Stuck in the UK during lockdown at the height of the pandemic, Dazale Choy decided to pursue her twin passions for makeup and animals by launching Endangered Cosmetics.
Growing up, Dazale Choy was passionate about two things: Animals and makeup.
As a child, she would look forward to weekly trips to the zoo to interact with its residents. As a teen, she would create her own makeup styles, often inspired by special effects artists and YouTubers.
And in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown back in 2020, the 26-year-old former freelance video editor decided to bring these two passions together by launching Endangered Cosmetics, a makeup brand that’s also putting the spotlight on endangered wildlife species.
RED PANDAS AND SEA TURTLES
“Throughout my life, I’ve always wanted to have some part in conservation and helping animals out because I love them so much. When I was younger I was a volunteer at the Night Safari as a conservation ambassador, so it was only natural for me to start this business,” she said.
And she did so during a complicated period – the Temasek Polytechnic graduate had moved to the UK to study music marketing and after she finished, was stuck there during lockdown at the height of the pandemic. But she rose to the challenge and began working on Endangered Cosmetics from her home.
“The concept of Endangered Cosmetics is that each product focuses on one endangered species, the colours and the palette are inspired by the animal and its habitat,” shared Choy.
The first thing she did was to decide which endangered animal she wanted to support – landing on the red panda as the first inspiration for her eyeshadow palettes.
“They are native to China and I’m of Chinese heritage so I felt a connection. The red tones of eye shadows were really popular so it was perfect,” she shared.
“I had a picture at the River Safari on my DSLR when I was 17 years old, and when I went back to my computer and saw it again, I was like, this is perfect.”
Choy then reached out to the Red Panda Network, a non-profit organisation based in Nepal, to strike up a partnership. They agreed to let her use their brand and logo for her palettes, and in return, she would donate 10 per cent of profits to them.
When the world snoozed during COVID-19, Choy hustled from home to get her business up and running. Unable to meet important stakeholders such as the manufacturers and collaborators in person was a challenge but as soon as the lockdown in the UK was lifted, Endangered Cosmetics was launched to the world.
Within the same year and with a slowly growing customer base, Choy was also able to launch a second palette, this time centred around sea turtles.
“I did a poll on Instagram and a lot of the customers were voting for sea turtles since they liked the colour blue. From there, I worked with wildlife photographers for the sea turtle palette,” she shared.
