April 26, 2018
What does luxury mean in a place where it’s only ever meant something to a very limited few? — Now add ‘local’ into that equation.
Kathryn Nurse’s Immortelle Beauty isn’t about the elite or the unattainable. It’s about marrying luxury and local in a Caribbean-based skin care brand inspired by the woman who first introduced her to the concept of beauty.
Indulge us as we explore her world, the challenges of growing a local brand with global appeal and the potential her vision and experiences hold for Caribbean women, and all women.
“My focus is on creating beautiful, quality products… for us.”
So, you started out studying Biology. Did you have cosmetics and beauty products in mind when you ventured down this path?
KATHRYN: I actually wanted to be a doctor. I did all the required pre-med classes because I really like the process of learning. I like learning things. I love to read and I’m very curious but I hate being assessed: I hate writing exams, I hate writing papers. Eventually, I was just like, “I can’t do this anymore.”
I wanted something glamorous, something exciting. For me, medicine wasn’t it but I also didn’t want to start all over. I didn’t want to start trying to find out what I really wanted to do and I knew I’d always like beauty and fashion. So I asked myself, “What can I do with this? How can I make this as glamorous as possible?”
Then, one day, I was reading an article about Estee Lauder. She started her own business and made her own products and I was like, “That! I can do that! That’s a good idea!”
Was that around the time that you worked at the cosmetics labs before starting Immortelle Beauty? And what inspired you then, to decide to pursue luxury brand management in Paris?
KATHRYN: There was a lot of trial and error and a lot of growing pains when I was trying to launch – or even just get into the Trinidad market.
But, just to go back a bit, I’m the type of consumer that, once there’s a new product and it’s exciting and it has a story, I want it. But the market here isn’t really like that. The consumers are excited but there’s a lot of education and convincing that has to go into selling your product in this market. So, I fell into this space where I was disenchanted and just put Immortelle Beauty on the back burner and decided to pursue fashion.
So I went away again, this time to Shanghai and Florence and Paris, to study luxury brand management. I got the degree, which was fashion focused, and after graduating tried to see if I could make it in fashion but it didn’t happen for me. That did not happen at all.
By this time, I was back in New York, so I came home to Trinidad and Immortelle Beauty and decided to launch the new line: Immortelle Beauty Esscentials. This time everything became a lot easier and it just turned around. This time I was listening to people and incorporating their ideas, taking advice and it really helped.
And I haven’t had those feeling of disenchantment since!
You said the fashion thing, “Didn’t happen at all.” How or when did you realize it?
KATHRYN: I think it just wasn’t for me and so the opportunities didn’t present themselves. I’m about what comes naturally instead of pushing and pulling against something that isn’t happening.
What’s interesting is now I’m super, super excited about beauty. Probably more excited than I’ve ever been about the beauty industry and fashion I’m just not as interested or inspired by at all right now.
And beauty was different? Was it a feeling or…
KATHRYN: With cosmetics, I always knew! My mother was very into beauty. It’s just how we grew up. She would go away and buy all these products and then come back and put them in a box upstairs… Now I have a box – boxes, to be honest – in the same place that she had hers. And that’s part of the story: there were so many lovely things that she couldn’t get here. So, between trips, she would pull products out of her box to use and, as one product finished, she’d have another to back it up.
“I come from a woman who loved fragrances and beauty products and so I always knew this was the area I would be excited about.”
And what came first: the products or the name?
KATHRYN: That’s a good question and I think they both happened around the same time. I’m not good with stuff like that so I asked my brother to help. He came up with the name Immortelle but then I researched it and it fit.
The immortelle tree is the tree they planted on the cocoa plantations to shade the cocoa plants and I just thought it was so nurturing. And when I think of Caribbean women, that’s how I see them: as caretakers and problem solvers and nurturers.
Tell us about the process of creating Immortelle Beauty products. From the ideas to the ingredients to the making…
KATHRYN: Coming up with the ideas has a lot to do with seeing what’s in the environment already. People are always shocked by the amount of products that I buy but I want to see why other people are buying them, what’s trendy and I want to know what the high end brands are doing so I can produce the same high quality for the Trinidad market.
So, there’s a lot of research. Then I try to figure out how I can do it using the types of products I like to use, the type of material I can afford and, of course, what’s available – here!
After that, I have to come up with the actual formula and it’s similar – or easier to think about it – like someone who makes cakes. There’s a way to make a cake. According to what you put it, it’ll be fluffy or spongy, chocolate or red velvet.
That’s where I play around: I try to keep my formulas very inexpensive except for one or two ingredients. I try to spend money on one or two fragrances and perfecting the texture. Everything else, I try to keep as affordable as possible so the end product is equally affordable.
Where did that business acumen come from? Did you always have it in you or did you have to learn and pick it up along the way?
