Amaterasu Beauty is a clean makeup brand that vows to have the cleanest makeup possible, without taking away from the quality or effectiveness of the products. This brand is perfect for anyone with sensitive skin who need long-lasting results. Amaterasu Beauty sells a variety of products including skin care, eyeliners, mascaras, brow pencils, and so on. They also provide transparency for their customers by including the ingredient list for each product on their website. We spoke with Sara Au Yeong, Brand Creator and Founder, to learn more about them.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Amaterasu Beauty means the Japanese Sun Goddess, who illuminates.
It’s our mission to help you have it all. Clean ingredients, 24-hour truly smudge-proof, easy-to-use eye makeup you can trust to stay on your longest days.
What made you want to do this work?
As a makeup artist and a consumer with sensitive skin, I wanted to create a collection of eye makeup that is truly long-lasting but without pesky ingredients that is suitable for individuals with sensitivity. I want to be able to provide my customers with dependable makeup on their special day, whether it be on their wedding day to delivering their newborn. Yes, my clients shared how long they were in labour and nurses were often amazed at how their brows, eyeliner and mascaras lasted.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
I want to provide my customers with reliable, easy-to-use makeup that will not smear off after just a few hours. So many makeup brands in the industry promise to solve day-to-day makeup problems but it does not deliver. Unless our product will do what it is supposed to do, we do not put that down in the product description.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
We cater to working professionals or moms who do not have a lot of time to get their makeup done in the morning. Our makeup is designed with ease of use in mind. We also have men who love our brow liner to fill in bald spots on their brows that may be from a previous sports injury. We also have many oncologist nurses refer their patients to use our brow or eyeliner because of the clean ingredients we use. Of course, many pro makeup artists are huge fans of our line. They love that it requires zero-touch up especially when they are on set for 16 hours or doing a wedding party that lasts all day.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
We started off as a wholesaler, supplying Amaterasu makeup to retailers however that supply channel changed during Covid. When our retailers were mandated to close, we had to pivot and went online as many businesses did. It was a huge learning curve but we were very thankful our new online customers started referring us to their family and friends. They also took the time to leave us wonderful heartfelt reviews. We are truly grateful for that.
Where in Vancouver can we find your profession?
We are sold in many indie beauty boutiques, spas and high-end hair salons across Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. You can find many of these locations listed on our website under Store Locator.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
How are we different from the other makeup brands out there? We really stand behind our clean 24-hour makeup products and many of our customers can reach out to us and talk to us like friends talking makeup. We believe in building relationships and offer personable service. We are always an email away.
In addition, we also believe in giving back. As an indie beauty brand and a woman-owned business, I love to give back to the local women’s shelters. We believe in supporting those in need to foster a sense of togetherness in this community. To view the charities we love to support, kindly visit our website under “Giving Back” at the bottom of our homepage.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
We love hearing from our customers telling us how our makeup has changed their lives in a positive way. Check out our Google Reviews! As an indie brand, we prefer to allocate our budget to create our products with the best and cleanest ingredients in our products without compromising on efficacy. Sometimes, this means we can’t dump a huge amount of our budget on marketing. It can be a huge challenge when getting your brand out there especially now, it means making sure you are everywhere on Google or SEO. We truly appreciate you (Chiara Di Lena from the Vancouver Guardian) reaching out to help promote a local Vancouver brand like ours.
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
We love how our customers literally will not use anything else after they tried our makeup. At my baby shower one year, I had makeup in the trunk of my car after our high tea luncheon. The ladies/guests lined up on the sidewalk picking up their orders. Literally, everyone I am friends with uses Amaterasu. One of my best friends in Singapore finally tried it about 4 years ago and scolded me for not enticing her to try it earlier. I don’t like to put pressure on people to buy my makeup. It is so much nicer when they discover it and then falls in love with it.
What are your social media channels?
Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Vancouver business that you love?
We love Fanny from Oh Sweet Day!
