Latest / Skin Anarchy / Sarah Uslan, Professional Makeup Artist and Founder of LULA skincare

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Sarah Uslan, Professional Makeup Artist and Founder of LULA skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
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• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm super excited to uh to chat with her and to learn from her.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to the celebrity and editorial makeup artist, Sarah Uslan, who is now also a new founder of a brilliant new line called Lula.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you guys have seen it on Instagram and social media.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome to the show, Sarah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited you're here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Eka.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: I am I'm a big fan of yours.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I just I really appreciate you starting a podcast where you really support, you know, people like myself and founders and brands.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I just think it's so cool.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's my honor, and I absolutely love, you know, seeing, especially women, you know, us women put our heart into everything we do, and I love seeing women entrepreneurs and new brands coming out.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't wait to learn about Lula and I can't wait to learn about your journey.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: So um, that's actually where I want to get started.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: If you could tell us how you got into makeup artistry and the whole story.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, absolutely.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I um well, I'm from I'm from the East Coast.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from New Jersey.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh growing up in the 90s, you know, makeup was like really uh it was just like so cool what was happening with makeup.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, looking back, it was like I remember, you know, walking into CVS and just like my whole world lit up, you know, and like running to grab my L'Oreal toasted almond lipstick and my, you know, Bonnie Bell lip lip glosses.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I really began to to love makeup um from a young age.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, at the time I I really hadn't understood the world of makeup and the world of professional makeup artists.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I kind of followed uh what I quote unquote should have been doing, which is, you know, going to college and and getting a degree.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up at NYU.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um it was it was such a great school.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know, I was always so passionate about makeup, I just didn't realize like how to really make it a profession, a thing.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I thought, well, why don't I try PR?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because maybe I could work for a beauty brand.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and the cool thing about NYU was that I was able to intern in all of these different areas and learn very quickly what I didn't want to do, um, which kind of helps that, you know, that path narrow in on what I did want to do.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So during that process, I ended up um interning in the fashion world for a designer.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget it because it was like the middle of winter, and they had a lookbook shoot for uh the collection, and there was no makeup artist in sight.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like everyone was scrambling, like, where's the makeup artist?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And my friend who was the designer who I was assisting was like, You're so good with makeup, like go grab your kit and do this.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it was, you know, it was so cool because it was the first time that I actually was like, Oh my gosh, like I really think that I like this.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just had the most amazing luck and I had the opportunity um shortly, like it was right in my last year of NYU.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had the opportunity to meet Bobby Brown, who um I it's not Whitney's Bobby, the makeup artist Bobby.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm sure that your um podcast listeners know that.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um my gosh.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: I was I've been dying to have Bobby on the show too, by the way.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: I've been talking.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, that's so funny.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: I probably know all the people you've been you've been reaching out to.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it was like this really incredible opportunity to meet her um because I was from the same hometown that she lives in in Montclair, New Jersey.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we had like a mutual.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, at the time I was what, 20, 19, 20, and like mom's talk, and my mom was like, you gotta call this, you know, gotta call Bobby.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I got her number, just give her a call.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember like picking up the phone to call her, and my hand was shaking.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh my God, I'm speaking to the Bobby Brown.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, and Bobby's she gave me this incredible opportunity to come and watch her, she called it uh her beauty team, which is like the collection of the best of makeup artists that work for her brand, and they would all meet at her, you know, at a place, and they had boot camp once a year.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And Bobby would like, you know, kind of kick their butts in this makeup boot camp boot camp.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um at that at that event, I got to really witness, you know, these incredible makeup artists do their thing.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it was the first time that I was like, wait a second, I think I can do this.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would see, I would see the things that Bobby would pick out and comment on before uh, you know, before they were said.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, like me being, you know, a scared 19-year-old, I didn't want to say anything, but I it was the first time I was like, I got this.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, I signed up as a freelancer for her company.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And to make a long story short, I ended up my first event, Bergdorf Goodman, and it was called a PA, where a public appearance, where Bobby comes and you know, meets the clients.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I saw her like kind of circling the room, going from makeup artist to makeup artist.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I just remember, you know, feeling weak in the knees as she was about to come and critique my my makeup.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And she, as she approached, she didn't look at me, she looked right at the client and she went, Wow, beautiful makeup, really beautiful makeup.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then she looked over at me and she was like, You look familiar.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, you know, I'm the one that came to the thing, and you know, and she was like, Good to know, like really good to know.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And shortly after that, like in my mind, it was a week, but could have been two, I got a call from, you know, an assistant saying, Bobbi loved your work and she wants to invite you to assist her.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and kind of it all took off from there.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I started assisting Bobby.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I learned quite quickly um, you know, what it took to be a makeup artist.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um I really credit her and her team, uh, particularly a woman named Kim Stone, who took me under their wing and educated me.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um and, you know, where I am today would not be the case if it was not for Bobby and her instilling the the foundation, you know, for lack of a better word, the foundations of my approach to makeup, which is, you know, skin is number one.