Beauties

Jet ran a franchise store in Groningen for years, and Minke started working here during her beautician training. When a beautiful building on Folkingestraat in Groningen became available, they decided to open their own store and beauty salon together, where they could pursue their passion for natural cosmetics – Jet in the store and Minke in the salon. Read here what Beauties stands for, what beautiful products they offer, and why Jet and Minke always laugh so much and so often.

♥ Beauties is your first own store. What does Beauties stand for?

Minke: “We are both huge fans of sustainable, green brands. So at Beauties, we work with natural products, which means: no microplastics, silicones, SLS, and parabens. It would surprise you how often this junk is still used in products, even by brands you would never expect it from. We were also very selective for our beauty salon.”

Jet: “Natural products are important to us, just like a brand's philosophy – is it honest and transparent? Does it have a good story? Are the products handcrafted? We wanted the packaging not to look too medical; we both like a beautiful, natural, and accessible look.”

Minke: “Natural products don't have to be dusty or have a high 'granola' factor. I think it's really cool that in our beauty salon we can show that you can choose sustainability and still enjoy cosmetics.”

♥ Is this also reflected in the interior design?

Jet: “Yes, absolutely, we really wanted to create a natural look for Beauties. Wooden shelves, natural colors, and cradle-to-cradle. For example, the wooden floors are recycled, and the paint on the walls contains no harmful substances.”

♥ What brands do you offer in the store and the salon?

Minke: “In the salon, we work with Esse Skincare, a beautiful brand from South Africa that is natural, organic, and vegan. Esse products contain probiotics, with which you achieve great results for skin problems like acne, eczema, and also skin aging.”

Jet: “In the store, besides facial care brands, we also offer nice body care products, such as Natura Siberica, Organic Shop, and Loveli. For example, we sell soaps from Soap7, a beautiful brand of artisanal, packaging-free soap for your hands, body, or hair, which is made locally here in Haren by Margot Rutten. And we have many natural, organic, and vegan products in our assortment.”

♥ What treatments do you offer in the salon?

Minke: “I do something different all day, which makes this work so enjoyable. From eyebrow tinting to facial treatments. I find it very rewarding to see that my colleagues and I can achieve real results for people with skin problems. But also body treatments, a Brazilian wax for example, are frequently booked and I enjoy doing them.”

♥ Beauties is located on Folkingestraat, one of the nicest shopping streets in the Netherlands. How is that?

Minke: “Yes, that's really great, there's so much atmosphere here on the street! There's always something going on.” Jet: “Before, I had a store on one of Groningen's most famous shopping streets, but there you mostly found large chains. That's completely different here on Folkingestraat. Unique stores you won't find anywhere else. There's also an app group of the female entrepreneurs on the street with whom we occasionally go out to eat. How nice is that?”