POPSUGAR: What was your approach to breaking into the bridal beauty industry?
Brittany Lo: The wedding industry prides itself on the number of years of experience, which is important, but I knew I could build a beauty brand in the wedding space, despite my lack of wedding experience. This situation pushed me to focus my time on marketing directly to brides and giving them that top-notch experience. From there, we would be able to build trust from vendors to refer to us as well. Thankfully, our approach worked, and I am grateful that now both couples and vendors proactively reach out to work with us because of our focus on our services and experience.
PS: How have you seen brides weave their culture into their beauty or skin-care routine on their wedding day?
BL: Seeing how couples weave their culture or traditions into their wedding day is one of my favorite things to talk about during a beauty trial. My parents had a culturally blended marriage — my dad is Chinese and mom is Irish — which turns into a culturally blended life.
We have a lot of couples who fuse their different cultures together on the wedding day as well. We have worked with a few couples where one partner is Indian and the other is Chinese, so it is a multi-day celebration with the Sangeet one day, the Chinese ceremony another day, and the Western-American ceremony as the culmination. This means one day we get to create a hairstyle with a tikka woven into the hair, create a beautiful makeup look with a bright red lip for the Chinese Tea Ceremony, and then add a textured updo that complements her white gown. Watching couples fully embrace each other's culture and traditions is so beautiful.
PS: What skin-care advice do you give to brides leading up to the wedding day?
BL: There's so much pressure to look perfect on your wedding day that I've seen brides trying brand new procedures, peels, and products just days before the wedding. I do believe that leading up to your wedding day is a great time to establish a skin-care routine and to try out new procedures — if you begin this nine to 12 months in advance. Within three months of the wedding, I would suggest not changing up the skin-care routine to avoid reactions or skin issues that would affect your makeup on the day.
PS: What have the brides you've worked with taught you?
BL: On a romantic note, I was single the first five years of running Beautini, so hearing brides' love stories about their SOs and how they keep perspective on what's truly important helps me in my current relationship. When you think about the beauty industry, most people will tell you how saturated the market is, but when I have intimate and honest conversations with our brides, I learn about how much white space and potential there is to speak to customers differently and build products that allow them to feel confident.
