Enterprise: The Quick Flick
What is their raison d’etre? To create beauty products that solve problems and are time-saving and multi-use, and to reflect ‘real’ beauty by eschewing airbrushing in marketing imagery.
Prior to starting The Quick Flick, Iris Smit was in her final year as an architecture student at Perth’s Curtin University and worked in a men’s clothing store whilst studying. She also ran her ex-boyfriend’s eCommerce store, which gave her valuable insight into running a business. “I have always had an entrepreneurial side – at 14 years old, I coded websites for people for $100 [each],” Iris says. “I made jewellery and sold it at school and paid for my first car by selling vintage clothes that I thrifted from my local op shop on Etsy.”
The inspiration behind The Quick Flick – a winged eyeliner stamp – was Iris’s personal struggles with makeup application. “Winged eyeliner really came back into fashion in 2016 and everyone, everywhere struggled with it,” Iris explains. “I utilised my design skills and created the first prototype in 2017 during my mid-semester break at university, officially launching in August 2017. Although I started with an eyeliner product, my goal has always been to create beauty products that solve problems and are time-saving and multi-use, as is the case with all the products I’ve launched since 2017.”
“I’m not interested in re-creating products that already exist.”
As Iris had a limited marketing budget, having bootstrapped the business from day one, she relied heavily on social media, and on influencers. “I focused on selling the solution rather than talking about the product,” Iris says. “I created content that went viral by demonstrating the before and after of the product and how quick and easy it was to use. I was also fortunate to have influencer Huda Kuttan (founder of Huda Beauty) organically share The Quick Flick with her followers and on her blog – we did over $20,000 in 20 minutes after she posted…It was huge for me and I had to get my friends and family around to my tiny apartment to help pack all the orders that came in as a result.”
From there, Iris received media attention from the Daily Mail, and on the back of that article a producer from Shark Tank invited her to audition. Iris appeared on the show in 2018, creating greater brand awareness.
Despite launching into new categories, Iris stays true to her vision of ensuring her “beauty products solve problems and are time-saving and multi-use”.
“I’m not interested in re-creating products that already exist, I look at what’s out there and how it can be improved,” she explains. “If I can’t think of a design or application that improves what’s already in the market, I’m not going to launch a product for the sake of it. That’s why there are certain products that make sense, such as mascara, that I haven’t done yet, as I haven’t found a way to improve what’s already on the market.”
The integrity of her products is non-negotiable for Iris. “I stand behind every product that The Quick Flick releases and truly believe they are filling a gap in the beauty market,” she avers. “I also make an effort to show the raw, unfiltered day-to-day operations of running a business across our social media accounts. We use ‘real’ customers in our campaigns and photoshoots, as I want to ensure that our marketing campaigns are reflective of real Australian beauty and diversity, and we absolutely refuse to airbrush or digitally alter our images or videos.”
Iris is looking to expand her product offering across categories she’s already in, such as suncare and skincare, and partner with new Australian retailers. She is also investigating new categories and international territories.
This article first appeared in issue 43 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
