The Story of BeautyQlick
WaiACCELERATE participant/founder: Maria Villanueva
Buying beauty products has always been a highly personal experience. When visiting the beauty counter, we expect an in-store consultant to be buzzing around us, getting us that perfect recommendation for our dry-at-night, oily-during-the-day, acne-prone-on-Tuesdays skin. But in a world where all our purchases have moved online, we can get stuck in a never-ending search for useful reviews. How can we make informed decisions tailored to our specific needs, and avoid ending up with a stockpile of products we can’t use?
That’s exactly the problem that Maria and her team at BeautyQlick are solving. Having extensive experience in both the beauty and e-commerce industries, she has noticed a shift in consumer buying habits from physical stores to online. However, like many of us when shopping online, she’s constantly toggling between various online retailers, review sites, youtube hauls…you get the picture. As an insider, she also knows that most online reviews are heavily biased or inauthentic. Even if they are legitimate, every person’s skin type is so unique, and they react to the same products in different ways. As I’m sure many of us can relate, she ended up wasting lots of money on products that weren’t right for her.
BeautyQlick’s goal is to convert the in-store beauty department consultant into an AI-powered “Beauty Bot”. The platform will help people find the products that are most suitable for them — based on their skin type, sensitivities, product preferences, and budget. The more you use BeautyQlick, the more it learns about what works for you and what doesn’t, and the smarter the recommendations become. It is built similar to the recommendation systems of Netflix or Spotify, with AI at scale.
Another advantage of using their app is accessibility. During this time of lockdown, we are all prevented from visiting high street beauty shops — but for many, due to physical limitations, sensitivity to smells, or geographical constraints, getting that in-store experience is not an option. With BeautyQlick, everyone can access from wherever they feel comfortable.
Maria and her cofounder, Malin Asheim, are uniquely positioned to deliver this solution to the market. Maria began her career in the makeup and beauty industry, working with Chanel in London. She’s spent the last 10 years as a key account manager in IT and e-commerce, which has allowed her to become intimately familiar with the online retail space. Not only does this give her in-depth knowledge of customer requirements, but also how to deliver valuable customer insights to retailers on the back end. Malin, as the Nordic Finance manager for Innocent Juices, brings her financial and strategic prowess to the table as the other half of the founding team. Together, they are a powerhouse duo ready to revolutionize the online beauty buying experience. Personalized beauty and skincare is just one “qlick” away.
To learn more about BeatyQlik, please connect with Maria on LinkedIn, or visit BeautyQlick’s website.
If you are an investor interested in Maria’s BeautyQlick, please contact Eve Logunova at eve@womeninai.co
