A lot of young mothers often lose themselves to motherhood without realizing it. This is perplexing because even though these young mothers have children and their days revolve around them, it is often easy to spiral off and have the entire meaning of their lives revolve around their children. Thanks to a new challenger generation, more inspiring mompreneurs are cropping up, changing the narrative and reinforcing the belief that mothers can be enterprising and successful.
Lauren Ramsay was not deterred when she became a teen mom at 19. Rather the Caribbean native became even more determined to pursue higher education and launch her own business. Today, she is the founder of Just Love Beauty, a cosmetics brand with products that embody speed of application, ease of access, versatility, inclusivity, affordability and is redefining the concept of beauty and makeup with her self-defining quote, “make-up is art but beauty is spirit”.
I recently caught up with the ambitious and devoted woman behind the brand, who shared the inspiration behind her bold business dive and her outstanding journey so far as a young mompreneur. Here’s what she told me:
“I got pregnant at the age of 19 and gave birth to my lovely son at 20. This really put things into perspective for me as I didn’t want to end up as a statistic of being a young mum that isn’t able to fulfil her dreams. I wanted to show my son and myself that it is possible to do anything you put your mind to. I am an individual that has struggled with self-confidence growing up. Throughout my time at secondary school and college, I always felt like I had to wear make-up to hide my imperfections. It wasn’t until one day I was running late to college and I forgot to do my make-up (which I was gutted about when I realised) and someone approached me saying that I have nice skin. That was an eye-opener for me. That day when I got home, I took a good look at myself in the mirror and I realised that I didn’t need to wear the amount of make-up that I wore every day. Day by day, I became more and more comfortable with my own skin. I then decided that on a day-to-day basis I will keep my face bare but when I go out on special occasions, I want my face beat to the gods. I began experimenting with different looks and different products to suit me. This way, make-up became more “fun” rather than an everyday chore.
“However, I found that finding the right products can be quite difficult so I thought why not create my own products? I’ve always loved uplifting others around me and I tend to put the people I care about above me quite often. Growing up I have seen so many other women who had the same struggles as me. This made me realise that social media forces us to believe that people need to have perfect features (like hair, teeth and skin) to qualify as “beautiful”. When really, make-up is an art form that should only be used to enhance your natural features and as a way to express yourself. This is why I stand by the quote “make-up is art but beauty is spirit”. I want people to learn to love themselves first before they decide to purchase my products. I wanted to use ‘Just Love Beauty’ as a platform for me to share my love for beauty whilst promoting the understanding of the real use of make-up.”
True to her passion, Just Love Beauty has since then grown to become a beauty brand providing premium cosmetic products at an affordable price. The brand since inception continues to promote the expressive, artistic value of makeup in its true form, to boost self-confidence in women and show that makeup should only be used to enhance one’s features not to cover them up. But most importantly, in an industry where women of colour are constantly left out, the brand continues to highlight and celebrate the value they bring to the industry alongside their counterparts.
With their expansive product range, we are convinced Just Love Beauty will have something your makeup bag needs. To help you get started here’s all you need to know about these products:
- Luxe Gloss collection: These ultra-glossy non-sticky formulas are a must-have for your makeup purse. This inclusive gloss collection comes in eight complementary shades; cloud 9, pink lady, passionate blush, purple desire, divine misstery, feeling rouge, honey velour and ruby royalty. A shade for every mood! They are all formulated with Shea butter, an exceptional healing agent for dry and chapped lips and Vitamin E which boosts circulation and helps generate new skin cells, making your lips softer and noticeably fuller.
- Luxe 3-D 25mm faux mink lash collection: These super soft, fluffy, handmade and cruelty-free lashes not only comes with a lash brush and can be reused up to 20-25 times with good care, but it also comes in five different inclusive variants and styles;
- Diva – Nothing wrong with being a diva sometimes. As Beyoncé would say “a diva is a female version of a hustler”. These “Diva” lashes will have you slayin’ with its fluffy criss-cross effect. Perfect for if you want to impress on a date night.
- Belle – Accentuate your true beauty with these lashes in the style of “Belle”. These are the brands most natural-looking lashes with a beautiful curl. There are no cross-overs in this style because less is more, right? Perfect for any occasion with or without make-up.
- Goddess – Unleash your inner Goddess with this “Goddess” style lashes. If you’re looking to make a statement you definitely will with its vivid but lengthy style. Perfect for when you just want to let your hair down.
- Regina – You are a queen girl! So why not flaunt it with this “Regina” style lashes? The long and short layers create an indented shape, almost like a crown. These lashes are perfect for when you want to crown your eyes for a night out with your girlfriends.
- Victress – You will feel victorious in our “Victress” style lashes. Carefully, crafted to create a light tutu effect. These lashes will suit any eye shape, any look and what’s better? It’s super lightweight considering the length. Perfect for special occasions.
In our opinion, Just Love Beauty has a lash for every shade of you!
Lauren’s long-term goals for her brand is to provide a full range of low-cost, high-quality, and inclusive cosmetic products. She also hopes to store her products in a warehouse so she can operate her online business on a wider scale thus enabling her to employ a diverse range of employees to deliver top-quality customer service. She says Just Love Beauty in the near future will introduce events such as networking events, trade shows, campaigns, events abroad, beauty retreats, conferences, and even party celebrations. This would allow her to meet her customers up close and develop life-long relationships. Above all she says,
‘I want the women of this generation to feel beauty, see beauty and love beauty. This is what Just Love Beauty is about.’
Join her active online community on Instagram @justlovebeautyuk and shop these must-have products on www.justlovebeautyuk.com
