By: Tanya Shroff, Daeshni Preethi and Christa Danielle
A cosmetic brand founded with the heart of saving the animals, Endangered Cosmetics don’t just make you look good – but do good, too.
PRODUCTS WITH A CAUSE: As a makeup artist and animal enthusiast, Dazale Choy founded Endangered Cosmetics with the goal of saving the animals. (Photo: Tanya Shroff)
At the tender age of three, weekly trips to the Zoo were what sparked Ms Choy’s love for animals. Seeing the animals at every enclosure and being able to interact with them became her biggest highlight of every week.
At 16 years old, she discovered the wonders of makeup by creating her own makeup styles that were often inspired by special effects artists and YouTubers who created Halloween looks – kickstarting Ms Choy’s newfound passion in makeup and cosmetics.
Fast forward to 23, her love for both makeup and animals went beyond that, and inspired her to launch her own makeup brand. Endangered Cosmetics, was born in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
Founded by Ms Choy Choy, 26, Endangered Cosmetics aims to put a spotlight on the various endangered wildlife species, and how we can play our part in helping them. This business is not just a passion of hers, but a true calling.
As an avid animal lover, it was only natural for Ms Choy to ensure that every makeup palette was vegan, and free of cruelty, in keeping with the purpose of her brand – Endangered Cosmetics committed to refraining from animal testing, or using animal ingredients in their products.
Her biggest goal was to raise awareness on, and support the endangered wildlife across the world.
The Birth of a Dream
“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 River Safari as a conservation ambassador, so it was only natural for me to start this business,” she shares.
Not just adding a pop of colour to one’s makeup routine, these palettes served another purpose. To educate and raise awareness of endangered wildlife around the world – bringing beauty and knowledge to you all at once.
Just as the lockdown began, so did her journey to starting Endangered Cosmetics.
Starting from Scratch
After graduating from Temasek Polytechnic with a Diploma in Mass Communication, she later moved on to study Music Marketing in the UK. However, just as she graduated, the COVID-19 pandemic led the world into a lockdown – including the UK.
Though it posed many hindrances to Ms Choy, she did not let this stop her. She rose to the challenge, and began working from home.
The first thing she did was to decide which endangered animal she wanted to support - landing on the Red Panda as her first animal to base her eyeshadow palettes on.
“I chose the Red Panda because they are native to China and I’m Chinese so I felt a connection. The red tones of eye shadows were really popular so it was perfect,” she shared.
WHEN EVERYTHING GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN: Having chanced upon this picture when she was 17 and having dabbled in wildlife photography, she knew from that moment she had to feature the Red Panda. And with that, her first ever eyeshadow palette, the Red Panda Palette was formed. (Photo Credits: @EndangeredCosmetics)
“I took that picture at the River Safari on my DSLR when I was 17 years old, and when I went back to my computer and it again, I was like, this is perfect. I then obviously approached The Red Panda Network to partner with them, and it all just worked out,” she said with immense excitement.
Partnering with such organisations, Ms Choy adds that a mutual partnership was formed, where she donates 10% of her proceeds to the chosen organisation, whilst they let her use their brand and logo for her palettes, forming a relationship between the organisations and her brand.
When the world snoozed during COVID-19, Ms Choy hustled – she worked from home, pulling no stops in getting her business up and running.
Unable to meet important stakeholders such as the manufacturers in person, and having to juggle tight deadlines to liaise with the conservation efforts that she partnered with, became a challenge. However, strongly determined to do good, Ms Choy worked day and night to ensure that nothing would stop Endangered Cosmetics from coming to life.
ONE-WOMAN SHOW: From marketing and designing of the palettes, to shipping the packages, Ms Choy helmed multiple roles in making the business happen. As she hustled, orders started to come in and business boomed. (Photo Credits: Ms Choy)
As the lockdown in the UK was lifted, Endangered Cosmetics was launched to the world.
A Booming Business
With the restrictions and lockdown lifted, Endangered Cosmetics began to flourish. Within the same year, Ms Choy was able to launch a second palette, centred around Sea Turtles.
“As I have a growing customer base, I like to take their thoughts into consideration. So 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 and the palette that came about was an outcome of the collaboration between me and my customers,” she shares.
She reasons: “Because 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.”
As the process then repeats, she shares how she begins by picking out the colours of the eyeshadows from the colour of their fur, their eyes, as well as the colour of their respective habitat. Drawing inspiration from the selected colours, she then proceeds to gauge which colours would complement each other in a palette.
UNIQUE LIKE NO OTHER: Just like the colours of the Sea Turtle’s shell, and even the sand it resides in, Ms Choy took note of it all whilst forming the palette. (Photo Credits: Daeshni Preethi)
Not just wanting to focus on selling products to raise money for the conservation of these animals, she adds how she wanted customers to be able to understand the thought behind their action of purchasing the products and why it was important to help these animals.
“I wanted them to actually enjoy the product as well as be educated about it. So every product comes with a little card that tells you more about the animal, why they're endangered and how to help them. It acts as a collector’s item, to be a reminder at home on what we should do and what we can do to help,” she shares.
