About us

Our Story

Small Beginnings

Louella Belle was founded by Lisa Crook, although back in 1991, Louella Belle was originally known as Perfect Nails. Lisa was married and a mother to two boys, Darren and Jamie.

Lisa entered the industry having spotted an unknown nail polish, essie. Shortly after, Perfect Nails were appointed as the first international distributor for essie Cosmetics.

Perfect Nails started from a kitchen table. Before long, there were boxes of nail products in every room of the house and it was time for commercial premises – a small office on Daws Lane in Mill Hill.

Lisa always had a keen eye for new and exciting products, and in the late 1990s/ early 2000s, continued to introduce new brands to the UK market. She would be very proud in seeing most of these continue to feature in the Louella Belle catalogue today.

A New Chapter

Lisa often found these products at international Trade Shows. In June of 2003, Lisa was scheduled to visit Cosmoprof in Las Vegas and invited her youngest son, Jamie.

Jamie had just turned 21, so was not only able to join her at supplier meetings, but was also now allowed to indulge in another of Lisa’s passions – Blackjack. On the plane journey home, Lisa convinced Jamie to quit his job in Property Investment to join Perfect Nails. They never looked back. The trips to Vegas became an annual reoccurrence for Lisa and Jamie all the way up until July 2017, five months before Lisa sadly passed away.

The Perfect Nails brands now extended beyond nail polish and treatments, to hair and beauty products too. Perfect ‘Nails’ was no longer an appropriate company name. Perfect Nails was renamed Louella Belle. Maintaining the family theme, Louella is an anagram of Lisa’s parent’s names Louis and Stella.

The family theme has always been at the heart of Louella Belle. Traditional family values - loyalty, partnership and care, have always run through head office and are extended to our customers too. Lisa always insisted no customer become an account number and furiously resisted our current automated phone service, where the first voice you heard was a message directing you to a department, as opposed to a direct welcome from one of the team.

In the summer of 2010, there was a lot of excitement in the industry. L’Oreal acquired essie Cosmetics, which led to a joint venture with Louella Belle and the Professional division of L’Oreal. The innovation of gel polish created huge new opportunity and Lisa instinctively knew that more resource was needed. Louella Belle was now trading from a large unit on a trade park with a fully operational warehouse. The kitchen table had been replaced with a forklift!

Jamie was key in making sure Louella Belle embraced technology and marketing opportunities. Lisa was never happier than serving and engaging with customers, many of whom became friends. As she did in 2003 with Jamie, Lisa asked her other son Darren to join the business. With a background in Finance, Lisa felt Darren’s skill set strengthened her position to meet the changing demands of Louella Belle.

Lisa’s Legacy

Approaching our 30th year of business, we continue to explore new opportunities. As we look at our customers, colleagues and suppliers, we are honoured to have the relationships we do. The market may change, but we will continue to uphold the same family values - loyalty, partnership and care. Louella Belle is Lisa’s legacy and her dedication to customer service will guide all that we do.