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm blown away, first of all.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, honestly, you know, I wanted to say this, and I think this is such a great story, and I'm so glad you you went into that because I I think I was talking to somebody and I was talking about like just us millennial women, and we were um discussing how it's it was so hard to find mentors for us, you know, fellow women mentors who really would kick our butt and teach us and and you know, kind of take us under a wing.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: I know like I'm I was in the medical field and I used to be just you know, every time I had a female professor, I would like be like you know, front of the class, like ready to learn.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so that's so cool.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was it was a really it was a really cool opportunity.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was tough, you know.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Bobby was Bobby was tough.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: She wasn't warm and and you know, like she didn't make it feel like warm and cozy.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think you know, she she was a great teacher.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um I learned so much from her.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, around 20 uh it was like 2007, I left her wing and uh, you know, from under her wing and I moved out to the West Coast and I made this like bold move across uh the country and um I had to start fresh, you know, and it's like at that time, I again speaking to what you're what you're talking about, it was like not only finding mentors because you know that was that was hard, but like if you think about what made it hard, like we didn't have social media, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't have we didn't have this ability to connect with strangers, to connect with people.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um or YouTube, Sarah.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, honestly, how many girls nowadays are like, oh, you know, like for example, you are a professional makeup artist.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you put up a video, there are so many women that can just go on there, figure out how to do their makeup, totally like, I'm good to go, you know.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, totally.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, it would have like I just think about how you know everyone can get a better education and just they have knowledge at their fingertips that we didn't have.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like we really had to work hard um to to connect the dots.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: And when I, you know, when I moved to the West Coast, it was it was really scary for me because you know, I had I had joined this community, this Bobby Brown community, which like even to this day is like so tight.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, I was like in it.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing Fashion Week, I was doing the Today show with her.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: We were going on QVC and I I was like witnessing this like level of cool.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then I ended up in LA because of an ex.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um I'm like, okay, now what?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like how do I meet people?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do I make connections?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: How do I make a name for myself?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, New York and LA, like, yes, people would go back and forth, but like it was very separated, you know, and different worlds, different worlds.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like now there's so much more acceptance.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you're an LA makeup artist, you can work in New York.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a New York makeup artist, you can work in LA.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, all of my New York friends were like, you are crazy.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you like there was just almost like um it, they they put me down for moving out to LA because they were like, it's not real, like it's not real makeup.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it was, you know, it was really, really hard.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I ended up calling Bobby with my tail between my legs, being like, I don't know how to like make it out here.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, they ended up placing me, um, getting me an opportunity at Sax of Ave in Beverly Hills as the counter manager.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I had never worked at a retail counter.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Despite all these years with Bobby, I would go in, I would train the artists, but I had never actually worked at a counter.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And like for me, it was just like the death of creativity.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like I was just so sad to go to work every day.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was how I started meeting people and like making connections.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And again, before social media, they had like these makeup artist networking events, you know, where you would go and meet other makeup artists.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's really kind of how I had to meet people and start building a clientele.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it really got me to a point where um I ended up starting a company called Lux Beauty Team with a uh another makeup artist that I met at one of these networking events.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like the precursor to those like mobile um, you know, makeup artist.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I forget like what these apps are called, like the glam app.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a yeah, it was like I think about it.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my gosh, if only I had like waited a couple of years and then launched it.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: But what we were doing is we were offering like make mobile makeup at the time.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was like spray tanning was huge.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was so sick of seeing orange people that I I really like learned how to spray tan and and tried to find the best one that didn't make you look orange.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we were doing mobile spray tanning, mobile makeup.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we ended up opening up at two very well-known salons in LA.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: One was called Warren Shercomy, and the other was Serge Normont at John Frieda on Melrose Place.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um, through the process, uh, you know, it was 2007 where the economy was terrible, but we did we couldn't sustain the business, but I made these incredible relationships.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And one was with Serge Normont, um, legendary hairstylist.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: And he was a huge supporter.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, I I think you do a great job.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love what you do.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let me introduce you to my agent.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that was how I got signed to my my agent for the first time.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that at the time, that just propelled me to the next level in my career, and where now I'm not just meeting, you know, Beverly Hills housewives, but now I'm working with actors, musicians, you know, I'm doing really cool editorials and and it's my own name.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's not through the Bobby network that's getting me there.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, it's like step by step by step.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think about like all the lessons that I learned, you know, and I and I would love to mentor a younger makeup artist because I think that right now it's like a a little bit of a different problem for them.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that they can't find somebody, it's just that there's so much, there's almost too much out there that it's like really hard to, you know, make a name for yourself because there's so many.