If you haven’t heard of esmi Skincare in one form or the other, what have you been doing? Since its inception, the brand has developed quite the cult following with its cruelty-free, Australian-made, high quality and 100% ethical skincare products. We had the opportunity to sit down with the Gold Coast woman behind the brand, Evette Hess, and speak all things from beauty career to her local loves.

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
I’ve been on the Gold Coast since my family moved from South Africa in 2004.

What do you love most about living here?
I honestly love EVERYTHING about the Gold Coast, I think it’s the best place to live. The beaches, the weather, that we can swim all year around, everyone is down to earth and it’s also become a hub for new businesses which I really enjoy seeing. It also has a really relaxed atmosphere which is my vibe for sure. You have to live where you can work and enjoy your life at the same time. I’m a massive advocate for this country and the Gold Coast, we are so incredibly fortunate to live here and have all the opportunities in the world at our feet.

Tell us about your career thus far.
I became a beauty therapist in 2006, then went on to teaching beauty therapy, which then lead to me having a job doing advanced skin treatments. All along I fell more in love with people, making them feel good and trying to find solutions for vulnerabilities they were facing daily. I found that treating things like skin issues really required a great skincare AND makeup routine to go hand in hand with these treatments to see benefits. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything that really hit the mark for recommending to my clients, so I decided to create a product that I thought they would find useful. Fast forward to 2021 and we have created over 200 products for our customers now.

What’s your proudest entrepreneurial moment?
I am so proud of the business and the culture we have at Makeup Cartel. I am proud every day, and I feel incredibly fortunate and lucky that I get to work with the team I work with. They are all amazing at what they do, they are first and foremost amazing humans. So, I am humbled daily by the people that choose to give so much of themselves to our business and that they love what they do. It means everything to me. I am also incredibly proud we are able to encourage, support and add value to people’s lives in a very real way. It’s something I have always enjoyed doing (in Beauty Therapy) but it was always limited to one person at a time – now with esmi and poni cosmetics we can make a real difference in people’s lives through giving them the support and encouragement to believe that real beauty lives inside of us. By providing them a product that encourages self-care, self-love and achieving results they can see resulting in a more confident person.

Tell us about esmi.
esmi is a Vegan, Australian Made, Cruelty-free skincare product. The brand is all about exceptional customer care, making every customer feel like the pieces of gold they are. esmi is about a value exchange where after all our bills are paid, customers consciously choose to spend what is left to ‘treat’ themselves on our product, so we better make it worth their while. esmi is about breaking the wheel of traditional ‘beauty’ products and business society (men in high buildings) telling us what is beautiful. Having a daughter of my own, today has become more important than ever to instil the self-worth and self-love that starts from her behaviour and treatment of others (not appearance) to prepare her for her future.

What’s by far the most popular esmi product?
We have a few, the Uncomplicated Cleanser, Hyaluronic Hydrating Serum and 24K Gold Nourishing oil.

What’s your personal favourite product from esmi?
This would be like asking which is your favourite child – it’s impossible.

Tell us your favourites on the Coast…
Café for breakfast: There are a few but I love Le Jardin in Main Beach
Coffee spot: Paper Cup in Southport
Restaurant for dinner: I love Mamasan, Rick Shores and Etsu
Bar or pub for a drink: Rick Shores
How does your weekend usually look? It varies depending on the weather, if the weather is nice, the beach for sure, visiting friends, or if it’s cooler then we might head to Tamborine to a winery or stay home.

Do you like money? Who doesn’t? But with the rising cost of living, it’s time to take a serious look at where yours is going and how best to save or even better, grow it! One young lady who we all have a lot to learn from is Molly Benjamin, founder of Ladies Finance Club. So you’ve read Rich Dad Poor Dad and the Barefoot Investor and still can’t make sense of it? Ladies Finance Club is here to help you in whatever format works for you. We found out a bit more about Molly ahead of her nationwide roadshow, upcoming book (Girls Just Wanna Have Funds!) and what exactly she loves about the Gold Coast.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I grew up in the hinterland of the Gold Coast in Mudgeeraba surrounded by animals, as my parents ran the local veterinarian and we always had a range of different animals (including a wallaby for a short period of time). I attended All Saints Anglican School with my twin sister and older sister and after doing uni, I moved to London where I spent six years working in the finance sector. While working there I noticed that many of the women I worked with and many of my girlfriends (including myself!) were all pretty bad with money, yet guys at the same age were buying properties. So I started a business! Haha that was the short version!

What do you love about the Gold Coast?
The fact that you can be at the beach and then in the tropical rainforest in less than 30mins.

For those who aren’t familiar with ‘Ladies Finance Club’, can you please explain what it is?
Ladies Finance Club is all about helping women take back control of their finances and grow their wealth. We run events, online masterclasses, courses and have an online club with hundreds of women across all areas of Australia wanting to get fierce with their finances. We work with the best experts in Australia to breakdown and teach women about investing, property, budgeting, saving and getting out of debt!

