Inspirational Burnley businesswoman Poppy Parker celebrates double success with opening of her own salon and launch of her cosmetic range Pop of Beauty

For, along with opening her own beauty salon she has also launched her own make-up range. And Pop of Beauty Cosmetics is already a runaway success with the eye catching range of products flying off the shelves and online. All this and Poppy is just 23!

“I’ve put everything into this, “ said Poppy, whose salon, also called Pop of Beauty, recently opened in Brown Street. “This is something I have dreamed about.”

A former student at Unity College in Burnley Poppy studied forensic science at Nelson and Colne College before going on to UCLan in Preston where she took Business and Marketing. It was while studying here she made the decision she would one day be her own boss.

After spending several months working in Dubai as part of her degree course, Poppy then became a qualified dance instructor and started training as a lash technician. But she wanted to do more than that so studied and qualified in all aspects of the beauty industry.

In her salon she has four self employed staff: Make up artist Poppy Ferguson, aesthetician Lucy Thorpe, and nail and beauty technicians Leah Mason and Mollie Beneduce.

A friend who owns a pharmaceutical company was able to advise Poppy when it came to launching her cosmetic range. She said: “I was so lucky that he was able to help with everything, including suppliers, and I designed the range myself and had a lot of input with it.”

It is quite ironic that the signature colour of the range is pink, as a fortune teller once told Poppy, who lives with her personal trainer boyfriend Kieran O’Mara, that colour would play a major role in her life.

“This is just the start for me,” said Poppy. “I have so much more I would like to achieve including getting Pop of Beauty into all the big stores.”