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: And especially on YouTube.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: But can I just please take a minute?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, you don't have to comment, honestly, but I'm gonna comment.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all the two people that think that you are a professional makeup artist, you're not, you're not until you win in fashion, like a fashion situation, you know what I mean?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like doing makeup for like celebrities and models, and it's the real life.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm sorry, you're not, you're just not.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care how many followers you have, like, I do not care.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I it's so crazy, Edgar.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I I really appreciate that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um that acknowledgement.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I also, you know, I have mixed feelings about it.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: It it is hard because we got to a point where social media is is, I mean, we're not going back from here, right?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like you either accept it or you like jump, jump shit.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I had it, it's been a real struggle.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I, for instance, I I did this whole thing with Allure magazine and I did 24 kind of YouTube style videos for them.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it was really challenging for me to put myself out there.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I came from a world, you know, in from the Bobby world, from the Bobby days, it was like you wear black, you stay behind the camera, and it's the talent that shines.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like you don't take your picture with talent.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you certainly like don't get in, you know, in front of the camera.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I like just innately feel so weird about, all right, you know, now I'm like, here I am, here's how to do this.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it was so funny, it was like right in the beginning of YouTube when we did this, and uh my current husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, was like editing the videos for me.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think on the 24th video, he was like, Okay, like we either break up or or we like go back to having like a normal, non-YouTube life.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh I ended up you know retreating from it because it was just so demanding.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I think I think for the younger generations, it's so natural, like it's just so natural.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Pull out the phone, selfies, like it's just a different, different yeah, but it's also like constant for them.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was also like I was having this conversation with, I don't know who it was, but like I they were talking about, and this is totally off point by the way, but it definitely somehow relates.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was like about how kids played these days, and they were talking about how they saw kids in a playground and none of them were doing anything.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, all you needed was a stick and a stone and some dirt when we were growing up, and you could make a whole world out of that, you know what I mean?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's like a different mindset.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's not about that they're you know, it social media is their playground, you know, and for us, for us it's different.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: It it was a really yeah, yeah, it is, and it still is, and it's still like there are moments where I get really pissed off.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, right?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I've shot with all these like incredible publications, and I'm friendly with an editor or who was an editor at a big publication, and he was like, Sarah, we were booking makeup and hair depending on their following now, like because it's just this cross-promotional thing.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really that like, oh, yuck, like feeling.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: But then now that I have a brand, it's like I'm also seeing it from the other side because it's it's the only way to navigate through this like market that, you know, there's a lot of products out there and there's a lot of people out there, and they're consuming social media.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, we're a direct-to-consumer business right now.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to make ourselves known.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like really I'm I'm trying to put myself out there a little bit more.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it it is harder for me, you know.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I just think like for my daughter and my son, it's gonna be like no big deal.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're not.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I I completely and I can't say this with more like, you know, of a genuine feeling.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: I completely understand where you're coming from.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: Just starting this podcast.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've been a nerd my entire life, like a science nerd, like epitome of, you know what I mean?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I was in a lab at six years old.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: I've been there, I went to medical school, I have five degrees, and then I started a podcast.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: And now I'm like, as an entrepreneur, like be coming into social media, like before this, I never really looked at social media.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I was never like a you know, Instagram person or a Facebook person, and now I'm looking at it and I'm like, like I see other people who you would consider our competitors, and I'm looking at it, and I'm like, the only reason that you're get, you know, you're bigger than us or whatever is because of a number.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like that makes me so angry, not for myself, but also for um small businesses.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: And this is why I'm so enthusiastic and so passionate about hosting, you know, um new founders and entrepreneurs, because I really do believe in quality over quantity, you know, I really do.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that, you know, talking to you and seeing that you're creating a line with all of your experience and you've done the work and you've done the professional aspect of this and you are coming out with a line.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to promote that as much as I can because why not?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Why would I not do that versus somebody who has no experience, really?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: When it comes to real makeup.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it's at the end of the day, yeah.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's I appreciate it so much.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate, you know, just the thought behind it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there have been so many obstacles along the way of of launching a brand, but you know, the initial when when the initial concept was there and I was looking at um, you know, manufacturing partners and and you know, various things, like I mean, you would be shocked to know that some partners, manufacturing partners or prod project managers, wouldn't even take me on because I had 10,000 followers.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so tired of that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because for them, they're like, well, you know, from a business standpoint, it makes more sense for us to work for a you know, so and so who has a million plus followers on YouTube, and it's just like a reassurance that their business is gonna do well.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was crazy.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I just remember getting the news on that and being like, is this is this real?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is this really happening?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've worked since, I mean, what like 16 years on my career, and you know, just because I don't have that following.