A Sunshine Coast mother-of-two, who launched her clean mineral makeup and natural skincare brand in 2014 with a $10,000 investment, is now in charge of a global beauty phenomenon.
Birtinya’s Stacey Hollands has built Lust Minerals through the power of influencer marketing and strong customer relationships.
It has quickly developed a cult following the world over (313,000 followers on Instagram) and is proving to be a sell-out success, after filling a gap in the market.
The Lust Minerals range – 100 per cent vegan, paraben-free, Australian made and not tested on animals – is developed in partnership with an Australian manufacturer.
The brand sells the clean mineral makeup and natural skincare products through its e-commerce site, and has become a beauty powerhouse.
It achieved $1 million in sales within the first 18 months, a 610 per cent growth in the past two years, and was reported to be on track to hit $10 million-plus by the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
Since January 2019, the company has had $20 million-plus in turnover.
The best-selling product is the Lust Minerals Pro Liquid Foundation, with one being sold every two minutes globally. The foundation has more than 100,000 customers and in excess of 1000 five-star reviews.
In April, Ms Hollands won the Small Business Champion Entrepreneur at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards.
She was most recently recognised for her achievements in the Inside Retail’s 2023 Top 50 People in e-commerce.
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Before launching Lust Minerals, Ms Hollands worked as a beauty therapist for eight years.
The idea to start the cosmetics company came when her father David Cook was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and the role of toxins in bad health became very real to her.
“After losing my Dad to cancer at a young age, it really made me realise we don’t get a
second chance and that chemicals can play a part and lead to so many health issues,” she said.
While there were plenty of natural-based products available, few married “clean” and
“high-performance” to deliver results.
Ms Hollands spent more than two years working with a product developer to perfect her first offering: a mineral foundation.
In September 2014, at the age of 25 and just seven months after her father died, Ms Hollands released the brand.
“Growing up, I suffered with breakouts which, as a teenage girl, made me self-conscious,” Ms Hollands said.
“Being in the industry, I found so many girls were like me, coming into the salon asking for my help with their skin.
“Little did they know that using conventional makeup products that didn’t allow the skin to breathe was in fact worsening their skin breakouts.
“At the time, I also noticed that many of the mineral foundations in the market seemed
expensive and unaffordable. I remember thinking, ‘Why should mineral makeup only be
accessible for those who could afford to pay $90 for a foundation?’
“I launched into salons as this was an industry I was very familiar with. When I reflect on where we started nine years ago, it was myself running the business as my ‘side gig’ with the product stocked in a linen cupboard in my home.
“Fast forward to now, we have moved into two different warehouses, an office, and 20-plus staff members who are on this journey with me.”
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Ms Hollands attributes the early growth of Lust Minerals to harnessing the power of e-commerce and influencer marketing in the early stages of the business.
“In 2018, we invested heavily in influencers and social media marketing and within three
months we had achieved 90 per cent growth. This is where it really started,” she said.
“Some well-known Australian reality stars and influencers became huge supporters and we could see their huge impact, so we built long-term partnerships with them.
“Looking back, I feel that these relationships are one of the key factors that helped supercharge our growth.”
In 2021, Lust Minerals invested more than $300,000 into a rebranding and extension of the product range, having a strong impact on sales.
“Two years ago, we rebranded and revealed a fresh new look for Lust Minerals,” Ms Hollands said.
“This allowed us to elevate the branding to ensure it equally matched the potency and efficacy of our product formulations.
“We also extended our product portfolio to include a small yet powerful range of clean body products.”
The cosmetics market size was valued at $US262.21 billion (about $A384.88 billion) in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent from 2023 to 2030.
By 2025, the global skin care market is estimated to be worth $US189.3 billion ($A277.83 billion) and the online sales segment is projected to grow by 7.6 per cent by 2027.
Ms Hollands has big plans for Lust Minerals in that clean beauty space.
“This year is going to be our biggest and best yet,” she said.
“We are really focusing on our plans to refine our existing product portfolio even further and expand into international markets to share our message of clean beauty with the world.
“As a brand, we are continuing to heavily invest in developing new products, and
reformulating existing products to ensure we are pioneering the most effective clean beauty products on the market.”
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