Latest / Skin Anarchy / E.331: Minimalistic Makeup For All Skin Shades Ft. minori Beauty

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E.331: Minimalistic Makeup For All Skin Shades Ft. minori Beauty · Skin Anarchy

0:02
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1:16
SPEAKER_01: But without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to the founder of the amazing and beautiful line, Minori, Anastasia Bezerkova.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Anastasia, I'm so excited you're here.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: It's such a pleasure to be here.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's an honor to host you.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: I absolutely love your line.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: It's so like just it's so beautiful and elegant and sophisticated.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: And I can't wait for you to tell us all about it.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: So that's really where I want to start is if you can walk us down memory lane of just how you got into beauty and what led to the creation of this beautiful brand.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, it was such a long path, which I think is very common for most entrepreneurs.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: I started off my career in a field as far away from the beauty industry as you could possibly imagine.
2:03
SPEAKER_02: I studied finance and started off by being a commodity trader.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: So I actually bought corn, soybeans, and wheat from industrial farmers.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, completely in a different scope of work.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, but made my way into learning how to buy.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, from buying commodities to then becoming a buyer in the food industry, and then making my way into being a buyer in the retail space.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: So I started off in Canada, in Toronto, for an e-commerce company, uh, starting off with personal care, sexual wellness, and then like moved my way into beauty finally and became a buyer at Sears and like their last year before they collapsed, and worked with giant companies like Longcombe and Estelator and Clarence, and saw kind of the big what big beauty looked like.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: And then I moved to the US and started working at Ipsy, the world's largest beauty subscription box.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: And my job there was as basically their human algorithm, like matching their three million customers every month with the beauty products that they would receive.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: And wow, I know it's crazy, right?
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And like manually by yourself.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's not manual.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: They had like a really sophisticated algorithm, but um, and then they had a team of merchants who would book all this product every month, but they still needed someone with deep expertise and color, understanding is this highlighter going to look good on someone with a dark or deep skin tone?
3:35
SPEAKER_02: Is this blush gonna look good on someone who's really fair?
3:38
SPEAKER_02: Right.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: Like, how do we how do we use all the data that we have um from past products and knowing how they did to make sure this like new, you know, 500,000 units from this brand that we booked that they perform the best that they can?
3:52
SPEAKER_02: So I was like this person in the middle, kind of optimizing this, testing all this product.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: I think I tested over 3,000 products in my three years there, which is an insane amount of product test, probably close to what like beauty editors end up testing.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: And uh to me, the really big kind of aha of from a product side was seeing that the beauty products that women tend to love the most were always, and I'm telling you, like always the most basic, simple, elegant ones.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: It's like if you look at, you know, a lipstick range and you have 12 different shades, it's always gonna be that like gorgeous mauve that's like as close to your natural lip color as possible.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: Because on an everyday basis, like when you wake up at eight in the morning and you're getting ready, you're most likely gonna lean towards something that you feel comfortable in.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: You're not necessarily gonna pick up that like dark berry or that red lipstick most days.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: And that was kind of like through my buying days and my buys at my days at Ipsy, I saw that like elegant, universal colors that were much more natural looking, that made our skin look healthy and glowing and fresh, and that didn't make us look overdone.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Like that was a type of makeup that most of us want to wear on a daily basis.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't see most brands focus on that.
5:14
SPEAKER_02: Quite the opposite.
5:14
SPEAKER_02: I think like our industry is so used to constantly innovating and pushing, growing through newness and creating things that, you know, will make you stop scrolling on Facebook when you see an ad when it's in a really flashy color and you might actually buy it, but you won't necessarily use it on an everyday basis.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: And to me, this was such a disappointing fact about our space.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to bring a brand into the world that did things really differently.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then in a second, I'll tell you a little bit more about why I chose to really ground it in this philosophy of minimalism.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: And that comes from a very personal place that has nothing to do with the beauty industry, but that's kind of the gist of where the product idea came from.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: I love everything you just said.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: I've just been like, you know, just soaking it in because it's exactly the kind of philosophy that I personally I some, you know, subscribe to.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: I when it comes to makeup, my one of my biggest pet peeves, you know, was okay, you know, we have all these colors, right?
