{"id":165666,"date":"2025-11-29T08:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/165666\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T08:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:02:08","slug":"im-not-ready-to-sell-i-want-to-be-a-top-10-global-beauty-brand-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/165666\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m not ready to sell \u2013 I want to be a top 10 global beauty brand\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the (by) Aimee effect. A rainy weeknight in a suburban Dunnes Stores<\/a> in Dublin<\/a> and hundreds of women have turned out for a demonstration from make-up guru Aimee Connolly<\/a>. It\u2019s a diverse crowd, with women aged between 20 to about 70 paying for the event; even women out for their weekly shop park their trolleys and stop to watch. <\/p>\n

Dressed in her signature pink, and sporting a Britney-style microphone, Connolly skilfully works the crowd, interspersing helpful tips on make-up as she offers updates on stock levels and new product launches. But rather than a QVC-style hard sell, it feels more like a community. The crowd are as enthusiastic as Connolly; they\u2019ve bought the products; they\u2019ve sent the DM requests for bigger sizes; they\u2019re wearing the make-up.<\/p>\n

She has the banter \u2013 but also the business nous, as evidenced by the throngs of shoppers crowding the checkout once the demonstration is over.<\/p>\n

Irish beauty<\/a> has become big business in recent years. Forget Guinness or beef \u2013 Irish cosmetics exports are set to hit $10.5 billion by 2026, according to market intelligence provider ReportLinker, while last year, UK publisher Cosmetics Business featured an article exploring \u201cWhy Irish beauty is set to take over\u201d. <\/p>\n

And Connolly, with her Sculpted by Aimee<\/a> brand, is leading the charge. Founded in 2016, and known for its dewy glow and multifunctional products, with a price point of \u201ccompetitive, affordable luxury\u201d, the brand has reported stellar growth in recent years. Revenues rose by 47 per cent last year to \u20ac32.6 million<\/a>, with pretax profits up by a substantial 35 per cent, to \u20ac3.9 million, for 2024. <\/p>\n

And when I catch up with Connolly, in a low-key cafe close to her company\u2019s HQ in Dundrum, she says they\u2019re forecasting double-digit growth yet again for this year, with revenues set to rise by 25 per cent to about \u20ac41 million. According to the latest Irish Times Top1000<\/a> publication, this puts it among Ireland\u2019s top 900 companies, on a par with the likes of Sunway Travel and Insomnia. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an impressive feat, in a highly competitive industry. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wild ride, it\u2019s been amazing,\u201d Connolly says.<\/p>\n

Unlike many other Irish beauty brands, she has done it herself. It\u2019s somewhat unusual in an industry where alliances are a typical route to market. Bare by Vogue Williams<\/a>, for example, is a fake tan product created with National Beauty Distribution, while Suzanne Jackson<\/a>\u2019s SoSu was born out of an alliance with cosmetics giant Fran O\u2019Gorman, the owner of beauty distributor Sundrelle Ltd. <\/p>\n

But with success comes further scrutiny; recent press reports on the company\u2019s financial performance for 2024 took Connolly unawares (in previous years the company had published abridged accounts). <\/p>\n

\"AimeeAimee Connolly started the business with \u20ac10,000 in savings and retains 100 per cent ownership. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

They were \u201ceverywhere\u201d, she says. \u201cSometimes I find that hard, because it\u2019s kind of private information,\u201d she says. \u201cMy mum said, \u2018You\u2019re a victim of your own success,\u2019\u201d because it\u2019s further evidence that the company is getting bigger. <\/p>\n