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it it's really this like it's like the wild, wild west, it's bonkers.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think everybody, especially in our generation, we have this like love-hate relationship with it.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it is it is great in a sense that you know, these younger makeup artists they can access their mentors.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I even get hit up from people, you know, in my DMs being like, I would love to be a makeup artist.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Can you help me?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, I'm like, this is genius.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how cool that I can connect with a girl who's sitting at home in Kentucky and tell her, you know what, don't spend the money on necessarily going to makeup school.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, you know, move to a place that there's professional makeup artists, assist, assist, assist, assist, and you know, get paid for it.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, there's a lot, there's a lot of benefits.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: At the end of the day, you know, honestly, I really like I can honestly tell you, as a woman of color, and actually, I hate always processing things with that.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna say that right now.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: I just I hate, but you know, it's a genuine thing.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: As a woman of color, trying to figure out the makeup world for me, just growing up.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: I loved playing with makeup.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: I was just like, you I used to go to CVS, Walgreens, go nuts over the lipsticks, Maybelline, you know what I mean?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: All that clouds.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was amazing.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: But the thing is, it took me so much.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: I used to have to buy four foundations to mix them to make my match.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: And like those kind of moments, like they were hard, but they also taught me so like to be so respectful of true makeup artistry because like there was just so it like it actually showed me how hard it is to not only do someone's makeup or even your own makeup, but to do it in a way that someone looking at you isn't gonna be like, oh, you have cake face or oh, you look like a completely different version of yourself.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: I never wanted to be the girl that was like, she takes her makeup off and it's like, whoa, okay, no, did not need to see that, you know, like that kind of thing.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't just so I have such an appreciation.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and the reason I'm even saying this is because I, you know, like I really like, for example, like I was talking to, you know, Dikonic Ray Morris, and I was speaking to her about how she approaches makeup, and she was talking about how you know she was taught by someone who couldn't even who was colorblind.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: And like, you know, and yeah, and so I'm sitting here and I'm like, this is true artistry.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like makeup artists are not just people putting products on your face, they're re they're it's true artistry, and so like you know, that aspect of it is what I want to emphasize uh to everyone listening.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because for me, I can honestly tell you right now, if you look in my makeup cabinet, you're still gonna see products from people like Laura Geller, you know what I mean?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: Or not not Laura Geller, sorry, uh yeah, well, Laura Geller is amazing too, but like Laura Mercenier or yeah, or Bobby Brown, or you know, like you know, these kind of people because they are the people that really understood what I needed as a person who wants everyday makeup, you know, that kind of thing.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and and on you know, on that note, like taking it full circle, it was that's why again, where I am today is like with this emphasis and this uh focus on skin, it it came from this education on you know that I had as an artist, and and that it is an artistry and that you don't just sit down in a chair and do the same cookie cutter thing on everybody.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, there are versions of makeup like that that still very much exist today.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how I do makeup.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: When I when I work with a client, they sit in my chair.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: The first thing that I do is I I obviously with clean hands, touch their skin, right?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I touch their skin, I feel it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I feel the texture, I feel are there smooth areas, are there textured areas?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is there oil?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Is it dry?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is it dehydrated?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I am, you know, besides I'm also an licensed aesthetician, but I don't practice it, but I do in a way when I do makeup because I assess skin and and that is so important.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: And when I work with makeup artists, um, younger makeup artists, up-and-coming makeup artists, one of the first like lessons that we go through is anybody can do a smoky eye, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone can do color.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, you know, we might do one, somebody might do it a little better than another person, but but anybody can do that.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, can you take this model who has textured skin, right?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like break breakouts um, let's say on the chin, at the temple, in the middle of the forehead, um, and yet dry skin and some flakiness and apply the skincare, apply the makeup, and send her to be photographed in front of a million cameras and her skin will look and read flawless.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that's number one.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you take somebody who needs maybe needs a little coverage, but um apply it in layers so that it looks like there is nothing on their skin when they're photographed?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like that is to me the most important lesson of makeup artistry.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it really is how I led to launching this brand because I think people were like, wait a second, like why you're a makeup artist.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: So they were shocked that I'm not launching a brand, you know, of color, um, of color cosmetics.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it all goes back to my love of skin.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I love that.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I really think that you have really hit the nail on the head with that in the sense that, you know, I realized in college, I was like, you know what?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm gonna stop spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on makeup and actually invest in bettering my skin because it really came down to that.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I was somebody who always had those like indentation scars from my acne that I had.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so, like for me, I used to like search and search for makeup artists, like to tell me like what should I do to like make these not look like this?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: And there was no information.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: So to hear you say that, you know, you're starting from a at this level of like getting the skin to a point where now you can put on makeup and it's going to be what you want it to be.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome to me.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think I wish I wish, you know, I knew you when I was 15 years old, and you know, I would have learned that much quicker.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, that's a very, very important message.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's why, you know, a lot of girls these days, I see them on Instagram and I see them on, you know, whatever, and it's like a million layers of makeup.