Kettering beauty entrepreneur wins top industry award

A Kettering beauty entrepreneur who set up her business from her spare bedroom is celebrating scooping a top prize at an international beauty awards.

Emily-Louise Varnfield, owner of Emily-Louise Beauty and Aesthetics salon in Kettering, won the Best Professional Aesthetic Equipment Brand 2022 Europe title at the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards for her skincare products.

It’s a massive boost for the 29-year-old as she builds her business, which now employs nine people and sells and markets her own medical-grade skincare Lumi SKN product range and beauty salon machines.

She said: “I had always had a passion to develop my own skincare line which was exclusive to salons alongside selling the devices.

“I had brought brands for my salon previously and always felt like I was competing with online sales and customers were always looking to find the same products I stocked cheaper online.

"During the downtime in the lockdowns, I found a dermatologist to work alongside to develop my own medical-grade skincare line. I purchased my first order of 1,000 products during the second lockdown – I noticed salon owners were looking to find means of making sales online whilse closed and it was a sell out with 20 salons taking on our products in the first week.”

Born and raised in Barton Seagrave, Emily-Louise attended Southfield School for Girls where she studied beauty therapy. She completed her training at Tresham College.

After college she was unable to find a job in the beauty industry so ended up working in the care sector and became a care home manager.

But it was being made redundant in 2014 that kick-started her own business and allowed her to follow her beauty therapy dreams. She used her business knowledge and training to start her own one-woman salon that began to grow.

She said: “My husband Sam encouraged me to use my skills and set up my own beauty business from home, which was run from my spare bedroom.

“I built this up and then progressed, moving into a commercial building in the Market Place and hired my first member of staff back in 2019. I now employ nine members of staff."

Studying the science of skin, Emily-Louise’s knowledge of non-surgical treatments led her to launch the Institute of Cosmetologie, a beauty and aesthetics training school.

After being disappointed with a commercially available laser machine bought for £34,000, Sam and Emily-Louise launched their own device manufacturing company, offering fully-accredited diploma training with purchases.

The range covers facials, laser hair removal, body contouring and micro needling.

Business development manager Leeanne Hay-Sartain said: “We are over the moon along with Emily-Louise and Sam, family, friends and clients to confirm that Lumi SKN has won.”

Organised by Global Health & Pharma, Emily-Louise and her team’s Lumi SKN product range impressed the judges who handed her the title.

Winners are decided on various criteria including business performance, longevity, business growth, significant innovations and client feedback.