Make-up entrepreneur and influencer Keilidh Cashell: 'The internet can turn overnight'

The influencer and make-up entrepreneur discusses starting her career, dealing with the pressures of the internet, and launching a business during lockdown

Keilidh Cashell is taking the world by storm on social media and on the shelves with her new brand, Kash cosmetics

“I always think of how 2020 was so miserable for everybody in so many different aspects. But Kash came along and kind of saved it for me,” says makeup artist and entrepreneur Keilidh Cashell.

You may not have heard of the Monaghan native before, but her 3.5m online followers certainly have. Between her vast social media presence and the performance of her new namesake brand, Kash cosmetics, it’s safe to say that the 24-year-old is taking the world by storm.

“It was a long time in the works. We started making products way before 2020, but no one could have predicted this,” Keilidh says. “I’m sure people thought we were a little bit mad starting a new business during a pandemic, but we just had to do it and we've been very lucky.” 

Even over a sketchy phone line, it’s easy to tell that Keilidh is a light-hearted person. She laughs a lot and every time she talks about the success of her new company, she tries to match it with a line or two about how the pandemic has affected others.

Hearing all of this as someone who is the same age and hasn’t worn makeup in approximately 11 months, I tell her it’s OK to brag. Not everyone can launch a business during a pandemic, least of all a makeup collection that has already sold out three times since its September release. Most of us would rejoice if we managed to put on lip gloss these days.

'Blessing in disguise'

Keilidh says it was "a blessing in disguise" when she didn't get the points to study theatre makeup.

“Makeup is a thing that even if you might not be going anywhere, it’s still something that you want to wear or practice with and it’s something that makes you feel confident. So people have still been buying makeup,” Keilidh says. A quick scan of my Instagram feed, which is filled with people doing their Tesco makeup, confirms this.

While the figures for cosmetics sales were down about 13% in the UK last year, Google searches for Keilidh’s name skyrocketed when she dropped Kash in September. The brand was named as one of Shopify's fastest-growing of 2020 and customers from over 100 countries have been ordering products.

“It's honestly been amazing. I can’t get over it,” she says with sincerity. “Here’s me sitting in my room, creating these products, and now they’re going to be in the hand of some other girl or boy who maybe is only starting their journey. I can’t even explain what that feeling is like, it’s so surreal.” 

When Keilidh was doing her Leaving Certificate in 2014, she had no idea what she wanted to do. After failing to secure a place in art college, she turned to cosmetics. “I definitely started getting into makeup before my friends did. I remember stealing my mom’s dark lipstick and bringing it into my friends and we thought it was so cool. It’s funny though because I was never really a girly girl as such, I was a tomboy growing up,” she says.

“I was always into art though and whenever I look back at it I was drawing faces. I decided finally that I wanted to do theatre makeup. I had to do a portfolio and I worked on it for the whole year but I ended up not getting the points, but it was a blessing in disguise, to be honest.” 

'The internet can turn'

Keilidh Cashell on being an 'influencer': "You just have to go hell for leather and just work, work, work. You don’t know when it’s going to be taken away or die out."

Keilidh did a year-long course in makeup college instead and started working at a department store cosmetics counter.

“Instagram was getting big at the time and I was following other makeup artists who were posting so I started to post pictures of my makeup as well. I started to grow a following and after a year or two, I realised that I could actually make a living for myself by doing what I love to do and teaching people. It kind of just spiralled from there,” she explains.

Since then she’s collaborated with several brands, gained over 2m followers on TikTok alone, and launched two collections within her own brand. Of course, with such an internet following comes pressure too. Does it ever phase her? “I try not to really think of it because it would be so different if there were 2m people sitting in front of me. If I did I’d get a little bit daunted by it,” she laughs.

“The internet can turn overnight, everything can happen so quickly. This is such a new job at the moment, an influencer or whatever you want to call it. You don’t know how long it’s going to last. You just have to go hell for leather and just work, work, work. You don’t know when it’s going to be taken away or die out.” 

Keilidh seems confident in her abilities, though, saying that she always believed she could get to this point, but maybe just not so soon. “I definitely didn't think I’d have my own brand at this age. I always thought it would be later on down the line,” she says. 

“But it’s because of all the support I’ve gotten over the years that I’ve been able to do it.” 

Not only are Keilidh’s family and boyfriend, with whom she lives, to be thanked for their support, but her legions of fans. She tries to connect with her followers daily by posting videos, replying to messages, and hosting online courses. “It never feels like work because it’s something that I genuinely love doing,” she says. 

“If I was working a normal nine-to-five job I would still be trying to do this.”

The KASH Beauty Crystal Nights Collection is available to buy on www.kashbeauty.com