We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lacey Haegen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lacey, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Choosing the right name was elusive for a long time. When I started the company, I envisioned it being part of a movement to change the definition of “beauty.” Creating truly clean, ultra luxurious bath and skin care products was really only supposed to be a vehicle to help women feel taken care of, listened to, and valuable. Our passion is clean beauty, but our purpose is to inspire women to be themselves, live their truth, and not waste time or energy comparing themselves to, or trying to become versions of what the media constantly tells us is “beautiful.”
In the beginning, I tried to find progressive manufacturers that would collaborate with me to create products with minimal, truly clean ingredients. For a host of reasons, I was told over and over, “we don’t do that” or their definition of “clean” was very far from mine. The minimum order quantities were also completely untouchable at 5,000 to 50,000 units at a time. My only option felt like rolling up my sleeves, and making small batches of products on my own.
One day I was in my studio leafing through my favorite Art Nouveau books, and it struck me. Art Nouveau was a period in history centered in Paris between 1890-1914 that is considered not just an artistic style, but an artistic movement. It was during a time of political upheaval and unrest, and great disparity in income and resources between the rich and the poor. Art was a medium used in the battle between the bourgeoisie and the working class. A battle between the Have’s and the Have-Not’s. The definition of value was being challenged and it was greatly the working class artisans, craftsmen, and atelier workshops who were leading the charge for social equality and economic change. They were demanding that true value not be determined by the material that was being used, but that value is in the craft, and that humanity had worth, regardless of social or economic status. They argued that a painting was not worth the cost of the paint and canvas, the price of art would be determined by the years of practice, skill, and mastery, and the expectation for a decent quality of life. It was the art and the human that was valuable, not just the materials. They were setting their own prices and no longer willing to let their value be determined by the upper class. They were returning to the artful craftsmanship, and using organic botanical lines found in nature as their inspiration. They were disenchanted with mass produced manufacturing and saw it as wealth generating for the upper class and oppressive to the working class. Society was no longer willing to work for wages too low to survive, while the Bourgeoisie grew wealthy off their backs. Art Nouveau represents this entire conversation.
That day in my studio, I was struck by the parallels in Art Nouveau and the vision I had for the future. It was easy to compare the dissent with the mass production of that time with my disgust for the products being mass produced for us today. To see the mass production and sale of present day cosmetics as wealth generating for global corporate conglomerates and oppressive to consumers (especially women) with the inflated costs and astronomic margins, the low-grade and often harmful ingredients, and the marketing that is designed to set a homogenized, and often completely unattainable, standard of “beauty” for revenue and sales (ie:Buy this, so you can look more like her).
I could see the similarities between the shift in the definition of value during Art Nouveau, and the shift in the definition of beauty I was hoping for. I saw a further compliment with my hope that one day our value would no longer be connected to our beauty.
I was hoping that the small-batch makers that were becoming more popular would move the conversation about beauty. I was hoping women would start to see natural, botanical ingredients, and our crafts as more valuable than the mass produced product. And, I was literally working in a studio kitchen in a building built in 1903, perfecting my craft, making small batches of artisanal skin care made from organic, botanical ingredients. Hoping to share with the world the power, the beauty, and value of natural materials…with my own two hands.
Hence, the name Beauté Nouveau.
Art Nouveau shifted the value of humanity and art. Could Beaute Nouveau shift the value of women and beauty?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Lacey Haegen and I began working in the cosmetic industry as soon as I had a driver’s license at 16 years old. I fell in love with the industry and skin care products at my first job at Garden Botanika, which was a boutique very similar to The Body Shop in the 90’s. Subsequently, I have worked for Origins, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Chanel, Dior, Laura Mericer, Borghese, and Chantecaille, at Nordstrom, Neimain Marcus, and as an independent artist. I have also worked as a department manager for these retailers and have worked with, been trained by, all of the brands carried in the stores in some capacity.
I loved this industry for many reasons. I loved working with all of the women. I loved the products, the artistry, the training, and I loved the flexibility the retail hours allowed me so I could go to college. But, in my early 30’s I fell down a rabbit hole and began to see the industry through new eyes. The catalyst was my husband and his struggle with psoriasis. Having access to every product imaginable, I was constantly demanding that he slather this or that on his skin in an attempt to soothe and heal his skin. The ladies in my department were continually presenting me with a new cream for sensitive skin that had a powerful botanical extract that could help him. When my husband’s diagnosis became about way more than just psoriasis, multiple doctors had strict dietary regimens and we became obsessed with food ingredients.
It was only a matter of time before I put the microscope on top of the ingredients labels in cosmetics. In all honesty, I had never really paid attention before. Like a smitten kitten, I believed everything I learned in training. I memorized all of the buzzwords and relished the fairy tales spun by the marketing. Stories such as “vanilla planifolia has been used for centuries by the Jamu princesses to tighten skin after pregnancy.” Who wouldn’t want to breathe in that magic dust, float on that visual, and believe that the product that has vanilla planifolia in it is amazing!?
When I really dissected the ingredients on the boxes of my beloved creams and makeups, I was surprised and curious. I turned to google and started researching. Google kept showing me diagrams of chemicals and scientific jargon I couldn’t pronounce. Google images started showing me pictures of other products that had those same ingredients as my creams…like shower caulking, binding agents for cement, plastics, glues, and rubber. It was mortifying when I finally realized that the majority of ingredients in my skin care and makeup were silicone, polymers, and acrylates (aka plastics)…and the vanilla planifolia was wayyyy down at the bottom next to fragrance, yellow no. 5, and red no. 40.