6:15
SPEAKER_01: And don't get me wrong, they're beautiful, beautiful shades, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not the girl who's gonna wear them, you know, like I'm just not the girl.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to walk into my one of my patients' room, you know, wearing a bright green lipstick or something crazy, you know, that I just can't.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, for me it was more of like a I always looked for the perfect nude color.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: I always look for the perfect, like, you know, like you said, like the mauvey pinks or the the nice, you know, the browns, but not too much shimmer.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: And that's one thing I've noticed is like, you know, just if we take a minute to talk about just your lip uh lip line, you know, in itself, it's just so wonderful because lately I've been using only your glosses, like that.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: I use them every day, especially when it comes to work, because you know, you we don't have time, you know, especially like throughout the day, I can easily put it in my coat pocket and I can just, you know, touch up when I need to without worrying about, oh my gosh, am I looking crazy right now?
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Did I overdo it?
7:12
SPEAKER_01: And I really love that, you know, it for me, simplicity is the key to makeup.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like you've really nailed it on the head there.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: That's so amazing to hear.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: And it's exactly that.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: It's like, how do we spend our time and our energy as product developers, as brand owners on and making that most useful, most beautiful product that is going to fit in everyone's everyday life?
7:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's uh it's it takes a lot of a lot of kind of knowledge and speaking to customers and really seeing what she's wearing and not trying to reinvent the wheel with a crazy new color, but really like looking at her, you know, her daily habits.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: Now, I do have a question though, because I know that nude uh colors for lips and blushes are actually very difficult to formulate so in in terms of like matching and making sure they look good on people.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: So, what are some of the things?
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Were there hurdles that you had to go through when it came to like picking those shades?
8:09
SPEAKER_01: Because these are beautiful colors, and I can I mean everybody can use them, like any skin shade, anyone, by the way, everyone looking, you can all pick up something by Minori and use it.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: That's what I I find to be so intriguing about your brand.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that really came from years of of working in the space.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: And you know, if I would kind of bring myself back to to my days of being a beauty buyer, uh, you know, with brands like Longcom, like, and I would look at the assortment and I would always see, like within like blush shades and highlighter shades, there would always be like one or two shades that would be bestsellers, right?
8:42
SPEAKER_02: It's like everyone would gravitate towards them.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: And and it's because those shades were the most universally flattering.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: They looked good on almost everyone.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: And with Minori's shades, like that's exactly where I started.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: I said, you know, I'd like if we think about blush, there's gonna be this like mauvey, dusty rose pink that's not too that doesn't have a white base, that's uh going to look really beautiful on people that are very fair, but it's gonna look gorgeous on people with dark and deep skin tones as well.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: And then if you look at uh what else is gonna look really good on dark and deep skin tones, but that would also work on fair girls.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: And it's um like scarlet is exactly that shade.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: It has it's a beautiful red, but it's it's more of like a like a watermelon red that's not too intense, it's very buildable.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: So it's gonna look supernatural on someone who's dark, and it's not gonna look like crazy on someone who's very fair.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: So I started off with these shades, and right now, as we're looking to expand the line, I'm I'm thinking about like, okay, what would be the next two shades that maybe would fit a little bit more on one side and on the other side?
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, what can I make that would really pop on someone with a dark and deep complexion and that would really suit, on the other hand, like a fairer complexion.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: So we're working on a light pink right now and a baby pink, and we're working on a like a darker terracotta uh orange that would like be super, super beautiful on darker skin tones.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: So thinking about universality from product development is really kind of where where I start.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: And um for us, because we're a tiny team, uh, we've launched only nine months ago, uh, and it's me and a social media manager.
10:17
SPEAKER_02: Like we're so, so, so small.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: I reach out to my community and get their feedback.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, if we have a hundred people in a private Slack group that are creators, customers, influencers, um, like a couple of podcast hosts, et cetera, like that help us with product development.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: So, like I ask about shades, I send them pictures, we'll send them lab samples once they're ready.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then we have a group of about 35 makeup artists from all sorts of all different ethnicities that have client bases of different ethnicities that are also our product development experts.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: So when we are going back to the lab, we reach out to that community to give us feedback.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really actually, you know, um, I know that you guys are a small brand, an indie brand, but that's like really what I want to see even the largest of brands do, you know, like that is what we need because I mean when it comes to makeup and um shade ranges, it's very, very difficult.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm sure you know, like you said, you know, to find that that color that is going to fit everybody.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: And I think the only way we can do that is to get the expertise of makeup artists and actual consumers, you know, and that's something I think you know has been lacking in this industry.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie, you know, if somebody I've seen so many companies that come out with shades, and I'm like, if somebody had handed a sample of this to me before it went into mass production, I would have definitely hell no.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: Like exactly.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: And like it's crazy because like when you're an indie beauty brand um and you're you know, you're doing this with your own funds, right?
