Tweak Cosmetica founder Natalie Nemer on new genius lash serum
Shoppers are flocking to these super affordable eye masks, calling them a “lifesaver” in getting rid of “racoon eyes every time”.
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Natalie Nemer never dreamt that one day she’d create her own beauty brand.
In 2018, the primary school teacher turned beautician began lifting lashes around Adelaide as a side hustle to earn a little extra money.
As her lash business grew, there was one question her clients kept asking her: Could she recommend a product that would make lashes longer, fuller and thicker?
Having not tried any on the market, Natalie didn’t feel comfortable recommending anything.
“Most lash growth serums that were available were quite expensive, around the $120 to $150 price point,” the 31-year-old tells news.com.au.
Like her clients, Natalie didn’t want to fork out that much for something that may not work and there were no affordable options at the time.
“So that was when I looked into potentially creating my own,” she says.
And that was the beginning of Tweak Cosmetica.
‘LIFESAVER’ TWEAK COSMETICA PRODUCTS
From launching her best-selling Lash & Brow Growth Serum, Tweak Cosmetica soon expanded to a suite of beauty products. The criteria was simple: Natalie wanted to create products that she herself would use and needed.
Enter: the Pink Plumping Eye Masks ($29.95 for a set of 5).
With hylulorinic acid, wine extract, and rose flower oil, the eye masks brighten, plump and hydrate the under eye.
Shoppers have flocked to the eye masks, calling it a “lifesaver” for getting rid of “racoon eyes every time”.
“These eye patches are magic!! Tired puffy eyes be gone,” one raved.
“After one use in the evening, these made my under-eyes look bright, clear, and so UN-puffy when I woke up in the morning,” a five-star reviewer said, “Definitely recommend as a little pick-me-up when you are too busy, are too tired, and need to look as excellent as possible. These feel soothing and cooling, and they really WORK!”
Natalie herself uses the eye masks “if not every day, I use every second day” and especially before events.
Other fan favourite products include the Anti-Frizz Hair Wand ($23.95), Max Hydration Sheet Masks ($34.95) and a Buff Brush ($19.95).
Natalie still uses the lash growth serum on her eyelashes and brows since she first sampled the product in 2018.
“That’s why I love my products because it just makes me feel prettier when I don’t have anything on my face. I know it’s not the be all and end all to look and feel pretty but I like that to feel myself,” she says.
“The flick styler, which is the flyaway hair one, I literally use multiple times a day. It’s something I keep in my car, in my handbag, in the bathroom. There’s one everywhere.”
The Anti-Frizz Hair Wand she notes is hugely popular with her customers, with a high return rate on purchase.
The best-selling bundled products include ‘The TikTok Girl’ (sleek styler, sheet mask and eye mask), ‘The Trio’ (lash serum, sleek styler and eye masks) and ‘The Favourites’ (lash serum, eye masks, sheet masks, sleek styler).
FROM A ‘CRAZY IDEA’ TO STARTING HER OWN BUSINESS
It was a leap of faith for Natalie who knew nothing about developing a product or starting an e-commerce business. But she believed in her “crazy idea” that she could create an effective and affordable product to provide her clients.
For the next year, Natalie tested the lash serum that would become Tweak’s signature product. Amazed with the results that gave her beautifully thick and long lashes, Natalie knew she needed to share it with everyone but she still had no idea what her plan for the future was.
“I was working on a client and I said something about, ‘Oh, we can tweak it this way.’ And I was like, that’s the name I want for my brand!” she recalls.
Tweak not only encapsulated Natalie’s vision for her products but also the philosophy behind her beauty brand.
“My goal for Tweak is to create products that not only work physically but also make everyone feel amazing. Tweak Cosmetica is going to ‘tweak’ and enhance who you already are, we’re not into the business of changing you, we want you to feel confident in your natural self,” Natalie writes on the Tweak Cosmetica website.
A ‘GENIUS’ YET AFFORDABLE LASH GROWTH SERUM
Retailing at $79.95, almost half the price of most others on the market, Tweak Comestica’s Lash & Brow Growth Serum has quickly become a bestseller.
Featuring natural peptides to encourage eyelash growth by stimulating keratin genes in the body, satisfied shopppers have raved about how Tweak’s lash growth serum “actually works”.
“I’ve been using it on my lashes a few months now and my brows a few weeks and I get asked all the time if they’re fake,” one woman told Natalie in an Instagram DM.
“I’ve only been using this for two weeks and I can already see a difference. Only serum I’ve tried that actually works – amazing!” a happy customer raved.
Another woman, who was “blown away” with the results, said: “I just wanted to say your product is truly amazing! I’ve had lash extensions for five-plus years and had them removed and had these short, stumpy looking lashes and within a week of using Tweak I can see a huge improvement already! They are genuinely and noticeably longer!”
The feedback – both in real life from her clients or flooding her DMs online – is what drives Natalie day in and day out as she aims to make Tweak Cosmetica her full-time business.
“It always makes me feel so happy,” Natalie says. “Because it makes them feel more confident having these like long, pretty eyelashes that maybe not everyone else would notice but it makes them feel really good.”
There are now many lash growth serums out there, which Natalie puts down to women wanting to “look and feel better in a more natural way”.
“With a lash serum, you just naturally look really beautiful with kind of no effort,” she adds.
If you’re now convinced to give lash serums a go, Natalie advises first-time users to apply morning and night.
“The most effective time to apply your lash growth serum is at night-time because when you sleep, everything does a bit of a turnover,” she says. “Apply it to just above your lash line and the serum goes into the blood vessels around your eye.”
As to when you can expect to see results? “Generally in about six weeks maximum results are given,” Natalie says, although she’s had clients who have seen results at two weeks.
“And that’s because each individual lash is on its own lash cycle. So everyone’s gonna see results at a different pace, but by six weeks, you will definitely see significant results.”
For those worried about the applying serums to your eye area, which Natalie says it completely understandable, ease yourself into it.
“Apply it once every three days, and then move it to once every two days. Once you feel confident, that’s when you do it every day, because at the end of the day it is a product that if you don’t continue to use it, you won’t see results.”
NATALIE’S ADVICE FOR FIRST TIME ENTREPRENEURS
Having started a business from scratch with no prior experience, Natalie has learnt a lot along the way. There was her self-confessed “stubborn” decision to initially use an unconventional bottle for the lash serums which turned out to be a “big fail”. But Natalie doesn’t believe in dwelling on mistakes.
It’s what she believes has led to Tweak Cosmetica’s success. “I didn’t really think things through too much,” she says with a laugh, “but I think that’s been a blessing because I haven’t put too much pressure for this to be a huge success. It’s kind of grown a lot organically with the help of my lash tech business.”
It’s advice she wants aspiring entrepreneurs to keep in mind.
“Don’t put yourself in a box,” she says. “If you have an idea, I think it’s really important to just take whatever steps to just start looking into it.”
She continues: “I know this sounds strange but I didn’t think when I created Tweak. I just kind of did it. I didn’t plan anything and it’s gotten to this point when I can’t believe I’ve created this really amazing thing.
“When I was doing eyelashes on the side, I didn’t think I was going to quit teaching. And then I was just going to do lash serum on the side and I didn’t think it was going to turn into a brand. But I really wanted to grow it and see if I could make that my main business.”
She wants to leave everyone with a “crazy idea” with one piece of advice.
“If you want to do something, just start doing it. Don’t think about it. Don’t overthink it, because you’ll talk yourself out of it.”
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