Chanelle Louise knows about ups and downs.
The former stockbroker survived the global financial crisis in London and New York only for her partner to suffer a major car accident in 2012.
"I had to fly straight back to Australia where he was. We had nothing after the accident. I was his full-time nurse for two years," the 28-year-old said.
"Basically he had a traumatic brain injury. He's much better now but because of the accident he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol but still wanted something similar to a Friday night glass of red wine ritual. That's when I started looking into rose water."
The rabbit hole Louise went down led to her first product, Cilk Rose Water, named for its texture and association with luxury, with the "C" in the name comes from her name Chanelle.
Louise, who now lives on the Gold Coast, officially launched the product in February last year.
In two months, she broke even and in less than a year, she made $100,000 and sold more than 1000 units.
Last year also saw her collaborate with Alexander Wang for Paris Fashion Week. All this without spending a cent on marketing.
Road down R&D;
Louise, who had formerly specialised in hedge funds and derivatives was looking for something without alcohol, sugar or additives but still with the sensory pleasures of wine. Louise started experimenting with various iced teas and other extraction-based beverages.
"I had some prototypes tested by a health food store and Vue de Monde, and that's when I turned it into a concentrate almost like a cordial but with no sugar. I played around with adding still and sparkling water and found the sparkling water made it more sensory and it was even more like wine," she said.
Louise said a little while later she was doing her morning skin care routine when she had a cliche lightbulb moment.
"I noticed all the rose water in my skin care and it just clicked. I started researched the beauty and skin benefits of digesting rose water and I thought maybe this could be more than a health drink, maybe I could innovate a beauty drink."
Can you really drink beauty?
If you were to be innovative in the beauty drink industry, now is not a bad time to start.
One report claims it is the largest growing category in the so-called "nutricosmetics" industry, which is set to be worth $7.4 billion in the next four years.
Another report by Stylist in Britain says beauty consumables will go from a virtually non-existent market to be worth $1 billion in three years.
"I don't just plan to have 1 per cent of that, I plan to have a decent chunk of that market," she said.
What's easy to confirm is that the Asia-Pacific region is the greatest growth zone for this sector, which is why Louise turned down one major US department store as a stockist.
"I need to focus on Asian markets right now. Next week I'm flying to Hong Kong to meet with two companies who approached me about licensing and distribution of my product to mainland China."
Collagen-based drinks are already popular in many Asian countries for the prevention of wrinkles and for promoting a radiant complexion and whitening.
They include brands such as Skinade, Aneva Derma internationally and, in Australia, products such as Fountain's "anti-ageing beauty drink".
Australian celebrities have even come under fire in recent years from doctors for promoting some beauty drinks. Taut, which contains shark cartilage, was promoted for anti-ageing qualities described as "bordering on absurd" by doctors.
Louise says she is careful not to promise anything too specific about Cilk Rose Water or say it too loudly.
"We say that it can aid dermal regeneration. Even if we knew that it did with 100 per cent certainty we would still be cautious.
"We have done testing at Southern Cross University that found the antioxidants are active at high level and we will be doing more clinical testing this year," she said.
Forget social
While Cilk doesn't present itself as a cure for ageing, or skin ailments, Louise says her clients are mostly high-earning educated women who have become return customers.
How has she achieved that without any marketing spend?
"My customers aren't the kinds of people who need to be told to 'buy right now' in an Instagram post," Louise said. "There are so many beauty products out there who rely purely on social media without looking at the bigger picture."
Louise, who still does everything herself, chose to put her efforts into long-term sustainability and scaleability.
She found certified organic roses from Bulgaria and a manufacturer who aligned with her values in Melbourne.
"It was a plant which normally did herbal tinctures and they had never done anything like this before but they thought it was cool and wanted to work with me."
Louise also plans to keep production in Australia for as long as possible.
"I know the Asian market really values products made here, especially consumables. We have the capacity to scale up to 50 000 bottles," she said.
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