Beauty Talk

Teenage acne ignited my interest in skin and the beauty industry

My interest started with my own skin and a struggle with acne as a teenager and a young adult. From there I studied beauty therapy in France for three years while working simultaneously in a salon in Paris. In 1996, I opened VClaire Health and Beauty clinic in Dublin and went into into skincare distribution in 2003 with PHYT'S, followed by Couleur Caramel and Acorelle in 2016.

Quality is top of my list when sourcing products

My aim is to share and educate our clients on what is a quality product. I firmly believe in quality ingredients and efficiency – this was what drove me to find the best professional natural skincare product in the world – PHYT'S. I brought this into Ireland at a time when professional natural certified skincare was not talked about here. 

Resilience and determination is everything

The inception of a new concept such as PHYT'S skincare was challenging, but time, resilience and passion pulled us through, and today our distribution has expanded from beauty salons to also incorporate health stores and wellbeing concept stores. I believe that every business 
has to evolve over the years, otherwise it fades away.

I think we need to give new therapists more experience

As a beauty salon owner and a skincare distributor, I find the quality of teaching beauty therapy in some schools quite inadequate in areas. The young beauty therapists are not properly equipped after their training to start in a working environment. They get thrown into the deep end as they are qualified but are lacking in experience to handle treatments and the 
client's expectations, which make our industry vulnerable to poor quality service.

Success is possible but you must persevere

Of course it's possible to be successful in the Irish beauty industry. You just need patience – a lot of it – time and utmost belief in your idea or  concept to see it through. Or you could win the Lotto!

This year is going to be busy and exciting for us!

This year we are partnering with Alison Canavan on her Full 360 series to promote healthy living inside and out around the country. PHYT'S skincare is at the forefront as it is innovative, effective and natural, and with Couleur Caramel natural and vegan makeup and Acorelle natural 
perfumes, we are offering our customers a new way of life, in order to create a successful and balanced environment for the foreseen future.Our aim is to keep expanding into an environmentally friendly and quality ingredients cosmetics with greater effectiveness than generics. The cherry on top is that they're also natural and organic.