Connolly grew up in the Dublin suburb of Churchtown with her mum Claire, a single mother. While she concedes she had privileges, she still \u201chad to go out and work\u201d, and started her career as a make-up artist part-time when she was 16 and a TY student in Colaiste Iosagain. Her love affair with the world of commerce started then. \u201cI was forced into the workforce, and I adored it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Her father wasn\u2019t on the scene, and has been largely out of her life since she was born. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know him that well. So, I often say there wasn\u2019t really anything to make peace with, or anything to kind of miss or regret …\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve only really known life with Mum. I feel really fortunate that we are so close and that we\u2019ve had a great life. And that she\u2019s done a brilliant job, kind of across both parent roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, her \u201csmall but mighty family\u201d, which includes husband John Greene \u2013 who runs a Camille Thai franchise with hurler Joe Canning \u2013 are very close. Her mother is the company secretary of Sculpted \u2013 and makes frequent appearances on Connolly\u2019s social media channels \u2013 while her husband is a director. Similarly, Connolly is a director of her mother\u2019s real estate company, Claire Connolly Estate Agent. Sculpted HQ is just across the road from her mother\u2019s office \u2013 handy for a quick coffee and a catch-up. <\/p>\n

Connolly was determined from a young age to go out on her own, launching her Sculpted brand when she finished her degree in UCD, with her own clear vision. \u201cI\u2019ve never worked full-time anywhere else, so in terms of the culture I\u2019m not influenced by somewhere else,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She famously started the business with \u20ac10,000 in savings \u2013 and today retains 100 per cent ownership. She was \u201ctoo busy\u201d at the start to seek assistance from the likes of Enterprise Ireland. \u201cI was so in the thick of it as a founder, I didn\u2019t even put the head up, I wasn\u2019t that savvy, but I could have leveraged those supports (at the time).\u201d <\/p>\n

It was a sharp learning curve.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Irish influencers turning social media careers into successful businessesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to be busy, I thrive in chaos. So sometimes I can have all the ideas \u2013 but you need to pause as CEO and make sure that you have the idea, execute the idea and close the loop on the idea.\u201d <\/p>\n

Growth was slow at first \u2013 she kept overheads lean and didn\u2019t take on her first employee for a year-and-a-half. Even then, she continued to work across the business. \u201cI needed to try on the hats to hire for the hats,\u201d she says. \u201cI needed to have some sort of understanding of that\u2019s how it runs, so I could support the person coming in.\u201d Looking back, she sees this slow-burn approach as key to her success.<\/p>\n

Her first order was for 6,000 trio palettes, which she packed at her own kitchen table. \u201cI was going a little bit against the grain to say, listen, keep it simple,\u201d she says of that first product, a sculpting kit with a double-ended brush and a how-to guide. \u201c[That\u2019s] still the fundamental principle of Sculpted today, keep it simple and multitask with our products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon, she was being asked for her second product, and it grew from there. Today, Sculpted by Aimee employs more than 100 people, and sells 150 products around the world from its website.<\/p>\n

If keeping things lean was one reason for her success, social media<\/a> is another. It has been a \u201cgame changer\u201d, she says. And just like Hailey Bieber of Rhode, or Kylie Jenner, or Charlotte Tilbury, Connolly has shown herself to be an adept content creator, offering insights to her daily life, all while promoting her brand. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m very honest about how I look without make-up and with make-up, and when my skin is bad<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Aimee Connolly<\/p>\n

With more than 200,000 Instagram followers on her personal account, and 300,000 on the brand\u2019s, her feed is a carefully curated run-through of her life: \u201cGRWM\u201d videos before receiving an award at the UCD Alumni awards or attending the Glamour Women of the Year awards in London; a week in the life of a CEO; or running \u2013 she ran the Dublin Marathon last year, and organises a running club through the brand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to underestimate the importance of social media in cosmetics. \u201cSocial media is one of the top three levers in our business at the moment,\u201d she says, pointing to the huge influence it can have on sales.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not always positive; there has been a growing disquiet about the role of social media in encouraging pre-teens to invest in skincare products. <\/p>\n

Connolly is somewhat ambivalent. \u201cDo we have a marketing campaign for 10-year-olds? Absolutely not,\u201d she says, but adds that while some brands may have targeted this market specifically, she has sympathy for the brands that have been caught up in it.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Give me a quiet quitter over a loud worker any day – there\u2019s nothing worseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There are some positives, she says, noting that younger kids now \u201chave a far better awareness of how to look after themselves\u201d, like an awareness of the importance of SPF, for example. \u201cThat could be a silver lining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media also adds pressure. \u201cThe one thing only Aimee can do is be Aimee on content,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd content is one of the biggest currencies of any business right now. So I have to make more content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AimeeAimee Connolly chats with colleagues at the company’s HQ in Dundrum, Co Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

