Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Marris.
Melanie Marris, Eyebrow Stylist and Beauty Industry Pioneer
In meeting MMES and Brow Code founder Melanie Marris you may sense a contradiction of sorts. Melanie is a series of contrasts in motion. She is part perfectionist, part wild creative genius, part adaptive business entrepreneur, and yes, perhaps most surprisingly, a completely down-to-earth charming connected woman.
The company Melanie Marris Eyebrow Stylist started from humble beginnings in Perth in Western Australia. Melanie recounts her absolute fascination during childhood watching her mum put on her mascara and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. She knew early in life that beauty and style were her passion. Ms. Marris left school at the age of 15, with no background in business or fashion, to pursue her dream of success in the beauty world. With her eyes set firmly on someday making her mark in the US, she enrolled in a Beauty Therapy diploma program. By age 16, certificate in hand, she was working hard in the aesthetics industry to learn all the tricks of the trade. While perfecting each of the services offered by salons, Melanie discovered that restyling women’s eyebrows transformed how women look at themselves in just 30 minutes. Bowled over by the tears of joy and outpouring of gratitude from the women she styled, Melanie set her sights on taking eyebrow fashion and grooming as far as it could go. Melanie practiced day in and day out with her clients, perfecting her unique method of styling.
Along her rising path, Melanie has pioneered new beauty and business concepts. First off came proving traditional beauty industry thinking off-the-mark, by demonstrating that a single-service salon focused on brows was a viable enterprise. By shifting the business model Melanie transformed a standardized express beauty add-on service into a focused premium boutique experience delivering the highest of quality. With great confidence that she would have success, Melanie opened MMES, her first salon, in Perth, Australia in 2012, offering her signature MM Brow, a structured sleek glamorous look designed to complement each individual woman’s unique facial features.
Women flocked to the Maylands Perth location, drawn not only by the quality of how they looked as they walked out the door but even more so, by the warm engaging approachable nature of Melanie. These early clients discovered the best of all worlds: At the end of a short appointment clients walked out the door feeling special, feeling amazing about themselves, and knowing that they had made a very personal connection with a fabulous glamorous creative woman. The whole experience was worth every penny. Melanie has worked tirelessly since those early days to create an exceptional level of quality in everything she does and in everything her businesses deliver. 18 months later, Melanie opened her headquarters in Bayswater Perth and expanded her team of talented stylists dedicated to delivering the incomparable Melanie Marris eyebrow experience.
Spend a little time with Melanie and it rapidly becomes clear that she is deeply driven. Her days start early and go long into the evening with barely a moment to catch a breath. No detail escapes Melanie’s thoughtful careful attention. She has worn every hat in the business: stylist, financial manager, people manager, strategist, business promoter, creative mastermind, receptionist, instructor, mentor, and everything else in between. Using this versatility Melanie has grown the original MMES business concept in a number of directions expanding the brand nationally and internationally and adding product sales and training services as well. She launched her second studio in Melbourne on Australia’s East Coast in 2015, propelled by an eager social media following hungry to gain access to Melanie’s distinctive look and impeccable luxuriant experience.
The special service and results provided by MMES studios and showcased across social media caught the attention of more than Melanie’s clients and fashion enthusiasts. Professional stylists expressed their urgent desire to learn her specialized craft so that they could share the MMES crisp sleek style with their clients too. In 2017 MMES expanded into education services offering Virtual Brow Masterclass, providing instruction and certification to beauty pros across the globe in the MM Brow method. Here again, the pairing of Melanie’s creative leadership and engaging personal nature opened up a new way to share her vision directly with the world and help aspiring aestheticians reach new professional heights.
Pull back the studio curtain a bit to see what is happening behind the scenes at MMES. Here we can witness Melanie tirelessly testing products and innovating new techniques to bring to the industry. As she developed the MM Brow method, Melanie found that the available styling products on the professional market couldn’t fully achieve the results she had in her mind’s eye. Following her singular vision, Melanie taught herself to make her own custom beauty care products to maximize the impact of her techniques. There was a lot of trial and error along the way. The result of Melanie’s curiosity, ingenuity, and her pursuit of quality led to the birth in 2017 of Brow Code, the premier manufacturer and distributor of professional eyebrow styling products. Introducing the Brow Code line answered an insistent and long-standing demand on social media for the products to replicate Melanie’s signature style. Now pros and beauty queens worldwide have access to a new level of brow styling and care products.
Tracing an upward trend, Melanie Marris has steadily developed her personal creative craft, launched the service of MMES studios, created educational solutions for beauty professionals, released the world’s first dedicated eyebrow product line with Brow Code, and is now expanding internationally with service partnerships in Bali, Indonesia, Los Angeles, USA, and across the globe. What does the Eyebrow Queen have up her sleeve now? MMES is releasing a radical new advance in eyebrow styling. Melanie’s brow lamination technique is so versatile and flexible, you can rock a light fluffy runway look all day and flash a sleek sexy pommade look all night. Beyond new styling techniques, Melanie’s push to expand partnerships globally is bringing the pinnacle of beauty styling services, products, and training closer to you. Want to catch the wave first? Follow Melanie, MMES, and Brow Code.