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, just put on some skincare, right?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just put on some skincare, really though.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you know, it's that I I'm always walking that like that fine line of like, I am the makeup artist, but I have some really good tips, you know, for skin.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, maybe I can send you to my dermatologist who I love, or my aesthetician who I also love.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done that with clients before, right?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've I've had clients that I meet and their skin is uh maybe, you know, at a place that that needs a little help.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you know, for for the listeners, like so much of skin is what's going on inside too, right?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: It might not just be what's on the outside.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why, you know, going to a dermatologist or going to an esthetician and really working on what we could work on, um, it became a collaborative experience with this team.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would get to a place with my client where she would feel good enough about her skin that we didn't have to put on as much makeup.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in the same way that you had that experience, that was always my goal.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And and that was quite different, again, coming from my background where it was like Fashion Week and and all of these things, where despite this amazing uh education I got with Bobby, there was still this idea of like when you're working with a model or a client, you do what you have to do to make their to get the job done, right?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if we're what they're walking the runway and it means slathering on, you know, petroleum jelly or mineral oil, like you have to do it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just uh, you know, really rebelled against that.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as I got to LA and I started to build my clientele, even on just a shoot, like an editorial shoot where it was all about the clothes, I still always had a uh conversation with the model.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, tell me about your skin.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: How's your skin feeling today?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because even if I if the shoot was an hour, there's a good chance that I would probably work with this model again.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe on the next shoot, her skin would be better because of something that I did or an advice or advice that I gave her.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very careful about you know, not using certain foundations that I knew could cause acne or could break somebody out because it's like it was like building relationships and also lifting people's, you know, confidence in their own skin.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: No, I love that.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I also want to actually, this is a perfect uh place for me to really dive into uh Lula with you because I really, really want to learn because you know, for me, uh, I'm not gonna lie, you know, for me, I think skincare is such a vast world in terms of the products and the type of products and when you use them and why you use them.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, um, a big question that comes to mind is there should be something that's very much geared towards like makeup artistry or very like, you know what I mean, in synchronicity for with it.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, if you're doing someone's makeup, you should be able to just put on like a serum that just makes their face like really easy to like work with, you know what I mean, in terms of hydration and stuff.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: So when you were creating Lula, um what were your thoughts with the ingredients and stuff and like you know the whole journey of that?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, uh the interesting thing is that like I I didn't really think to myself, I need to create a brand.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like that so much as it was this natural inclination to get into skincare after an authentic situation on set where I was working with this really beautiful model.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: We were on a beach, and um I just wanted her skin to look stunning and to glow.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to use a highlighter, I didn't want to use foundation.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I went into my kit and and this is something that I would do quite often, um, but I like, you know, kind of concocted this bomb out of what was in my kit.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I took some of my favorite bombs and I put them together.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then um I was really getting into oils um as I moved to LA and you know, everything from like avocado oil from the the off the shelf of Whole Foods to, you know, some of the more fancy schmancy ones.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I had this like arsenal of different bombs and oils, and I really concocted what was the first version of my Beyond Bomb on set.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I applied it to the model uh on her face, on her body, everywhere.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it just gave this like beautiful kind of flushness to the cheeks, and her skin was just glowing.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And as the day went on, and you know, we're like nearing this like eight hour end of this eight-hour shoot on the beach, she acknowledged how great her skin felt.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, you know, typically by this time, like I cannot wait to wash my face.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just like beach, sand, hard.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, literally, my fin skin feels incredible right now.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it was on that drive home, and I felt my my hands, I was like, I need to bottle this up.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is and so that was what led to what you know, the Lula lineup, which is these three products.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, going back to kind of my roots and and and my belief in skincare, um, I didn't want to create, I would say, like primers, quote unquote, because to me, primers were always like silicone, you know.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to create products that would beautifully be layered into somebody's makeup routine or I could give this experience to my client.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I one of the things that I do when I'm working with somebody, whether it's a model or a celebrity, you know, for a red carpet, is I like to bring an element of calm and peace and self-care to the makeup application.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I usually start with like a little mini facial, you know, I'll use my fingers to manipulate the skin, I'll bust out some uh facial cupping to do some little bit of facial cupping, I'll use a gua-sha.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um the the potion serum came out of this like desire to create this experience.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's an addition to being just an incredible blend of the most amazing oils, it also has a sensorial, grounding, calming um experience to it, which not only for my clients, but I really needed myself as you know, now I'm a mom of two.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: I am running from job to job.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I don't have time to do a 12-step step routine.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: I just want something that makes me feel good, makes me feel grounded, makes my skin feel like beautiful and supple and glowing.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so that's really kind of how the the line began to evolve.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: I really love that because you know that's that's an aspect I think of skincare that no one really wants to talk about these days.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know it's all about, you know, I have so many people come on here and we talk about the science and we talk about all that stuff, but the self-care aspect, like I feel like we need to keep stressing that until people get it.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like I know exactly what you're talking about when you say like putting on the oil and then feeling like, you know, just taking a minute, right?
