In this episode of Coming Clean, Indie chats with Lesley Thornton, founder of Klur. The brand has created a unique collection of natural skincare solutions that combines cutting-edge ingredients with the benefits of all-natural skincare products.
Lesley shares her inspiring journey founding her truly clean beauty business and covers everything from her inescapable rules regarding product formulation to business structure and concepts of authenticity.
Links:
In this episode of Coming Clean, Indie chats with Lesley Thornton, founder of Klur. The brand has created a unique collection of natural skincare solutions that combines cutting-edge ingredients with the benefits of all-natural skincare products.
Lesley shares her inspiring journey founding her truly clean beauty business and covers everything from her inescapable rules regarding product formulation to business structure and concepts of authenticity.
Links:
Welcome back to coming clean with nd Li. I'm your host, Andy Lee. And on today's episode, our guest is Leslie Thornton. Leslie is the founder of clear skincare and eco inclusive botanically based skincare. Leslie has a deep background in the beauty industry starting as a trainer with Estee Lauder to editorial makeup artistry, which then led to being an on air beauty host for TLC. And
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, it's gone through so many ups and downs, but it's it's certainly you know, when I first began, I got into the beauty industry right out of high school, my very first job was working in the mall at a beauty counter. And those years actually really helped shape a so much of what would become my brand today. I think every job I had within the beauty industry, whether it be
Indie Lee:Amazing. Amazing. So I always start the podcast with the why because as I always said, like, in my experience, successful brands grow from a founders deep passion or pain, because sometimes it does come from a pain point. And that then it transforms into their purpose. Right. So Claire, I don't think is an exception to this. So I'd love for you to share with the listeners more about your
Unknown:Well, as you said, I have been in the beauty industry a long time. I don't think I really envisioned quite a brand. Early on in my career. I was always really content with working for other brands, you know, I had gone across the spectrum, and worked for Laura Mercier or for Mac cosmetics I worked for Estee Lauder under the Estee Lauder umbrella. There were many brands already at that
Indie Lee:I know and let's face it, I mean you know when you were able to get your skin to like that basis, right a healthy skin it creates this perfect Canvas I mean I don't actually don't like the word perfect because I don't think there is anything but it does create a really healthy Canvas for the makeup to lay down on and so I think starting at your skincare routine and starting at the
Unknown:so yeah, I mean it totally agree and I think perfect for you and perfect for me is going to be different ideally what I'm you know what I'm looking for within my what I want from my skin and what I want to see the results in my skin I'm perfectly fine with hyperpigmentation I just want all my texture god you know so i think that you know every individual can define what they believe is
Indie Lee:I love how you said you had a lot of time during the week when i when i in actuality you were going nonstop? Yes. Yeah.
Unknown:Well, it was actually I had time to go to school, because the program was great. It was like I could I could do it in the morning, I think six o'clock in the morning to two o'clock. And then it gave me Still I could work in the afternoon. So I did, I had this exact amount of time for school like exactly to do that. Unbelievable.
Indie Lee:I'll talk about like, literally just going after your dreams. I love it. I you know, I'm one who always says I love the hustle as long as it's healthy. But it's incredible what you have accomplished and what you've done. So go I'm sorry to interject, I was just like, gosh, we're here to chat.
Unknown:We're here to chat. So that was, you know, I think that was the catalyst was to just to become an educator, I wanted to have a solid foundation of education. And really, I had all these different experiences within the beauty industry. And kind of around 2014, I started to see this beautiful emergence of, of clean beauty. Something that I had not really seen before, as an movement that spawned out of this was so rooted in whiteness, that it could not actually see that. In fact, we're leaving out the most targeted group,
Indie Lee:so 100% correct.
Unknown:Yeah. And I realized, you know, I am an aesthetician, I have all this experience. I've been a makeup artist, I've been on set. I know formulation. I know what I'm looking for in products. I have a very unique philosophy. Why don't I have products that I started formulating for my clients, maybe I will just make them available to the public. And I started out with a web website and a few talking, you know, five years ago that like, a lot of these products were being made in people's kitchens. And, you know, it was like that, essentially, it was more important that the founder, you know, was essentially a beautiful woman, then it was that the quality of the formulation was there. So I realized that, okay, there also is a lack of expertise in the clean beauty industry, because I
Indie Lee:And I agree, listen, you're speaking to someone, not the head money. I did not started from scratch back in 2009 2010. But yeah, I mean, I came from finance. I came from accounting very much exactly what you're saying in that regard, but saw that there was there wasn't anyone showing that you can provide high performance efficacious products that were also safe? Yeah. And talking
Unknown:Oh, I think this is where we actually make progress when we have very open dialogues. You know, I came like I said, the ideas that I came from was like, Mac Mac has done everything that the small or indie brands are struggling to do. 30 years ago, it was clear it was the community for the LGBTQ you could go to the counter and have your makeup done by a trans person and it was no big
Indie Lee:remember I remember I brought back my lipstick.