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Like, unless you're a celebrity or a really big influencer who has a backing of of very deep pockets, you're you're producing this at your own expense, and it's 10,000 units minimum order quantities to make something.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: So if I'm gonna produce something from Minori, it's gonna be, you can bet that it's gonna be the best possible product that we could have made at the best lab with the best ingredients, and that it would have been tested by a lot of people before we make it.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: Now I want to ask you because you said you wanted to um tell us about the minimalistic aspect of the line.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: And I actually really, really, really love that.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: And I would I want to learn all about that from you because you know, minimalism is something that I think a lot of people throw around that word, but very few brands do it right.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think you're really hitting the nail on the head with it.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: So I'd love to hear more about it from you.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: So the the journey really started kind of in my childhood.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: I was a first-generation immigrant.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: I moved to Montreal, Canada when I was five years old with my mom.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we moved from Kazakhstan.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: And uh I grew up in a very typical uh I my mom, my mom raised me by myself.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: My parents had separated when I was quite young.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh, my older sister was already kind of living in the States, uh, working there.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I we lived in a very, very humble household.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: So my mom was working six to seven days a week, making minimum wage.
13:21
SPEAKER_02: You know, I was so independent, uh, going to like taking the subway at the age of eight, type of independence, and started working in the retail space in Montreal very early on.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: I got my first job when I was 14 years old because I wanted to be able to buy myself stuff because all of my friends, all of my girlfriends in school were buying, you know, jeans from the gap.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: And like, we're for me, like that was such a luxury, just thinking about that.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to start working early so I can afford to buy these things because I always kind of felt um this you know slight sense of lack.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: And what turned into just buying clothing as a teenager turned into a little bit of an impulsive shopping, not addiction, that's too strong of a word, but I was definitely kind of in this like never-ending cycle of buying clothing and buying all these things that I didn't necessarily need.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: And when I graduated from university, I went to a really good school, I went um graduated with a degree in finance, got myself a job, moved to Toronto, like, you know, like living like what every millennial is more or less going through.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: I found myself in a place where by the age of 24, 25, where I was working in beauty, I was making good money, but I was always broke.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: And I was, I was suffering from like constant anxiety, this constant feeling of what am I doing with my life?
14:43
SPEAKER_02: Like, where is all my money going?
14:45
SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I unhappy, even though I seem to have it all?
14:48
SPEAKER_02: I have a great apartment, I have all this stuff, I have, you know, friends, like this great social life.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm going out and paying$16 cocktails like everyone else.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: And it was this realization that this lifestyle of constantly buying things, paycheck to paycheck, was not sustainable.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: And I took a really hard look at my situation.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: And I spoke to a good friend of mine at the time about it.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: And she told me, she's like, Anna, what have you heard of Mary Condo?
15:19
SPEAKER_02: Have you heard of her books?
15:21
SPEAKER_02: And uh I'm like, no, who is she?
15:24
SPEAKER_02: And I discovered this author, started reading her books about decluttering, about this new philosophy, about how you should take a look at the inventory of everything that you own and decide whether you want to keep it in your life and do go through this like major decluttering process.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: I dove into that, I decluttered my apartment, and it was such a shock to me to like how much effort and energy went into acquiring things that really didn't need to be there.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: Right.
15:53
SPEAKER_02: And I think if all of us do this exercise, we'll realize like just like how much stuff we end up purchasing, right?
15:59
SPEAKER_02: That like we paid money for this, like this is gonna end up in a landfill somewhere, and we might have not needed to get this in the first place.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: No, that's actually a really, really great.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, like I think everyone can really relate with that, is what I'm saying.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: Because I think when you and you know, when you come from humble beginnings, like I can very much relate to it.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: A very similar story, you know, in the sense of like getting to work at an early age and stuff.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: I think we all feel like, well, I need this and I need this because I couldn't have it before, you know what I mean?
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's this whole psychology behind it that you know, minimalism really is like almost like meditation where you have to practice it.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: You have to practice, you know, figuring out what do I need, what do I not need, you know?
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, can I really live without this?
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Or can I, you know, do I need those kind of things?
16:49
SPEAKER_01: You have to really do an inward look.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's beautiful that you went through that journey before you even founded the brand.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a beautiful thing.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: Now, how did how does that incorporate into like when you so you know when you came out your first with your first few shades, like was that difficult for you still to do, or was it something that you had to kind of reel yourself back from creating too much?
