Jill Riley had been on an international quest to find the best beauty treatment. When she found the answer in marula oil, made from a fruit grown in South Africa, she created a skin care line to share it with the U.S.
“For 20 years I”™ve been trying to find that niche or combination of beauty ingredients,” Riley said. “Marula is so simple. There are so many benefits to people. It”™s not very common in the U.S.”
Riley, of White Plains, develops the business, Alapure Cosmetics, on weekends and evenings after her full-time job as an information technology officer for the federal government. Originally from Trinidad, she holds a Master of Science degree in technology management and has a background in modeling. Riley also has a passion for traveling and has visited 34 countries.
- Jill Riley, owner of Alapure Cosmetics. Photo by Danielle Brody
It was Riley”™s husband, Pat Moore, who put marula oil on her radar. On a trip two years ago to South Africa, he noticed the hotel”™s soap ”” with marula oil as its main ingredient ”” made his skin particularly soft, Riley said.
Riley researched the marula fruit, which she found has been part of South African culture since 10,000 B.C., given as wedding gifts and used for its healing properties. The fermented fruit is used to make alcohol, like Amarula liqueur, and is known to intoxicate elephants that eat it. It has omega-9 oleic acids and omega-6, which work together to penetrate the skin and lock in moisture, Riley said.
She is the full owner of the business, which she launched in the summer of 2013 using about $30,000 of her own savings.
“Because I know it”™s going to be successful, I wasn”™t hesitant about investing whatever I needed to get it off the ground,” Riley said.
She received guidance from mentors at SCORE, a nonprofit that provides mentoring to small businesses. While she wanted to start with about 20 products, she said the best advice she received was to start small. She realized she should release products carefully to see what customers want.
Her product line includes marula body lotion, body butter, oil and soap. She is working on a hair care line.
“As you put products out there, you don”™t know what”™s going to sell until you go to market,” Riley said. “It”™s really a good idea to start small, then scale.”
Starting the business was a “slow, involved process,” Riley said. She helped create the logo and the name by holding interviews with the packaging company to ensure the product was a reflection of herself.
She said her professional background is helping her develop the business.
“I”™m really able to home in on the organization,” Riley said. “I”™m able to manage the different projects I have to do because the technological component comes easily.”
Riley was hands-on in sourcing materials and developing the right formula. In March 2014, she and her husband returned to South Africa for a marula festival, which occurs during the fruiting period, to meet with the women of the cooperative that pick the fruit and extract the oil from the kernel of the seed. Riley learned step-by-step how it goes from tree to bottle.
She also completed a course at the New York Institute of Aromatherapy and plans to do other training. “It allowed me to have a better understanding of what”™s the best way to create what I envision.”
She also worked with a chemist to develop the formula, which she wanted to be all-natural.
“People do care about what goes on their bodies,” Riley said. “We were able to come up with a nice clean formula, a very effective lotion.”
South African marula oil is the main ingredient along with others like shea butter, macadamia nut oil, green tea and sunflower oil. Riley works with a lab in the U.S. that sources ingredients and manufactures the lotions. “They”™re not cheap ingredients; it”™s not watered down,” Riley said.
Her products cost $6 for soaps, $15 for body butters, $20 for body lotion and $22 for a bottle of marula oil. Between trade shows and online sales, she sold about $6,000 worth of products in the last year. She sells on her website and on Amazon, and wants to sell the line to Sephora, Ulta, Whole Foods and Westchester shops and boutiques. She said she is soliciting companies outright.
“I”™m knocking on doors, I”™m getting the word out, I walk around with samples.” Riley said. “It takes a lot of work.”
While marula was relatively unknown one or two years ago, Riley said, like other trendy foreign oils ”” argan and coconut oil ”” the South African ingredient is gaining popularity. Yet, she said she is not worried about the competition.
“The good thing about being up front about the marula oil is as it becomes more popular, Alapure will become known as one of the key players,” Riley said.
One of her goals is to educate consumers, which she said will strengthen her brand. Many people just “jump on the bandwagon,” not understanding what the ingredients are, Riley said. She updates the Alapure blog with information, and she is writing an e-book about the difference between argan, coconut and marula oil. She said it takes time to stay up to date, but it is worth it. She hopes the business turns into her full-time job.
“My heart and soul is in this,” Riley said. “I believe in what I”™m doing. I use the products all the time.”
