When Debbie Polden spotted a little shop in Sherborne in 2019 she knew it would be a perfect base to sell her skincare range.
The professional grade Canadian products had until then been mainly sold to salons and spas, as salon owners loved the luxurious range with its gorgeous, fruity scents.
But Debbie wanted to also sell directly to the public.
The old Tourist Information Centre on Digby Road would be the ideal place for her to sell her Eminence Organic Skincare.
She snapped it up and set about fitting it out… then the pandemic came along.
Undaunted, she started boosting the online orders and managed to weather the storm. While many salons closed their doors Debbie had a brisk online trade to fall back on.
She said: “As new business owners we thought this is crazy – salons were closing and it was very scary. But thank heavens for online. We managed to survive as we built up our private customers.
“We didn’t have the best year we’ve ever had, but we were fine. Then salons and spas came up with innovative ideas to keep their trade going.”
Debbie bought the business from Tracy Smith, who had launched the products in 2006 in Bromsgrove.
She and her husband moved north to run the business but in 2019 she figured she could run it anywhere and she returned to Dorset, where she had grown up.
As the exclusive authorised distributor for Eminence she supplied 100 salons across Europe and the UK and business was strong before covid reared its head. Now, having built it back up after the pandemic she faces a slowdown in the luxury market due to the soaring costs of living.
She said: “This year we’re probably not going to see lot of growth in the luxury market.
“If people are cutting back, the one product they must have is a good moisturiser.”
If you’re in the market for some seriously gorgeous skincare though, Debbie’s range also includes cleanser, toner, exfoliating scrubs and eye products, as well as lotions and hand creams – all organic.
The Eminence range originated in Hungary in 1958 as a small cottage industry. Then two brothers took the range to North America in 1990.
Debbie ran a spa in Canada for about 17 years, where she first discovered Eminence and fell in love with their products.
She said: “It’s a very active brand – collagen, peptides, vitamins and minerals work hard and the products do a really good job of bringing together ancient herbal craftsmanship with modern skincare tech, using hyaluronic acid and a natural retinol alternative.
“The products smell amazing – strawberry, rhubarb, apricot, citrus and wildflowers and a tree is planted for every product we sell.”
n The Skinsmith Ltd
01527 834904
theskinsmith.co.uk