17:13
SPEAKER_02: It it wasn't difficult because I thought about you know, if I create a brand really grounded on this idea of fewer, better products with a beautiful packaging and and you know, putting my myself out there and talking to my customers about my journey, about why I think that being a mindful consumer is a very beautiful, different approach to consuming beauty.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to create the best possible products that were meant for the everyday and remove that choice overload that I experience when I walk into a Sephora, for example.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: And to me, this was like actually, I would love to see a brand that only has four shades of lip gloss, that only has two to four shades of blush or, you know, two shades of highlighter.
18:02
SPEAKER_02: And so it was actually really exciting to me to challenge myself to come up with these beautiful universal shades.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then also from like an operational perspective, as I just mentioned, when you're so small as we are, um, you want to put in your money into making the best possible products and not overextending it.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: So it's like, could I have launched, you know, a mascara and brow gels at the same time?
18:26
SPEAKER_02: Maybe, but I would have had to manufacture it way, way cheaper.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: I would have had to pick packaging that would have been way cheaper, maybe work with like a third-tier lab.
18:35
SPEAKER_02: And these were all things that I didn't want to do.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: I was like, I'll make eight SKUs, but I'm gonna make the best possible eight SKUs that I could possibly launch with.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: So that was the idea.
18:45
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's why I think uh customers who shop from independent beauty brands, once they get to know their story and they can relate to them and they find out kind of all the intentionality that went into it, it builds such a different relationship with this item that you bought.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I always encourage people to ask questions, kind of dig deeper before buying something, because once you know the backstory of a product and you purchase it, you use it with such intentionality, and there's this like beautiful intimacy behind it that you don't get when you buy something on an impulse.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: No, it's like you almost covet it more, you know.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: I remember like being a teenager, and there was, I think I've mentioned this on the show before, but there was a blush I loved it.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: It was by Buxom.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: And they actually discontinued this blush, but I kid you not, this blush, it was this beautiful, you know, you had mentioned like that tangerine color.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: It was like that, but it had like a peach, like a really like it's just a beautiful peach color with tangerine.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: And I used to use it every single day, and whether it's night or day.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: And I remember just holding on to that product, and my friends would be like, This is like eight years old.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Why do you have this?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Throw it away.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, no, because I used to use it as like um like a reference, you know, like this is what I want.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: This is the color I want.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: So when you can create that, that is so much more powerful than, you know, just like you said, like a plethora of options, you know, I and no shade to any of the brands that have that.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: But I think definitely to your point, it makes it a lot easier for the consumer to be like, okay, I'm out of lipstick, out of lip gloss, let me just go get this real fast.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: And then they can just drop anything, you know what I mean?
20:25
SPEAKER_01: They have to think about it.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: And and you know, the funny thing uh is even with two shades of blush, I'll still get text messages from customers that are gonna be like, oh, you know, is ORCID or Scarlet gonna look better on me?
20:38
SPEAKER_02: And um I love that fact that people are so, you know, they're so careful before buying something because they want to make sure that they don't waste their money, that they're gonna get something and they're gonna love it.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I'm thinking like, oh my God, like if we had six shades, like it would have been so much harder to pick because even with two, it's not easy.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: No, actually, you know, I wanted to talk to you also about your highlight shades because I'm not gonna lie, I am one of those people that highlighter is very difficult for me.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: I barely ever have used it.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: I know that it's all the craze, you know, because after like Instagram makeup looks and stuff, people are just putting glitter on their face, I feel like at this point, you know, like just and but your I love your highlights because they're just so subtle and they're beautiful.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: And I want, I want to talk to you about that whole um, I guess, niche of makeup, you know, because that I felt as a consumer for the longest time must have been one of the hardest for brands to come out with or for makeup artists to really work with.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: So I want to hear your take on it, like just the idea of a highlighter and how we should be using it.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: So a highlighter is one of these items that can, you know, make your entire look absolutely stunning, or it can ruin it in a second, as you just said.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: So um, and I think my experience having been, you know, having tried so many highlighters throughout my career in view.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Was that I hated most of them because I could see that streak on my face and it wouldn't blend well no matter how much I tried, or like I just don't have time to try hard and I don't want to, you know, have to over like perfect it.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: And I would always have this like shimmer on my face.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: You could see it from a mile away.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: And that's not my thing.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: Like I want to glow.
22:21
SPEAKER_02: I want my skin to look really healthy and really natural.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: I want it to look natural in daylight.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: I'd want someone to look at my face and point out the fact that I'm wearing highlighter.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: I want someone to look at me and be like, oh, like she looks really like she had a good night's sleep.