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like when when it comes to oils, I have this like very like personal relationship with oils because I really do associate them with like ancient cultures, you know.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think about Egyptians and I think about like Eastern cultures, and like I know the middle uh the Middle East is very well known for their use of oils and their daily rituals, like bath rituals and stuff.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a beautiful it's a very like almost sacred um aspect of self-care when you're using an oil to hydrate your skin.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I so you know you hit the nail on the head with the with the ritual component of it, you know.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think um I was like striving to to give that.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like a very nurturing person.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was striving to give that to my clients so it became more of this, you know, really just like beautiful hour, two-hour time with them.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I also was craving that for myself.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, as a makeup artist, I get sent so many products and uh, you know, my my cabinets became became full of them.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, this I this step and then this step and then this and then that.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I just want to, I want to bring it back down to the basics, right?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, that's like going back to oils.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and which was speaking of like being, you know, obsessed with like CBS in the 90s.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we all came up with this idea that oils are bad, right?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oils are bad, and like stay away from oils.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I hit my 20s that it was like the world of oils opened up to me and I was like, whoa, they're not bad at all.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is just what my skin needs, you know?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and then I like really deep dived and I like started getting, you know, as I said, like pulling the avocado and the turmeric oils off the shelf and and just really playing with it and discovering, you know, all of these incredible oils, which then when the loop, the idea for Lula began, I was able to take with me and say, okay, I'm a makeup artist, right?
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know my lane.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: I know that I'm not necessarily an expert in chemistry.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a scientist like yourself, Ekta.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: So what you know, I I took all these to like the best in PD and product development and um and really talked through it and was like, how do I take all of my favorite oils?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I went through the list, you know, I was like, okay, I'm really getting into CBD oil.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about it.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: How can we include it?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really into turmeric.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I use turmeric in my coffee now, and now and I I love the oil and you know, soap and rose hip oil.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I I really went in with all of these favorite oils.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, how do we put a garden's worth of botanicals in a 30 ml jar?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really like it was such a it was such a long journey because in my head as a makeup artist, I I'm so all about texture.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted this specific texture, right?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like this like uh dry, thin, oily feel.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't want that.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I didn't want that.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really working with the lab and creating what I envisioned.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it took a long time to get there.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can imagine, and I can definitely, you know, I know it must have taken because I one thing I do know about true professional makeup artists is you guys are very, very detail oriented.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I'm I'm sure it was uh quite the feat uh for the lab to make you happy.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, I love the process.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: I love your process.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's a very like, you know, genuine and organic way to like create something meaningful.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, what people always talk about things like, well, there's needs to be a white space in an industry that needs to be filled.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, I think there needs to be a white space in people's lives that needs to be filled.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, it's like doing your makeup or doing your skincare or someone like me, like the other week, like honestly, Sarah, like I was like on non-stop shifts, like I was exhausted, dude.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like I really, like genuinely, you know, when you hit that point where you're just like, oh my gosh, like I cannot believe I'm still standing up straight right now.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I was.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember I had pulled out, you know, for me, one of my favorite scents.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, in terms of it was an oil, it happens to be an oil.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I stood there and I put it on my face, and I remember feeling like, okay, I'm okay, everything's good, I'm home, you know, and it's like it brought me to my present moment.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that is something that I think no one talks about and no one really understands.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, you know, we grew up in the 90s, and you know, going back to that whole idea, I used to go to these like metaphysical shops that were everywhere just because I loved the way they smelled.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: I loved the smell of all the oils, and you know what I mean?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like that aspect of skincare and that aspect of like exactly what you described, like getting the texture right, getting the you know, the feel of the oil right, making sure everything feels and you know, makes your whole sensory system light up is that is the essence of good skincare.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care what anybody says, yeah, okay, clinical trials are important.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I get that.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, all that stuff very important, very, very important.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: But don't overlook the, you know what I mean?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like products that are really meant for just, hey, I had a bad day.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: I want to put a really nice smelling, you know, product on my face and make it and something that also makes my skin look feel look and feel great.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: So absolutely.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many benefits that that you you know we get from all of these ingredients that come from the earth, right?
