Who hasn’t heard of Principessa Beauty!? For those you that haven’t, you’re in for a treat. Principessa Beauty is a “high end line of unashamedly feminine beauty products.” They carry everything you need for a pampered life and cater to many celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne and Terri Hatcher. Speaking of celebrities, Principessa collaborated with local celebrity Mary Zilba of The Real Housewives of Vancouver to create a chic line of beautifully scented products called “MZ”. We were lucky enough to sit down with Trish, owner and visionary behind Principessa Beauty, to gain a little more insight about her success as an entrepreneur.
VCB: How did you come to start your business?
I used to work in retail sales for beauty products and was always a huge beauty product junkie in search of the best products. I also didn’t love most scents on the market and there wasn’t anything really pretty and girlie at the time. I thought I could create something that worked and smelled as good as it looked?
VCB: What has been the most challenging thing about starting your own business?
Hmmm, so many challenges where to start? Funding the growth is a big one and trying to decide where to spend your marketing dollars when you don’t have deep pockets like a lot of the big players out there. The economy woes presented us with some whole new challenges as well as worldwide our customers all were affected by it.
VCB: What does Principessa Beauty mean to you?
My husband is Italian and called me Principessa which is princess in Italian. Some friends and I used to travel all over in search of the perfect spa vacations and we always called ourselves the Principessa club. I think it’s the ultimate indulgence and is all about perfecting the fine art of pampering yourself with high end amazing quality products that perform!
VCB: What is the most unique thing about your business?
We are all about pink! Always have been and always will be. When we first launched there were virtually no pink products on the market. There was nothing feminine and pretty and most spa quality or high end products were very non gender specific. We think a product line can be pretty and powerful both at the same time.
VCB: Tell us a little more about your MZ line. What was it like working with Mary Zilba of The Real Housewives of Vancouver?
Mary is amazing!! We LOVE her! She is one of the kindest, sweetest most genuine people I have ever met and we are thrilled to be working with her. We both love white as our places are decorated primarily in white, we have white orchids & candles everywhere, iphones, Range Rovers… we both feel as though it was serendipitous that we met and the only problem is we are both major perfectionists so it takes us a very long time to sign off on anything! We have so much fun though and she cracks me up! We went to Edmonton recently to launch her fragrance at one of our boutiques and I was laughing so hard I thought they would kick us off the plane for sure! Thankfully the flight attendants were completely enamoured with Mary. It’s hard not to be…
VCB: Your products are loved by many, including some major celebrities! What inspires you?
Thank you! That’s so sweet and the best part of the job is when you get told by someone that they love your stuff! That is actually truly what inspires me and keeps me going when times are tough. Working with Mary has been really inspiring too and has injected some new passion and fun into the workplace.
Be sure to keep up to date with what’s going on with Principessa Beauty via Twitter (@Principessa_bty) and Facebook.
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