Smart Beauty

Sasha Lord is the founder of Lords Fragrance House, a bold, colourful home fragrance brand she launched during lockdown after a cancelled wedding and a personal reckoning left her with "nothing left to lose." In this episode, Sasha opens up about the loneliness of entrepreneurship, nearly quitting at the three-year mark, and why she ignored advice to tone down her bright pink and green branding. W...

James Mishreki went from professional poker player to building Skin+Me, a personalised prescription skincare company now valued at £160 million. But what really drives someone to keep playing when the stakes get this high? In this episode, James talks about how poker taught him to detach from outcomes and make decisions with incomplete information. We get into the weekend Silicon Valley Bank colla...

Michelle Kluz is the CEO of Stila Cosmetics, the 31-year-old heritage beauty brand known for its cult liquid eyeliner. Before Stila, Michelle worked at Boston Consulting Group, held multiple CEO roles including running a billion-dollar business in her mid-thirties, and founded her own athleisure brand Urban Savage after moving to Australia. In this episode, we discuss the misconception that corpor...

Dr Olivia Ahn is the co-founder of Fluus, the world's first flushable, microplastic-free period pad. A medical doctor turned entrepreneur, she built the company alongside her partner Aaron Koshy after they met at Imperial College London. What started as a conversation about sustainable guilt and the lack of innovation in period care became a mission to create a product that didn't force consumers...

Holly Brooke and Joely Walker met in a Leeds nightclub at 16. Nearly two decades later, they've launched We Are Regular — a supplement brand on a mission to break the stigma around constipation. In this episode, we talk about Holly's 17 years of chronic gut issues, what she learned from five years working with Caroline Hirons, the weird male audience they've attracted on TikTok, and why Northern w...

In this episode, Viola is joined by Roxie Nafousi – bestselling author, manifestation coach, and founder of fragrance brand Alia – to talk about her pivot from books to beauty, and why it's been so much harder than she expected. Roxie opens up about why she chose fragrance as her next creative outlet and how scent bypasses the conscious mind to connect with us on a more primitive, subconscious lev...

This episode is a live recording from British Beauty Week 2025, where we hosted a panel discussion at Tallulah Lingerie exploring the beauty archetypes of the princess and the witch, and what they reveal about women, aging, power, and self-expression. Pia Long is a Finnish perfumer, author of co-founder of her own fragrance house Eau de Boujee, and author of 'Demo Accords' with nearly 17 years of...

In this episode, Viola sits down with Colette Laxton, co-founder of The Inkey List, the skincare brand that's completely changed how we talk about ingredients. Colette and her now-husband Mark Curry launched the brand in 2018, and within six months they'd secured a global partnership with Sephora. They've since hit over £100 million in revenue by making science-backed skincare affordable and actua...

What does it really take to build three successful brands whilst raising a blended family of seven? In this episode, I'm chatting with serial entrepreneur Andraya Kenton, founder of multi-seven-figure jewellery companies Celeste Starre and MeMe London, and her newest beauty venture Luna Roca, a chic volcanic lava rock facial roller that's reimagining the traditional blotting paper. Andraya shares...

Once the preserve of pizzas and Nintendo games, mushrooms are popping up everywhere at the moment (mushroom coffee anyone?). In this episode, we sit down with Dr Catalina Fernandez de Ana, Founder and CEO of biotech-based wellness company Hifas da Terra, to explore why mushrooms are so therapeutically powerful – and how they help train our immune systems to respond faster. Dr Catalina shares compe...

In this episode, Viola sits down with Tasha Nickson from the Soil Association to talk about sustainability storytelling in the beauty industry. We discuss why vague claims damage consumer trust, how certifications like Cosmos cut through the noise, and what brands should focus on when communicating their environmental and ethical credentials. Tasha explains the difference between natural and organ...

When organic beauty pioneer Margo Marrone said she'd never launch another brand, she meant it (at the time). But watching her daughter Roxy struggle with severe acne changed everything. Together, this mother-daughter duo created eyeam - a skincare range that bridges the gap between topical treatments and spiritual wellness. Margo founded The Organic Pharmacy over 25 years ago when "everyone though...

