Businesswoman creates all natural makeup line from home in Doncaster

A Doncaster businesswoman started building a makeup brand during lockdown, six years later it is thriving.

Essjay Hartshorn, aged 43, from Armthorpe thought up the idea for her brand Bomonde back in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As she worked as a makeup artist during the lockdown she was not able to do her day job and turned her creative efforts into making her own business from scratch.

She told us: “I have built this business from nothing, it started as just an idea in my house in Doncaster.

“Through sheer grit and hard work I have made it a success.

“I am from a normal working class, mining family so I never thought this would be possible.”

Bomonde is an online shop and sells a range of natural makeup which was influenced by Essjay’s 20 year career in skincare.

“People think you can’t have good skin if you wear make-up,” she said.

“But that is not true, natural makeup can actually be good for your skin.

“It doesn’t use any hidden toxins that regular make-up products do.

“It won’t clog your pores or destroy your skin barrier.”

Essjay hopes to educate people about the dangers of make-up such as microplastics and aging effects.

“Big companies use toxins to preserve the shelf life of their products,” she continued.

“They are full of parabens and plastic that make people look ten times older.

“Some are carcinogenic and disrupt your hormones, it can be pretty scary once you start looking into it.”

Bomonde is all natural, vegan and cruelty free.

It is designed to be a more subtle make-up look that highlights features rather than covers them up.

If you would like more information on Bomonde you can find it here.