The focus on \u201cAimee\u201d is part of a broader conversation at Sculpted HQ \u2013 should the brand keep the \u201cBy Aimee\u201d tagline? If the brand is to grow globally, should it be identified with just one person? For now, they\u2019re taking the view that Connolly is the \u201ceducator\/expert\u201d at the helm of the business, and it\u2019s working. It\u2019s a proven model: Hailey Bieber is the face of Rhode; Selena Gomez at Rare Beauty; Rihanna at Fenty, etc etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople buy into people,\u201d Connolly says. She\u2019s happy being the face of the brand. But is she sick of wearing the company pink?<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully not,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

Connolly will also use social media occasionally to promote other brands\u2019 products. Why? \u201cBecause I\u2019m also an individual, Aimee Connolly, outside of Sculpted.\u201d She chooses carefully who she affiliates herself with. \u201cI say no to the majority of things that come my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently she shared her polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis on Instagram; it\u2019s a condition linked with irregular periods, acne and fertility issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t share huge amounts of private stuff,\u201d she says, but this was about \u201cshining a light on something that impacts a lot of people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also very honest about how I look without make-up and with make-up, and when my skin is bad. I didn\u2019t want to say this (bad skin) just went away by putting cream on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To go from a business with turnover of zero to \u20ac40 million hasn\u2019t been all plain sailing, and there have been doubters along the way. <\/p>\n

\"AimeeAimee Connolly on product innovation: ‘I would absolutely imagine fragrance will be a part of the story in the next few years.’ Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

For someone who started off on the shop floor, retail is an important part of the Sculpted brand. The first shop was in Dundrum, but this closed when they opened on Grafton Street in 2022. Now Sculpted has four flagships, in Dublin, Kildare Village, Belfast and Carnaby Street in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone said I was crazy,\u201d she says about opening on Grafton Street. It was a full circle moment for her. She previously worked as a make-up artist with Urban Decay in the old House of Fraser in Dundrum; now her shop occupies the former outlet of the US chain on Grafton Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrafton Street has been phenomenal,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She gets asked to open in Cork \u201cevery day\u201d, but for now is happy with the four stores and the distribution model across pharmacies, Boots, Brown Thomas, Dunnes Stores and airport shops, as well as online. \u201cAccessibility is really at the core for us as a brand,\u201d she says. This means being available to a lot of people in convenient places.<\/p>\n

Similarly, she was told the brand was too young when she moved into foundation, as it was seen as too much of a loyalty buy. \u201cIt was the best thing we ever did from a product portfolio point of view.\u201d Now, the brand\u2019s biggest seller is complexion products, across its foundation and primer ranges.<\/p>\n

Such a growth trajectory begs the question: Is now the time to sell? <\/p>\n

Last year, Sculpted by Aimee joined brands like Phlur and Medik8 on the Future50 brands by publisher Beauty Matter. Good company, as this year, skin specialist Medik8, with annual revenues of $75 million-$100 million, was the subject of a $1.1 billion takeover of a majority stake by L\u2019Oreal \u2013 one of the highest valuations in the history of beauty deal making. <\/p>\n

Connolly says she has been approached by potential buyers, but \u201chas never entertained a conversation\u201d. So would she sell now?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would definitely wait. We have so much left to do … both me personally, and professionally as a business,\u201d she says, adding that while some people might start a business with a clear exit strategy, this has never been her.<\/p>\n

The goal is to grow globally over the next 10 years, till Sculpted is one of the top 10 independent beauty brands in the world, sitting alongside the likes of Rare Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury and Huda. To achieve this, the brand will have to enter more markets. Ireland and the UK are now the biggest markets for Sculpted, but Connolly has her eyes firmly set on the expensive-to-access \u2013 but potentially lucrative \u2013 US market. This means complying with FDA standards \u2013 not stricter than EU ones, but different \u2013 which means plenty of testing to get products ready.<\/p>\n