Ruby Hammer MBE transformed British beauty as the first makeup artist of colour to be regularly featured on British television. She was born to Bangladeshi parents in Jos, Nigeria, where she grew up before moving to London at the age of 12. From working on the shop floor of Harrods to founding cult 90s brand Ruby & Millie – and now at the helm of her own eponymous range – Ruby is a true indust...

Almost 30 years ago, Abi Cleeve sat down with nothing but a stack of Yellow Pages and an idea. Long before the internet, she methodically called pharmacies across the country, persuading them to try a little-known Swiss suncare brand, UltraSun. Then, in her battered old Beetle, she personally drove stock to anyone willing to give it a chance. To keep up with demand, Abi hired an assistant named Da...

Have you ever wondered what really goes on when a beauty brand tries to score a spot onto the hallowed shelves of Harrods or Space NK? Catherine Bossom has not only had a front-row seat, she’s also played a starring role. From her early days as a graduate trainee at Harrods, to senior buying positions at Space NK and Selfridges, she has spent twenty years in the thick of luxury beauty retail — and...

In this episode, we sit down with Anna Teal, CEO of Grown Alchemist, to chat about her incredible journey from traditional retail at Boots to leading one of the most innovative biotech beauty brands on the market today. Anna shares the reality of transitioning from corporate to small business life and how emotional investment becomes everything when you're running your own show. We dive into Grown...

Meet Lizzie Ostrom, the pioneering fragrance specialist and writer, who helped revolutionise how we experience perfume. Known by her stage-persona "Odette Toilette", Lizzie identified a crucial gap in the fragrance world fifteen years ago and created her fun experimental fragrance events, where she would mix fragrance with subjects like psychology, music and cinema. She is also the author of Perfu...

We sit down with Suzy Griffin Dunne, founder of Irish makeup brand Hildun Beauty, to explore what it really takes to build a successful makeup brand from scratch. Suzy shares her fascinating journey from beauty writer to brand founder, revealing why she started Hildun Beauty during maternity leave with just two eyeliner pencils that she sent to makeup artists who didn't know her from Adam. We dive...

Sophie King went from corporate life to building a fragrance empire with over 145K YouTube subscribers and her brand SOKI London, but her journey wasn't linear. After surviving meningitis and a week-long coma, Sophie found the courage to pursue her passion for perfume, launching both a successful YouTube channel and her own fragrance brand. This is a conversation about turning passion into profit,...

Sarah Rotheram has spent her career breathing new life into some of the world's most beloved fragrance houses, including Penhaligon's and Creed. In this conversation, she reveals the secrets behind modernising heritage brands without losing their soul - from her essential "who we are, who we are not" exercise to why she interviews hundreds of frontline staff before writing any strategy. Sarah shar...

What happens when hardcore pornography becomes sex education by default? Cindy Gallop has spent 16 years fighting to change that. In this essential conversation, the founder and CEO of Make Love Not Porn explains why her platform showing real-world, loving sexual relationships is more urgent than ever. From the rise of incel culture to shows like 'Adolescence,' Cindy breaks down how the absence of...

Ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes in perfumery? Our latest episode with fragrance educator and author Karen Gilbert helps lift the lid on the "smoke and mirrors" world of fragrance. From accidentally falling into perfumery to becoming one of the most respected voices in fragrance education, Karen talks about why that "pheromone perfume" trend is complete nonsense, how your nose i...

What are beauty buyers really looking for? In this episode, Viola sits down with Louisa Harris, Beauty Director at Debenhams, for an insightful conversation about her remarkable 15-year journey through the beauty retail industry. From working weekends at the YSL counter in Boots to leading beauty strategy at Debenhams, Louisa shares her career progression through Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser, Q...

“I went in with a mindset very much of how can I leave people better off for me having been here.” Really delighted to talk to Lee Pycroft a renowned makeup artist turned registered psychotherapist who has worked with A-list celebrities as well as the top supermodels of the 90s – Cindy and Claudia to name but a few. While people are quick to dismiss the beauty world as ‘frivolous fun’ or ‘shallow’...

In this episode, I sit down with Mandy Aftel, founder of Aftelier Perfumes and a leading voice in natural perfumery for over 30 years. Mandy shares her remarkable journey from psychotherapist to perfumer, and how researching a novel with a perfumer character led her to discover her true calling. We explore the philosophy behind her successful small-scale business model that prioritises quality and...