Indie Beauty Profile
Laura Burget, Niu Body
UPDATE: in July 2020, NIU Body rebranded to become Three Ships (read more here)
Consumers are no longer settling for the next-best brand or waiting for big beauty to meet their expectations. More and more women are building the very brands they want to buy. Laura Burget is one of these women. She and her best friend Connie Lo put their heads together and created Niu Body, an affordable, natural skin care line for the millennial market.
Here, the beauty entrepreneur shares a profile of herself and the brand.
Name: Laura Burget, Co-Founder
Indie Beauty Company: Niu Body (rebranded as Three Ships)
Launched: March 1, 2017
Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cash flow: We are proud to have bootstrapped our way to being cash flow positive within the first 8 months of being in business.
Team work: 2 full-time employees, 2 part-time
Distribution: Globally though our own online site (niubody.com) as well as at select retailers such as Jet.com in the United States. A full list of retailers can be found on our site.
Years in beauty: 2
Years at Niu Body: 1 ½
Entrepreneurial experience: My co-founder and I started Niu Body in March of 2017, prior to this, I owned a business in the home services space while studying at the University of Toronto for Chemical Engineering.
The business: All of Niu Body's products are truly natural, 100% vegan, cruelty-free and made with love in small batches in Toronto, Canada. We source the finest ingredients from around the globe, formulating only with the purest and most effective ingredients. We firmly believe skin care should not be one-size-fits-all, and use unique botanical blends with catered benefits for every different skin type or concern in mind.
The wow-factor: We aspire to be an approachable option without the fancy fluff, at affordable prices so everyone can enjoy everything green beauty has to offer. Our products are simple in both design and formulation. We believe in empowering women in business and focus our brand energy around engaging with other young aspiring female business owners and encouraging more women founders to chase their dreams.
The customer: Our target consumer is women between the ages of 18-35.
Milestone moment: Selected as one of nine North American brands to be featured on a live stream at the Alibaba Gateway to China convention in Toronto (September 2017). Our presentation was steamed to viewers in China to encourage more online e-commerce between Canadian businesses and Chinese consumers.
Advice for fellow indie beauty entrepreneurs: When you are just getting started, talk to as many people that you can about your brand, vision and products. Not only will this exercise help you get more familiar with your “pitch”, you will also be surprised by how much your friends and family will be able to help you.
Just one: Asked about her go-to product, Burget is adamant: Definitely a good oil serum – keeping your skin hydrated and nourished is so important to long term skin health. Our glow serum is a great light weight one that I love mixing in with my daily SPF!
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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.