Also, one of her favoured distribution models is pharmacies, but this \u201cjust wouldn\u2019t be the right positioning\u201d for the brand in the US, so they are in talks with retailers. A better fit could be with the likes of Ulta Beauty and Sephora. \u201cWhere you go (to sell) speaks volumes about who you are as a brand,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

My husband would say I present as someone very organised, but on a personal side I\u2019m completely chaotic<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Aimee Connolly<\/p>\n

Sephora, which is due to open in Belfast next year and has stores throughout Europe, the UK, US, Asia and Australia, could give the brand potential to go global.<\/p>\n

Making connections stateside is also important \u2013 Connolly recently attended the Glamour Woman of the Year awards in London, \u201ca brilliant night\u201d. The magazine has a big influence in the US, and is helmed by Cork woman Sam Barry. <\/p>\n

Tariffs are a concern, however. \u201cWhere we\u2019re lucky, is that we haven\u2019t opened yet,\u201d she says, noting that it could be harder if you were there already and suddenly had all these tariffs landed on you.<\/p>\n

New product innovation will also be a part of future growth. \u201cI would absolutely imagine fragrance will be a part of the story in the next few years,\u201d she says, adding that other categories, such as hair, \u201cfascinate\u201d her. But, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get distracted \u2013 there\u2019s lots to be done where we are now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Many of the brand\u2019s biggest sellers, including its new Cream Cushion foundation, are made in South Korea. Connolly beat the explosion in K-beauty when she followed her gut and chose to get her products manufactured there a decade ago. Now, it\u2019s an added selling point of her business. \u201cI deliberately sought them out,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Other aspects of her brand which may have been out of fashion when she first launched \u2013 such as a \u201cless is more\u201d approach compared with the on-trend \u201cmore is more\u201d look \u2013 have now done the \u201cfull 360\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sculpted boss Aimee Connolly: \u2018I have been surrounded by girl power for as long as I know\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of uncool at that time,\u201d she says, but adds with the growth in K-beauty, this take on cosmetics is now very relevant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a testament to staying true to your brand, fit, positioning and identity the whole time, regardless of whether there\u2019s a shift. The minute you start chopping and changing, you\u2019re not known for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such expansion plans might necessitate a change in how the business is structured \u2013 Connolly still holds 100 per cent \u2013 as it seeks to scale up. <\/p>\n

Personally, too, change is on the cards. She and her husband rent their home in Ranelagh, but \u201cbuying a house is in our plans for next year\u201d, she says. It might surprise people that the couple haven\u2019t bought already, but Connolly admits that her laser-sharp business focus doesn\u2019t translate to her home life. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband would say I present as someone very organised, but on a personal side I\u2019m completely chaotic!\u201d <\/p>\n

In short<\/p>\n

Favourite Sculpted product: \u201cIt\u2019s like trying to pick a favourite child! But I\u2019ll say Cream Cushion<\/a>, our newest launch … it\u2019s an amazing product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Favourite non-Sculpted product: \u201cWhen I go to Seoul I get the most amazing hair serum, Mise en sc\u00e8ne perfect serum, in Olive Young (a K-beauty megastore). I stock up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to: Lily Allen\u2019s new album, West End Girl. \u201cI thought it was wild … nothing was held back, fair play to her.\u201d On the move, it\u2019s business podcasts, such as Working Hard with Grace Beverley, or The Rest is Politics.<\/p>\n

Reading: \u201cI love a good fantasy or horror novel\u201d like the Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas, and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Sculpted\u2019s leadership team has its own book club \u2013 a recent read was Good to Great by Jim Collins. <\/p>\n

Watching: Netflix\u2019s Nobody Wants This. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy tune-out show.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not working: She\u2019s a gym bunny and ran the Dublin Marathon last year. She also plays tennis in a local club with her husband, as well as padel. \u201cI particularly love that with a group of friends,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the (by) Aimee effect. A rainy weeknight in a suburban Dunnes Stores in Dublin and hundreds of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[47941,1902,72,92090,61,60,709,47940,58,23324],"class_list":["post-165666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aimee-connolly","tag-beauty","tag-business","tag-churchtown","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-magazine","tag-sculpted-by-aimee","tag-social-media","tag-top1000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}