In preparation for the Beauty & Money conference in New York, Benedict H. Auld, CEO and Founder of Lapidarius, caught up with Doris Dalton, founder of Doll 10, one of the independent beauty brands hand-picked to share their business and product in a quick-fire round of presentations at Beauty & Money New York.
What is the unique value proposition your brand or product brings to the category?
This brand was created as a necessity for my own life and what happened with me personally. I am a cancer survivor. While in treatment, I lost my eyebrows and my skin was ravaged and that was the impetus behind starting the brand. Doll 10 is about taking 10 minutes of your life to get dolled up—I didn’t have a lot of time and products weren’t working for me. I created Brow Fix™ and H2GLO™ to put on quick and easy and they made such a huge impact on how I looked and felt. They are efficacious—they do what they say they do (and more). To get you out the door in 10 minutes. Makeup has become complicated, and Doll 10 is getting you back to basics and out the door.
How did you do it?
I was immersed in the beauty world for 30 years, and my journey was based on that departure point. And I’m a guinea pig—as a cancer survivor with problem skin it informs my product development. Finally, I’m a prior Mrs. America winner with a ton of tips and tricks to beauty. I work with some of the best labs around the world, and together we create products; I know as soon as I put them on my skin if they are right. And when they’re right, they’re going to be game changers and life changers the moment a woman uses them.
Our latest line of foundation and concealers have an ingredient called Smooth Assist™ technology, a hexapeptide blend. Ninety-nine percent of women want a foundation and concealer to smooth skin—so I created something with a similar effect to an injectable smoother. It’s clinically proven, and the trials show immediate and 4-week results are amazing.
Everywhere we’ve presented the foundation it has done extremely well. The concealer launches mid-September and the clinical results are even more impressive. Instantaneous and long-term results. And we’re a clean cosmetic brand and believe makeup should feed your skin, so we are very particular about what we put into our products.
What is the most important thing an investor should know about your brand?
We’re the only beauty brand in every QVC market in the world (except China) and this year we should do about $27 million in retail sales. The majority is on QVC, and we want to take that success and duplicate it in other areas.
What would your ideal investor look like?
I want to align myself with someone that shares the same vision as me. And that would add strategic value to the partnership. I believe we have built a pathway for greatness, and now we want strategic partners, hands-on, with experience to take it to new levels and places.
We know that to catapult us to the next level we need expertise and experience that comes with having done it a bunch of times. That’s who we’re looking for.
Who is the muse for your brand? That is, who is the consumer target that you are creating your products for?
Interestingly, it’s the everyday woman that knows the world is hectic, crazy, complicated, and that there’s never enough time. She is running to get out the door and she has 10 minutes to get ready and feel beautiful. Every woman wants great makeup that wears beautifully throughout the day. What matters to me about her is this: if I can take 10 minutes of her day do amazing things for her, make her feel better about herself, put a jump in her step, that’s great. There’s a ripple effect to feeling beautiful, it makes everything better. She could be late 20s on up—all the way up.
I love this brand. There’s nothing better than when I’m somewhere and a woman pulls a product out and tells her story. I hear the stories every day—hearing them say “Oh, my gosh, I feel so much better.” I see the before-and-after photos and they’re amazing, and it fuels our energy. It’s never going to be a me-too brand. Every product is special.
What is your vision for the brand? Where do you see the brand in 5 years?
Total Doll Domination! [laughs.] Where it takes me I’m not sure, but at the rate and the path we’re going, we are well on our way. In five years, as a whole, that Doll 10 is more accessible and available to people. The landscape changes so much in consumer goods every day. Right now we are on all e-retail platforms—but I want the brand to be an everyday word in lots of places.
