These last few months have been far from restful here at SF! As I mentioned in my last journal entry, the new province-wide distribution of our cosmetics in pharmacies throughout Quebec has been no easy task. Adding to the craziness, at the beginning of the month we participated in our first Jean Coutu shopping show! This really important event took place over two days in Saint-Hyacinthe and allowed us to advertise our brand and our new point of sale locations. It was the first time I participated in an event like this one! To describe it briefly, all of the cosmetic brands come together and present the gift sets and boxes that will be available over the holiday season. We had to set up an attractive booth that represented our brand, and since we had never done something like this before we didn’t really know where to start. We did review quite a few examples from other companies in previous years, but most were very colourful and bright – they didn’t really fit with our minimalistic theme. I ended up giving our representative Alexandrine the entire file and asked her to prepare us a mood board. “We’ll set up our booth the same way we’d decorate a room in the house!” I proposed. In the end, I feel like we succeeded in our mission. Lots of people came by to tell us that they loved the end result!

While fun, it was still quite stressful to participate in the show given that we are just starting out in the field. As the newcomers to the industry, we were aware that many people hadn’t heard of us before and felt that we had to prove ourselves. Even if the brand is gaining popularity online, we still have a long way to go to acquire credibility within the general public. One difficult but not uncommon bit of feedback we’ve heard is that because there are already so many different cosmetics brands available, it will be very difficult for us to find our place in the industry. Still, we believe that we’ve earned our place here, and so we continue to roll up our sleeves and work hard to help people know, understand and love the brand.

I do have to admit that seeing Sans-Façon participating beside all these big brands made me quite proud. The event included two and a half days of networking plus a gala. And the gala…all I can say is WOW!! It’s a wonderful evening and awards ceremony held to celebrate and congratulate successes in the cosmetics industry. Everyone was dressed to impress and looked their best. It was so inspiring to see the pride lighting up the eyes of all the cosmeticians. I loved everything about my first experience at the show. Thank you so much to the Jean Coutu team for their trust in our young brand!

Another fun thing we announced this month was the launch of our new master class, which will take place in Laval on May 30th. I’M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT! These evenings are some of my favourite events. It’s so lovely to be able to meet people who love our brand and to learn more about makeup without any pretense or pressure. We think it’s really cool that we’ve been able to invite outside cosmeticians to participate in our classes. Check out the info on our master class to learn more.

In my next journal entry, I’d like to tell you about the process behind creating the products that end up on our site. What about you? What would you like to know? Are there any topics you’d like me to discuss? Write to me in the comments!

- Andréanne Marquis, founder of Womance & Sans-Façon Cosmetics