Unknown:Yeah, so I this is where my roots are, you know, I I spent a lot of time at the Mac counter realizing that hold on a second, this is a place that's only you know, when when you'd walk into and around nordstroms all the black women were around the mat counter because they only they have shades
Indie Lee:30 years ago,
Unknown:this is 30 years ago. So what we're struggling to do in these, you know, in the indie space Mac has done, you know, 30 years ago, and I use that as sort of my inspiration because I realize this is possible. I've seen it I've been in this I've been immersed in this, you know, inclusive community. I know what it's like to have to ensure that, you know, a lot of people in the LGBTQ space
Indie Lee:I was a Mac user for years ago, because I saw the representation that I wanted to see from other brands at Mac and that's why I shop them. Yeah.
Unknown:And and you know, there was at Christmas, they had a huge philanthropic program around, they would do these holiday cards and 100% of the proceeds would go to children living with AIDS and HIV, millions of dollars. The Viva Glam program was the you know, the lipstick that they would release every single year 100% of the proceeds of Viva Glam would go to people living with AIDS and HIV.
Indie Lee:day by day, we are. I will tell you something I, a friend of mine who I highly respect told me years ago, it takes 10 years to be an overnight success. It's true. Now they say it's 20. I'm like, Well, wait, when did it when did it shift? Because I'm now I'm 11 years in? So yeah, it does take time does. It does and you know, which brings me into the next. You know, the next area is that,
Unknown:I prioritize formulation, it was formulation, formulation formulation. I mean, when we, when I first started, it was finding the chemist who had the same vision as I did, and starting with expert formulations, high performance products, and really, really looking for a consistent quality and product. Because I realized if even if they have a small community of, I don't know, 3000
Indie Lee:a huge, we've grown
Unknown:a lot more than we did, then we were, you know, 15 months ago, where we were at, but I still focused on formulas, because if you were to buy at the root of it is just really, that's what we are, we are a product focused brand. And if the products are not great, then you're never coming back. No, that's so it's such an
Indie Lee:interesting thing, because I find that and I'm sure you've seen it, and it's not just in beauty, it's in other you know, in in all different industries, that people focus so heavily on the packaging and the marketing and this and that and the other thing, but if the product at its core, doesn't do what it says it does, and is not high performance, you're not going to get that repeat
Unknown:down. Right and but you're also not going to get anyone who says anything about it. Nope. Right. So you're not going to have anyone who was preach the gospel about your product. And I knew as in as an aesthetician, you know, when you are you have a spouse or a Facial Studio, the majority of your clients come in from word of mouth. And one of the most powerful advertising platforms I had to
Indie Lee:it was in person social media. Basically, it was how brick and mortar social media, that's how you found because it was peer to peer review. And that's how people understood. I mean, when I started the company way back when, I mean, we we did not spend any money on marketing, if we didn't really spend any money on marketing until 2017 2018. We just didn't have it. This was bootstrapped
Unknown:Yeah. And I mean, I think that's kind of the beauty of social media is that, you know, anything can be well marketed that I mean, you know, that's really I remember, I actually, when I first sat down with, I think, probably the third chemists I spoke to, and he said, Leslie, I can help you make the best products in the entire world. He said, but if you don't have the marketing down, it
Indie Lee:marketing is totally unjust. Leslie, trust me, I understand. I mean, when I first started, we were in brown, like Boston round, like stock, everything. And then I wanted a little elevated. And so we bought, you know, different stock, bottles, glass bottles, etc. But I want we spent her money in the formulation, we spent it in Well, the group that was in the jar, and to make sure that it
Unknown:And you know, we were still in stock packaging, and we're probably not going to ever come out of it. Because I think what we've done with stock packaging just goes to show you that, you know, you can focus on typography, you can focus on on the feel like and I don't know, if you no one believes, as I said, you know, we don't have any custom packaging, and no one ever believes it. I said
Indie Lee:I have conversations about this with my designer all the time, who is by the way, still with me to this day and is responsible for the look and feel of the company. I mean, he's like, Okay, let me understand who you are and why you are and I can make it beautiful. Same thing. We are in the same boat. Yep. I Oh my gosh. So I also believe that you learn more from your mistakes, right? And
Unknown:Oh, easily that not. I mean, when we launched when I launched kleuren, you know, three years later, after everything was put together. And I finally gave up my Facial Studio and committed to building the brand. I launched December 2018. quietly, and then kind of officially January 2019. And I always tell the story that it was it was absolute crickets. It was no interest whatsoever. Our
