Michelle Beaudette Created a Beauty Brand That’s More Than Skin-Deep

Growing up on a small homestead farm in Lexington, Massachusetts, Michelle Beaudette learned early the value of leading a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.

Beaudette helped her family care for goats, honey bees, and chickens—though the latter came only after she promised her mom she would take care of them personally. Her family composted religiously, and had a healthy appreciation (and a first-hand understanding) of how they interacted with and affected their environment.

So, in middle school, when Beaudette started getting curious about makeup and cosmetics, it was just as important to find a brand that was ethical and sustainable as it was to find the perfect shade of lipstick.

She found a few brands she liked, including Lush, a British retailer that uses vegetarian and vegan ingredients in its products and aims to reduce waste in its packaging.

“I love the creativity in their products and the environment in their stores,” Beaudette says, but still, she saw room for improvement. “Even though they’re one of the best, they still produce a lot of waste. I wanted something that was waste-free but still had high-quality values: non-toxic, ethically sourced ingredients, with empowering self-care and mental-health messages.”

That moment of wanting more for herself and her peers would ultimately lead Beaudette to create the company she sought: Kaolin Beauty, an ethical, non-toxic, zero-waste makeup and self-care company. Beaudette was recognized with a 2022 Innovator Award, a competition hosted by Northeastern University’s Women Who Empower that drew more than 100 applicants this year.

“We started the Innovator Awards to be different from other awards,” says Betsy Ludwig, executive director of women’s entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, and a member of the Women Who Empower team. “There are a lot of pitch competitions out there, a lot of accelerator programs, and a lot of resources and tools to focus on the business side of the venture—but the business is just one part of the success formula. This award is about the woman herself.”

For Beaudette, who will graduate in May from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern, Kaolin Beauty is the result of years of ideation—tweaking and revisiting her plan time and again. She utilized the resources provided by university organizations such as the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship (WISE), and IDEA, a student-run venture accelerator, to learn how to start a small business.

She pinpointed the problem: Beauty companies generate tons and tons of plastic pollution. Then, with six months at the Sherman Venture Co-op—a paid opportunity for student entrepreneurs to develop their ideas—Beaudette worked out the details and got a certificate in organic skincare through Formula Botanica, an online cosmetic science program. She also worked with Scout, Northeastern’s student run design lab, to build out her website.

“One of the main problems was the price point,” she says. “Natural brands are really expensive, and while good quality products should be priced higher, I wanted something that my generation could use and afford.”

By using ingredients such as beeswax from local beekeepers and sustainably farmed herbs, Beaudette has been able to mesh high quality recipes with a price point that works.

Her packaging is another key innovation: Kaolin Beauty utilizes compostable paper embedded with seeds that can also be planted in the ground, and glass containers with metal lids. No plastic at all.

Beaudette is careful with her pigments, too. She vets suppliers to ensure they use ethical labor practices, and seeks out natural dyes such as those from iron oxide and natural micas.

The products aren’t just skin-deep, either. Each one comes with a QR code that links to a guided meditation or ritual for self-care. Her purifying rose aloe face mask, for example, comes with a meditation on self-love.

“I always wanted Kaolin Beauty to be fully engaging,” she says, “something that was fun, but goes deeper than your average beauty brand.”