KINGSTON, Jamaica – Approximately two years after launching her vegan makeup line, Shanique Ellington has expanded to a brick-and-mortar location in Kingston and has plans for further growth in the near future.

According to Ellington, who launched her Le Champ brand at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, while her online beauty business continues to boom, the demand from her customers has been the primary catalyst for opening a physical location.

“They bombarded me. I don’t think I really had a choice, it really was the constant request of customers, they literally demanded that I open a location,” Ellington said.

“And it made sense too because what I realised is that I found myself having to drive person to person to perform tasks like matching shades. Also, a lot of people prefer to have the storefront so that they can come in and not only purchase the products but have their makeup done on site,” Ellington added.

While recognising the clamoring for a physical location, Ellington said that it wasn’t an immediate transition, noting that taking her Le Champ brand from being exclusively available online to a storefront required careful planning, as the venture is entirely self-funded.

“I started planning this store a year ago, which means every month end when I made my salary from my regular nine to five, which is my primary source of income, I would designate almost 80 per cent of it to this venture,” Ellington said.

“So, I schedule things for each month, as it made it more manageable for me to deal with some of the upfront costs of getting the storefront. And I also reinvested 100 per cent of the revenue raised from the business into itself,” she added.

Following the opening of the physical location for Le Champ in late June, Ellington says the experience has given her even more insights into consumer behaviours around beauty.

It is these insights, coupled with more research and development, that Ellington plans to use to further build out her brand which she intends to make more readily accessible islandwide and to Jamaicans in the diaspora.

“I am convinced that people (take) their skin care and health more seriously during the pandemic. This merger of health and beauty is something that is being carried over as we return to some semblance of normalcy,” Ellington said, citing the heightened interest in her products from carnival revellers.

“What I am seeing is that looking good is still a priority, but people now are conscious of balancing this with their health. So, it isn’t beauty at any cost, it is are your products good for the overall health of the skin and that goes to the core of the vegan beauty product industry,” she added.

The plant-based brand currently boasts 12 foundation shades, lipsticks and an eyeshadow palette.