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28 August 2021

The Day Charlotte Skin Began

Five years ago today, Charlotte Skin exhibited for the very first time at Meet the Makers, a local artisan market held at Cascavelle Mall

What did we have on our table?

Soaps, body and lip sugar scrubs, body lotions, bath salts, crocheted shower puffs, face masks and face mists.

I remember practising my table setup on the dining table at home. I packed our entire stock for that first market. Our labels were printed at home, cut by hand and taped onto every container.

We received so many compliments and so much support. Fabrice and I could hardly believe how much people appreciated what we had created.

The greatest joy was discovering that people genuinely liked what we made and were willing to buy it.

At the time, I was still running my beauty salon and believed I would continue juggling both ventures simultaneously.

What happened next was completely unexpected.

Invitations to artisan markets began flooding in, followed by orders from individual customers. That was when I decided to dedicate myself fully to producing our skincare products and close my salon.

Only four months after launching, I incorporated Charlotte’s Skin Delights Co. Ltd in January 2022.

In March 2022, we entered Livewell Mauritius at Bagatelle Mall. In June, we received our first order from L'Aventure du Sucre . That same year, we also began our collaboration with MY POP-UP STORE .

Charlotte Skin was not even one year old, yet we had already secured beautiful partnerships and gained the trust and support needed to begin a meaningful journey.

Happy fifth launch anniversary to Charlotte Skin. ✨

A hot debate in the creators’ world.

Where does inspiration end and copying begin?

No creator works in complete isolation. We are all influenced by trends, experiences and the work of people we admire.

But inspiration and imitation are not the same.

✨ Inspiration is allowing someone’s work to spark a new idea, then transforming it through your own story, skills and creative vision.

🚫 Copying is reproducing someone’s concept, design, message or presentation so closely that the original creator remains clearly recognisable in your work.

Inspiration says:

“I admire what you created. What can I learn from it?”

Copying says:

“This worked for you. Let me recreate it for myself.”

And simply changing the colour, fragrance, name, caption or one small detail does not automatically make an idea original.

Creators often invest months or even years into researching, experimenting, failing and refining before presenting the final result.

You may see the finished product, but not everything it took to create it.

Of course, no one owns every color, ingredient, shape or general idea. Similarities will naturally exist, especially within the same industry.

The real difference lies in transformation.

Before launching something, perhaps we should ask ourselves:

“Have I transformed this inspiration enough to make it authentically mine, or have I simply recreated what already worked for someone else?”

Inspiration honours creativity.

Copying takes advantage of it.

Originality does not always mean inventing something completely new. Sometimes, it means bringing so much of yourself to an idea that it could only have come from you.

Last Saturday marked our second session with the Women Entrepreneur Awards.

We explored financial literacy, project management, leadership and the art of pitching, all essential areas that we, as entrepreneurs, need to understand and continuously develop.

For me, the highlight of the day was meeting two remarkable women: an accomplished CFO whose journey and achievements were incredibly inspiring, and a young woman who has already achieved so much simply because she believed she could. Driven by a thirst for self-development, she refused to allow her age to define or limit what she could accomplish.

Beyond all the valuable knowledge being shared throughout this journey, one of the most powerful aspects of the WEA experience is meeting women who have achieved extraordinary things.

They are living examples of our incredible potential and reminders of what can happen when women believe in themselves, receive the right support and are given access to the opportunities that allow them to bloom.

It was not only about learning but also about seeing what is possible.

Photos by TiZean Creasion

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