Having to close her salon over lockdown, then finding out she was pregnant, led Perth beauty therapist Emma Urquhart to create her own product range.
After finding out she couldn’t follow her dream of studying meteorology due to missing out on physics, the then 18-year-old went to college instead.
One of the first lessons on the beauty therapy course was on spray tans, and Emma was “obsessed”.
She popped up a spray tan tent in her bedroom to test her skills on all her friends.
“At that point, there were these really pungent, overpowering, ridiculously dark orange tans,” the 28-year-old reminisces.
“All my friends would be parading in and out of the house, much to my parents’ disgust at the mess I was making.
“But that’s when I realised I absolutely love doing this.”
Maternity leave and lockdown lead to business idea
For seven years, Emma has specialised in tanning and lash treatments at her Dundee salon Diamond Beauty Zone.
But when lockdown hit she realised she could only make money by physically being in her Perth Road salon.
The beauty therapist thought she needed another income stream, so when the country again locked down and she found out she was pregnant, she had to take the plunge.
“It was mass hysteria right across the industry. It was really scary,” she says.
“Being thrown into another lockdown and discovering I was expecting a baby, I knew it would be harder to work the 50-hour weeks I had for years.
“It was the final push and I got the ball rolling on a product line.”
Despite having 10 years of experience in tanning, Emma had never found a tan she loved. So she set out to create one herself.
While on maternity leave she read clinical trials, researched ingredients and did a lot of paperwork.
“My house was full to the brim of tan, bottles, packaging and samples,” Emma says.
“Then followed testing and trying these on my clients to get the perfect formula.”
Holiday Haze tans growing popular
This summer Emma finally had her very own Holiday Haze self-tan products in her hands.
The beauty therapist has just started using the products in her salon and selling them online as her boy is about to turn one.
“It’s been over a year’s worth of work, but I’m so excited. My heart and soul has gone into this.
“On average I’m doing anything between 10 and 15 spray tans a week at the moment, and that’s only growing.”
As Emma has a teaching qualification, she plans to take on staff and train them up as Holiday Haze employees.
Her long term plan is to sell the tanning solution she uses at Diamond Beauty Zone to other salons as well.
“There’s never ever a spare minute,” Emma laughs.
“But I love my job and it makes it easier when you love what you do.”
Conversation