Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia Besteman.
Violets Are Blue was created because of a personal need for skincare that is natural and safe for the body as well as the environment.
Born in Seattle, Cynthia first landed in New York City determined to find her way as an actress, after completing a major in theater at the University of Oregon. She worked on Broadway for 10yrs before checking out the real estate scene and quickly became one of the top brokers in the city. After receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in 2011, Cynthia’s successful career in the cutthroat world of New York City real estate came to a skidding halt.
While undergoing treatment, one of her first actions was to toss out all beauty products containing unsafe chemicals and synthetic fragrances, leaving her medicine cabinet bare. She was shocked by the mislabeling of many skincare and beauty products that were classified as “natural” while containing parabens, sulfates, and other chemicals known to work as endocrine disruptors linked to cancer and reproductive concerns. She dove into the world of natural skincare, learning everything she could about essential oils, and other natural ingredients that work effectively to nourish, cleanse, and hydrate without causing harm. Cynthia learned that there are key botanicals and herbs that can alleviate and treat problems for any skin type or age.
She drew upon this, along with her desire to give back, and established Violets Are Blue in 2015. She used her knowledge and passion for naturally-derived skincare ingredients to formulate a consciously-produced line of products, each one a true labor of love. In addition to developing new products for the Signature and Beloved lines, Cynthia provides patients at the Mt. Sinai Dubin Breast Center in NYC with a gifted package of Beloved products upon their first day of chemotherapy.
She is also proud to have created a company that supports women helping women, with 10% of the purchase price of all products going toward skincare donations for cancer patients.
Since its inception, Violets Are Blue has been awarded Best In Show by the Indie Beauty Expo, Best Brand with a mission by Sophie Uliano’s Gorgeously Green Beauty Awards and Cynthia has been featured in top magazines such as Women’s Day, Self, Organic Spa and Health Magazine, just to name a few.
Violets Are Blue operates under the philosophy that skincare does not have to be complicated; in fact, keeping it simple is best.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a business is not for people looking for a smooth ride! So many highs and so many lows! I’ve dealt with everything from 5000 deodorant top not fitting into their bottles (note to self, check bottles before screen printing), 1000 silk screened bottles scratching off (note to self, flame the bottles before printing) to shelving crashing down with 2k worth of inventory (note to self, hire a carpenter to build your shelves). Then there is the stress of growth, needed to find the funds to place the larger orders, as I am completely self-funded. I have become very shrewd with my choices on what to spend money on and what to cut back on. In the beginning I threw away a lot of money because I didn’t necessarily know what I was doing. I now say it was money spent on my business education. When you are new to the business world, you don’t know what you don’t know until you realize you don’t know it! I made mistakes with website, product and brand design and I also made mistakes with suppliers, marketing and ingredient sourcing. All of this however has pushed me to where I am now, I know where every ingredient comes from, I LOVE our package design and website, I have a strong partnership with my manufacturer and only through learning from my mistakes did I get there. I also respond much better when problems arise. My mantra is “Well that happened”. I say it and move on. Things that I thought were earth shattering (like letting Anthropologie know I had a bottle issue and needed to pus the PO back) turned out to be just fine!. Anthropologie understood and worked with me. Bottles were re printed, ingredients were re- sourced and nobody batted an eye! It is all part of the ride and it’s a ride I wouldn’t change!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Violets Are Blue Skincare story. Tell us more about the business.
Violets Are Blue has two product lines, our BeLoved Line, which is formulated for women in treatment for cancer and our Signature Line which is formulated with the same great ingredients, just a little more essential oils and is for all women. We donate product to women on their first day of chemotherapy at Mount Sinai in New York City and that happens to be where I was treated for Breast Cancer. The first day of chemotherapy can be scarier than the day you are diagnosed and I wanted to give something to women that eased that fear. To give them one less thing to worry about, something to help them focus on being healthy as opposed to being sick, not pink, no ribbon, nothing medicinal at all. When you get cancer you immediately become paralyzed wondering what lifestyle choices you made that made you sick. What you put on your skin was one of those fears for me and I started making my own to get me through treatment. Meeting other women in treatment who had the same fear but had a full time job, 3 children and had just come off of 6mos of chemo, they weren’t in a position to make their own skincare. This is where the seed was planted for Violets Are Blue. I wanted to give back to an amazing facility that took care of me and I wanted to help take one less fear off women’s plates. From there, the company has grown tremendously, but those donations are the thing that I am most proud of.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The Green Beauty movement is definitely growing. Companies like Anthropologie and Nordstrom (both who carry Violet Are Blue) have created Green Beauty sections. Stores like Credo Beauty, who have a strict ingredient check list, are opening more locations throughout the US We are extremely proud to be one of the brands they carry. Green beauty is becoming more mainstream and women are realizing that you can get products that work just as well, if not better, than “conventional beauty”. If you have the choice, why not go with the product whose ingredients you can understand?! I think that Green Beauty will be Mainstream beauty within the next 5-10yrs for sure.
Pricing:
- Signature pricing $12-$52
- BeLoved Pricing $12-$48 with full gift set $150
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.violetsareblueskincare.com/
- Phone: 917-531-5360
- Email: info@violetsareblueskincare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/violetsareblueskincare/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VioletsareBlueskincare/
Image Credit:
Images owned by Violets Are Blue
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