Stunning glamour matched with a graceful easy manner is the hallmark of all things Melanie Marris creates. Always mindful of how she got here, Melanie is quick to credit all the enthusiastic amazing gorgeous women who visit the studios, watch her videos, and follow her on social media for the success of MMES. Join us in our studios, online in a Masterclass, through Brow Code products, or with our salon and retail partners, and experience the perfection in yourself.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I am not just building a business, I am building a brand. A legacy. This always comes with its fair share of obstacles and daily challenges. I learnt very early on in business that challenges and obstacles will always arise and are a necessary part of growth both personally and in business. It’s like a video game, you cannot get to that next level if you haven’t learnt how to pass the one before it! Changing the way you look at these situations is crucial. Every time an obstacle arises, I immediately go into problem solving mode and work out how I am going to move forward. I never look back unless it is to see what I have learnt from the situation, how far I have come or to share my failures when mentoring others. It is not easy, and some obstacles and situations thrown at you are almost unimaginable but it always works out in the end, everything works out just how it is meant to. You learn over time not to take things too personally and how to look at every situation from all angles keeping positive.
You grow, build resilience and develop new skills, it is all part of it. My best teachers have always been my failures. I never learnt anything new from winning all the time! Failing and then winning is the real key. I now enjoy the learning process because you can only ever come back stronger if you remain focused on your goal and vision. I truly believe you can’t “learn” business, you have to go through it to develop the necessary skills to overcome all the challenges.
Finding the right people to represent your brand and company is challenging at times. I live to inspire and mentor. I find fulfillment in motivating people and bringing out their full potential. My goal now is to always hire people who have an array of skills that aren’t my expertise they are truly obsessed with. All of my employees always leave my company with life long skills and lessons learnt from me. Your team ethos and visions must be completely aligned and must truly resinate with each individual working on your brand.
We’d love to hear more about your businesses:
Melanie Marris Eyebrow Stylist was founded and lanched in 2012. I was 22 years of age with just 70c to my name. I worked two jobs to get things off the ground and kept them until I knew I had a stable income stream from MMES. I am completely self taught in the way I style brows, innovate the beauty and brow industry, create and develop products and in business. I did not finish high school or graduate and I have never attended any further courses or completed any business studies. I believe much of my success began when really focusing in on my personal and professional strengths, purpose and passions. Also with MMES remaining such a niche, single service salon for eight years, it was something we were able to perfect to the highest possible quality level and control. We have currently perfected, designed and styled over 200,000 eyebrows using the MM brow styling technique. The company is also considered a leader in brow education around the world using this method since launching Brow Masterclass by Melanie Marris, a five star virtual learning experience.
In 2016 my second company which I built and backed off of the demand from MMES was founded and in 2017 we launched Brow Code. Brow Code has specifically developed an elite range of both professional and retail brow styling products and brow cosmetics which continue to innovate the eyebrow industry. Within 12 months, Brow Code was sold in over 40 countries around the world, we are now also used in over approximatly 40,000 brow and beauty salons globally. Brow Code started with just ONE product, from there, all funds were used to scale. The brand is growing incredibly on an interational level.
Both Melanie Marris Eyebrow Stylist and Brow Code were multi-million dollar company within 18 months of launch. In 2019 we began to add new innovative Brow Code product services to our menu’s launching Brow Henna and Brow Lamination which are now joining our original MM Brow Wax and Tint in popularity.
Our biggest achievement in 2020 so far is the launch of SEV Brows by Melanie Marris in the US.
Here, I also offer exclusive, private home visits.
We have launched the new Brow Code LUSTRE Brow Lamination treatment into LA along with brow styling and maintenance.
What were you like growing up?
Out there and creative!! I grew up in a loving, caring, humble, hard-working home. I am truly blessed to have two loving parents, still happily married, a beautiful Sister and Brother. My parents worked very hard to put us through school, I am very grateful for this.
I had a fascination with watching my Mother put on her makeup in the morning for work, I was always in awe of her beauty and inspired by that.
I used to play ‘shops’ all the time as a child, I was always selling something!! I had my set up in the cubby outside. At the age of 5 or 6, I would sell flowers from my Mum’s garden to neighbors on our block to make a couple of dollars.
I didn’t grow up surrounded by anyone in business or anyone who was aspiring to be in business. My entrepreneurial mindset and skills come very naturally to me. As I continue to progress with my career, I learn so much every single day.
I always believed I was born with the ability to be a powerful businesswoman, I am really enjoying the process of my companies evolving.
Pricing:
- Brow Lamination $140 USD
- Brow Styling $65 USD
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melaniemarriseyebrowstylist.com / www.browcode.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @melaniemarriseyebrowstylist / @browcode
- Facebook: Melanie Marris Eyebrow Stylist / Brow Code
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