Groundbreaking beauty start-up launches

Marcia Kilgore. The name might not look familiar at first glance but if you put it next to Bliss Spa, Soap & Glory and FitFlop things start to become a little clearer. She is of course, the creator and founder of all three brands, and with a fourth endeavour recently launched, this beauty and retail entrepreneur doesn't appear to be running short on game-changing ideas.

Beauty Pie is Kilgore's latest foray into beauty and the idea behind it is one experts believe will blow the industry wide open. The brand's aim is to bring consumers prestige quality products at transparent factory prices via a membership-based, online store.

Ordinarily makeup goes from the manufacturer to the supplier to the brand and then the retailer – a process that involves numerous costs. With Beauty Pie, Kilgore claims she will be able to bring the same quality cosmetics (from labs that luxury brands source from) to consumers for a fraction of the price.

One time shoppers can buy a lipstick, for example, for around $30 while members, who pay roughly $16 a month, can get it for $3. The membership entitles shoppers to a monthly allowance of $160 which the website states should buy three to six products. Whatever isn't used gets rolled over to the next month.

High-end skincare will be launching on Beauty Pie later this year and while membership is only currently available in the UK and the US, the website states that the service will be going global very soon.