Indie Lee:like, I'm ready. That ups commercial where it's like one order than 50,000. You're like, oh my god. It was crickets. My mother ordered. My aunt ordered. It was crickets. And I was like I am not going to give up. I know that this is my purpose. I know I meant to educate and empower people. I know it. And I didn't give up. And I think you can't you can't and you can't let a no. mean no
Unknown:Yeah. And you know, we did when we launched, we had a really robust Instagram community because I was already doing a lot of just educating on Instagram, talking about products and ingredients and things like that. So we did have actually a response from the Instagram community already, which was great. We just didn't have any response from editors or the beauty industry at
Indie Lee:But it was it's so interesting. It's so again, it shows the power of people a collective voice that it was going to help raise others up who are doing good for the right reason. And Leslie based upon everything I've read about you and everything you're reading about your brand, your that. So I want to talk a little bit about your wins, your brand has had so many accolades. So what was
Unknown:I know it sounds crazy. But because what what we went through with, you know, I think for 15 months of not getting any anything. Going no retailers no nothing. I think every single win for me is kind of like, holy shit. Like it's because you know, you go through that you for a lot. I mean, I had to drive lift to make sure things kept going because I closed my salon, I closed my studio,
Indie Lee:that is me. It's, and the reason I asked is this, so often we don't celebrate the wins, we set it we're always like, okay, on to the next. And that's why I asked the question, because I think it's so important for us to celebrate those no denies. I mean, for me, I still go into retailers as much as possible. Because and I still get emotional on every store I go into, and I see the
Unknown:I mean, I'm excited for everything. I think one of the things that makes me feel good gives me that overwhelming feeling rdms anytime I check the social and I get a direct message from someone just saying, you know, like, I feel so connected with this brand, or I love your brand so much. Or I really and someone sent me a message and said it was a black man. And he said that he
Indie Lee:if you are mean you are. I will tell you what I just told someone else print those out. I literally have a hoard like a folder of the DMS that have literally lifted me out of days where I'm like, What am I doing because we all have them right? That's the route of an entrepreneur and a founder. I truly believe that it's the ups and downs and I Have a folder of DMS and personal letters,
Unknown:Yes, I mean, I had a whole year of it. So I certainly Yeah, but yeah, I really think that every moment for me right now is sort of kind of been overwhelming. Because, to be to be honest, in the I didn't think I was going to have these wins. So everyone, every single one kind of matters.
Indie Lee:Yep. And the end, you know, where they will continue to, and if you continue to keep that mindset, sky's the limit for the brand, because that's what people need that connection to somebody who started this for a reason. There's a purpose, and that's so at the core of why I started this podcast. Truly, it was to share these moments and to share these stories and for them to not get lost
Unknown:literally just moving every day moving I during COVID I I just put some air in my my tires of my bike and started riding my bike everyday in my neighborhood so moving just getting on a bike or just going out for a walk I know it sounds so small like Monday Monday not but yeah moving and food Farmers Market every Thursday is that's where if you want to know where I'm going to be at at
Indie Lee:Yeah, well listen, I think all of us as a result, we really, I think as a result of the pandemic we all learn to dig deep within ourselves and redefined what that means to take care of oneself and the importance of slowing down in ways that we really never thought possible. So I agree with you i I'm one of those people who you know I was traveling, you know, two weeks out of the
Unknown:People can find me at Quora co on all platforms, it's all the same. And my personal Instagram is love Leslie and l UV le s le y is sometimes people like to follow me I don't post too much. They're just flowers in nature. But ko is really where I spend most of my time on social and any news I'm really excited. I think we're gonna be launching what not think we will be launching into
Indie Lee:Yeah. I love love love credo and I love Annie Jackson. Congratulations on such a massive, massive win. That's phenomenal.
Unknown:Thank you very much. I am really excited. It's It's awesome to find a partner that I think after this last year just really reassessing partnerships and what it looked like to move from the DTC platform. That credo would be our first retailer so it's just fantastic. The
Indie Lee:and I mean, I've been in there since they started and what they are doing and In this in the space for clean and sustainability is really a game changer. And I'm so excited to say that I'm a part of it. And I'm really excited to say I'm going to be starting to see you at the events too. So I'm looking forward to that in person Leslie as well. Yes, absolutely. I'm excited to be joining
Unknown:Thank you so much indeed. It's been my pleasure.
Indie Lee:Thanks so much for listening to another episode of coming clean with indie lay. If you love what you heard, please feel free to leave me a review and hit the subscribe button. And as always, if you have ideas for upcoming episodes, or perhaps guests you would love for me to interview please feel free to email me at coming clean at indie lead calm. That's coming clean@mtv.com See