Q+A Skincare is not a professional skincare brand. It’s not stocked in salons or used in facials. But brand founder Freddy Furber gave Professional Beauty a bit of insight into what’s made his brand a success, which we’re sure you want to know, and why Australia is such an alluring market for international skincare brands. It’s always good to remind home-grown brands what brings foreign brands to our shores. Plus, Furber has some good, tried-and-true winter skincare advice and insight into how he keeps the brand affordable. He’s a veteran in the skincare game, having created at least two successful ranges before launching Q+A from HQ in Norfolk, England.
PB: What brings the brand to Australia?
“Q+A is an accessibly priced, fun, engaging, and education-driven skincare brand, on a mission to demystify skincare… and of course, our formulations are 98% natural! The last bit means a lot to us. The brand launched in October 2019 with Feel Unique, and since then we have been rolling out in 2,000 stores internationally.
Australia is a real skin-first destination, and the unique relationship between Britain and Australia made it a perfect home-from-home for Q+A. We couldn’t be happier.
Q+A has launched on our dedicated Q+A Australia e-commerce platform as well as with 15 products in 318 stores with Priceline. You’ll find the range online too.”
PB: What tips do you have for using Q+A in winter/winter skincare tips?
“Double cleanse! An oil-based cleanser (Q+A Grapefruit Cleansing Balm) followed by a gel cleanser (Q+A Hyaluronic Acid Cleansing Gel) and a good exfoliator (Q+A Apple AHA)! These simple steps will ensure there is little build-up and your skin is naturally creating new skin cells regularly… it’s easier to prevent ageing of the skin than fix it.
The winter months are naturally a touch colder (nothing compared to our never-ending Winter here in the UK) so extra moisturisation is key. Skin can become more sensitive and change slightly with the seasons, but often usage of skincare lessens in these months, so just trying to keep it up is important.”
PB: How did you come up with the idea for the brand?
“Skincare is confusing, and during my research I discovered from a small 2,000 people survey on our CRM database that most people didn’t know their skin type. How can you build a skincare regime without understanding this, let alone know which ingredients work well for you? This was the idea, now how could we make the products attractive, memorable, and appealing? But most of all approachable! We wanted to drive product education on-pack and make the brand colourful, fun, and exciting.
As a vertically integrated brand business, my vision was to cut out as many third parties from the supply chain and manufacturing of our products, to allow consumers to have the best quality product for the most reasonable price.
There had been several challenger brands enter the market who have gained a lot of popularity through an accessible pricing strategy and popular, on-trend brand aesthetic. For me, the gap had always been on natural technologies and materials. With Q+A I wanted to reinvent what it means to be a natural skincare brand.”
PB: How are you feeling about its growth and international expansion?
“It’s all incredibly exciting. I am really pleased that the brand is resonating internationally. I’m proud to say we are staying true to our roots, still developing and manufacturing the range at the family-run site but we are having to rapidly expand our manufacturing capacity to keep up!”
PB: What are your plans next?
“Q+A has an exciting array of new products launching later this year, as well as more retail launches. I hope to spend as much time as possible in the development lab working on our ideas for 2022 and beyond.”
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