Aside from being on maternity with 10 month old Lyla whose only form of sleep involves having a cat nap in the day and I don't even know what to call it through the night. Combined with 4 year old Lily who can't go to school, and can't have sleep overs or trips out with family or friends due to a world wide pandemic, I've decided to open an online, plastic free beauty shop! Here I'll explain my journey to opening Lily Lyla.
For as long as I can remember I've lived my life caring for animals, domestic and wild! I studied Animal Management at college, then went on to getting my degree in Wildlife Conservation and Zoo Biology. I then went to succeed in getting my dream job. Since then I have been lucky to be able to work with animals that originate from all over the world. I also became educated on the environments where their wild populations live and all the different threats they face which are bringing some to the brink of extinction. I became more and more aware of the plastic pollution surrounding their habitats, and fed up when I realised our high street shops didn't really give us much option to stay away from plastic.
I had my first daughter Lily in 2016, and all I could think about was her future and what our
world will be like when she grows up. So I started to change the way I lived and researched how I could recycle the un-recyclable plastics, (my council don't even recycle margarine tubs!). Ecobricks came into my life, and helped me realise what plastic products I used and couldn't recycle. I moved on to Terracycle who offer various recycling schemes, which are great if you have one near by, (you should check their website out.) I even collected all my work colleagues plastics and sent them to Terracycle, and they would give me points for each piece, I then converted my points in to money for charity!
My second daughter was born in 2019, before she was born I researched everything I could so I could raise her in cloth nappies and reusable wipes. She's now 10 months old and I can honestly I haven't had a single up the back disaster yet, (when you know, you know!)
As some of you know I started Lily Lyla from my Facebook Page, offering eco gift boxes which
will still be available in our shop. This allowed me to get the name out there and raise funds to expand my product and brand range. So thank you to all of you that helped me make that happen! Now I have products from 7 brands available and many more waiting for orders, (it's so tempting not to keep adding right now!) I have changed a few things on the way, such as moving from having my logos for packaging on stickers to a reusable stamp, which I absolutely love. I'm sure there will be more changes on the way, and hope you will stay on this journey with me.
I have wanted to set up an environmentally friendly business for a while now. With everything going on at the minute, it has been tough! But I'm proud to say I've done it, and I hope you like it! I want to say a big shout out to everyone who has supported me. Whether its been through sharing Lily Lyla with your friends, purchasing our products, or giving me business advice, (you know who you all are,) THANK YOU :)
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