Marissa Carter: ‘There was a lot of expectation but I needed it to be different from Cocoa Brown’

Brought to you by Carter Beauty Cosmetics. 

When pressure forces you to make decisions, take the time - even a trip to the salon - to make sure your gut feeling is giving you the green light.

That's exactly what Marissa did. As part of our six-part docu-series that takes a peek #BehindTheBrand that is Carter Beauty Cosmetics — we're learning a whole lot about — the beauty guru behind herself and the creation of the perfect brand. In Episode 4 — Packaging: Looks Are Everything — Marissa explained that, yep, she was kind of indecisive about what look she wanted for her brand. Even though she was working her butt off and had an exceptional team behind her, this was the one aspect that was SUPER stressful.

"This time around I found it a bit tricky coming up with the branding and packaging and I felt like there was a lot of expectation for the brand to be amazing and for the packaging to stand out... but I needed it to be different from Cocoa Brown.

Episode 4 — Packaging: Looks are Everything

"I had three different incarnations of packaging before I settled on the pink and purple, and it was absolutely last minute that I decided on them. "[Originally] I wanted a marble affect, but in loads of different colours. Then I scrapped that idea. "Then I wanted watercolours. Then I wanted block colours — I wanted navy and white, and the Cocoa Brown colour pink. "The designer did all this - all the packaging was done."

It wasn't until Claudia — Marissa's right hand woman — told her she was due to fly to China to finalise everything, that the pressure was truly on. If they didn't sign off on the design ASAP, nothing would be ready on time for the launch.

"I said, 'Look, I just have to go and get some head space — I'm gonna go get my nails done and I'm just going to think about it because when I was doing the packaging for Cocoa Brown, there was loads of back and forth, but then as soon as I saw what is now the Cocoa Brown bottle, I went 'ah, yes — that's it!'

We know now that Marissa did indeed find the packaging that would come to be recognised by every woman in the country. But not without months of constant pressure, endless deadlines, decision-making, determination and a vision for what would become Carter Beauty Cosmetics. See more of episode 4 — Packaging: Looks Are Everything — on our Her Facebook, IGTV and YouTube.