This time last year, I made the decision to leave my comfortable corporate job in the middle of a global pandemic and have a go at relaunching a children’s make-up line. If I said I wasn’t nervous I would be kidding myself. But I had to give it a try
As a past customer and Mum of a littlie with sensitive skin, I knew there was something special about Oh Flossy. And I had a clear idea of where – in time – I needed to take this little cutie so it could reach its potential.
We are on that journey now and 9 months in, I am so glad I took the punt. It has been as fun, colourful, and fulfilling as I’d hoped. But the one thing I wasn’t expecting, and the best part of my job is YOU! Our amazingly loyal community of Oh Flossy followers and customers (both big and small) who not only trust us to take good care of your little ones’ skin, but who embrace the joy and inspire us with your creativity.
Thank you for connecting with Oh Flossy on socials, sharing videos and photos of play time with us (Dad makeovers are my personal faves!).
Thank you also for the integral role you play in helping us develop new products! From voting on your favourite nail polish shade to face painting stencils and everything in between. We know we are making products that you want to use, because that is what you tell us!
We are proud of our little brand. It’s got heart, it’s natural, nurturing and it is so much fun! So, thanks most of all for being on the journey with us. We feel so lucky to have a supportive community filled with people big and small who love our products and share your experiences with us so openly.
Time you knew a bit more about us? Well… it’s only fair!
We are so excited to launch our Oh Flossy blog, to give you a glimpse behind the scenes at Oh Flossy HQ and show our fabulous community all the shiny and glittery elements that go into creating the parcels of joy your little ones love.
We’ll be sharing everything, from the creative and product development process to how we handmake your favourite products, through to how we create the adorable social stories you love engaging with.
We’ll also introduce you to our wonderful customers and partners and share some neat tips and tricks for playtime with your little Oh Flossy Fans! Plus, we’ll share some of our fulfilling partnerships with other small businesses, kids’ products we are loving right now, and tell some great stories about some worthy causes Oh Flossy is getting behind in the community. Cannot wait to get going! There is oh so much more than meets the eye!
So, first things first… a bit about us
Hi. I’m Ness – owner of Oh Flossy! A marketing director with multinational cleaning company Ecolab for many (many, many) years before taking the leap and chasing a long-held dream of running my own business, when the right opportunity presented itself.
Why Oh Flossy?
Having worked in marketing for a long time, I know that if your mission is clear and authentic and you have a passion to deliver to that mission, then everything else becomes a whole lot easier!
I had been toying with the idea of going into business myself for a long time and trying to build a career that would allow me to spend more time with my family. But there was never an opportunity that I felt passionate enough about to compel me to take the leap. Then, one night I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw a post that Oh Flossy was for sale. I had been a happy customer and a follower for a few years with my daughter, Amelia, a huge fan of the deluxe makeup set (still my personal favourite product!).
The ethos of ‘all natural’ and ‘easily washable’ spoke to me. Amelia has sensitive skin and so many other products were far too harsh for her. Not to mention the ordeal of scrubbing off at bath time was the stuff nightmares were made of… am I right adults?!
I knew there were lots of other fans of the products out there, but I could also see opportunity to utilise my marketing and branding skills to take the Oh Flossy brand somewhere fresh and new, and engage with our existing customer base while bringing a whole new generation of Oh Flossy fans along for the ride.
What’s been the biggest challenge?
Without a doubt starting a new business in the middle of Sydney’s COVID-19 lockdown. Setting up our HQ with just me and my husband (who you’ll meet in a tick) had its challenges. We also launched in September which is when everyone is starting their Christmas shopping.
So, while it was a delightful and welcomed challenge, we never anticipated the absolute flurry of orders we received from the moment we went live. On top of that, Kelly, our make-up making extraordinaire (who we can’t wait to introduce you to in a future post) lived in a locked-down LGA and couldn’t physically get to our HQ. To say it was a steep learning curve to handmake the fabulous products from scratch and keep our next-day delivery promise to our excited customers is an understatement. It well and truly kept us on our toes in the very early days!
