Colleen Kirk is the founder and CEO of 3 Graces Beauty, offering products with clean, sophisticated formulas for all life experienced skin.
3 Graces Beauty Founder and CEO Colleen Kirk has over two decades of experience in the cosmetic industry that spans the globe. Colleen is an entrepreneur known for her creative talent, product expertise, and ability to understand and connect with beauty consumers. Her success comes from having worked across all aspects of the industry: from makeup artist to product creator to brand consultant and beauty publicist.
Colleen’s love of all thing’s beauty started at a young age. Fascinated with books on skin care, she would spend hours mixing potions at home and practicing her makeup skills, landing her first makeup gig at 16 at a local modelling agency.
At 19, she headed to LA to pursue her dream of being a makeup artist. Starting at Nordstrom’s behind the cosmetic counter, she continued honing her craft while studying under some of the great artists including the Westmore family. Colleen was also fortunate to be mentored by the great Roy Karrell, one of the industries brightest visionaries and the founder of the first custom color company, Visage Beaute’. Colleen went on to work with some of the largest cosmetic brands in the world, including Estée Lauder, Kao Sofina, Lancôme, Neutrogena, and Artistry.
Her career spans editorial work, special effects makeup for film and television as well as being tapped as spokesperson for a global brand where she trained hundreds of makeup artists and helped thousands of women across the world learn how to build their own successful beauty businesses. Over the course of a decade, her travels took her to 42 countries, working across many countries and cultures.
In 2018, Colleen, along with business partner Hermione Kidd, launched 3 Graces Beauty, a clean beauty brand that focuses on nutrient-rich and superpower botanical ingredients backed by science. Colleen’s expertise in creating products along with Hermione’s expertise in nutritional science is reflected in products that use sustainably sourced ingredients, avoids artificial fragrances, and is cruelty-free. 2020 saw the brand’s expansion into skincare, launching five new products in the midst of a global pandemic, with plans to launch color products in 2021.
The brand’s unique platform is the belief that true beauty is connected to Grace. Grace is loving yourself and knowing you are perfect just as you are. Colleen designed each of the products to be inscribed with words to inspire and ignite the person wearing them, speaking to the beauty that is in all of us.
Talking with Colleen
What advice would you tell your younger self?
It only takes 20 seconds of courage a day to change the course of your life: Make the call, take the meeting, don’t overthink it. And be kind to everyone, you never know how you might be impacting someone’s life.
What are your business goals this year?
Expand 3 Graces with new makeup products. Mentor a young entrepreneur who wants to be in the beauty industry.
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