So…if botanical ingredients are the star of the show, and are the reason why the product works, why aren’t the products made from ONLY botanical ingredients?
I officially fell fully out of love when I saw a particular perfume ad. It was a picture of a young girl who looked to be about 14 years old. She was bone thin and so pale she was almost translucent on the white background. I felt like I was looking at a child bride for sale. My heart sunk to my guts, and the thousands of faces I had applied skin care and makeup to, flashed before my eyes. I realized that everyone who sat in my chair had been there to be made “more beautiful.” To fix something that was “wrong” or “ugly” about her. Too many wrinkles, spots, lines. Wrongly shaped features. Age.
I couldn’t deny the marketing anymore. It isn’t just photography and art. It has curated messaging. It is meant to persuade, not just entertain. And much of that visual messaging has had a lasting negative effect that affects us individually and collectively. We’ve been shown so many pictures of “beautiful” people. These “beautiful” people have been paired with a “beauty” product with the underlying message being: this product is related to, or creates this beauty. So many women have come to me to help them find their perfect products that will connect them to the “beautiful” people. So much money spent. So much time spent. So much energy. Money, time, and energy that could be invested in their lifestyles, personal growth, financial security, vacations, families, dreams, healthy selfcare, and other priorities.
Between the ingredients and the marketing, I felt so powerless but I also had the visceral feeling that I had to do something. Like it was my calling. My status-quo challenging, entrepreneur parents encouraged me to purchase the celebrity botanical ingredients I had learned about from the big-brand-trainings and create my own recipes for products that ONLY had those ingredients. So, I did. I set up my kitchen and started to experiment. It was like learning to cook, but instead of food, it was skin care.
This was in no way an easy endeavor, but soon I got the hang of it. I would always share my creations with friends and coworkers and eventually people asked me to purchase more. Then they asked what else I could make. Then they told me what they wanted me to make. I began to realize this could become a business and that my friends and coworkers were my first customers.
That is when I really started to think about all of the women and customers I had worked with during my time working for the big brands. I realized that so many women had told me the same things over and over. Like: I don’t want to have to spend so much money on all of these products. I don’t have time for all of these steps. I just want one thing that does it all. I don’t want to have to wear all of this makeup. I don’t want to have to keep trying all of these new products.
I wondered, with so many women saying this, why isn’t the industry listening? I decided I would make my customers the first priority, listen to what they wanted, and products based on what my customers were asking for.
What I hope our clients know is that we operate in alignment with our values and the journey that brought us here. We are not interested in your beauty. We have interest in your value, your future, your quality of life, your self confidence, your dreams, aspirations, and talents. We have interest in how you feel treated, respected, and taken care of. We craft delightful products, from botanical ingredients, that will cleanse, moisturize, and feed your skin. Products that make you smell good, and hopefully create a self care experience so positive that you feel empowered to have a wonderful day, every day. We will treat you as we want to be treated ourselves and always provide excellent customer service. We will aspire to think of more ways to expand this mission in the future.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
How I funded the start of this business is one of those – awful in the moment – but a blessing in retrospect – stories. To make a long story short, my house was broken into, ransacked, and robbed. Whoever did it tossed the house upside down. Every drawer, cupboard, and closet dumped and strewn all over. Furniture overturned, mattresses upside down – the works. It was surreal trying to gather my bearings as I crept from room to room. When I reached my bedroom, I noticed that my pillowcase was missing and thought…why would they take my pillowcase? Then I found my jewelry box in another room…completely empty. The Police Officer told me that most likely the jewelry box was dumped into the pillowcase. I’ve never been much into jewelry and didn’t have huge ticket items, but there were sentimental items like my Grandmother’s wedding ring, my Mother’s pearls, a ring my Grandmother had given to me when I was a girl. I actually didn’t realize how many treasures I had in there until they were gone. None of the jewelry was ever recovered, but at least I was fortunate to file a homeowners insurance claim. The limit on jewelry loss in our policy was $5,000 and when the check arrived in the mail, I channeled all of the powerful, warrior, women in my lineage who had given those treasures to me, went to the bank and opened a business checking account. I’ve bootstrap funded this business from that first deposit.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
Our main revenue sources for the business are through e-commerce and wholesale sales of our products. One additional source is through one on one coaching other business owners, especially women who want to turn their craft into a business. Being an expert at a craft and wanting to share your passion with the world is very different from running a business. Finding a balance between the two roles is crucial and I enjoy supporting creative entrepreneurs as they figure out how to master both craft and business.
Our goal is to launch an e-course early in 2023 as both an additional revenue stream and a way to support more creative entrepreneurs by sharing best practices on business planning, pitfalls to avoid along the way, and shortcuts I have learned (often the long way). We are also working on a new blog to hopefully serve as an exposure platform for stories that need to be told and create affiliate relationships with brands we really admire to help them increase their reach, provide more resources to our clients and community, and generate additional revenue for the company as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beautenouveau.com
- Instagram: @beautenouveau
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH8u1ijsUvwoZWIbsNKKoew