuff on eBay, make jewellery, perfume, or even flavoured drink sachets, but I never actually thought about starting my own business “. When she’s not at work, Emma Durey is working. Due to allergies, she’s always had trouble finding cosmetics that work well for her. Inspired by Function of Beauty, a hair products company, and having seen the cosmetic industry’s push towards natural and sustainable products, she decided to try to make her own.
While experimenting on herself, Emma saw a gap in the cosmetics market in New Zealand, customizable products. Hence she decided to start up a side hustle; her company Allaura cosmetics is the first in New Zealand to make customizable products that are also plastic-free, vegan, and 100% natural. She launched her company last year and has already seen a 50 percent return on her initial investment.
“Big chains of business can’t be bothered to do custom things; it takes too long,” she said. Taking an ethical approach, just as many companies have, is one thing, but her approach to customization has certainly been what has enabled her to have such a strong start to her business. “It’s just more personal if it’s custom, it’s more fun, exciting, and interesting for me and them; providing something which is not just a general product, everyone has different skin.”.
In the two years leading up to her business launch, Emma trialled products. She first started with liquid face masks but ensuring they would stay preserved while being 100% natural proved to be a challenge. “They would always go mouldy because the packaging wasn’t sealed properly”. Avoiding plastic proved to be a problem, “I want to be as ethical as possible, minimizing waste, so every part of the packaging needs to be able to be recycled easily” she said. Eventually, after various experimentation, she settled on powdered masks.
Emma said as her business has grown and changed it’s inspired her to reach out to more people now that she’s happy with her product. People now ask her “Do you think you’re going to open a store in the future?”, to that she says “it would be hard to do as it’s custom, but maybe I can do something like froyo but for cosmetics”. She said the interest she’s gathered from her business has ultimately brought more people together than she thought ever would.
