Published
02nd Sep 2025
In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, we sit down with Karen Betts, the industry legend behind Nouveau HD Beauty Group, to explore her journey from beauty therapist to beauty brand powerhouse.
From artistry to impact
Betts’s journey began quite organically. While still at beauty college, she tattooed eyebrows and areolas for a friend going through cancer treatment.
She recounts: “The emotion on her face…the confidence I’d given her. I just knew that this was a career I needed to go into.”
Betts didn’t stop at SPMU. She innovated in the eyelash extensions field then pioneered the LVL lash lift, using perm lotion to lift lashes upward before official training existed.
Her commitment to elevating beauty treatments led to the creation of HD Brows, a signature seven-step bespoke brow process.
Her brand became such a fixture that: “HD Brows became a name like Hoover or Botox,” she laughs. With treatments, aftercare, and training bundled together, the brand became a powerhouse.
The challenge of growth
But the road to success wasn’t frictionless. At one point, Betts found the business stretched too thin: “We were everywhere but the bank balance didn’t reflect that. We couldn’t even afford stock on prime products,” she tells us.
It was a wake-up call. She removed 80% of the services – nails, tanning, skin – returned focus to brows, and reclaimed the core brand identity.
Leadership, energy, resilience
Transitioning from therapist to CEO demanded more than beauty skills. Betts humbly admits: “You need to be the best at doing your treatments…but you need to hire people who are better than you.”
She coined her own title, chief energy officer, to describe the vibrancy she brings to her leadership.
Motivation, she says, is non-negotiable. On tough days, the smile must stay painted on and sticky notes are her secret to clarity: “If my head's blown, I just put sticky notes on the wall ... then think, what's my next hour? Just one hour—that’s it,” she shares.
Some key takeaways for beauty entrepreneurs
• Own your niche. Be known for what you’re great at.
• Be authentic and purpose-driven. Solve real problems, don’t just add products for the sake of it.
• Resilience is everything. Business has ups and downs. Failures teach more than successes.
• Reflect. Take time to appreciate how far you’ve come, even while pushing ahead.
• Balance matters. Betts admits feeling guilty about stepping off the 18-hours-a-day working train, until she realised a typical 40-hour workweek would’ve given her seven years off.
As Betts puts it, “anything is achievable … JFDI - Just Flippin’ Do It.”
Why listen?
This episode offers a real-world roadmap for beauty professionals: full of entrepreneurial grit, creative evolution, and personal growth.
Tune in for a masterclass in passion-meets-purpose and a reminder to keep smiling, one sticky note at a time.
You can also check out all of our previous episodes on the Pro Beauty Pod page, including interviews with Caroline Hirons, Shea Osei and more.
