Talking to… Louisa Baldwin

From dropping out of school to being featured in Vogue magazine, the founder of The Cuticle Lab is not your everyday entrepreneur. Kezia Parkins find out how she built her business

For someone who is not yet considered an adult, Louisa Baldwin has more business nous than most people twice her age, but it hasn’t been all plain sailing. At the age of eight, she was diagnosed with crippling anxiety, then at 11, severe depression. “I found it really hard to cope at school so I had to drop out around the age of 12,” she says.

Being incredibly smart probably added to the frustration and loneliness of leaving school, and she was later diagnosed as autistic, too. Because of the state of her mental health, Baldwin wasn’t allowed to be left alone, so her mum Carol had to quit her job to become her full-time carer. “Now, I employ her and she works full-time for me,” she says with a smile.

Not even 18 years of age, Baldwin has gone on to create a hugely successful brand known across the UK and other parts of the world for its cuticle oil. “I’ve now got over 1,000 stockists; it’s terrifying,” she says.

But while such responsibility can be scary for a teen, when it comes to business, Baldwin doesn’t let fear stop her – and maybe that has something to do with her age. “When people are older and they start a business, they put a lot of their savings into it,” she says. “But I started with absolutely zero and a kit I got for Christmas and managed to make a profit.”

The early years

Being around 12 years old at the time, Baldwin couldn’t get a qualification in nails so she started practising for fun, working on friends before moving on to creating press-ons. As she progressed, she decided to try her hand at selling her work on Depop, which had become a popular online platform among nail techs selling press-ons, before moving on to Etsy – the marketplace for handmade sellers.

“I don’t know why, but I would sell them for £7.50 for 10 or £9 for 20, and these sets were taking me about two hours each,” she recalls. This was around five years ago. Now, Baldwin only sells press-ons to clients who have been loyal from the start, as she has bigger fish to fry.

Mixing it up

Baldwin remembers seeing a “how to make your own cuticle oil” video on Youtube so she decided to give it a go and loved the process. From there, The Cuticle Lab was born. “All of the oils are handmade by me and my mum and we are getting around 60 orders a day,” she says. “Our brand ambassador programme receives new applications daily.”

“I made a conscious decision to have lots of fragrances, which I don’t see many brands doing,” she adds. From fruity scents like cherry and strawberry to more unusual ones such as birthday cake and Parma Violets, The Cuticle Lab now has more than 70 scents, including a line of dupe scents which smell like famous fragrances and cosmetics. By having such an extensive collection, there is something to suit every nail tech’s brand, salon or offering. “Most nail techs stock cuticle oil now. Some will order a big range of scents while others have a signature scent,” says Baldwin.

Teething problems

Aside from not being able to formally train in nails, Baldwin has had a lot of other roadblocks to overcome in regards to her age. “I can’t open a business bank account until I’m 18 but you are expected to pay taxes from the age of 16 – how does that make sense?”, she says.

“It’s really quite overwhelming because everything has to come out of my personal account. It’s scary looking at those sorts of numbers in my account and paying out the big sums I have to pay for parts of the business. I also get a lot of interrogations from the tax man about where the money is coming from.”

You also cannot get a Paypal or Post Office account and cannot sell on Amazon until you are 18 years old. A lot of things have to go in her mum’s name but Baldwin still manages most of the business and admin day to day.

Key Dates

2021
Baldwin starts making press-ons, later selling them on Etsy

2022
The Cuticle Lab cuticle oil pens launch in 20 scents 

2023
The Cuticle Lab is featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair

2024
Dreambuild builder gel launches 

Building it up

Baldwin launched her extensive line of gel polish last year but her sights were set on builder gel, which has become hugely popular in the last five years. “I always knew that I wanted to take the brand in the direction of doing gel polish and builder gels,” she says. “I wanted it to be Hema free, HPMA free and IBOA free.”

She worked with lots of different suppliers to get the formula just right and had some major setbacks along the way. “It was so stressful and there were a lot of tears. I’ve truly never felt so passionately about a product,” she says. “Dreambuild is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever created and it’s brought the lowest of lows but also the highest of highs.” In April this year, Dreambuild Builder Gel finally launched after 18 months of ups and downs.

Despite finding socialising really hard, Baldwin wanted to celebrate her new product and her brand ambassadors with a photoshoot. “It was really important for me to be inclusive and represent all of the nail techs that have supported me over the years,” she says.

A family business

Neurodiversity among nail techs is thought to be widespread and many say that doing nails really helps their mental health. “If I didn’t have a business, I would just be sitting at home wallowing,” says Baldwin. “I wouldn’t have anything to do, I think I would be quite unwell.”

Baldwin also says she couldn’t have achieved what she has without her mum and boyfriend. “My mum is my best friend and I really couldn’t do it without her, although it can be a difficult dynamic to essentially be your mum’s boss.”

Her boyfriend Ollie, who has been with Baldwin right from the beginning of the business, has been her biggest cheerleader, pushing her to get started. “It’s thanks to him that I got into Vogue magazine. He did my paid social ads, which led to Vogue picking up on and featuring the brand,” she explains.

A bright future

Baldwin is looking forward to turning 18 so that she can finally set up a business bank account and be treated like the mogul that she is. She says she will look to purchase a unit for production and hire some more staff.

It is also important to her to continue advocating for autism and show people like her “that anything is possible.” She explains: “I used to think autism was just for boys and I really knew nothing about what it actually was when I was diagnosed, so it was quite isolating.”

Over time, she started to understand how her brain works and began to feel happy, even though the diagnosis was hard to accept at first. “I really don’t think I would change it, even if I could,” she says. “I know I would never have had a business because I would still be in school. One of my most autistic traits is that when I decide on something, there is nothing you can do to change my mind.”

For any young business people out there, Baldwin has this advice: “I don’t think school is all it’s cracked up to be. It’s not for everyone. You don’t want to be in a job you don’t like because no matter how hard you try you will never get anywhere. If you have a passion, go for it!”

The future looks bright for this young entrepreneur who is looking to add more products to The Cuticle Lab’s already extensive collection and also has her sights set on getting into some big retailers, so watch this space.