Meet GFF alumni, Rebecca Lennox. After graduating from Nottingham Trent University and showing her final collection at GFW in 2018, she was inspired to launch a side business as a result of the makeup damage on her garments. The Makeup Mask was born, finding a gap in the fashion and beauty industry to prevent clothing damage during fittings, fashion shows and photoshoots. Rebecca tells us how her business came about and her plans for the future. Read on to learn more!
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university/through your business?
I graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2018 studying Fashion Design, during this time I developed a collection that got showcased at Graduate Fashion Week. The collection that I developed was handmade, hand-embellished, and could not be dry-cleaned, making the garments unbelievably delicate and susceptible to permanent makeup damage. I think the most valuable thing that I learnt through both of my NTU and GFW experiences was how to turn an idea into a reality. I owe a lot to Graduate Fashion Week because I found that a lot of new opportunities became available to me because of it, all of which resulted in me developing the idea for The Makeup Mask business.
After having my collection showcased at GFW18, my designs got requested by lots of Stylists to be featured in Magazines and Digital Platforms, such as Vogue Italia, Atlas and Hunger Magazine, and at one point were even worn by Paloma Faith. As a result of all the makeup damage my designs experienced during these Photoshoots and Fashion Shows, I decided to launch a small business of my own. The Makeup Mask business provides a specialist product to Stylists, Designers, Retailers and Students across the UK that will prevent makeup from transferring onto clean clothes. As a GFW Alumni, these products are something I wish I had access to during my own Graduate Fashion Show and all that came after it. I would've utilised these products a lot in my final year, especially during fittings, photoshoots, backstage at fashion shows and when loaning the garments out to Stylists, etc. If it wasn’t for my experiences at Graduate Fashion Week and those that came after it, I would never have spotted a gap in the market.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
The inspiration behind The Makeup Mask products came from my own personal experience, after struggling with makeup transfer on my own handmade, hand-embellished designs. During the rush of my own Graduate Fashion Week Fashion Show, my collection experienced a lot of makeup damage from where the models were having to change clothes at a fast pace. I attempted cleaning the garments after the show, but a lot of the pieces that I developed were made from a heavy velvet material and were mostly white which made the cleaning process extremely difficult and almost impossible.
I even experienced the same thing when I loaned my garments out to Stylists and Influencers for magazine photoshoots. The makeup damage became so frequent and frustrating that I began looking for a makeup protector online, something that I hadn’t thought about or even known about before. After coming up with no products in the UK market I decided to launch something myself. The aim was to support other Designers whether Students, Independents or High-End Designers, as well as, Retailers and Stylists themselves to prevent makeup transfer.
What are the products, where will you be launching it/using it for?
Because of how vast and fast-paced the Fashion & Beauty Industry is I decided to develop three products, all of which have been developed with a specific purpose in mind. The first product, The Makeup Mask Box consists of 50 recyclable Makeup Masks and functions like a tissue box and is suitable for a larger turnover of people such as Retail Changing Rooms, Fittings, Photoshoots and Fashion Shows, etc. Our second product, the Individual Makeup Mask is the portable version of The Makeup Mask and is fantastic for Retail Shopping, Online Orders and loaning out garments to Stylists and Influencers so clothes don’t return to you damaged by makeup.
The third product that we are currently selling is the combo version of The Makeup Mask called The Makeup Mask Duo which features both products at an overall discounted rate. This product is the most substantial option because you can even use The Makeup Mask Box as a refillable option for the portable Individual Makeup Mask. All of our makeup masks are made from the highest quality non-woven Polypropylene, a multi-variety recycled plastic with qualities that makes it have the least environmental impact. Currently, we sell all of the products through our online website at www.themakeupmask.co.uk and will be moving onto Amazon in the future.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
Sustainability was such a key part of our product development, we didn’t want to develop a product that would be detrimentally damaging to the environment, but also wanted to be realistic and produce a product that could be used in fast-moving situations like Fashion Shows. Our aim was to look for a material that would have the least environmental impact and that could be repeatedly recycled after its use. After extensive research, both digitally and physically through visits to various sustainability fairs in London, we decided to develop a product that was made from the highest quality Polypropylene.
Polypropylene is a multi-variety recycled plastic with qualities that makes it have the least environmental impact. Manufacturing a PP fibre from Polypropylene is a process that results in no toxic waste or emissions, no fluorocarbons and no halogens. Its lower density also means that manufacturing PP results in very minimal waste. Products that are made from PP can even be recycled multiple times in a wide variety of applications. For us, this was a perfect starting point for our Makeup Mask products.
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
Initially, the idea behind The Makeup Mask was sitting in my head before the pandemic hit us. I had been racking my brain for a business venture for months, looking for something that wasn’t on the market yet. The idea was so simple, yet I didn’t understand why it wasn’t already being utilised by the Fashion and Beauty industry in the UK yet. As I developed the idea, the design for the product itself began to change, as well as the branding and packaging design aesthetic. I wanted the product itself to be so simple to use that it would become a natural part of the changing process. As for the packaging, I wanted the products to be able to sit in any surroundings, whether a Retail Changing Room or Design Studio and look aesthetically pleasing.
The Makeup Mask has been my first business venture and I have learnt an incredible amount so far, things that I would never have even known about if it wasn’t for launching this business. There is so much to think about when it comes to launching a company, whether it’s design-related, branding, graphic developments, sourcing materials, negotiating with suppliers and even all the legal/health and safety aspects that all need to be considered. We even recently made a completely new discovery about our products and how they can even be used by Milliners to prevent makeup from smearing from their customer's forehead and onto the hats they design. It’s very clever and exciting to see how versatile our products are becoming.
What are the messages and themes behind your business that you want people to take away?
I want people to embrace The Makeup Mask products into their lives, especially if you are a Designer or Stylist and even a Student. I understand from personal experience the stress that occurs when your designs have been irreversibly damaged by makeup. I have been a final year student myself, spent god-knows how many hours developing and manufacturing a collection from scratch and understand first-hand how disappointing and deflating it can be when your designs get returned to you damaged by makeup. My goal is simple, to prevent this problem from occurring throughout the industry, not just in the sense of simply preventing makeup from transferring onto clothes, but in the larger sense too. I want to save people time, prevent unnecessary cost, prevent needless washes and ultimately help to extend our clothes lifecycle by limiting its wear and tear caused by washing.
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
I would love for my products to benefit Fashion Students and Designers, whether Independent or High-End. Like I’ve said before, I have been in their shoes, I understand the stress that goes into developing a collection and I simply want to take one worry off their minds. I also want to support the rest of the Fashion and Beauty industry too, including Retailers, Bridal and Special Occasion Boutiques, Stylists, Makeup-Artists and so on. I can only imagine how careful they all need to be when it comes to preventing makeup transfer.
What are your plans for the future with this business?
In the future, I would like to have The Makeup Mask up and running with success, we have already had such positive feedback and have been supporting some amazing clients since our launch. I would love to see the business grow and develop a relationship with new brands no matter how big or small. My aim is to get these products into Retail stores to be used in changing rooms and for online orders. I think that because people are becoming more hygiene conscious and want to make their clothes last longer so they don’t end up devalued or even worse, in a landfill this will be welcomed in the future.
These products are fantastic for Fashion Shows and Photoshoots too so once larger events are allowed to go ahead I would love to start supplying makeup protectors for them. Ideally, I would also like to supply makeup protectors to Universities and Students who are showcasing at Graduate Fashion Week in the future. It’s all a process at the moment, I am learning constantly and I feel that as we grow as a business so will our products too.