Lovely is a skincare company for lovely people! Founded by Caz Bruce who works from her studio in Sheffield, creating affordable natural skincare that is full of amazing flavours and looks beautiful in your bathroom!

We had the chance to ask Caz a few questions all about what inspires her and what it's like to run her own business.

We would love to know about the person behind Lovely Skincare, can us a little bit about yourself?

My name’s Caz, and I live in Sheffield with my husband Tommy. I moved here in 2006 to study German & Music at Sheffield University, and followed it up with a Masters in Psychology of Music. I love it here because it’s so close to the Peak District, and feels more like a town than a city. I’m not a city girl!

What made you want to create your own skincare range and how did Lovely Skincare begin?

I decided pretty swiftly after I finished my Masters that I wanted to try starting my own business. I’d like to pretend that it was a big lightbulb moment, but it was more like a creeping thought that if other people could do it then I could do it too!

I was really interested in skincare and already knew a lot about what ingredients I’d need to use, so it began tentatively as a (very expensive) hobby.

Caz in her studio in Sheffield

It must be lovely creating something you are so passionate about, what do you love most about creating your own range?

From the very beginning of Lovely, I knew that it was going to be as much about the packaging as it was about the formulation. To create something from nothing then hearing that other people love it just as much as you do is the best feeling!

Who are the people that influence or inspire you?

I tend not to be influenced by people who are really successful in the same market as me. Don’t get me wrong – what they’ve achieved is amazing and I don’t wish they weren’t successful, but I have a bad habit of feeling decidedly unmotivated when I look at how far I have to go to be like them.

Instead, the people who inspire me to keep going and try my best are the other women around me who run small businesses and take risks every day and have the same dream as me.

Lovely Skincare lip balms

We would love to know what a working day might look like in Lovely Skincare HQ?

I try not to do the same thing every day, because it gets boring. I generally come into the workshop and check my emails, issue invoices and print off the day’s orders while I’m having a coffee. Then move onto fulfilling orders, and if I need to make stock for any of those orders, pop my apron on and start making. If I have a few big orders at the same time, I might spend a few full days making products.

Although I love creating new products and researching and meeting customers and clients at markets and shows, when you run a small business by yourself, most days look the same and aren’t very interesting, because I do everything myself!

Out of all your lovely products, do you have a favourite?

I think my favourite has to be my hand cream, because it was the first formula I developed for my own skin. While I was setting up my business I worked as a chef, and my skin became really dry and itchy from the heat in the kitchen, so it’s a really rich and nourishing cream that I use all over my face and body.

Caz at Top Drawer London

We love that your products are environmentally friendly, what inspired you to go down that route?

I don’t think there’s a way I could not be environmentally friendly! Aside from the fact that as an individual I want my carbon footprint to be as low as possible, the majority of my customers also want everything they buy to be as green as possible, and even if I didn’t personally have an interest in it, it would be bad for business if I didn’t prioritise that.

I’m making a few big changes this year to make sure that my products work for me and my customers but are as kind to the planet as possible. I can’t wait to show everyone!

Have you ever received any good advice that has stuck with you or words to live by?

Take everything one day at a time! Today’s economic market is a hard one for small business to thrive in. I tend to plan a year at a time, and once I’ve made that plan I try not to panic about what’s going to happen 10 months from now and just trust the plan I’ve made and take it a day at a time.

You can check out some more of Caz's products here.

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