The Interview - Part 1

Just before Christmas we participated in an in depth interview with a researcher keen to find out more about entrepreneurship in the UK. We were happy to oblige, and we spent nearly two hours dissecting Fairypants and how we came to be where we are. We just got sent the transcript, and we thought you might like to have a read - but it's quite long, so we've serialised some of the questions for you!!

Interviewer        Hi, can you start by telling me your age, how long you have been in business, and what is it all about? 

Fairypants      Okay, so I’m 28 and I started Fairypants in 2009, so it’s about six years.

Interviewer     Okay. And what’s Fairypants? 

Fairypants     Yes, Fairypants. Don’t ask about where the name came from. It was completely random. I started off making clothes, and then I added things like handmade jewellery and hair accessories. And then I accidentally started making vegan cosmetics, and that’s kind of the main thing now.  

Interviewer     Okay. So there has been a change during these six years?

Fairypants      Yes, definitely. Yes.

Interviewer     So it’s turned from clothes to jewellery, and now you’re mainly focused on…?

Fairypants      Yes. The clothes was why it started, because I’d just graduated in 2008, obviously a very bad time to graduate, and I couldn’t get a graduate job. I’d been working in Superdrug while I was at uni, but I was applying for graduate jobs everywhere. Because it was 2008, people were cutting jobs so, you know, graduate jobs that I would have gone for, that I would have been good at, didn’t exist anymore so it was really difficult. So I ended up staying with Superdrug for another couple of years, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

So while I was there, I started making dresses just for myself because I’d never had as much money, as much disposable income as when I was a student. Because you get all the grants, you get all the loans, I was working 16 hours a week while I was a student, I had so much money. And when you’re a student, you live on appalling food and you go to pound a pint night, so you spend a few pounds on a night out. So I had all this money coming in and I wasn’t really spending that much, so I was buying a lot of clothes. And then I graduated working full-time in Superdrug on, you know, what was probably not much more than the minimum wage.

 So I started making these dresses just for me because I had no money to buy dresses. And then I was going on all these nights out still, so I’d wear all these dresses that I’d made on these nights out and these girls would be coming up to me in the toilet saying, where did you get that dress from, it’s amazing.

So I told my mum and she was like, I think you should start selling them. And then my nan told me to get a stall in Chester Market and start selling them. So I thought, all right, then! I got a stall in Chester Market selling the dresses and it… because I had this huge stall to fill, that’s why I started doing the jewellery and the accessories just because there was so much space on this stall. So they sold really well. At first it was mostly pity sales I think from my friends coming in to see me and buying them. But then the longer I stayed there, the more I got these regulars coming back to see me.

In Part 2 next week, I talk more about the beginnings of Fairypants, and our time in Chester Market! xox

The one with the clean slate...

Here at Fairypants HQ we're undergoing a bit of an office overhaul. For the first time in our nearly 7 year history we'll have a dedicated office space, and we're so excited.

As you'll know if you've read our blog before, we make absolutely everything ourselves. And it gets pretty difficult, the more you guys spread the word and the more people find out about us. So a while ago we started working with a UK manufacturer, and they kindly make some of our nail varnish ranges for us. It's still our recipe, but it's not our poor little hands making them!

But all this means that we need space - and lots of it! We need space to store the stuff that we've had ready made for us (boxes and boxes of nail varnish!) and we also need space to store the raw ingredients for the things we make ourselves, like our classic lipbalm.

And more annoyingly - each of those things needs to be stored in different ways. We have liquids, solid butters and powders that all need to be stored at different temperatures and in different ways. If the Shea Butter gets too warm, it'll start melting - and if the glass lip paint jars get too cold, they'll shatter when we try to pour the hot liquid lipstick in! It's a dilemma!

But we really can't wait for our office to be finished, and we're super excited to share photos with you as it transforms from this -

into our dream work space!

So keep your fingers crossed that we don't encounter any building related problems, and we'll keep you updated on progress. xox

Happy Birthday!

Don’t forget, you have until February 29^th to use your amazeballs 20% discount code off all orders on our website.

Parma Violet Perfume 30ml £10 with discount code

 

All you need to do is make sure you’re spending over £10, then type in BIRTHDAY at the checkout, and just watch yourself save money. It’s magic.

Matte Pastel Nail Varnish £3.20 with discount code

What will you buy?

 

 

The reason for the casual discount code is our founder, Natalie has her birthday TODAY, so happy birthday to her! And why should it just be her having all the fun, eh? xox

Come up and see us, make us smile!

We've taken the plunge, and we'll be at our first ever Vegan specific event next month. It's on the 19th March, at St George's Hall in Liverpool - so if you're local then you should definitely pop over and make yourself known to us so we can say hi!

We'll be taking all of our cosmetics stock with us, including the fabulous new Nail Varnish Remover - they have to be seen to be believed!



Blueberry & Pomegranate Nail Varnish Remover £4.99

We'll also have our full range of amazing Lip Paints - these have been really popular recently, you guys are loving some of the more unusual shades!

Margaret Lip Paint £4.99

And of course, not forgetting - our classic lipbalms. We'll have all flavours with us, freshly made and ready to take up residence in your handbag- which one will you choose?

Mojito Lipbalm £3.99

So in a nutshell - pop it in your diary, we can't wait to see you! xox

The one with a cheeky discount code...

February is dull. It’s cold, it’s miserable, it’s still winter – and the lighter nights and warm days still seem so far away.

Nail Care Gift Set £8.00 with BIRTHDAY discount code

So – we’re going to do cheersie upsies today – it’s Natalie’s birthday in February, and as the founder of Fairypants it’s only right that you all get to celebrate too.

Nail Varnish Remover £4 with BIRTHDAY discount code

So we’ll be offering a super duper 20% discount off everything on our website – just use the code BIRTHDAY and as long as you’ve spent over £10.00, you’ll get that pretty hefty discount – good, no?

Perfume Gift Set £40 with BIRTHDAY discount code

The discount runs for the whole of February, so you have until Monday 29^th February to take advantage of the discount – so go for it!

Parma Violet Lipbalm £3.20 with BIRTHDAY discount code

 We’d love to see photos of your hauls too, so you can Facebook, Twitter or Instagram us and show us what you got with your discount!

Happy shopping!

xox