22:35
SPEAKER_02: Like that's that's what I'm aiming for.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: And I think that there are very few highlighters like this out on the market.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: And I challenged myself to make that, to make something that, first of all, had a really unique texture.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: So our highlighter has a cream to powder texture.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: So it's a cream product, but it's not sticky.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: So once you apply it, it actually blends really easily and it feels velvety.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't feel sticky.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: So you can wear it on top of your foundation.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: It's not going to um move around, it's not gonna, it's not gonna peel.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's and because it's not a powder, it's also like not put going into your fine lines the way that a powder highlighter would.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: And then it was opting for like the thinnest, finest, finest, finest pearl, um, which is a term in the beauty industry that you know for for shimmer, but it's like so fine that you don't actually see the shimmer.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: You just see this play of light, um, how light bounces off your skin where it looks really natural.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: And you can put a little bit on your eyelids if you're a super minimalist and you're not into eyeshadow like I am.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, you can wear it on your décolleté, on your legs, on your shoulders, like wherever you want to put it.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: It's a very easy formula.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, and the lab that makes this highlighter is one of the best labs in the US for this particular product.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: So I think we nailed it on the head with that one.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you have, trust me.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, the golden highlight is is like literally my like riot or die at this point.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: I never thought I'd need highlighter.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Like that's why I brought I brought this up because I was like, I did not know how much I would love highlighter till I tried yours because I've always hated them, you know.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Same story, what you just said.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: It was too chunky, it was too obvious.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: It was like, okay, yes, my skin, I want my skin to look normal, right?
24:18
SPEAKER_01: When I wear makeup, but I don't want it to blind someone as I'm walking by them, you know, and it just I could never ever find it.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like, you know, for me, when it comes to contouring, highlighting became like this big issue, right?
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Because contouring was also an issue until I, you know, watched videos.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: And I remember when I approached highlighters, it was exactly what you said.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: It was like, okay, what do I what am I doing wrong?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, and what are all the all the Instagrammers doing right?
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Because my highlight never looked like theirs, you know.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: So I hear you when you when with your, you know, your side of it, that's definitely how I felt.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: But yours, I really, really enjoy, you know, and I definitely use it on my eyelids as well.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: That's interesting you mentioned that.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: We I have makeup artists, um, well, all the makeup artists that work with us that we sent this product to, they they tell me they're they're like, I never do a bridal application or a makeup application without using this highlighter.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: It's like it just became their staple for this category, which I'm like, great.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: That's I'm so happy to hear there's a lot of happy brides out there that are just glowing.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: It's it's truly, truly a beautiful product.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I wanted to actually mention to you that all of your products are so interchangeable too, which I love.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that also ties into this minimalistic idea, right?
25:33
SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, the blushes are just stunningly beautiful and I can put them on my lips as well.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't, you know what I mean?
25:39
SPEAKER_01: It's not like um you like you can take this product and then use it for multiple reasons.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that's one of the hardest things to do with makeup.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, usually when I find a brand in the makeup uh sector that I really, really enjoy, it's something that this is one of the factors that I look for is this like um multiple uses, you know, multifactorial kind of uh the aspect in the in the product.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk to us a little bit about that in terms of like when you were creating like the intensity of the colors and making sure that they're you know just they grow on easy because I notice everything is a cream uh formula, right?
26:17
SPEAKER_01: It's like this cream-based formula.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: So can you talk to us a little bit about that?
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the experience of uh creating that.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: So my my idea with uh going the route of using creams versus powders is that um creams are way more flattering on different types of skin texture.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I'm I'm someone who had a lot of acne growing up, uh, been on Accutane three times.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: So just to give you a background.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: So for for me, powders tend to um reflect my skin texture a little bit more.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh now that I'm starting to get a couple of wrinkles, like powders also don't complement that very well.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: And I find that with powder, you can overdo it really quickly, and it's a little bit harder to control that intensity.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: And I'm someone who hates looking like I'm wearing too much makeup, so I rather go the route of creating a product that is buildable.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: So with blushes, and this is a case with like a lot of gray blushes in the industry, but they're beautiful, but they require like any other brands will even say that on their website.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: They'll say a little goes a long way, like don't use too much, because like the second that you put it on, it's like it's gonna make you look really red really quickly.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to create something where like someone could put a lot and it's still not gonna be like crazy on them.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: Then so it's very, very buildable.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: Like you can you can add a little and then you see how you like it.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: You can add another layer or two uh with a blush, and then you can build it up to the intensity that you're happy with versus putting on too much and then having to like wipe it off.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: So with creams, it allows you to create this type of formula.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it doesn't look bad on people with skin texture or um fine lines, which I love because I'm I'm in that camp.
