Pink Salad LDN

MY LIPGLOSS IS COOL, MY LIPGLOSS IS POPPIN’, MY LIPGLOSS IS VEGAN AND SUPPORTS A BLACKOWNED BUSINESS.

In the digital age of transient beauty trends and massproduced cosmetics, the clamour of brands fighting veneer tooth and acrylic nail to get their product to the forefront of consumer’s fingertips, is deafening. With the UK’s beauty industry valued at £27.2 billion in 2018, market saturation is amplified by millions of variations of products in every shade and formula you could possibly dream of, making it harder than ever to break through and shatter the glass ceiling.

Yet, amongst all this white noise, London-based beauty brand Pink Salad Ldn (PSL) has seen incredible success; striving forward with a home-grown business model and an unparalleled engagement with their consumer base. VIPER sat down with CEO & Founder, Stacy Morris, to learn more about what it takes and where it’s taking her.

The embodiment of brains and beauty, Stacy started the business whilst in her final year studying Mechanical Engineering at University. She speaks on fusing engineering with creativity, describing her childhood aspirations to become a “mad scientist with crazy hair and doing crazy stuff” and how her family’s love of Formula One sparked an interest in becoming an F1 engineer. Adorned with striking hot pink braids and sharing her latest ingenious inventions online, she isn’t too far from her mad scientist dreams.

Taking her from the laboratory to the timeline, Stacy never anticipated her spontaneous 1am post on TikTok sharing how to DIY lipgloss would gain the 41.5M likes and 2.2M followers PSL has on TikTok today. Despite having no intentions of creating a beauty brand, viewers volunteered themselves as customers, asking her to sell the lipgloss; hence, she refers to PSL as her “accidental business.” Behind the unexpected and unbelievable success, it is evident that PSL is a product of the founder’s determination, a true stroke of business acumen, and brilliance. She recalls the days of “working for hours everyday for months, on both the business and getting a degree,” accrediting the demanding nature of her chosen vocation and growing up with an insightful and driven mother, in helping cultivate her strong discipline.

Entrepreneurship in the digital beauty era is a newfound and ever-changing landscape, a tricky terrain to traverse, let alone whilst sitting at the intersection of being young, female and black. The most entrepreneurial female grouping is that of Black and Caribbean women at 40.5% of Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in the UK. Though it has been found that women start businesses with around one third of the level of finance of their male counterparts, in every size and sector of business. Given the obstacles this staggering statistic poses, Stacy highlights the importance of seeing herself in the faces of successful women around her; “Jackie Aina and Patricia Bright are really successful black women, their authentic approach was important for me to see they were unapologetically themselves, that’s a huge inspiration for me.” She continues, “having a successful black woman in my life, like my mum, is amazing because I look at her and I see that black women can be successful and we don’t have to apologise for doing that, we can do what we do and we can do it well.” The same thread of authenticity Stacy sees in these women is woven into the PSL culture, she advises that this is the essence of their success. Speaking to other aspiring businesspeople, she says, “Let your personality shine through your business persona, allow it to permeate through your business and people will feel and love that authenticity. Be as authentic as you can and people will naturally want to celebrate you, help you, push you, and support you.” Framing her advice with a sense of perspective, Stacy goes on to explain how Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) must be self-aware and self-assured, starting with a thoroughly methodical approach in the logistics to a genuine belief in the goals, “You want to be able to answer any questions about your brand immediately and with confidence - to say who you are and what your brand is about, a really solid plan is really important.”

Fellow graduate turned entrepreneur, Grace Beverley, is quoted as another of Stacy’s inspirations. The TALA and Shreddy founder is reshaping the fitness sphere with environmentally friendly alternatives and PSL has adopted similar values in their business ethos. Every PSL product is 100% vegan, the glitter used is biodegradable and they endeavour to obtain mostly sustainable packaging. In addition to a concern for environmental factors, PSL is dedicated to the overarching pillars of sustainability, “it’s about combining environmental, social, and economical elements.” This is reflected in their ethical working standards as PSL are able to offer their employees double the minimum wage in Poland where their factory is based, “we want our staff to have a good life and live well, to be able to afford to do things, and that is part of sustainability.” In the initial scaling stages of the business, Stacy was approached by various manufacturing companies offering to outsource the

production of her lip products, but she continues to create these herself with the PSL team, ensuring the business maintains integrity of production and quality, in addition to preserving a close relationship with her customers. From naming the products, to requesting specific colours, customers maintain a vocal presence throughout the process and PSL truly is a brand for the people from the people.

In aligning traditional business values with her dynamic approach, Stacy has established PSL with refreshing distinction and we can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next. For now, she teases an expanded range in 2021, starting with an exciting Christmas release and an upcoming shade which is her favourite yet, ‘Toasted Velvet’, a similar gloss to the fan favourite ‘London Plum’ which was discontinued earlier this year. Above all, if you are to invest in just one product from PSL (firstly, that’s ill-advised as you’ll only go back for more), Stacy recommends the Fre$h Mint lip oil; a hydrating formula to tingle and stimulate the senses with a warm embrace, the perfect product to represent PSL.

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