All that glitters…

Kate Chapman meets young entrepreneur Millie Goodwin, who has launched a new brand of animal-friendly make-up which has proved much in demand worldwide.

Millie Goodwin was just 14 when she began creating her own make-up in her bedroom. Now this animal-loving entrepreneur has her own cruelty-free vegan brand and ships her pigment popping products to customers all over the world.

When her mother refused to buy her expensive cosmetics, Millie started making her own sparkly glitters and eyeshadows at home after watching online tutorials, using different brands she had bought herself. Now the 22-year-old turns over £200,000 a year and has amassed thousands of followers online, particularly in America, where her PETA-certified With Love Cosmetics range is popular with professional make-up artists and social media content producers.

“It was never supposed to be a business,” says Millie, who lives on the outskirts of Boston.

“I just loved make-up and started creating my own in my bedroom by watching tutorials on YouTube and mixing pigments together from different brands I’d bought on Depop.

“I’d never run my own business before, so learning everything I needed to know about running a global cosmetics company has been a challenge! Learning about profit margins was the hardest, especially when there were a couple of retailers who were interested. Knowing about the different regulations for the different continents was a major obstacle too, especially as my largest customer base is in America.

“My dad has his own hardware shops, Goodwins DIY, although they’re not online. My family has been so supportive, encouraging me to follow my passion and I’m excited to keep expanding the range.”

Schoolgirl dreams
Millie, who also employs her sister Holly (27), first became interested in make-up when she moved up to secondary school.

“At that time, I was surrounded by older girls and sixth formers, who were all wearing it,” she recalls.

“I started following all the big make-up brands online. I was into everything – but particularly loved all the sparkly products, they really intrigued me. I loved creating all sorts of different looks.

“But Mum would only buy me the cheaper products that didn’t sit very well on my skin, so I decided to make my own. I loved some brands, but knew they weren’t cruelty-free, so I wanted to create quality products that weren’t tested on animals too,” adds Millie, who has a variety of rescue animals at the family home, including dogs, donkeys and cows.

“When I posted my first photo online of the make-up I’d made, it wasn’t with the intention of selling it. I just wanted to share what I’d created. I’d never put it on my personal Instagram page because none of my friends knew what I was doing – I was really embarrassed to tell people! But a few months later I gained hundreds of followers and people started asking where they could buy my creations.”

Realising that others were struggling to find the products she was making, Millie launched an Etsy selling page, after researching what testing and procedures she needed to follow to ensure everything adhered to EU regulations. She also sourced cruelty-free and vegan-friendly ingredients in bulk to make her vibrant eyeshadows and hand-pressed glitters.

Although her business was beginning to take off, Millie wasn’t allowed to showcase her creations at school, and said that instead she was made to feel ashamed by teachers about wearing make-up.

“Every morning, I’d wake up extra early for school just so I could apply my mascara for 45 minutes, but as soon I got there, I was handed a baby wipe and told to take it off. We weren’t allowed to wear even the smallest amount of make-up to school and were made to feel ashamed about wearing it. I thought to myself, am I doing something wrong? I think that’s where the embarrassment of not wanting to share what I was doing stemmed from.

“If you weren’t planning to be a vet or a doctor, people seemed to think: what are you going to do then?”

Building the business
“When I left school at 16, I did a business diploma at college with the intention of it helping my business grow. But I dropped out after the first year as I thought I’d come away knowing everything about business – I didn’t get a lot out of it.”

Instead, Millie took on other jobs, including working long hours as a carer, to raise the money to buy the ingredients to keep her own venture growing, and also completed a few make-up application courses.

Her parents Tina and Paul supported her, with her father lending her £1,000 towards the cost of getting her packaging professionally manufactured. She also invested in a new website, after creating the first one herself.

Although she has outsourced some of the manufacturing, the bespoke formulas she first created in her bedroom are still used, and Millie along with her mum and sister, still hand presses her bestselling glitters herself – of which she’s sold 70,000. She’s constantly working to expand her portfolio of beautiful, bold and bright make-up products and luxury lashes too, as well as working with male and female social influencers and content producers, who regularly use her products to showcase new looks and ideas online.

“The growth of the business has been quite organic. Social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, are great and they’re free. I have followers and customers all over the world – you name a country and I’ve shipped products there.

“Things went crazy during the pandemic as the world stood still and people had more time to pursue their passions and spend on their self-care.

“I’m always working on new products but developing these can take anywhere from six months to two years, as it takes time to sync up suppliers, manufacturers and designers.

“I would love to expand my range into other areas of make-up too, and to anyone thinking about starting their own business, I’d say don’t think about it too much, or listen too much to others’ opinions.

“If you have a burning desire, then trust yourself to make your dreams a reality, because no one can do it for you!”

For more information about With Love Cosmetics, visit withlovecosmetics.co

Photographs courtesy of Millie Goodwin/With Love Cosmetics

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