Ayu Adams left her marketing job to develop her own lip products (Photo: Suhaimi Yusuf/The Edge)
After working for 10 years at digital marketing agencies, Ayu Adam felt it was time to strike out on her own. She had long been dissatisfied with the range of lipsticks available for sensitive skin, so, in 2017 she decided to make something new.
“I figured it was about time. I really wanted to get out of that space of working 9 to 5 and start something of my own. I went into formulating lipstick, making sure the ingredients were right for people like me, with sensitive lips. It took a year before I launched the brand,” she says.
Ayu was inspired to use all-natural products by her mother, who, after being diagnosed with cancer, began looking for natural ways to pamper her skin.
“My mum is into gardening as part of her therapy. She decided to get her mind off things by growing roses. She would take her roses and put them into a pot and through the vaporisation process, she would get the essence and use it on her skin. She did it for years. So, I saw being natural and vegan as part of making our products safe for all customers,” she says. Ayu’s lipsticks are all cruelty-free, with an unusual added ingredient — “The most special part is that we add essential oils. We thought, why not use these oils as part of your lip care?”
The year before Ayu launched her brand saw a lot of trial and error and outsider feedback. “It was all self-taught. There was a lot of reading and talking to people. Before the final product, we made a few batches to quality-control the formula. I also organised focus groups to get feedback from ‘real’ women. So, what we have out on the market right now is the result of all that. We got brutal opinions and it was great,” she says, adding that these sessions helped to finalise the colours, the packaging and the name.
With her formula settled, Ayu began working on what she thought was a key element: her brand story. “We spent a lot of time on the story. We try not to embody perfect beauty, we want to make sure that women embrace what they have and have fun,” she says. The name of her business is Crush, a playful name that relates to any woman, which goes with the tagline, “never a heartbreaker”, as Crush promises to never break your heart. “When we launched it last year, it was the year of women’s empowerment and I wanted to create a collection that would last a lifetime,” she says. Her “you MATTEr” matte lip range is titled as such to remind customers to put themselves first.
Crush’s logo also has multiple meanings that help establish the business’ identity. “The logo is a continuous ‘C’ and it also has links to show women coming together. It looks like a flower to represent women’s empowerment and there are also little hearts because it is a caring brand.”
Ayu’s past digital marketing experience guided her to create a social media presence for Crush well before launching the website. “We started with an Instagram page. The content was not makeup-related — full of flirty puns, humour and local pickup lines. We wanted to build interest and make people wonder what was going on. That was to establish the playful side of Crush,” she says.
Crush’s website was launched in June last year with eight vibrant lipstick colours that have empowering names such as “I am brave” and “I am fearless”. Ayu has since released four more shades. Her lipsticks are biodegradable, safe to consume and can last six to 12 hours. “One of the challenges was trying to gain people’s trust to try it. Penetrating the local scene was difficult as well because there are many lipsticks available on the market,” she says. Ayu persevered, taking her products to bazaars and slowly improving Crush’s brand awareness.
As a one-woman show with a team consisting of a few freelancers, Ayu has managed to create an award-winning product. Her lipsticks have won Cleo’s Beauty Hall of Fame award for Best Long-Lasting Lip Matte, and the Her Beauty Award for Best Lip Matte Texture. A good quality brand that is accessibly priced at RM39 per lip colour, Crush is also moving towards becoming more sustainable. “We give dust bags for delivery to reduce the amount of plastic. We are hopefully going to launch refillable bottles soon. I have thought about bamboo tubes but it is too expensive for now,” Ayu says.
She has also created an essential oil face mist, which was brought about by customer demand. “The Crush Duo Face Mist has two functions — it’s good as a makeup setting spray or to refresh your face, and it can also neutralise scents, like of smoke or pollution, on your hair,” she says. Unlike her lipsticks, which are produced in a factory overseas, her face mists are made to order in-house. Ayu is currently looking for a local manufacturer to make her products. In the future she hopes to have her products in more stores that share her belief of going all natural. Ayu is also determined to nurture a more permanent team so she can expand her operations.
This article first appeared on Sept 9, 2019 in The Edge Malaysia.
