Clean Beauty: Alyson Hoag of Genuist Beauty On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Clean Beauty Brand
An Interview With Wanda Malhotra
Trustworthy Manufacturers: Align yourself with clean, ethical manufacturers. My experience in Italy finding great labs and companies to work with was crucial to Genuist Beauty’s success.
The clean beauty movement is transforming the beauty industry by emphasizing the importance of safe, non-toxic ingredients. Consumers are increasingly concerned about what they put on their skin, leading to a demand for transparency and high standards in beauty products. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alyson Hoag.
Alyson Hoag is the CEO and Founder of Genuist Beauty and the owner of the award-winning Authentic Beauty Makeup Salon & Brow Studio in Atlanta. With over 35 years of experience in the beauty industry as a brow and makeup artist and previously as a beauty educator for some of the country’s biggest brands, Alyson has worked with over 100,000 clients as the brow protector, rescuing people’s brows from bad beauty trends and over-waxing.
Her brow and beauty line, Genuist Beauty, was founded in 2023. Her products, featuring clean ingredients in sustainable packaging, are perfect for people of all ages, particularly those in their 40s and up, helping their brows bloom beautifully.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?
I had been working as a makeup artist for about a decade when I decided to hire a mentor to enhance my freelance makeup skills, particularly in brow artistry. At that point, I was hesitant to work on eyebrows because I had seen so many clients who had over-waxed their brows during the 90s. Once I learned about the correct placement of eyebrows and understood their impact on one’s overall appearance and makeup application, I realized that eyebrows are arguably the most crucial feature of the face.
Properly placed eyebrows not only enhance one’s facial features but also lead to the most effective makeup results. That’s why I always say, brows first. This knowledge led me toward a career focused on perfecting brows for clients at my award-winning salon in Atlanta, where I utilize a tweeze-only brow technique. This eventually inspired me to develop my own clean brow care and beauty line called Genuist Beauty.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? What lessons or takeaways did you learn from that?
Discovering the advantages of using a derma roller on eyebrows marked a significant milestone in my career. I had a client come to me once with severely damaged brows, scarred from waxing and experiencing extremely slow growth. After her initial appointment, she returned six weeks later for her routine touch-up.
To my astonishment, her brows showed dramatic signs of improvement. She revealed she had been using a derma roller and a serum. The results left me amazed and truly altered the course of my professional journey. This sparked the idea of creating a derma roller for the delicate eyebrow area, combined with a clean, effective serum. This innovation resulted in the development of the Roller Brow, which gained recognition on The Today Show.
Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
1. Resourcefulness: Always knowing there is a way to work through challenges. From COVID-19 to the economic downturn, my training with Tony Robbins taught me that when something looks like a no, there is always a way. This mindset has helped me navigate countless setbacks with the determination to find a solution.
2. Connectivity: Your network is crucial. The people you surround yourself with — from clients, friends, family, and team members to mentors and industry connections — have been instrumental. Having cheerleaders when launching a brand is essential, as you cannot do it alone. Also, adopt a selfless and inquisitive mindset. Offer your help without seeking repayment, take an interest in others’ stories, and remain genuinely curious about their experiences.
3. Discipline: Discipline equals freedom. Having rituals in your life that move you towards your dreams is vital. This includes self-care, daily exercise and meditation, healthy nutrition, proper hydration, a clean skincare and beauty routine, mental health, professional development, family and friend time, and a trusted team. Without these, you risk burnout.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
I am currently developing a new under-eye primer called the Smooth Canvas Under Eye Primer, set to launch in October. This product produces a radiant, crease-free, and smooth under eye area, and it is clean, hydrating, illuminating, instantly lifting, and blurring and perfect for mature skin, or any skin type looking for a perfect makeup canvas. As with all Genuist Beauty products, it is effective, clean, and comes in sustainable glass packaging with a formula that contains natural-origin emollients that help protect the skin and retain hydration.
Additionally, Genuist Beauty is passionate about giving back and making people feel beautiful amidst their adversity. We are excited about our work with Cure Childhood Cancer, Quiet Heroes, Atlanta Cancer Care Foundation, et al.
Finally, we became a member of the Pact Collective last year and we continue to promote sustainability in the beauty business through their makeup recycling program. By educating people on the huge waste issue within this industry, we encourage people who use our products to dispose of them properly at a makeup recycling bin nearest them or at Authentic Beauty in Atlanta because Pact actually does recycle everything.
What inspired your brand to focus on clean beauty, and how do you define ‘clean’ in the context of your products?
My journey in the beauty business began in 1986 working behind a beauty counter, where ingredient safety was never discussed. When I asked what was in the makeup, I was told, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just sell.’ Things shifted for me during my time at Aveda in the early 90s whose founder Horst Rechelbacher said, “We are the earth. We are soil. We are water. We are everything.” It was there that I was introduced to environmental issues plaguing our planet and the impacts of the beauty industry on the planet.
