Leonie Henzell has done it all. She’s been a physiotherapist for 10 years, owned her own gifting company, and now she’s the founder of new beauty brand, Beauty’s Got Soul. Knowing she wanted to “do something” about Australia’s homelessness crisis, she decided to make her new company beautiful, but with a difference. Beauty’s Got Soul makes a range of sweet smelling products, while donating a percentage of the sales to help provide safe sleeps across Australia.

We chatted to Leonie to find out more about Beauty’s Got Soul’s mission, her favourite beauty products, and the future of sustainable beauty.

Christina: Why is it important to you that Beauty’s Got Soul supports sleepbus through your products? How did this partnership come about?

Leonie: Beauty’s got Soul is a ‘for profit for purpose’ business. It is important because at the heart of everything… I don’t believe that anyone should have to sleep on the street. I know it’s a complex issue and there is no magic fix. Talking to lots of business people and people who have a greater understanding of the homelessness issue, there was one man’s name that kept coming up in conversation. Simon Rowe.

I read and listened to all the information about sleepbus that was online. Impressed, I just called him up and asked him if we could meet. I proposed my concept of providing meaningful financial assistance to the sleepbus charity associated with the sale of products. I talked about creating products to create awareness for homelessness in Australia, and a percentage of sales, not profits, going directly to the charity. Like paying tax. Simon Rowe, CEO sleepbus, comes with business acumen and a track record of running and fixing businesses. He gets things done and is an astute problem solver. He is a Telstra Award winner and most importantly; he also has good energy and a kind heart.

C: What was the thought process behind the brand name, Beauty’s Got Soul?

L: You know it took me close to a month to find a name for this business. I would sit on GoDaddy and see all the good names taken. Hours and hours of searching.

I wanted the customer and community member to be “beauty”. Hey beauty, let’s be friends. I also realised that this is a legacy project for me. It is greater than me and doing this work really warms my heart and soul. PS… [heart and soul] was one of the names I tried…. Taken. I then started down the “soul” path and it wasn’t long before I connected beauty and soul. beautysgotsoul.com was born!!

C: Do you have a beauty icon or a business idol you look up to?

L: Peta Grainger who is a Director of Lush Fresh Hand Made Cosmetics. I had the honour of being in a business forum learning group with Peta a few years back. This is a brand that is really the shining light for the beauty industry. They are an awesome brand, with a hugely active community, real and authentic. Using their brand and products to drive positive change in the world. Peta Grainger is really quite humble and stellar at the same time.

C: How difficult has it been to develop vegan and cruelty free products, what sorts of things have you had to consider to ensure this?

L: I have put a lot of time, effort, and research into the creation of the brand and the product formulations to ensure they are of the highest quality and they are vegan and cruelty free. Ensuring that the companies we are partnering with are the very best in the industry and are fully accredited and certified is vital. These products need to be covetable for our brand to survive. It is important that people want to re-order, send them to their friends as gifts and keep supporting the brand. This come from a lens of sustainable thinking.

C: You currently sell a range of candles, soaps, body washes and creams; do you have plans to expand the range into makeup or other beauty products?

L: Yaaasss, this is stage one for beauty’s got soul. We plan to add to our current range with new scents and fragrances. We are currently actively looking for artists to commission the creation of unique artistic packaging for these new products. We also have plenty of other body products on the production wishlist. There are big plans all the way up to skincare and make-up; but basically it’s secret and I am not telling. You will need to join our beauty-full gang and come along for the ride.

C: What is your favourite product you’re currently making?

L: My most favourite product is actually a gift set. It is a combination of a pomegranate and cassis candle, body bar, chocolate and piccolo of French champagne. It is called ‘Be the Unicorn’. It’s $100 with free delivery, and it serves a multitude of purposes. From Happy Birthday Girl to sorry, to some kind of self-care life event; it’s magical and it’s a winner.

C: The beauty industry is constantly changing, with new brands entering the competitive market all the time, where do you see the industry heading?

L: Vegan, cruelty free, sustainable packaging, quality ingredients, sustainable business practices. I believe that this is the new norm. I would not want to be in this industry without these capabilities. It’s what the beauty community wants. Ignore this at your peril, I say. I believe that the brands who actively develop an authentic community will survive and prosper. Community is about sharing, giving value, two-way conversation.

C: What is your….

All time favourite beauty product?
Light Moroccan Oil for my hair. It’s a great frizz tamer.

Makeup item you can’t live without?
Bare minerals complexion rescue tinted hydrating gel cream SPF 30 ginger 06. It’s light and natural and my go-to, light coverage, every day look.

Favourite colour?
It’s a quandry. A 50-50 toss-up between, E93CAC – (it’s hot pink) which I love in brand design. It is a happy colour and looks amazing in large format advertising like billboards and trams…. and I also LOVE the complete monochromatic look. (I know you asked for one, but I also LOVE navy and khaki.)

Best part of your day?
I love it when I am at work with my team (Helene Remy and Mahalia Mingo) and we are free-styling ideas, sharing knowledge, getting great work done and not taking ourselves too seriously.

You can join the beauty-full gang of Beauty’s Got Soul here, and check out their full range of products on their website.

A-Z of Beauty's Got Soul