Tuesday in Love: Tapping into the Modest Beauty Market
Tuesday in Love produces Halal Nail Polish and Halal Cosmetics. The husband and wife couple behind this beauty revolution company sit down with Meraki to chat about why they started a Halal beauty brand, how we can increase diversity in the beauty world and more. You can keep up with Tuesday in Love’s newest creations on Instagram @tuesdayinlove.
You started Tuesday in Love with nail polish. Most people don’t think of this as a product that can make a huge impact on people’s lives, but can you tell us one of your favourite customer stories and how your product has impacted their life?
One of the most common stories we hear from our customers is from our sisters who have converted to Islam. Many of them used to enjoy wearing makeup and nail polish, but after accepting Islam, they felt that they couldn’t enjoy the same type of products because they were not available in Halal formulations. This is an issue because before prayers, Muslims must wash their faces and arms, and have the water touch every surface - which is impossible when wearing nail polish or makeup.
With nail polish specifically, these women often thought that they would have to give it up completely because putting it on and off was so tedious (Muslims pray five times a day!). So you can imagine their joy when they learned about our company and our unique water permeable formulation, so the water can touch every surface - even if it has nail polish or makeup on it. We always love hearing from them and reading their emails thanking us for creating an inclusive line.
How did you get interested in creating a cosmetics lines?
The success of our Halal nail polish came because there really was a lack of such a product in the market. All the other “breathable” brands made claims that I disputed and hence created an actual polish that was water-permeable. So the inspiration for creating a Halal cosmetics line also came from a lack of high quality Halal cosmetics in the market.
To us, Halal cosmetics isn’t just about the ingredients, it’s also about the sourcing of the ingredients and process in which those products are made. Large beauty brands often use child labour to obtain their ingredients and to produce their products. Many of them also test on animals. Therefore, for Tuesday in Love, our Halal certification means that not only are the ingredients in our cosmetics Halal, but our products are also child labour-free and never tested on animals.
Who do you look to for inspiration?
Many of our nail polish colors and cosmetic products are created directly from the demands of our customers. By using Instagram and other social media platforms, we get a sense of which shades are more in style (nudes, pinks, reds, etc) and from there, we create our own versions and add them to the collection. When it comes to our eyeshadows, lipsticks, and other cosmetics, we try to create palettes and shades that are inclusive of all skin tones. You’ll notice our eyeshadow palettes have a scale of colors that can be mixed and matched for both light and dark skin tones.
Manufacturing is a big learning curve for any handmade business. How do you find the right people to work with to create consistently beautiful products?
When it comes to manufacturing in the cosmetics industry, you have to be very careful of where your product ingredients are sourced from. For us, this required a great deal of research and networking to make sure that all our products are ethically sourced and made. Being a Canadian company, we pride ourselves on high Canadian manufacturing standards. Plus, our Halal certification from ISNA Canada also helps ensure these strict guidelines.
When you research the right information and learn how the products are actually made from start to finish, you can then ask the right questions to the manufacturers. Because I (Umar, one of the founders) also have a medical degree, so I was able to incorporate my knowledge of medicine in the formulation of our products to ensure functionality, safety and quality.
How can we create more diversity and representation in the beauty space?
Creating more diversity and representation in the beauty space is really about creating more opportunity. For Tuesday in Love, more opportunity to reach more customers means being represented in large retail stores like Sephora and Ulta Beauty. We want to be able to work with such retailers so that we can reach a larger audience that will feel more represented and included in the beauty market.
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