Here at Tide, our members are front and centre of everything we do, and our Member Spotlight series is no different!
In this series, we share a little bit more about some of our brilliant members.
Today, we introduce you to Laricea, founder of Achillea Beauty™. Laricea started the business out of her own desire to find a skincare product that was particularly effective in hydrating skin during workouts.
Hi Laricea, the concept behind Achillea Beauty™ is creating beauty products that are dedicated to the times for when a person is active. What was the inspiration for this idea?
It all started with my own need for a skincare product dedicated to workouts – I exercise 5 days a week, and I was looking for a product that would hydrate my skin whilst being active, since my face would get very tight and dehydrated. I searched everywhere but couldn’t find anything, so I figured why not try to create something myself?
What has your business journey been like since you first launched?
Very bumpy! Launching a business isn’t for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. You need resilience, patience, and a lot of determination, plus a mindset that’s different from everyone else. Don’t think outside the box, try to build a completely new box.
The journey hasn’t been easy due to production challenges, and it’s also difficult to gain traction at the beginning without a significant marketing budget.
At Tide, we’re committed to being fully Net Zero by 2030. You mention on your website that you source clean ingredients and focus on materials that are kind to the environment. Could you tell us more about this?
Sure, this is one of my favourite things about Achillea Beauty™! We believe that what’s inside matters most – using super intelligent, powerful ingredients and minimal packaging, to ensure the smallest footprint on the environment.
All our packaging, bottles, boxes, labels are recycled and further recyclable, and are made in the UK by small businesses. Our mailing envelope is made of leftover sugarcane and our water bottle pouch is created using leftover apple skins. We donate 10% of each sale to planting trees in the UK and Romania, and all our ingredients are completely transparent and traceable.
You support Forests Without Frontier, a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to restoring and protecting nature across the UK and Europe for future generations. Could you tell us more about this?
For each sale, we donate 10% to Forests Without Frontiers, an organisation very close to our hearts given that both my partner and I are from Romania. They’ve been operating since 2018 and have planted over 155,000 trees in Romania, as well as over 10,000 in the UK, supporting rewilding key parts of both countries.
Through this programme and our recycled minimal packaging, we’re trying to limit our business’s impact on the environment as much as we can, which is a value we cherish in our daily lives as consumers and members of society.
Can you tell us more about the science behind Achillea Beauty™ and the ingredients you choose to put in your products?
Our formulations have been researched for over 4 years, and we went through over 20 variations before we found the perfect products specifically dedicated to workouts. Our ingredients are clean, easily traceable and with a really high degree of potency. They take advantage of the short but unique state of the skin during exercise, as well as the pre and post-workout moments when the skin really needs dedicated skincare.
We’ve done a lot of research on the most effective combination of active ingredients that would get activated by open pores, increased skin temperature and blood flowing closer to the skin surface. Our formulations include a mix of fruit enzymes, hyaluronic acid, retinol, and peptides, which help keep skin clear, super hydrated, youthful, and glowing. The ingredient all three products – re and post-workout cleanser, facial spray activated by exercise and in-shower mask – contain is yarrow, which is a plant found in abundance across Europe that has amazing healing and restoring properties. In Romanian, it translates literally to ‘the mouse’s tail’, and its scientific name is ‘Achillea Millefolium’, which gives us our brand name and logo.
As a woman in business, what are some of the challenges you have faced and how have you navigated them?
One of the biggest challenges was not being taken seriously, which led to imposter syndrome. This made my journey quite difficult and slowed our progress. But I’ve tried to take a step back, look at the bigger picture and educate myself by taking positive inspiration from other women. I’ve also reached out for advice from various friends, family and acquaintances, which really helped as they provided a fresh perspective and new ways at resolving the problem.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start a business in the beauty industry?
Make sure you get your unique positioning and your niche articulated well as this is one of the most crowded and competitive verticals out there, where companies appear and disappear at alarming rates. And, of course, the why. Why did you start the business and what problem are you going to resolve for your potential customers?
What’s next for Achillea Beauty™?
We’re excited about potential collaborations with yoga and fitness studios across Romania. Entering the brick-and-mortar space is a big step for us as a young brand, and we can’t wait to see where this journey takes us!