Working with Laura Turner Seydel in Atlanta as her personal makeup artist for 15 years, I learned about the important work of Ken Cook and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the importance of ingredient safety. From those experiences, it became increasingly clear that cosmetics could impact my client’s health and those experiences led me to create Genuist Beauty, where our mantra is beauty with a clean conscience. Our formulas are clean and the packaging is more sustainable than ever..
Previously, I had only been concerned with environmental damage to the planet, but this newfound awareness of chemicals commonly found within beauty products even today and what those chemicals can do to your body was startling, and alarming. As far as we have come, there are sadly still known carcinogens in beauty products even now, and those things can accumulate over time in the body. In addition, the law in the U.S. “does not require cosmetic products and ingredients, other than color additives, to have FDA approval before they go on the market”, according to the FDA.
Here’s the biggie though. For a lot of my career, I was taught that ingredients in cosmetics were too large to penetrate the skin, so we were fine. Of course, we now know better and that anything on the skin can end up in the bloodstream.
A combination of hidden chemicals in products, poor labeling, and a lack of oversight in regulating ingredients (and demand clean ingredients and transparency) all inspired me, as a makeup professional, to do something about this and create my own clean beauty brand.
I love my clients and customers like family, and you are making an investment in me when you buy one of my products or when you come to my salon for services. In return, I invest in you, and I think about how I would want my own daughter treated at a beauty business or at a beauty sales counter. I want her to be safe and I want her to have a clean beauty experience that she deserves and all people deserve.
How do you ensure the ingredients in your products meet clean beauty standards, and what criteria do you use to select them?
First, I align myself with honest, ethical, and transparent manufacturers. Also, Credo Beauty’s standards are my benchmark for clean ingredients today. I also ensure that the labs I work with use ingredients without any endocrine disruptors, known carcinogens, or bioaccumulative properties to the best of my knowledge. Also, our packaging is repurposable or recyclable through our Pact makeup recycling bin.
What steps do you take to educate consumers about the importance of clean ingredients and how they can make informed choices when purchasing beauty products?
I educate every client who sits in my chair at the salon and my customers who shop our products online about the importance of clean beauty. I also use social media to spread the word, and I’ve also discussed this extremely important topic during media appearances and at events. I have also been quite alarmed about the rising rate of young people using so many products so early without knowing what is in those products.
It is also important to align yourself with other like-minded businesses who are doing the hard work of making the beauty industry cleaner. At Genuist Beauty, we believe in clean beauty that enhances your natural beauty at all stages of your life whether you are 15 or 90. My goal is to help people love what they see when they look in the mirror with genuine, clean products that do what they say they will do easily, and effectively.
Next, I follow Credo’s clean standards for beauty products, and I highly encourage anyone looking to start a clean beauty brand or any person who uses beauty products to check out their clean standards and the over 2700 chemicals that they “prohibit or restrict, usually due to safety and/or sustainability concerns.”
Finally, a lot of people ask me about the name Genuist Beauty. Genuist is the most extra form of being genuine, and we take pride in being transparent about what we sell, and about what each product can and will do.
What innovative or unconventional ingredients are you most excited about in the clean beauty space, and why?
I am really excited about the ingredients in our upcoming under-eye primer that is really going to wow people over 40. In it, we have so many wonderful natural, active ingredients like Laminaria Ochroleuca Extract (Golden Seaweed) that offers immediate to medium-term soothing, enhances skin hydration, reduces texture issues, and improves overall skin quality particularly under your eyes.
Bigger than any ingredient, we are working with really innovative, clean labs to create products that are effective, easy to use, and safe for our clients. Our goal is to enhance natural beauty, especially for those 40 and up, who want to look great while they are off changing the world. :)
Can you share a story where switching to clean beauty ingredients led to a significant and unexpected benefit for your customers?
The peace of mind that comes with using clean beauty products is significant. There’s a sense of relief and care that we are creating products for our clients knowing they are non-toxic products.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Clean Beauty Brand”?
1. Trustworthy Manufacturers: Align yourself with clean, ethical manufacturers. My experience in Italy finding great labs and companies to work with was crucial to Genuist Beauty’s success.
2. Mentorship: You need mentors who provide feedback and direction. People like Mark Wuttke and Mia Davis have been invaluable to me and my career. 3. Client Education: Educate your clients on the importance of clean beauty. Many people are unaware about the dangerous chemicals lurking in their beauty products until health issues arise.
4. Sustainability: Clean and sustainable should go hand in hand. Work with organizations like Pact to ensure your packaging is environmentally friendly.
5. Authenticity: Be genuine in your branding and marketing. Attend trade shows, stay educated, and align with other clean beauty brands.
How do you foresee the clean beauty movement evolving in the next decade, and what role do you see your brand playing in that future?
I believe the future standard will be clean beauty, and we won’t need to have this conversation. Until then, Genuist Beauty will continue to innovate with clean, effective formulas in sustainable packaging, while we live up to our mottos of “beauty for the forever blooming” and “beauty with a clean conscience.”
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
● TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@alysonhoag
● Instagram: www.instagram.com/genuistbeauty
● Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenuistBeauty
● YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GenuistBeauty
● Website: www.genuistbeauty.com ● Amazon: Shop here
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
