Conversation with… Gracie Tullio, co-founder and creative director of PURESEOUL
Here we speak with Gracie Tullio about how a personal skincare breakthrough led her to co-found the fast-growing K-beauty retailer, PURESEOUL. Tullio shares the brand’s journey, lessons from scaling, and what’s next for the community-led business redefining beauty retail.
What inspired you to launch PURESEOUL?
My journey into K-beauty began with a personal frustration that eventually evolved into a shared vision with my two co-founders at PURESEOUL, Wing-Sze and Leslie.
I was first introduced to K-beauty by Wing-Sze, a professional bridal makeup artist with over a decade of experience, primarily in Asia. Every time she travelled to Korea, she’d return with incredible products, and I was always eager to try them.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Later, I had the chance to visit Korea myself whilst working as a 2D illustrator. At the time, I was struggling with cystic acne. My skin was peeling, extremely sensitive, and nothing seemed to help – until I discovered Korean skincare. I stocked up like crazy, and the moment I applied a ceramide-rich moisturiser, my skin felt instantly better. That was my K-beauty conversion moment.
But when I returned to the UK, I realised how difficult it was to find those same products. You had to rely on online platforms, and there was always the risk of receiving counterfeit items. The trust just wasn’t there.
That’s when I shared my frustrations with Wing-Sze, and we reconnected with our third co-founder, Leslie. With a background in finance, he had been working for Bloomberg in Asia, managing teams across Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He, too, had been exposed to K-beauty – just from a different angle.
The three of us came together and thought: why not make it our mission to bring trusted, authentic K-beauty products to the UK? The idea was born out of a problem we all deeply understood.
With my background in illustration and design, I naturally stepped into the role of creative director.
Tell us about the early days – what were the biggest challenges, and what were the first major breakthroughs?
We started the business as a true bedroom brand back in 2019 – pre-COVID. None of us had owned a business before, so there was a steep learning curve.
One of the biggest hurdles was communicating with the Korean brands directly. We don’t use wholesalers. Every product we stock is from a direct brand relationship. But, convincing those brands to take the UK seriously was tough. They were focused on the US market, doing well in Japan, and the UK wasn’t even on their radar.
Getting them to reply to our emails took persistence. But now? Brands come to us. That’s a massive shift.
On the other side, pitching K-beauty as retail proposition to UK landlords was also challenging. When we opened our first physical store on Charing Cross Road in 2022, it had a very boutique vibe. But it proved successful, and Leslie said, “We’ve got something here.”
That’s when we decided to scale. We managed to get a meeting with Westfield White City, which was huge. Their process is intense, and we had to work hard to introduce K-beauty as a legitimate retail concept. But we did it – and when we opened, 1,200 people showed up!
That experience validated everything. We knew we didn’t want to be a hidden niche beauty store down a side street. We wanted to be forward-facing and accessible, and now our internal strategy focuses on high-footfall premium shopping areas.
We’ve just opened our eighth store in Westfield Stratford, and we’ve got plans to nearly double that by the end of the year. It’s been a wild journey.
You’re growing incredibly fast, which is amazing to see. But what do you think have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in scaling such a niche beauty brand?
I think the biggest challenge has been that we had to do everything first. When you’re breaking new ground, you’re not just doing it for yourself – you’re also paving the way for others, whether you want to or not.
In recent years, we’ve seen a few new stores trying to enter the space, and many of the things we worked so hard to get people to understand or take seriously have come easily to them as a result. That can be tough to watch. But at the same time, I believe what makes us good at what we do is that being the first mover – that sense of innovation comes naturally to us. It’s not something we’re forcing.
We’ve always done things our own way. We’ve never had anyone to look up to or copy. Everything has come from within, from our team, our own ideas. And I’ve realised that staying focused on our path is essential. The moment we start watching others too closely, we risk losing that edge.
PURESEOUL is built on real passion – from the beginning and still today. Every single person in our team must share that passion. When we’re hiring, it’s crucial that people are on the same page with our ethos. If that shared passion isn’t there, it just doesn’t work for us, or for them.
We even have a non-negotiable in our interview process: the K-beauty connection. Everyone gets asked about their favourite K-beauty products, how they got into it. It tells us a lot about their mindset, and whether they can truly share our message with customers.
That approach has worked well. For example, our marketing team lead and our products team lead both started in our Soho store over three years ago. After graduating, they’ve grown with us and taken on more responsibility. That kind of growth and loyalty is incredibly rewarding.
How big is your team now?
We’ve just gone over 250 people across the company. We’ve got a fantastic HQ team, a warehouse team in North London, and of course, all of our retail staff.
This year, we’ve also promoted several team members to become managers. That’s probably one of the most fulfilling parts of the journey for me.
The PURESEOUL stores have such a distinct and beautiful aesthetic – probably thanks to your design background. What kind of in-store experience are you aiming to create for customers?
