Kathryn Nurse is a cosmetic chemist who has been in the business of product formulation since 2010 through her bath and body company, Immortelle Beauty. She is confident that her customers can always count on her products and brand to provide beauty not just in terms of what’s inside the bottle, but in every other aspect of the product line as well. With many women becoming more concerned with the types of products that they use on their skin, the WE Magazine Team took some time to chat with Kathryn about her local line and her love for skincare.
Tell us about your brand Immortelle Beauty
Immortelle Beauty provides ‘A Little Local Luxury’ to customers, that is, our purpose is really to show that just because something is local doesn’t mean it can’t be sophisticated as well. Therefore, we put equal amounts of effort into developing our product as we do in developing our packaging, our labels, and now our retail spaces. All our products are 100% manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago and are made to appeal to anyone, local or beyond, who wants to experience a luxurious Caribbean lifestyle. We sell three main lines, two of which are our home fragrances line such as candles and diffusers and a pedicure line. The cornerstone of our company, however, is the bath and body line, ‘The Esscentials’ which consists of lotions, body butters, body scrubs (which we call body polishes) and shower gels. Up until this year, we carried this line in six fragrances and to coincide with our store opening we launched two additional fragrances. Caribbean women tend to like sweet fragrances and our original line definitely catered to that need, however the two new fragrances are more unisex and can be used by a variety of customers including men (whom we heard were always stealing their wives’ lotions so we wanted to make something that they could comfortably have as their own).
Tell us about the biggest achievement/milestone of your profession
The first is definitely my most recent, the opening of The Immortelle Beauty Bar. In Trinidad, having a brick and mortar retail store is still really important and we were finally able to get our unique store concept off the ground in early May. It happened eight years to the day since the official launch of the business, which is definitely also one of the milestones. I was 26 at the time and had no idea what I was doing (but thought I did of course). Also, participating in the Scotiabank Vision Achiever programme in which I won the Social Media prize that helped met to better chart a path for the business, as well as understand how business coaching was an important tool for me as an entrepreneur.
Give us your best skincare tips.
1. Drink lots of water. Not only is water hydrating but it facilitates all the metabolic and biochemical interactions in your body and that includes your skin.
2. Wear sunscreen. While people with lots of melanin tend not to have to consider skin cancer, the sun is the number one cause of ageing, and protecting against it protects against hyperpigmentation and premature wrinkles as well.
3. People are always asking me what products I recommend to remove dark marks as this type of hyperpigmentation is of serious concern to women recently. I don’t advocate bleaching or lightening products at all! I recommend lots of patience and EXFOLIATION. For facial skin, chemical exfoliants such as Glycolic acid and Lactic acids are amazing. For the rest of the body, physical exfoliators of natural origin are fine as well. Over time you will see dark marks fade and also your skin will reveal a natural glow.