The Leeds sisters delivering a little joy this Christmas

When sisters Kim Stockdale and 
Tiff Fawcett were forced to shut their beauty salon due to Covid-19 they missed all their clients

The pair, who now live on the same street in Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, decided to create pamper boxes called Blonde & Brown Co – after their hair colours.

“As mums we often find that we look after everyone else but ourselves – I know that I really struggle with treating myself,” says mother-of- two Kim, 36. “As women, especially British women, we are not great at self-care but we are in great need of it. So our message is love yourself, treat yourself. We all deserve some luxury pampering right now.”

The girls grew up in Pool-in-Wharfedale, but with a 10-year age gap, they didn’t spend too much time together in their early years.

They took different paths in 
their youth, and never intended to work together – their business was actually spawned by their mum encouraging and supporting them to buy a salon together after they had both ended up studying beauty therapy and that was the start of their entrepreneurial journey eight years ago.

Growing up in Pool-in-Wharfedale, their father was a busy businessman in the wool and textile industry and the girls were inspired by his entrepreneurial path but also hugely influenced by the social side of him too, which saw them meets lots of new people, building the girls’ confidence of interacting with others from a young age.

Neither of the girls were school lovers, with Kim describing her school years as being “all about the social life and life lessons” and Tiff admitting she hated school.

Kim started her working life at her father’s company in Bradford, but had no desire to launch a career at this point, instead jumping on a plane to Majorca as soon as she was 18, where she stayed and worked in a bar for four years, living and loving the beach life.

Very much a free spirit she then went travelling around the world for six months, and upon returning, “not ready to get a proper job” she moved to North Yorkshire to live with her cousin looking after horses, and working in a pub. Told one day that she was good at massage she decided to pursue that as a route to train in, and undertook a Beauty NVQ at college. She loved it and started initially with massage and sports injury therapy, preferring the science and biology side to the pure beauty side. She set up doing mobile massage, then got a job at a beauty salon. However, after having her little boy she wanted to move back to Leeds to be nearer her family, and when Fin was just 10 months old the salon opportunity came up.

Kim has now worked in beauty for over 10 years and has added to her skills with training in micro-blading, aesthetics treatments and skincare specialisms, including training that is usually only reserved for medical professionals.

Tiff was the one with a proper job, as her father called it, and she’s been “a proper grown up” for many years, climbing the corporate ladder in accounts and finance roles, but more because she thought it looked like a good way to get a decent salary than it being something she actually wanted to do. She left school and got an admin job, then added to her skills with an accountancy qualification, becoming a finance team leader at Norwich Union. She then went on to be a project accountant at Co-op Insurance, but after having her third child she decided she needed to do something different.

When she had her son Jake she decided enough was enough, and she didn’t want to be out for 12 hours a day so started to take control back of her life. She got a part-time finance job to work around her children, but didn’t enjoy it, so decided to do a part-time nail technician course.

“I’d always had my nails done to go with my corporate image and it was something I loved, so I trained in it as a bit of a light relief,” says Tiff, 46.

“I never once believed this would be the path to a new career, indeed business.”

At this time Kim was doing her beauty training, so they went to college together on a Saturday, but Tiff went back to her part-time job – until a call from their mum who had stumbled across the salon premises and this set a whole new path out in front of them.

In 2012 the sisters set up Aspire Beauty and Skincare in the Menston, West Yorkshire. Working alongside each other with different therapy specialisms, they quickly built a loyal local following.

However, during the Covid lockdown their beauty salon was forced to close and the sisters went from thriving in a busy, fun environment to twiddling their thumbs and not earning.

The pair were asked by clients for facial kits which they swiftly pulled together and these proved really popular. This inspired their idea of creating something more substantial, as an extension
of their business. They thought
how great it would be to have something that people could
send to friends that they were
unable to see during lockdown to make them smile and cheer them up, and it was that thought that gave them the idea of a pamper box, everything you need for a pamper all in one box.

So in July 2020, the pair set up Blonde & Brown Co.

“One of the things I love about what we’re doing is it is enabling people to let loved ones know that someone is there for them in times when they can’t take them out for a meal or give them a hug.”

Blonde & Brown Co is committed to spreading a bit of joy during lockdown to help people smile and also give women a focus on self-care and an opportunity to be pampered, when many were feeling overwhelmed and run down.

Joining with other independent businesses for whom lockdown had taken its toll the sisters approached small firms they loved, to collaborate with. They hand-picked the contents, sourcing as much from artisan makers as possible, alongside Blonde & Brown products and well-known brands.

Managing the whole process themselves from sourcing the products, to developing the branding to organising the online logistics and stock, to actually making the candles and lip balms in their own kitchens the girls have developed new skills and thrived doing so when their original business had to close its doors.

For more information visit

Website - www.blondeandbrown.co.uk

Facebook -www.facebook.com/blondeandbrownboxes

Instagram - www.instagram.com/blondeandbrownboxes

Salon - www.aspiremenston.co.uk

The sisters have reopened the salon in Menston but with limited treatments.