28:04
SPEAKER_02: And it also works really well on um like in terms of layering, I find, especially when you have this like cream to powder texture, it works really well on top of a foundation or on top of sunscreen, which to me is a really big challenge, especially someone with oily skin.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm always working to figure out like how do you put your sunscreen and your like tinted moisturizer, your foundation, and add blush on top of that and highlighter on top of that without like the whole thing looking cakey and like you're wearing a ton of makeup.
28:33
SPEAKER_02: So cream-based products, when they're very well done, will achieve that way, way better.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I actually wanted to even bring up that like I when I was interviewing um Mario, uh the founder of Makeup by Mario, he was we were discussing, you know, I brought up to him about this idea of using my fingers for makeup application.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: And I find it to be a lot more satisfy satisfactory than using um brushes a lot of times.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, you know, it's he prefers the same thing.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like with your products, that really I love that aspect of it.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: They're little jars and you don't need a brush.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: You don't need any tools.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: You can use your fingers, you can dab on, you can play with it.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: They're very, very like moldable, like what you said, you know, you with the layering and the way it um kind of, I guess, accents on your skin.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Like you can really, really play with it with your fingers.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: And that aspect of makeup, I think is start starting to slowly fade out, which makes me so sad, you know.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: And it makes me sad when I see like brands that are like, well, we have these products, but you absolutely need a blush brush for this, you know, or you absolutely need that tiny highlighter brush for this.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm like, where the heck am I gonna put that?
29:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, when I'm going to work, like I'm not carrying around a makeup brush set, you know, with me everywhere I go.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: And that you just like said the magic word, the makeup brush set.
29:53
SPEAKER_02: Like brushes shouldn't be, in my opinion, like so specific that you need like five different types of brushes to make your makeup work.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, I use the same brush for everything.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: It's like I use it for my foundation, I use it to blend it out of my concealer, I use it to apply my Minori cream blush.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: If I'm not using my fingers, I use it for my cream highlighter.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: It's like the same blush uh brush.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: And I am actually working on making one because I do find that like if you find like create like the perfect size, a perfect density of bristles, uh, really easy to wash, and you can use it across like all of your makeup.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: You have one in your purse, like that works.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: But for a lot of people, fingers are perfect, like you don't need to even buy that.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I would love if you did that because honestly, I'm the same way.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: I had this one again with my college stories.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: I had this one brush.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: That was my brush.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: So I totally understand.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: I feel like you and I have had such a similar journey with makeup.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, because yeah, like no one has time, you know.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even know what a concealer brush was to like three years ago, you know, when I saw when I saw that there's a difference between that and like a foundation brush, which by the way, I those little flat brushes for foundation, I can't use those.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Don't work for, you know, like I just it's like so much redundancy, is my point, you know, in the makeup world.
31:16
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
31:16
SPEAKER_02: And then like I find that the the issue that we kind of created in the beauty industry by having these products that are super complex and you know, it's really fun watching a makeup artist that is super, super skilled um at his art.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's so much beauty to it.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: Like, but when as a consumer, when you're looking at a brand that makes it so complicated, it kind of makes me feel inadequate.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, am I like just not good with makeup?
31:42
SPEAKER_02: Like, am I someone who just hasn't figured it out yet?
31:45
SPEAKER_02: Do I have to go and watch like 10 more hours of YouTube videos?
31:48
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to feel this way when I'm experiencing a beauty brand.
31:51
SPEAKER_02: And I don't want my customers to feel that way either.
31:53
SPEAKER_02: It's like beauty can be really simple and it can be a gorgeous part of your everyday life, and it shouldn't be this like this crazy thing to get into that's overwhelming.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: Like I want any one of my customers, even the ones who inherently consider themselves like beauty beginners, to feel like they're they got this, like this is a piece of cake.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: I I think that especially with, you know, and I this is kind of like random, but with COVID, I think people started to understand that, you know, it it's very important to have these kind of products that are um easy to use, functional, and things that we can just, you know, rely on, right?
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Because with COVID, we weren't going anywhere.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: So I think it really gave people like some time to sit down and think like, what is in my makeup closet and what do I need and not need?
