A Belfast businesswoman has taken her passion for enjoying life and the joy of self-expression to a whole new level by creating her very own make-up brand.
Andrea Taylor, 33, is the brains and face behind Cheeky Rhubarb, which has just arrived on the local and global beauty scene.
The new cosmetics line has launched with an exciting new range of super sparkly glitter lip glosses and long lasting matte liquid lipsticks.
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Andrea told Belfast Live : "Cheeky Rhubarb was founded on the principle of inclusivity and we feel that everyone should be free to express themselves in a way that they feel comfortable with. We want to celebrate diversity and hope to foster a space where everyone is welcome and treated with dignity and respect."
Andrea said Cheeky Rhubarb was inspired by the joy of self expression and happiness.
The launch was delayed by the pandemic but with the help of her fiancé David, who created and designed her website, she says it's now time for people to discover their sparkle!
"This is all my own creation and given my previous background in marketing, I felt that this was the route I wanted to go down. As we all emerge from lockdown, I decided that now was the time to go for it as what's the point in holding yourself back anymore," she explained.
"First of all I started researching what the right product would be for me and the statement that I wanted to make. Quite honestly that was to foster a space where people felt that they could be freely creative no matter what their background and just express themselves.
"From that came the idea to have a make-up line where you could fundamentally experience the joy of the creation, experiment and have fun.
"The name Cheeky Rhubarb came out of my crazy brain and I knew it would be one that people could remember and would also blend perfectly with the quirky side of the products."
"We have a hashtag #StayCheeky and it is a tongue and cheek tip of the hat to the fact that you can be creative with our products and have fun. In this day and age with everything that's going on, you do need to take solace in the small things that bring you joy in life," she added.
Lipstick sales took a nosedive during the pandemic because mask rules made lip products impossible — or pointless — to wear. Sales have since been surging as rules on face masks are ditched and the good news for Andrea is that women are stocking up on lipstick, whether that's to return to the workplace and socialise, once again.
"We've only been going for a month and at the moment we are focused on our lip product range but we are hoping to branch out further down the line," Andrea added.
"With more people returning to work and things starting to open up again plus lots of events to look forward to this summer, the timing is ideal and we're hopeful that the range will appeal to festival goers, wedding guests etc."
All Cheeky Rhubarb products are vegan friendly, cruelty free and paraben free as Andrea strives to share great quality products that will spark creativity and fun for all.
"We have a great selection of matte lipsticks and lip glosses with hundreds of combos. The range of colours might seem a bit crazy to some but they can be styled however you want to create your own unique look," she added.
"The response to date has been really positive and the reviews have praised how the products stay in place beautifully for hours. At the end of the day, we just want to allow people to bring a bit more fun and sparkle into their lives."
You can keep up to date with the range on their social media channels.
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