Some Days, I Get To Try on Lip Gloss

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been knee deep in planning for Zoe's involvement in Fashion's Night Out Alexandria.   One of the things I've been working on is figuring out exactly what to include in Zoe's SWAG bags for the night.

I love supporting other women-owned local small businesses so my mind jumped immediately to Michelle Coyle's Haughty Cosmetics line of lip glosses.  Michelle is such a lovely person!  I met her when she came into my store shopping one day and selected an Issa London dress for her friend to wear as part of her wedding weekend attire!  As she was checking out and we were chatting, she told me about her business and gave me her card.

I was immediately smitten with both her product and her mission.  She donates 50% of the net profits from the sale of her lip gloss to domestic violence prevention education.  I would love to carry her product in the store but she already sells to a fabulous cosmetics store in Old Town.  But I've been thinking for a long time "how can incorporate/promote her product?"

When the idea of SWAG bags came up in my meeting with Jenn of The Medestrian, the Haughty Cosmetics lip gloss came to mind.  I contacted Michelle and asked if she'd be open to allowing me to provide her product to my customers as a gift.  She said Yes!  So the next step was to schedule a meeting to determine what shade(s) I would select for the SWAG bags.

Sarabeth was coming in that morning and when she arrived I told her "Today, we are trying on Lip Gloss."  We both agreed that we had never before had a boss say that to us in any of our corporate jobs.  (Note - if any of my former bosses are reading, I'm glad you never said this to me.  It would have been a very uncomfortable thing.)  It was a great day to do the testing because I am fair skinned with dark hair and Sarabeth is blonde with a more tan skin - we were able to gauge which colors would look good on the largest number of people.

Michelle brought her collection and we talked about best-sellers, hot colors, and what was flattering.  She had testing wands available so that we could try on as many colors as we wished.  After several evaluations, we settled on her color named "Give", which is a gorgeous Cranberry Red.  I know that people are going to LOVE it!

Next up:  A Review By a Retail Specialist