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I've talked to so many of my own friends, you know, that have said, oh yeah, you know, during COVID, I threw out like 18 different lipsticks I would I have literally never used, you know, because they're they're crazy colors or that they bought them because they were going out to clubs, you know, or whatever, you know, at night on town and you buy it for that one-time use.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: And for me, hearing that, it was so crazy because I'm like, I've never bought a product for one-time use.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Like I can't even relate with that, you know.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: So it was very interesting to see that COVID changed our idea a little bit, I think, as a as a society about what we're really purchasing and why.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I've noticed that since then there's been a lot more focus on finding these really great, like mauve and nude colors, um, from what I've seen at least, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen that there's definitely a more of a consumer base that's looking for those products because we were forced to do this everyday look, you know, it was it was something that that was the thing that was going on, you know, that was the thing you wanted during the COVID time.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: So 100%.
33:42
SPEAKER_02: I think like that trend that I was seeing just from the numbers as a beauty buyer for a long time just expanded even more.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: And I think you're absolutely right.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: COVID or brought out in all of us's desire to have beautiful skin and to look healthy, right?
34:00
SPEAKER_02: And to to take better care of our mental health and just like spending more time on self-care, which didn't really go alongside wearing crazy bold makeup.
34:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it definitely accelerated this movement towards um feeling comfortable looking a lot more natural, being on camera um all the time, right?
34:18
SPEAKER_02: You're still seeing yourself.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: So you do want to wear a little bit of something.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh and just in general, I think there's been such an accelerated shift to wanting to be more sustainable.
34:28
SPEAKER_02: I think like Gen Zers, as they're growing up and starting to join, you know, the corporate world, they're making a huge impact and they're making thrifting so cool.
34:39
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I've never thrifted in my life until like the last two years.
34:42
SPEAKER_02: Like now I go to Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco and pick up a few things every once in a while and you know, kind of bring back some of my clothes.
34:50
SPEAKER_02: And that's become a habit of mine that I never had uh in my 20s.
34:55
SPEAKER_02: And it's like this whole culture of reusing, recycling, buying fewer, better things, um, and thinking about sustainability all the time.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: So I think minimalism, you know, even in beauty, is is gonna be a really big thing.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: And I also I think it goes hand in hand with just appreciation.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, I remember somebody had told me, you know, the highest feeling of joy you can have as a human being is when you're in the state of like really appreciating something, whether that's an object or a person or emotions, like when you feel appreciation for what you own or what you have around you, it puts you in the state of more more so relaxed than if you weren't feeling that, right?
35:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think we can all agree.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: Like if every time I felt gratitude or appreciation, it's always made me feel more calm.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: And I think when we have this around us, whether it's through our makeup products or our clothing or whatever, and we really love that one item, it makes you just it just gives you a better outlook, you know, in that one second that you're looking at it.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a there's a lot, there's a deeper messaging there, you know, than people realize with living a more minimalistic lifestyle overall.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I I just I would love to see people gravitate that towards that more, definitely.
36:08
SPEAKER_02: A hundred percent.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: I I want all of us to just be so grateful for the beautiful things that we have in our life and spending more time getting to know them versus having this like constant itch to go and buy something new and you know, like just throw out all these uh things that you currently have, like you have to um, it feels like that constant urge of of buying new things, like that just it gets old at some point.
36:31
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like we're we've hit that we've hit that uh threshold now.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: No, I 100% agree.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: Now I want to ask you, what is next for the brand?
36:42
SPEAKER_01: I know you mentioned a couple of products that you're working on, but where do you see it going um in terms of the overall outlook?
36:48
SPEAKER_01: Do you think you're gonna keep coming out with new colors or maybe a new type of product?
36:53
SPEAKER_02: So we're working on a couple of things.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're working on some very long uh lead projects.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: So, for example, developing a new mascara is a very complicated process.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: So we started working on that a couple of months ago.
37:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's gonna, I don't know how long it's gonna take us.
37:11
SPEAKER_02: It might be another year, it might be another nine months, uh, but we're working on that.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: And I'm super excited because I think a good mascara is a staple in our routine, right?
37:19
SPEAKER_02: Like if you're wearing like zero makeup, you'll some like you'll most of the time do your brows and put a tiny bit of mascara.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: So I want to develop a really good uh product there.
37:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm working on more blush shades, uh, two new blush shades, so that we're kind of gonna cap it at four.
37:37
SPEAKER_02: And um working on a makeup brush, uh, specifically like this like all-in-one product and a couple of other products, but it's like again, they're long lead times.
37:47
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna take good careful time to develop these next hero products, but it's not gonna be in the next couple of months.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: So we'll we'll be quite patient and uh spend our time wisely uh perfecting them.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: No, that makes that makes sense, and I love that.