KATHRYN: I went to UTT to study fashion business before I left to study luxury management and, while it was fashion focused, translating that to beauty was not difficult. But most of my business knowledge comes from my father. Daddy worked in banking and finance in Trinidad & Tobago for his entire life so he’s the person that helps me navigate that terrain. And there are lots of things that I still don’t know. He’s my biggest teacher.
The Immortelle Beauty tagline is ‘A Little Local Luxury.’ I love and wish I came up with it, honestly!
KATHRYN: I’m still very obsessed with the idea of luxury and how to bring it into what I do but it just baffles me that we just don’t have a real appreciation for luxury here.
I know luxury is not a necessity to most Caribbean women. So it’s almost like you have to trick people into doing something more for themselves. And that’s how I’ve been strategizing with the products and marketing: Immortelle is not that expensive, but look at how it makes you feel!
What is luxury to you?
KATHRYN: Luxury to me is comfort. Like travel for example, I’m not leaving my house to be less comfortable. So wherever I go, I need to be more comfortable.
It’s about how I feel.
How is this conveyed in the Immortelle Beauty brand and your products?
KATHRYN: We have busy lives and we’re often rushing around every day but that five seconds where you’re showering or applying lotion: that can be your moment of comfort. And that’s why it’s a little local luxury. It’s a little bit of your time or a little piece of your day for that extra experience of comfort for yourself.
It’s about creating that experience – that comfort – for yourself at home, pampering yourself. It doesn’t have to be a special occasion. You can have it everyday.
And there’s this whole natural product movement now… What are your thoughts considering that Immortelle Beauty products aren’t 100% natural?
KATHRYN: No, they aren’t. They have great natural ingredients in them, but they aren’t 100% natural. And I’m a chemist. So I like chemicals more than the average consumer might.
But, it’s really just a lot harder – and a lot more expensive – to preserve a product that is ‘all natural’. So I’ve chosen to create and provide a strong, well-preserved product with natural ingredients that you can pick up years later without having concerns about safety. This is particularly important here, where customers keep their products for a really long time. I need to be able to give them that assurance.
There must be so many other challenges you face here with the creation of a luxury brand. What’s the biggest one?
KATHRYN: Distribution! So… you make this beautiful product, let’s call it a candle, an Immortelle Home Fragrance candle.
So, you make this beautiful product and a beautiful label and there’s nowhere to sell it. I can’t sell it in a drugstore. I can’t sell it in a regular beauty supply store. I can’t sell it anywhere.
Because it’s a volume business. So as long as I have less retailers, even though the price point is fair – and often times lower – I still need volumes and the retailer still wants volume.
Add to this normal Trini mentality: why buy a lotion for $200tt when I can get it for $35tt?
So is it just a question of educating the public?
KATHRYN: Exactly! And that’s also why the candles and the diffusers sell easier because you can’t actually get candles and diffusers that look like ours for much cheaper. In general, home fragrance products are pretty expensive. But when it comes to lotions and shower gels, you have a lot of cheaper options and the value isn’t understood.
I have a funny, personal story about value… I’ve been trying not to buy ‘cheap’ items. I went on a trip and bought nothing until I went into Gucci and bought a wallet. I was as happy as if I’d gone on a shopping spree. My boyfriend didn’t understand and suggested that that type of spending is what leads to buyer’s remorse. For me, that was funny because it’s when I buy a heap of cheap clothes that I get buyer’s remorse. I look at the items and I just feel after like it was money wasted. But, with that wallet, I felt so much better because I got value for that purchase.
Is that the type of emotional response you’re hoping to get with Immortelle Beauty? As one of the first locally made beauty products on the market, what is the feedback like?
KATHRYN: When I started, I felt like people were supporting me, but they were family members and friends and I didn’t have much reach beyond that circle. It took me a really long time to believe that people actually liked the product.
Then I got to the point where people finally started using the product and they were like, “I tried your stuff and it’s really nice!”
Now, people expect and appreciate that it’s going to be high quality, which is a relief, and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I get comments about the fragrances but the critiques are mostly pretty subjective.
The latest challenge is now, when people see Immortelle for the first time, they pass it straight because they think it’s not local – and I’m totally blaming Tanya for this with her package design! *laughs* But they pass Immortelle Beauty straight and pick up something in a brown bottle with a hand-written label because to them, that’s local. When they stop and someone explain, then they’re willing to try it and end up falling in love with it.
What do you think would have happened if you had gone with the whole homemade label look? How do you think it would have affected sales?
KATHRYN: I don’t think I’d still be doing this if I went that way. It wouldn’t have looked like me. It wouldn’t have felt like me
It wouldn’t have been your brand…
KATHRYN: We set the standard pretty high when we came out with the first packaging and, seven years later, it’s still strong. I think people would have been surprised if I came out with anything less. It’s just not me!
INTERVIEWER: TANYA MARIE PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER: DAMIAN LIBERT PRODUCT PHOTOGAPHER: KYLE WALCOTT