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like the anti inflammatory benefits of the turmeric oil are, you know, absolutely beautiful and incredible incredible.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then the rejuvenating effects from the sea buckthorn, you know, we have the antibacterial.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: From the bergamot and uh bitter orange.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, it kind of like the the list goes on and on of the antioxidants and the anti-inflammatory effects that you get from these natural oils that that the earth gives us.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I I really wanted to kind of take it back and take it back a step and and um bring these to the forefront.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's really where personally I was interested in.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: I I at the time that I uh started Lula, um I had a how old was she at the time?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: So she was one year old.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: That it by the by the way, my daughter is to Lula.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: The brand is is named after her, Lula.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that makes me even more special.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was nursing and I was like, I just I don't want to put more chemicals on my body, especially, you know, over my chest.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: I would use the the beyond bomb um over those areas that I felt like she was rubbing against.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it just like set this again, like this kind of like LA life, like it it really cemented it for me of like going more clean and going more natural.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and so um it really works for me.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I tell people, like, I'm not, I don't turn my nose up to clinical products, um, not at all.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I tell people, you know, if you love your moisturizer, then use the your moisturizer, layer our oil over your moisturizer.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's a way to, you know, there's a way to kind of blend both East and West, you know, concepts.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um the there's also kind of what you were talking about earlier with regarding makeup, um, I just I actually really wanted to clarify because I think for a lot of people, they're like, so is this meant to be worn with makeup?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: And my my uh thought process behind these products was, you know, if your skin looks gorgeous, right?
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: If you're using these the the potion serum or the bomb uh or a moisturizer and you're really getting your skin to a place where it looks gorgeous, everything else is gonna look and layer on better.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not that these products are meant to be quote unquote primers for makeup, but let me tell you, I and I and I this is why I'm getting back into filming myself because I feel like I have to show people.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: You put a couple of drops of the potion serum on, massage that into your face, especially if you have you know dry skin, and then you apply your foundation and it glides beautifully on top.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can see your skin glowing through, you know, through the foundation.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it just looks beautiful.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you're somebody that needs more coverage and you have, you know, you have to use a product that's a little bit heavier, right?
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: I take no, I don't critique that at all.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: I have to do that sometimes when I'm working with clients who need more coverage.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: But at the end, it's like, let's bring some life back to the skin.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're, yeah, maybe it looks good for camera, but you're gonna see people in person, right?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: IRL in real life.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: What if we take our bomb and press it into the cheeks after the makeup and make the skin look like skin again?
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about you know, finding a way of blending skincare and makeup into this into one world.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: I love what you just said.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: I hope everyone caught that.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, honestly, what you just said is something that it uh I kind of figured out after many, many, many years of being a complete retard when it comes to makeup, you know.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, um, and you know, but but like you're right.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_02: If you use like certain um, you know, just if you use like a certain great skincare product that you love, you know, in this case, obviously, everyone listening, go get Lula because you know, it is made by makeup artists.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, you know, if you use those things instead of like highlighters, it gives you that same look, it gives you that really dewy, beautiful look.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so, and also honestly, going back to your point, Sarah, like the best primer, it there can be no better primer than well-hydrated, well-taken care of skin.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: There cannot be nothing better than that, you know.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, I think that's that's definitely yeah, and it really works for, you know, it really works for everyone.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and and that's something I also like to be like an advocate for oils.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, going back to like our generation of this like marketing scheme to ruin oils for everyone, you know, there was like oils were bad in the same way like low-fat diet, because fats were bad.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, our I mean, we all remember that, right?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um it was just like crazy because you know, we need oil, we need oil in our skin.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: And and for people who are have dry skin, we need oil.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: And for people who tend to have oily skin, they need oil.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's this idea that like actually this works for all skin types, and I I think people need to know that.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're going, if you're about to walk a red carpet, would I do my potion serum in your T-zone?
