Glow Journal

In episode 154 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to co-founders of Cheat Beauty, Rebecca Maddern and Rebecca Gregson.

Cheat Beauty launched in February of this year and completely sold out its first drop in less than a fortnight. The product is a dual ended lipstick and lip liner, in three nude shades with different undertones. It sounds so simple, and that’s the point- Cheat Beauty launched with a goal of making great makeup easier. There’s no guesswork, there’s no confusion, it’s just two ends of a product that work together.

Something both Bec Maddern and Bec Gregson mentioned in this conversation that stuck with me is that just about everyone who was advising them financially on this endeavour had pointed out that a double ended product would more or less cannibalise their earning potential- why launch a product that does two things, when you can launch two products and sell more units? But that’s not how we shop.

Yes, launching multiple SKUs might mean the potential for more sales- that might be a way to start a business, but it’s not a way to really appeal to your consumers in a meaningful way. As Bec Gregson told me when I asked her how she knows if an idea is actually strong enough to build a business around, “It’s great to have an idea, but it has to be rooted in problem solving.”

In this conversation, Bec Maddern and Bec Gregson share what happens when you have an idea that feels almost too obvious to not already exist, how they’ve balanced luxury with efficiency, and why Aussie consumers have a higher bullshit radar when it comes to new brands.

Read more at glowjournal.com
Follow Cheat Beauty on Instagram @cheatbeautyclub

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]
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In episode 153 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to BORNTOSTANDOUT founder Jun Lim in another Australian podcast exclusive.

BORNTOSTANDOUT is unquestionably one of the most interesting, and in my opinion industry-defining, brands in not just the fragrance space, but the beauty sphere at large right now.

What’s so fascinating to me about BTSO is that it’s built on this idea of rebellion, but the brand is based in South Korea. Now you hear Korea and you think “Well, that makes sense, it’s the global capital of beauty innovation,” but as Jun puts it- “Korea is simultaneously one of the most innovative beauty markets in the world, but also the most conformist in terms of taste.” He explained to me that K Beauty is, at its core, built on the idea of perfecting a standard, not breaking one.

That in mind, I had a lot of questions for Jun about how he’s gone about launching into a relatively conservative market, given so much of the brand’s iconography is tied to sex, to excess, to gluttony- it’s super sexy, which to me feels really natural, but evidently this is a brand that was never formed with solely its local market in mind.

In this conversation, Jun shares how he’s managed to expand the brand to over 75 countries without diluting its DNA, why he believes specificity is what creates resonance, and how he keeps creating perfumes when he only has so many love stories to tell…

Read more at glowjournal.com
Follow BTSO on Instagram @borntostandout.official

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 152 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to Fara Homidi in an Australian podcast exclusive.

You know Fara Homidi’s work, regardless of if that name is familiar to you or not. Whether you’re invested in beauty and had been counting down to her namesake brand’s arrival on Australian shelves, or if you’ve had a peripheral scroll through Instagram and seen a Miu Miu campaign or an i-D cover- based on the extent to which she’s shaped 21st century beauty, I can just about guarantee you’ve seen her work.

I’ve always been visually very drawn to the way Fara applies makeup and approaches beauty overall, but it’s been so interesting to listen to the way she speaks about that approach. I’d read a quote from her, years ago, in which she said she’s more interested in makeup looking “alive” than “pretty,” so I pushed her on this a bit as I wanted to hear more.

She explained that, for her, it’s more about creating something for the female gaze. When Fara talks about sexy, she’s acutely aware of what women find sexy- that’s who she’s creating for. In the early 2000s, for example, when she was finding a lot of her work for magazines was being airbrushed to oblivion, her way of rebelling was to seek out teams of women- female photographers, stylists, creative directors, women who were more interested in something that looked “lived in” as opposed to this idea of “perfection.” That’s how Fara rebelled, and it’s something she’s taken through the decades with her and has since woven through Fara Homidi Beauty.

While Fara was in Australia to launch the brand into Mecca, she shared what she thinks some founders miss by never having worked in consumer-facing beauty, how she strikes the fine line between artistry and consumer understanding, and how she convinced Kendall Jenner to bleach her eyebrows for the most recent cover of Vogue Paris.

Read more at glowjournal.com
Follow Fara Homidi Beauty on Instagram @farahomidibeauty

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you miss me?

Season 8 of the Glow Journal podcast returns this Wednesday, April 1. We can't wait to share this season's lineup of some of the world's best beauty entrepreneurs- starting with an Australian podcast exclusive.

If you love beauty, business, and the sound of my voice- you know what to do.
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In episode 151 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to the founder of Supernova Body, Cici Stefanova.

By virtue of my job, I’m asked pretty often which beauty brands I’m genuinely excited by or who I think both the industry and consumers should be keeping an eye on, and for the last 18 months my first answer has been Supernova Body without a second of hesitation.

This brand is everything I love in a new brand- the products are genuinely innovative and fill a legitimate market gap, it’s making beauty fun and sexy and that’s what beauty is to me, and it’s led by a founder who is only in this for the right reasons. Cici actually reminds me a lot of Deciem and The Ordinary’s Nicola Kilner, who I often cite as one of my all time favourite guests, as they’re both really beautiful examples of female founders leading with kindness.

Supernova Body is an active, high performance body care brand, formulated specifically to target and treat body acne, that Cici launched in 2024 following four years of product development and, in this episode, Cici very kindly gave me an exclusive on the brand’s next launch coming in early 2026…

In this conversation, Cici shares how she landed Sephora UK as Supernova’s very first retailer, some of the unexpected benefits of remaining D2C and self funded for the first year, and why her exit interview from British Vogue didn’t go quite as expected.

Read more at glowjournal.com
Follow Supernova Body on Instagram @supernova.body

Stay up to date with Gemma on Instagram at @gemdimond and @glow.journal, or get in touch at [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.