Violette_FR Lands at Liberty, a Dream for Founder Violette Serrat

LONDON — Life is sweet for Violette Serrat whose eponymous beauty brand is among the first to take over what was, until recently, the chocolate shop on the ground floor of Liberty.

From Monday, the space will house a new beauty studio stocking the full Violette_FR range, offering bestsellers such as the Bisou balms and blush and co-creations such as Liberty-print sleepwear and The Founder’s Kit, a selection of Serrat’s beauty picks from the store.

Liberty, which is marking 150 years in business, has the U.K. department store exclusive and has handed a slice of prime real estate to the brand. Violette_FR’s new London home has large windows and a separate entrance facing Carnaby Street, the historic shopping thoroughfare that’s crowded with locals and tourists alike.

The new space is Violette_FR’s largest ever. It has two big counters, multiple makeup stations, antique furniture, bookshelves and Serrat’s signature “cabinet of curiosities,” which showcases her inspirations, creative process and passion for color.

Serrat, who studied art at École de Louvre before becoming a makeup artist, spent the weekend installing the space herself, mixing pigments and creating the visual narrative that’s key to her brand.

“Liberty is the dream — it’s my favorite store in London and opening here is a pinch-me moment,” said Serrat, who first visited the store when she was younger. She said she wanted to create a shop-in-shop that could live up to Liberty’s unique aesthetic.

Housed in a Tudor Revival building off Regent Street, the store is unlike any other in London, with original dark wood features, leaded windows and soaring atrium. And it still supplies its famous printed fabrics to interior designers and fashion brands worldwide.

“I strongly believe in retail, and I wanted to match Liberty. I didn’t want to just do a cute gondola and be finished. My idea was to do a little ‘maison,’ and to offer a look at what’s behind the brand. I painted some of the things myself, and shopped for months at vintage stores to gather antiques for the space. I’m really pouring my whole soul into it,” she said in an interview.

The Liberty opening follows a series B round of funding nearly 12 months ago. As reported, the round was led by New York-based emerging growth equity firm Silas Capital, and Experienced Capital, a Paris-based operational growth equity fund. Monogram Capital Partners and Felix Capital also took part.

Violette_FR, which specializes in color cosmetics and offers skin care, hair care and fragrance, has around 200 points of sale in North America through Sephora. It also sells through Le Bon Marché in Paris and Oh My Cream!. Although it began as direct-to-consumer, the business is now evenly split between physical and online retail.

Serrat, who has held major international roles at Dior and Estée Lauder, and who was most recently global creative director of makeup at Guerlain, has also been using the series B money to keep her products flowing into stores.

“Some people think it’s exciting to have sold-out products, but I’m not one of them. I just want people to get their products, and I don’t want them to be frustrated. When your business is lucky enough to have momentum you don’t want to lose that momentum. And it’s good business to be able to honor your retailers,” she said.

Serrat added that her challenge is managing that growth, turning a profit (which she said will happen soon) and not getting over-excited about expansion.

“My obsession is to be profitable, and that’s a challenge for any business in a hyper-growth phase. But I really want to build the foundation of the business so I’m now in the stabilization phase and want to develop my three main markets [North America, France and the U.K.]. I’m taking it slow and steady, which sometimes is difficult, because everything is so exciting,” she said.

Asked about her ultimate aim for the business, Serrat said she wants to continue creating “products with purpose” and to build a beauty “maison” with flagships in cities such as New York and Paris.

She’d like her future flagships to have the feel of an atelier, and to show the behind-the-scenes inspirations and craft behind the products. She also wants to offer treatments and one-on-one sessions with customers, encouraging them to see the products as mood and self-confidence boosters.

During the interview, she spoke with passion about building a brand of “benevolence,” honing the service proposition and encouraging makeup artists to tune in to clients’ needs. She wants the brand to have a “chouchouter,” or pampering, approach to clients.

Serrat takes the same benevolent attitude toward her competitors, whom she sees as friends rather than foes.

Her aim for Violette_FR is to “complete, rather than compete. I don’t feel the need to do foundation, or powder. There’s already enough on the market. I want to do things that don’t exist and infuse the ‘technique’ into the product” so customers don’t have to think too much about the application.

She said customers, especially the ones in France, like the Bisou balms because they’re easy. They no longer have to undertake the triple-step process of applying lip balm, then lipstick, and having to “kiss a tissue” to blot the excess color, said Serrat.

In the spring, she’s planning to launch an easy-to-apply eye shadow, which she hopes will appeal to a no-fuss customer.

Serrat’s approach to beauty is youthful — and inspired by her own childhood passion for art and color. She recalls visiting the Parc de Bagatelle in Paris when she was 8 years old, and seeing a rose that was black and red.

She remembers thinking that, when she grew up, she wanted to make a lipstick in that exact color. The deep crimson shade, Amour Fou, is now one of the bestselling colors at Violette_FR.

Serrat’s attitude to the competition will be on display with The Founder’s Kit, which she co-created with Liberty.

The Liberty floral print cosmetic bag costs 110 pounds, and been stitched with the message “Avec Amour.” Inside, there’s a selection of the Violette_FR products as well as Serrat’s favorites from Irene Forte, Ortigia, Westman Atelier, Lisa Eldridge, 111Skin, Grown Alchemist and Votary.

Natalie Guselli, head of beauty at Liberty, said the store’s admiration for Violette_FR “has been building from afar for some time. Violette has an extraordinary ability to create products that are not only beautifully formulated, but also deeply rooted in creativity, craftsmanship and self-expression — values that resonate strongly with us at Liberty,” she said.