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not, but I would I would put it on your cheeks and I would put it on your neck and I would put it on your decollete and I would press the bomb into the cheeks, you know.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody looks more useful with a glow in the cheeks.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, there's there's a place for it.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really about the about learning that I think like nothing to me as a makeup artist with my eye, nothing stands out more jarring than seeing somebody who's like got thick foundation and it's completely matte and like totally powdered.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just to me, I'm like, you are aging yourself 10 years right now.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I do the opposite.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, even just now before our call, I know that that it's on call, but I I have my like Zoom camera on and I was like, oh, I need some life in my cheeks.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I took my bomb and I pressed it into my cheeks, and they just like looked dewy and and plumpy and glowy, and I just feel better.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I look better.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, and I and I love that.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you're absolutely right.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, in a world where everyone's talking about anti-aging and all this stuff, you know, it's important to realize that it's not about anti-aging, it's about seeing like yourself for the age you are and doing what you can to give your skin the nourishment that it needs.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's really what it is.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you have to have healthy aging.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we need, not anti-aging.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what you're describing here and the way that you've created your products is is very pro-healthy, you know, aging effects.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like your, you know, your products are meant for literally anybody, you know, everyone, you can use them.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it's that's what good skincare is something that can be used by everybody.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: I have, you know, a great appreciation for clinical grade skincare.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_02: Don't get me wrong, you know, there are some very talented MDs and and dermatologists, you know, that they're very, very talented behind these lines, and those products serve a purpose.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that, you know, in terms of skin pathology.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're talking about daily maintenance skincare, it is very, very smart to use something like you know, Lula, you what you created with Lula, because these are products that are genuinely clean, you know, clean in the sense that, you know, they're just naturally occurring, you know, uh herbs and and oils that we can just use for our skin.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's what the earth, you know, that wants us to do.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_02: Every medical discovery that's ever occurred on this planet has been because we have observed nature.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_02: That is a fact, you know what I mean?
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's a fact.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like nothing has ever happened in terms of innovation and discovery that is not a mimicry of either the human body or the way that nature plays out, period.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you're a scientist, you can talk about biomimetic oils, you know.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like um we're one one thing that that I love to do it again is you know, in speaking to what you're what you're talking about, it's like I love I I love a clinical product every once in a while too.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't turn my nose up to it.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't say like this is the only way to go, but like you, you know, use your skincare like you would like you would your makeup, right?
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: Have a have a wardrobe.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: Have a wardrobe of makeup, have your you know, tinted moisturizer for when you want something a little lighter, have a foundation stick where you don't have to apply it everywhere.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Use a foundation stick in conjunction with an oil, like a skincare treatment, so that you don't have to put foundation all over your face.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many ways to use products, and I love this like fluidity of um, you don't have to say like it's only only western or only eastern or you know, only clinical or only clean, um, but really incorporate all of them into your wardrobe, into your skincare wardrobe.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and sometimes like my favorite thing to do is to use a product and then use my my Beyond Balm on top.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it has, you know, shea butter and beeswax and jojoba oil.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it really locks in moisture and then it continually continuously adds moisture to the skin, but it it creates like a treatment for anything else underneath it, right?
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't let it out.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it just acts like as a treatment, and you wake up and you're like everything sunk in so much better because they use the beyond bomb on top to kind of seal it.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, no, I completely agree.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a really good point you made on a science level, too.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um, you know, we I have talked to many dermatologists, and one of the things that I think consumers don't really understand is this concept of transepidermal water loss and how you know everyone wants to put a humectant on their face.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: But the reality of the situation is your skin already has the water content it needs if you're drinking normal adequate amounts of water, you know, right and you're not dehydrated.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like what you really need is something that's going to keep in what you have.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need to keep adding on like mists and water and mist flower water, and you know what I mean?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like you don't need all that, you just need a good like seal.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: You need to seal it up.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do, like I love a hyaluronic serum, you know, I I absolutely love that.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you do love something, do that, but also have that, you know, that oil or the bomb, the occlusive that you can layer on top to then seal it in, you know, so so that it doesn't continually, you know, come out through the skin.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um I again, I'm not a scientist, but I um I so value.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're all scientists, Sarah.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: We are all born scientists and really believe that, you know.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I value and I um really, really respect people like yourself, which I I gather information all the time.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I'm bringing to the brand is like let's continuously learn how to be our best, right?
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of sustainability, in terms of ingredients, like it's it's continuous uh education always.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I taught I tell that to everybody that works for the brand.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's learn every day, you know.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think your podcast is a great way to help to help learn and to help teach.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Sarah, this has been so wonderful.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_02: You are such a dream to chat with.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to have you back anytime.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone listening, please go check out the brand.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, honestly, you know, we we need more products made by professionals such as Sarah that really know the skin.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, makeup artists know the skin, they know the details.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: So check out Lula.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's a beautiful uh range, it's a small line in terms of the range, and I love that actually.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a plethora products.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, check it out.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: Just three products, but they're all you know, they they serve a purpose, and I really want you guys to support the line and support the amazing work that Sarah's doing.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: And and Sarah, thank you so much.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have to reconnect uh another time and and talk about sustainability and and charity that we're working with and all the other good things um that we're bringing to this brand, which I'm excited about.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to have you back anytime.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Edgar.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Sarah.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_02: Have a good one.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_02: You too.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 57:07
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• 57:12
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• 57:15
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• 57:29
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• 57:46
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• 57:50
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• 58:00
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• 58:07
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• 58:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.