WHEN an afternoon of shopping for cosmetics in London failed to inspire her, Emily Cohen began to think about starting her own beauty brand. Cohen, then 29, was a self-confessed “beauty junkie” but she was working in public relations and had no experience in cosmetics.

“My best friend, Chantal Laren, and I had spent all day shopping and were having a coffee and talking about how hideous the cosmetics experience had been,” said Cohen.

She said they had been greeted in department stores by saleswomen in white coats with products that were uninspiring. “It was ridiculous to us that we were intimidated by something as basic as cosmetics for women.”

Cohen had noticed a new trend at that time, in late 1999 — nail bars, popular in America, were starting to crop up in London.

“I thought nail bars were such a cool idea and wondered why we couldn’t bring a great service to London for make-up. Wouldn’t it be fun to turn make-up into something non-intimidating and really British?” As Cohen toured the department stores, she realised that all the leading make-up brands — such as Laura Mercier, Lancôme and Stila — were international. She wanted to create a British brand and invite women to try them in a relaxed, sexy atmosphere. “We got very excited and, two hours later, decided to start Pout.”

Cohen’s idea was to create an environment in which women of all ages would feel comfortable — a boudoir full of lotions, tonics, creams and cosmetics. “We wanted there to be an element of play, so women could try it all out and experiment.”

Cohen saw potential in a beauty parlour where women could get make-up done, have eyebrows plucked or false eyelash extensions applied. She and Laren came up with a business plan.

Cohen, Laren and a third business partner, Anna Singh, each put in £50,000. Laren had been in film production for 12 years and Singh had a strong, fashion retail background. Cohen and Laren remortgaged their homes, raising an additional £50,000, and then raised £500,000 from one investor.

“We started with £700,000 to open the flagship store and develop a line of cosmetics,” said Cohen. A year later, the company did a second round of funding raising, obtaining £1m by selling 20% of Pout.

Cohen recalls the anxiety of this second stage of funding. She had needed to raise £1m, but with two weeks to go had raised only £750,000. “We were contemplating paying 40 people’s salaries on our credit cards. I got the money we needed two days before we would have run out of cash.”

A third round of funding the following year raised £1.5m. All shareholders are independent angel investors, and the three partners remain the majority shareholders.

Having investors led to a big change for Cohen. “It was a nice little business I was running with my mates, and then it became a serious business, with board meetings every six weeks. Now we have quarterly updates.”

Pout’s flagship store in Covent Garden was launched in June 2001, with lace prints on the wall, crystal chandeliers, and beauty menus.

From one shop, Pout opened 95 outlets round the world in three-and-a-half years, including mini Pout boutiques in Harvey Nichols in Britain and Henri Bendel in New York. Cohen is currently in talks with Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie company, to sell Pout’s make-up in 1,000 of the company’s 1,800 stores. Pout is also sold in 20 Sephora shops in America.

Cohen said the concept of the brand is to make a woman feel sexy, whether she lives in America, Australia, Britain or Japan. She believes that wearing sexy underwear has always made women feel great — and that was to be the inspiration behind the cosmetics line.

When Pout first launched its lip products, each category was done like an element of underwear, including an entire range based on fishnet stockings. For the eyes and cheeks, Cohen copied the lace print of underwear, and used ribbons and bows as accessories on the make-up and packaging.

“We did everything with an enormous amount of humour. Our biggest-selling lip gloss was called Bite my Cherry.” Lipsticks were named Two Timer and Carpet Burn. The lip pencils were all colour-coded after bra sizes.

Last year, Pout’s sales were £4.2m and are expected to reach £7.5m this year.

Cohen seems surprised at the business’s success. “I never thought things would take off so quickly,” she said.

She started in the fashion business at 18 and recalls watching the public-relations woman at work. “I didn’t know what PR was. But I knew she came up with a concept, a collection of clothing was put together and, four days later, it would be in a magazine. I loved it.”

Cohen chose public relations as a career and worked for Lynn Franks, the public-relations guru and inspiration for the character Edina Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous. She said her PR background had helped enormously at Pout.

Cohen believes that part of the challenge for a young entrepreneur is to remain true to your brand and to brand integrity. “It is important to develop something you are really passionate about,” she said.

The gamble has paid off. Pout has filled a gap in the market — and turned make-up into a fun and sexy experience.