Entrepreneur Rosie Greenhalgh has turned her passion for creating the perfect spray tan into a world-leading business.
Rosie spent years developing the world’s first cream-based spray tan and now boasts a full range of tanning products with her Rose and Caramel beauty line - including the world’s first tan removing bubble bath.
Now, her products are in demand across the world and on sale through online retail giants PrettyLittleThing and Amazon as well as through their own website roseandcaramel.co.uk.
And, while the range has been popular with celebrities and influencers, the brand has proved popular with consumers by continuing to use ‘real women’ from Bolton and Manchester for their advertising campaigns.
Rosie says: “We love making girls feel good, and for me a spray tan is a confidence thing - it gives you that boost.”
The business was nominated for three prestigious Pure Beauty Awards last month, for Best New Bath Product, Best New Body Product and Best New Retailers’ Own Product.
Rosie, 35, from Bolton, has always shown a flair for business - opening her own beauty salon in her hometown at the age of 22 after graduating from university.
At that time sunbeds were still popular, but Rosie could already see the shift towards spray tanning as a safe alternative to getting a golden glow.
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It was a chance conversation with a local herbalist who supplied the salon with sunbed creams that led Rosie to ask if he could help her develop a spray tan formulation.
Rosie recalls: “The first one was really thick and smelt too strong - but it really set my brain going, how can I change that? How can I make it better?”
When the herbalist decided to retire, he offered to sell his business to Rosie and train her on making products alongside her friend and colleague in the salon, Carmel Lawson, 32. He also put them in touch with all his suppliers and manufacturers.
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Rosie says: “Everyone thought I was crazy at first, but it linked me in with all the suppliers so it was kind of a head start.”
What followed was years of trial and error, testing different formulations and pitching out to manufacturers until one gave her a reality check - that there would be no point unless she invented something new.
It led to Rosie’s lightbulb moment - to create the world’s first cream-based spray tan, with all the benefits of a cream tan in a spray.
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It’s the product that launched the company - which she named Rose and Caramel derived from the two friends’ first names.
The Nudity range of spray tans led on to the Purity range which includes the world’s first self-tan removing bubble bath which has been another huge hit.
Throughout the development of the tan business, Rosie retained her beauty salon, Lady Muck on Halliwell Road, for 13 years - but last year made the decision to make Rose and Caramel her sole focus.
Rosie says: “Since going full time all the bigger stuff has happened for us. Last year was the first year we quadrupled turnover, with over 20,000 products sold through our own website, and more through PrettyLittleThing and Amazon.”
She is passionate about showing in Rose and Caramel’s marketing and social media all the real customers with their real results from using the tanning range.
She says: “We don’t use a lot of celebrity influencers, we use real girls with real results and that has been the big seller for us. I always try to think outside of the box, we’ve never had any investment, we’ve built a great following through social media and word-of-mouth.”
Rosie credits her dad’s entrepreneurial spirit with inspiring her business success.
She says: “He’s the biggest mentor for me. He’s always worked so hard and he never gives up and that’s what I try to emulate.”
As for the future, Rosie continues to develop new products to add to the range.
She says: “All I want to do now is create a solution for every problem girls have with tanning.
“We come up with solutions.
“We listen to what problems they have and we’re here to try and fix it.”