Nineteen years ago, self-confessed beauty junkie Kate Morris was working the cosmetic counter in a Melbourne department store to pay her way through university when she had a “lightbulb moment”.

“I really came to realise, whenever I told anybody what I did, how much women really disliked that experience of having to front up to a counter – and the hard sell,” Kate tells Future Women. “Most people came away from it feeling like they’d been a bit ripped off. They found the whole thing very disempowering and unpleasant. I thought, to me that doesn’t make any sense because I’ve always loved beauty products and I always found them uplifting and confidence-boosting at their best.