Anyone who’s ever shopped in Seoul will instantly recognise where our inspiration came from, even before seeing any Korean-language references. Retail trends – pop-ups, VM, strategy – are very much led by the Asian market. Shopping there is a whole different experience, and we wanted to honour that.
In Korea, stores have an abundance of staff so there’s always someone to speak to. That kind of personal, educational touchpoint is key. We wanted PURESEOUL to feel like that – a place where someone is always available, but not in a pushy or salesy way. None of our store staff work on commission, so there’s no pressure to upsell. It should feel like talking to your skincare-obsessed best friend – someone who knows about ingredients and genuinely wants to help you find your perfect match.
We’re aiming for a friendly, unpressurised environment that encourages exploration. We’re big on testers. Every product has one. It’s hard to commit to a moisturiser if you haven’t felt the texture, right? I don’t know how I shopped online before – I need to touch and try things now.
We also collaborate closely with our brands for in-store VM. It’s important that things feel professional and considered. We’ve moved away from the more chaotic merchandising we had at the beginning. Now, we help brands help translate messaging into English, and we support them in how their products are displayed. That’s part of building trust – especially with Korean beauty – so customers know it’s authentic.
We’ve noticed that the stores also have a gender-neutral vibe
In Korea, skincare isn’t gendered the way it often is in the West. So, we leaned into that. For example, our core colour is blue – a deliberate move away from pink, which can feel overly feminine. We’re seeing more male customers, and they tell us the space feels welcoming. We’ve also got a good gender mix among our store associates.
Even our lighting is designed to make people feel good – no harsh fluorescent bulbs or scary mirrors. We want people to walk past their reflection and feel nice. Skincare is for everyone. Makeup is for everyone.
And how has TikTok and digital media influenced your retail strategy?
Massively. We’re still a bit more Instagram-heavy, just because it suits our aesthetic. But TikTok is huge for awareness and discovery. During the pandemic, TikTok really drove our growth – people were watching beauty influencers and discovering new products constantly. It helped us move offline.
We’ve built a content team and had a few viral hits – one video last year hit 20 million views. Our store launch video for Westfield White City got two million views. TikTok helps guide what products we stock and gives us real-time customer feedback. We even do influencer experiences in-store and host Korean influencers who travel here for meet-and-greets. We built a whole YouTube video and TikTok campaign around that.
In addition, we have a TikTok wall at the front of the store that showcases our top five viral products. We’re working on bringing more digital features into the store – things like QR codes that link to videos or reviews. Customers already come in with screenshots of products they’ve seen online, sometimes without even knowing the name – so we want to support that kind of shopping journey even more.
What’s next for PURESEOUL? Are there any new launches or locations that we should look out for?
Our goal is to have 14 stores open by the end of the year, all within the UK. One of the biggest for us is Carnaby Street. It’s multi-level – ground floor and basement – and it’s a huge deal because it lets us do more brand activations. We hosted 14 of our Korean brands last year alone. Their teams came all the way from Seoul to host events and interact with customers in-store. Now we want to take that even further.
Carnaby will have a dedicated event space downstairs – think retail by day, events by night. Brands can do masterclasses, makeup demos, influencer meetups. One brand even wants to bring over a Korean K-pop makeup artist to do an exclusive live sessions. It’s going to be really dynamic.
Pop-up culture is massive in Seoul right now, especially in areas like Seongsu – it’s like pop-up central. That inspired the front window activation space at Carnaby. Brands can really take over and engage with customers in an interactive environment.
We’re also opening in Cardiff in July – our first store outside England. Our landlord relationships have been great, too. Now they’re coming to us, asking if we’ll take space in their schemes. We’ve got 14 in our sights this year, and a huge amount more already in the pipeline for after that.
What’s the one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to start a retail brand today?
I could not have started this without my co-founders. From day one, the support, knowledge, and energy we shared built the foundation of PURESEOUL. Beyond that, the team we’ve built has been crucial.
A lot of that credit goes to Leslie’s experience managing teams. He knew from the start how vital it was to invest in the right people – even when it wasn’t easy financially. There were moments when hiring someone felt like a stretch, but it paid off in building the structure we needed. Because honestly, you are nothing without the people around you.
I can’t imagine doing this solo. It would be impossible, or at the very least, incredibly lonely. That isolation would have made it feel more like a burden than a passion project.
And without sounding too cheesy, I really believe this is part of what sets us apart. We’re not some massive corporation that just sticks product on a shelf. If you go into business with that mindset, it’s going to be obvious, and it just won’t work. Sure, you might be able to throw money at it and get something to stick, but you won’t create anything meaningful.
What makes PURESEOUL special – and what drives the connection with our customers – is the genuine passion behind it. You can feel it when people come into our stores or watch our TikToks. At store openings, we’ve had groups of girls camped out from 2am, dressed head-to-toe in blue with matching clip-in hair extensions. That’s not someone looking for a freebie, that’s community.
You can’t fake that kind of connection. It only comes from building something real, something you truly care about.