KEEPING IT AUTHENTIC: Each eyeshadow palette comes with a little card attached to each of the palettes to educate her customers on facts of the animals, where they were from, and what organisations they could support. (Photo Credits: Ms Choy)
“With this card, you can definitely look into the conservation efforts that I have partnered with, look at what they do, and also directly contribute to them. I did not just want to donate the proceeds I earn to the organisations I partnered with, but I also wanted my customers to enjoy the product and be educated on the cause they were giving to,” she shares.
A Strong Support System
Upon hearing the news of Ms Choy wanting to start up Endangered Cosmetics, those in her social circle were not in the least bit surprised. Knowing her love for both animals and makeup, her friends showed immense support towards her business.
Leveraging on various platforms such as TikTok and YouTube to showcase the different makeup looks that they would create using Endangered Cosmetics’ products, Ms Choy’s friends supported its cause in their unique ways.
However, as her business continued growing, it was not only her friends who were using her makeup palettes for their videos – More people began stepping forward to buy these makeup palettes, because of how strongly the message behind Endangered Cosmetics’ resonated with them. Some of these customers were also YouTubers, who made videos of themselves trying and testing these palettes. Doubling the earned revenue from these YouTube videos, YouTubers would often dig into their own pockets and donate the entire sum to the conservation efforts that Endangered Cosmetics stood for.
“It’s not just about me donating the profits of the palette, but encouraging other people to start donating and helping out too. I think that has way more meaning than making profits,” Ms Choy quipped.
Each product would also be personalised with a handwritten note by Ms Choy for each customer who bought it, to keep her brand as real and authentic as possible to the people who buy from her.
“If I had a customer who was from France, I’d write a little bit in french. If they had a certain special occasion that just passed, I’d write a personalised note to celebrate it. Having a small business gives you that personal connection with your customer base,” she shares.
Aside from attracting a loyal customer base that also stood for what she stood for, Endangered Cosmetics grabbed the attention of many big names in the industry too.
A Dream Come True
Scrolling through her emails just like she would on any other day, Ms Choy noticed an email in her inbox from British Vogue, a renowned fashion magazine in London, expressing their interest in featuring Endangered Cosmetics on their magazines. It was something she did not see coming.
Ms Choy fondly recalls, “I freaked out and I called my parents immediately, telling them, oh my god, they want to feature me!”
Endangered Cosmetics being featured in such a prestigious publication within the first year of its launch, easily tops the list as Ms Choy’s proudest moment for her passion project.
LOOK MOM, I MADE IT TO VOGUE: Having its Sea Turtle and Red Panda palette featured consecutively in three of Vogue’s British issues from September to November, it was a remarkably massive breakthrough for Endangered Cosmetics. (Photo Credits: @EndangeredCosmetics)
“To have their recognition and to be featured in the biggest issue of the year is such a huge honour, and a dream come true. Especially with the beautiful Gemma Chan on the cover, to see Asian Female representation has made the feature so much more meaningful to me,” she shared excitedly in an Instagram Post to thank her customers.
Although Ms Choy was consistently supported by her friends and a loyal customer base, there was someone who rooted for her from the very start, to make this entirely possible – her mother, Mrs Susie Low.
Having a Personal Cheerleader
WHERE IT ALL STARTED: From taking Ms Choy to her weekly Zoo trips and nurturing her love for animals, to helping Ms Choy’s passion project grow by spreading the word about Endangered Cosmetics to her friends, 55-year-old Mrs Low constantly encouraged Ms Choy in everything that she did. (PHOTO: Daeshni Preethi)
Coming from a family that was not in the business line, it was a pleasant surprise for Mrs Low when she learnt about Ms Choy’s ambition of wanting to begin her own business for a good cause. “She said ‘I am going to do it’, and she did. I am so proud of her,” Mrs Low shared happily.
When she first launched her products, Susie was her first and personal cheerleader, she added.
“I was always the cheerleader since the start, you know? I would post and share her products on TikTok when I joined, and surprisingly all my friends on TikTok would purchase it from her website despite never meeting! Even my friends in Singapore and relatives would purchase her products, that was just how strong the support we got was,” she adds.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
With Ms Choy recently relocating back to Singapore, her aspirations for Endangered Cosmetics continue to grow. Hoping to launch more makeup palettes in the near future, she hopes to offer more to her customers, whilst playing her part in saving endangered animals.
When asked about the future of Endangered Cosmetics, Ms Choy shared, “Hopefully it will continue growing, and I won’t be working alone anymore.”
Having a business to run is never an easy feat, but when you have the passion - and the customers see that passion behind your business, they will take on it, Ms Choy adds.
She concludes: “You don’t need to sell it to them if they can already see the passion behind it. So, if you are definitely passionate about it, go for it and do it because life is short!”
“I hope for the best that she will grow, and that the business will grow. And most important of all, to continue her mission of saving these animals. Now that she’s back in Singapore, I’m excited to see what she will continue from here,” her mother adds.
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