38:07
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to see all of the new releases.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, honestly, your brand is is definitely becoming one of my favorites very quickly.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: So happy to hear that about everything you've come out with.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: And you know, just to round things up, Anastasia, I wanted to actually talk to you about this because I feel like you're one of the few founders I'm seeing that's really putting action behind the words of um true body positivity.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think with makeup, it's an area that we we often, you know, don't talk about enough when it comes to how much our makeup choices contribute to our way that we look at ourselves, right?
38:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I feel I feel like with the the Instagram look, like I said, and you know, this heavy makeup look, it really took away from this idea of women feeling just more secure in the way their skin looks, their face looks, you know.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like if brands would propagate this more, which is like basically exactly what Minori is doing, which is, you know, giving you the things you need, right?
39:03
SPEAKER_01: Rather than the things you just want to pile on top of your face, I think that would help a lot.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like the more we create products that allow women to hide behind thick layers of makeup, you know, I think that exacerbates this idea of body positivity.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, we need to take a second and look at ourselves in the mirror and just say, I like my lines, I like my, you know, I like my cheekbones or whatever it is, and just give people a minute to appreciate themselves.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: So I'd love to get your take on that.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: I I I love to close with that because I actually think that in beauty, um we we have created this very unrealistic image of what beauty is, right?
39:42
SPEAKER_02: And it's that's not, I feel beautiful in the morning, even when I roll out of bed and like my hair is a mess, and I'm not, you know, I'm bare bare skinned, and I'm you know, I'll oftentimes actually take selfies of myself in that look because I find it cute and funny, and it's just it's real, that's who I am, right?
40:00
SPEAKER_02: Like it, it's it's my my puffy eyes and uh but uh you know, beautiful smile and a positive energy, and that's still me.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: And I will post that on Instagram, like I'll post that on Minori's like brand's Instagram, and then I'll post another picture like half an hour later, being like, and this is me with blush and highlighter.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, and this too is really cute, but it's both the same person.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: And we I I want customers to see that I find myself beautiful in the state when I roll out of bed, when you know, you can like see my double chin and you can like see that I'm this, I'm not like trying to find the best possible angle to make the sexiest possible picture, like this is me.
40:39
SPEAKER_02: And then I'll take a photo where I feel, you know, like like transformed, but it's still the same person and we love both looks.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: And I want to show more realness on our social media accounts.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, we're actually going to start putting pictures of our customers and just like our friends on the product pages because we do have gorgeous model photography on the site now, which I absolutely love.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: These girls are stunning, but I'm like, I don't necessarily look like that.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: So like my skin is not that flawless.
41:11
SPEAKER_02: Like, can I see it on someone who has some acne scars or you know has some texture to their skin?
41:17
SPEAKER_02: Because I want to see how this blush is gonna look on me as well.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: So I I want to promote um more body positivity and showing everyone that we're beautiful in, you know, all of our states.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and to close off, actually, we're gonna start as of next month donating 3% of our sales to Nita, which is the National Eating Disorder Association.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: And um that's a cause that's extremely dear to me personally, uh, to my family.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and hopefully we'll see more brands kind of supporting uh young women who suffer from eating disorders and just you know, the beauty industry has been such a culprit of um making it hard for a lot of people to to feel beautiful.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: And I want to work on undoing that, even you know, as a tiny brand on a small scale.
42:07
SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll start here.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Wow, I really love that.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: And you're right, you know, this is a definitely, yeah, the beauty industry has definitely played its role in that.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: And I've definitely, you know, as just with my background, I've seen the the detrimental situations that people end up in when they have an eating disorder.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like people think like, oh, you just don't eat, like if you have anorexia or bulimia or you're throwing up, but it's it goes so much deeper psychologically.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: And so I love that you're behind that cause.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: I love everything you're doing.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm a huge fan of Minori.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, so thank you for this.
42:41
SPEAKER_01: This has been so amazing just chatting with you and learning about the brand.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: Um and I would love to have you back when you come out with your new products.
42:47
SPEAKER_01: I I would love to so much.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Egda.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: Everyone listening, um, I'm going to tag all of the information for Minori in the concept art for this episode.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Please make sure you check them out.
43:00
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, definitely leave your comments and thoughts, you know, in the comments section.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions for Anastasia's team, definitely leave them in the comment section.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and check out the brand.
43:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, let's really kind of push for this minimalistic idea when it comes to makeup.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a beautiful, beautiful movement, and we should definitely get behind it as much as we can.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: So thank you again, and I will be back next time.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: Bye.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
43:29
SPEAKER_01: Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: We are available on so many different platforms.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: So wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe.
43:39
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43:42
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43:51
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