How did the concept of ‘Ladies Finance Club’ come about?
Massive confession, I was shocking with money and was consulting for a bank in the UK in comms and events. I noticed many of the women I worked with and my girlfriends were all a bit #clueless when it came to investing, superannuation and spending, so I started running events in my living room with my galpals. We would invite someone over to talk to us about our finances and boom LFC was born. Since then, we have grown (very quickly) and had over 25,000 women through an event, webinar, masterclass or course since we launched in Australia in 2019.

Why is it so important to empower women to take control of their finances?
Well money and women stats are a bit grim. In Australia women live longer, earn less (yes there’s still a pay gap), which means women are retiring on less and have less control of their futures. A horrifying stat in Australia is that one of the largest growing demographics of homelessnessn is single women over the age of 55. I don’t want that to be the reality for the women in my life. With the cost of living going up and money in the bank account not doing much, we must look for other ways to grow our money and investing is a great way to do that! No one wants to retire into poverty, we want to be cruising the Med with our galpals! Investing isn’t just for men, or for people who are good at math, investing is for everyone! If you can do basic grade 3 math and if you can shop online – you can definitely invest! Check out our super simple course here.

What is your greatest achievement to date?
Last year I was awarded the Women in Finance award for Financial Wellbeing Program of the Year in Australia and that was a very proud moment! I also finished my book which will be out in Feb 2023 – Girls Just Wanna Have Funds!

If you could give anyone a bit of advice, what would it be?
Build an emergency fund (or as we like to call them OMG funds) – have 3 months’ worth of cash sitting in a spare bank account in case of an emergency! This is the first step to creating a strong financial foundation!

What are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months?
We are just about to embark on a nationwide roadshow including coming to the Gold Coast (yay) in October and November. And also my book is coming out next year so I can’t wait for that!

What are your Gold Coast favourites…
Café/Coffee spot: Tarte in Burleigh 
Restaurant: Locally in Mudgeeraba my family and I love Wine Barrel and I am also a huge fan of Rick Shores -it’s definitely our special occasion place – although when I was a kid where The Tropic is now used to be a buffet called Choices and I loved it haha showing my age!
Bar or place for a drink: Burleigh Pavillion – cant beat a water view
Beach: Burleigh it’s the one I grew up with, I love the nature walk and love running (or attempting to run it), clearly I am very biased here towards Burleigh haha!

How do you choose to spend your weekends?
I’m away from the Gold Coast a lot with work so it’s great to hang out with the family at home and our adorable dogs. I love popping up to Harbour Town for a bargain, playing squash in Nerang, catching up with Mum for Yum Cha in Robina Town Centre and of course hanging out at Burleigh!

If you’re anything like us, over the last few months taking care of yourself has become VERY high on your to do list. Things like exercising more, eating well and looking after our skin are the new black and we’re all about it.

Not to mention winter has left the building and bulk sunshine means more outdoor gatherings and time with the people we love. So we need to look our very best.

Enter beauty salons. There have been a few beautiful newbies open up on the Coast lately and so, because we want you to look after yourself (and look lovely) too, we’ve compiled a little list.

From north to south, here they are.

SSKIN
A cosmetic skin clinic founded by sisters Amy and Emilee Hembrow, SSKIN can be found in a boutique residential-looking property (so you’re guaranteed the utmost privacy) which transforms on entry to reveal a luxury clinic equipped to carry out cosmetic services. Offering everything from facials to dermal filler and anti wrinkle treatment, hyperdermabrasion, skin needling, peels, a rose quartz signature facial and more you will absolutely pampered by the team at SSKIN.
Where: 107 Upton Street, Bundall

Skin Divinity
The beloved Byron Bay brand moved on up to Nobby Beach recently to open their second venue and what a treat for all of us. They’re a multi-award winning clinic and absolute experts when it comes to your skin. Offering brow and lash services, injectables, facials, LED Therapy, Epi Blading, teeth whitening, a nail bar, makeup application, anything and everything skin and beauty related and all within absolutely stunning surrounds. Pop into Nobby’s and give the team (and your skin) some love.
Where: 28 Chairlift Avenue, Nobby Beach

Clean Beauty Market
While the beautiful team at Clean Beauty Market aren’t new, they have moved to a new space recently and can now be found in Burleigh Heads. Not only is the space a beauty and wellness emporium selling all natural skincare, makeup, wellness, haircare and body products, it’s also a place to indulge in treatments like nourishing non-toxic facials, LED Therapy and Hyperdermabrasion. It’s the perfect place to treat yourself to some organic pampering.
Where: 1/53 James Street, Burleigh Heads

Cannabella
Did you know Australia’s first unfiltered Hemp Skincare is made right here on the Gold Coast? Burleigh Heads to be exact. It’s called Cannabella and it was created by a local man who wanted to create something natural for his Mum who was diagnosed with cancer and whose skin was becoming very dry and irritated due to chemotherapy. The result was Cannabella, skincare products made using 100% botanical ingredients with zero preservatives and entirely oil based. The key ingredient is unfiltered Hemp oil, used for it’s high chlorophyll content. There are face and body serums, a detox mask and a nourishing jelly and we suggest you try them all. Grab them here.