This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at DCU chapter.

Marissa Carter is an award-winning entrepreneur and CEO of international beauty brand Carter Beauty and top-selling tanning brand Cocoa Brown. Carter created one of Ireland’s most successful beauty brands. Cocoa Brown is best known for its one-hour tan which beauty experts swear by, and has become a cult tanning product for a beauty consumer. Three bottles of Cocoa Brown tan are sold every minute.

Cocoa Brown is stocked by over 10,000 stockists in retailers across Ireland and the UK, such as Penny’s/Primark, boots, Superdrug and Tesco. The company has very recently broke into the U.S and Canada with supplier Hudson Bay now taking on both of Carter’s award-winning brands. Cocoa Brown hit shelves in November 2012 but the trading company MCMB Beauty wasn’t incorporated until June 2013.

Marissa started off owning her own beauty salon called Carter Beauty in January 2006. Trying to get a tan that her customers in the salon wanted was near to impossible, which is what sparked Marissa’s idea.

Marissa is on QVC at the end of this month. This is a massive step for the brand, an incredible launching pad to really break into America. Marissa has built her company through a strong personal brand. Carter didn’t use much online advertisement but more so self-promotion. Carter has over 120K followers on Instagram and efficiently uses this to grow her Carter Beauty and Cocoa Brown tanning brand.

In 2016, the company sales boosted massively after a mention of the Cocoa Brown tan on Kylie Jenner’s Instagram. In an interview, Carter had said there was a lot of grafting that had gone in before this photo had taken place “We were tanning Kylie for over a year before that post came out”. If that wasn’t enough, Khloe Kardashian also started using the cult Cocoa Brown Golden Goddess Oil for her makeup. Carter used celebrity reach incredibly to promote her brand. It showcases the quality of the products when these A-List celebrities would single Carter’s products out for endorsement.

In more recent days Ariana Grande was wearing eyeliner from the Carter Beauty in her latest music video for ‘Break up with your girlfriend’ which has over 65 million views on YouTube. Fans are going crazy over the statement eyeliner look created by the singer’s makeup artist Rokael Lizama with the €4.95 Supreme Gel Liner from the range. The Supreme Gel Liner is said to be a game-changer for a makeup enthusiast, and it’s incredibly affordable.

Carter creates affordable products of incredible quality which are suitable for everyone. Her price range is very competitive in the market, but still manages to deliver on quality. Quality matters to Marissa, and this is why her products are so loved by her customers. Carter understands her customers but also engages with them over social media to always gage what they are looking for in her product ranges. Carter gives the consumer what they are looking for at a great price and promotes it using her personal brand. Marissa is one of Ireland’s trailblazers, who is making serious waves across the pond.

The Irish Business Woman

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