Meet: Tumi Siwoku

Tumi Siwoku graduated from the BSc (Hons) Cosmetic Science course at London College of Fashion, UAL in 2011.

Having spent the years since she graduated working for several big cosmetics brands in a wide variety of roles, in 2021 Tumi took the plunge and set up her own research and development laboratory, Beauty Science Labs. As Creative Director it’s a chance for her to combine her creativity and entrepreneurial skills. Her goal? To make the market more accessible to indie brands.

Tumi spoke to us about her career to date, and how it feels to be managing her own laboratory.

Why did you choose the BA (Hons) Cosmetics Science course at LCF? What was your experience like?

I completely fell into it. Being from a family of medical professionals my late paternal grandmother had asked my mum to make sure I studied something related to medicine. So, I did, but after doing a dental placement and looking at the careers available in that field, I knew it wasn’t for me.

So, I started browsing UCAS one day to try to figure out what I wanted to do. I settled for pharmaceutical science and mapped out; I would just do it as a backup degree. Whilst applying I saw BSc Cosmetic Science in the column, clicked the link and at the time, LCF was the only university offering cosmetic science. It was really in alignment with my interests as a budding makeup artist and my A-levels in Chemistry, Biology and Maths. I knew it was the right course for me, and was right; I absolutely loved it, every topic was interesting to me. I learnt so much about myself and the tasks that scared me the most, things like public speaking/presentations have grown to be one of my favourite things to do now.

Have you always had an interest in how make-up and cosmetics are created? 

Makeup was a big interest of mine from a young age. When I was 14 friends and family would encourage me to help them out, as I was good at doing my own make-up. By the time I was 17 I was shadowing make-up artists and eventually started my own make-up artistry services. This was a huge area of interest for me so when the course came to my attention, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

You mentioned that you launched Beauty Science Labs earlier this year. Can you tell us more about this? 

We’re a small laboratory space in south-west London. Our office is quite small and is split into 3, a laboratory area, meeting area and office desk space area. We’re a team of 3 so this is the perfect size for us for now. We help brands design their own bespoke formulations for their products and allow them to retain the intellectual property for the formulations designed. Our remit is quite wide as we are currently working on haircare, skincare and body care briefs but can do most things within the personal care space including cosmetics. Thankfully Catherine our lab technician is passionate about this line of work, so with my support, she’s really able to thrive in this area.