Most proud of so far
I love the new branding we’ve developed. Our mission is for children to ‘Be Little. Shine big’ and our new branding tells that story.
I’m also proud of our packaging, making it child friendly and supporting independent play through the icons on the lids to indicate usage. It’s the little changes that have made a big difference.
And of course, the new products we have brought online, such as our reusable adhesive face paint and make up stencils that the kids are absolutely loving as well as our new kids nail polish shades. It is such a joy for me to be able to get creative and turn an idea into a reality.
Most of all, I feel so proud to be able to do work that matters, that inspires creativity and make our customers feel valued.
What does a typical day look like?
There isn’t a typical day, but most days typically start with me checking my emails and our overnight orders from bed. If you get an early morning reply from Oh Flossy chances are I was in my pyjamas at the time!
Then it’s time for the usual morning rush getting Amelia off to school and then I will head into HQ to pack some of our beautiful orders ready for the postie and handmake some of our formulations with the wonderful Kel. If there is time, I’ll reach out to some of our wonderful stockist and suppliers and get to work on creating content for our socials.
Then time for school pick up and the usual after school rush. Dance lessons, netball, tumbling – it is a pretty full schedule. After we wind down and Amelia has gone to bed it is back to it, online working on a marketing strategy or responding to customer enquiries. It is always busy, but I love it and I love that I get to be available to my customers and work my day to be there for Amelia after school. I feel fortunate that Oh Flossy affords me that opportunity.
Favourite product
I love the deluxe makeup set. It is so sleek, so adorable and I see such beautiful images of kids getting so much joy from it. I also have a soft spot for our face paints and stencils and our fluffy headbands – they are just so cute and complement gifts beautifully.
Where to next?
I want to keep building our Oh Flossy community and start bringing on new and exciting products to the family that are true to our ethos of all natural ingredients and allowing our kids to Be Little. Shine Big. Watch this space for some exciting developments soon!
Meet my husband, Jeremy. He is Operations Manager at Ebay by day, Oh Flossy’s head of BBIS (boring but important stuff) by night. You’ll often find him paying bills or immersed in spreadsheets and doing the practical elements that make him the yin to my creative yang! While I think it is fair to say that when he was in high school he wasn’t dreaming of a life permanently covered in glitter, he wouldn’t have it any other way!
How do you think your day job helps deliver better outcomes for Oh Flossy customers?
I think through working at Ebay I get a strong sense of what the trends are in the market and where parents’ values sit when it comes to purchasing products for their little ones. They want products that are safe and sustainable. They are trying to slow down on the inundation of cheap plastic toys that just end up in landfill and are on the search for products that last and are of good quality.
Australian made, and handmade is also important. As is building a community around your brand. This is the foundation Oh Flossy is built on which is why I am thrilled to be a part of it.
Even with all the glitter?
Yes, even with all the glitter! I am a girl Dad and I always have loved bonding with Amelia doing mindful activities like nails… we get to chat! But our products are inclusive which is what is great about it. I have had so many great play moments with my nephews while we have been using the face paints and the nail polishes, too. That’s what is so great about Oh Flossy. It’s for everyone!
Favourite product?
I have to say I am a fan of the bath bombs. They smell so good and are really bright and happy! And they work a treat for parents trying to get their kids into the bath….it’s my little hack for bath time in our house!
And finally, the ‘real boss’ of Oh Flossy, our daughter Amelia. Our most honest giver of feedback, our biggest support and influencer extraordinaire (you may have spotted her in an Instagram post or two!)
What is the best thing about Oh Flossy?
I love how colourful it is and that you can get really messy and you can also be super creative! You can use all the different make-up and face paints and be who you want to be!
One of the best things to do is using the Oh Flossy stencils on my arms and my face, and then taking cool photos. My friends at school love it as well, and they really love it when I give Oh Flossy to them for birthday presents.
Favourite Oh Flossy product?
I love the nail polishes because they are so bright and colourful. I like having different colours – on one hand I’ll have all purple with glitter and on the other hand I’ll have pink, glitter, pink, glitter.
That’s about us in a nutshell – looking forward to sharing more with you soon. Stay tuned!
