Entering my all or nothing year

Facing the fact that 2024 is either going to be my best or worst one yet

The Christmas break has been perfect. Lots of family time, fun and rest. But, I still don’t feel totally pumped to head into the new year of work. I have this overarching feeling that 2023 wasn’t good enough (for the skincare brand), and ultimately, it comes down to the fact the figures weren’t there. Despite some reluctance on my part, my husband convinced me to look back at each month and everything we achieved, and actually, we accomplished a lot. It’s easy to get an idea in your head and just settle on that fact, believing it to be true because you tell yourself enough times. Unfortunately I feel we practice this technique too often for the negative points. Imagine if we could flip it and start to believe in ourselves and our businesses more if we kept telling ourselves positive things. It’s also easy to think what you did wasn’t good enough, because it wasn’t as good as what someone else did. I’m also thinking about what I don’t want to take into 2024, how I can be better and do better, at well just about everything (parenthood, friendship, boss etc etc).

What I am not taking into 2024 (and also the things I need to do more of)…

Saying yes to things I don’t want to do. But also saying yes to things that push me out of my comfort zone and will ultimately benefit the business(es).

Filling all of my time with work and not filling my own cup enough. *Orders an exercise bike with new found optimism for fitness* - yes I realise what a cliché I am.

Doom scrolling. Comparing and despairing and not reflecting on my own achievements.

Pumping more money into the brand if it’s just not going to work. I believe 2024 is my make or break year. The end of this year was all about us becoming leaner so we didn’t have to rely on investor money. If we can’t find avenues to make ourselves profitable by the end of next year, then I think it will be time to throw in the towel. *Cries a little as writing this, but also has a deep rooted belief that things are going to work out.* Rocky movies (all of them) were my childhood favourite after all.

And here’s what we did achieve in 2023 with the brand (I’d highly recommend making yourself a list like this if you haven’t already), it feels good…

• Successfully crowdfunded in January. Then launched Stress Faace moisturiser (which I think is a particularly special product, even if I do say so myself).

• In February launched at Zalando EU. Ok, this hasn’t been very successful for us as our brand awareness in Europe is low. But, it has given us some direction in that we probably need to go down more of a distributor root to succeed internationally.

• Featured on This Morning (on International Women’s Day) in March. Ateh Jewel - I love you. This was an awesome moment.

• In April we sold out of Period Faace and I still to this day am particularly proud of this product. Creating skincare branded for your period face and for our continued partnership with Hey Girls to support those experiencing period poverty.

• We popped up at Postcards from Midlife in May. As their first show, the footfall wasn’t as busy as we had hoped, so we didn’t quite break even on our spend. But, we did get a lot of face time with consumers, met the QVC team as well as lots of other brands which has led to partnerships and more I hope in the future.

• In June we launched on Vueling airlines and who wouldn’t want to see their brand in-flight? June was a great month for awards when Stress Faace won best repairing moisturiser in Cosmopolitan’s Beauty Awards and we were shortlisted for Dull, Stress and Tired Faace in the Natural Health Awards.

• In July we launched Filthy Faace face and body bar. I am obsessed with this bar on a personal level and use it daily. But also, we were ripped off for thousands of pounds when we first tried to make this a couple of years ago (yep a company just took the money and never made the product). But we didn’t give up. Found a new, great, supplier and ended up with a fab product.

• August saw us becoming a finalist in the Top Santé Beauty Awards for Stress Faace as the best moisturiser and for Faace as the best brand overall. We didn’t win (but we lost to our pals at Living M) and received Highly Commended, so were more than happy with that!

• September we were a finalist in the Pure Beauty Awards for Stress Faace.

• We were listed in the Beauty Design Awards for Stress Faace in October. And I was recognised in the Who’s Who of Natural Beauty Awards too. We also launched onto QVC in October, which was mega.

• We launched our collaboration with Müll Club in November, creating the perfect soap dish out of recycled plastic for Filthy Faace. We also popped up at Stylist Live and hosted ‘faacial with friends’ at Soho House. And, I got to feature on QVC alongside the legend Alison Young (which I loved).

• In December, we launched our shiny new website.

2024 is going to be the best or the worst year for our skincare business. I’m not sure I am fully prepared for that, but I don’t think you ever can be. I can’t even say I am looking forward to the ride, as I think I’m slightly petrified at making all the decisions along the way. Wish me luck and Happy New Year.