Monday, January 17, 2011

Why cosmetics?



I’m often asked why I started making my own eye shadows and glosses. The answer is really rather simple. I wanted beautiful colors, affordable prices, & I didn’t want to have something shipped to me. At the time, I was looking for something local. I scoured tons of stores, from Wal-Mart, to CVS, to Ulta, and whatever else I could find. Nothing they carried satisfied me. That was over a year ago. 

I faithfully cyber stalked (in a non criminal way) Xenia of LimeCrime, and Amy or Shrinkle, of Sugarpill for ages. I would spend hours reading their blog posts and longingly oogling the beautiful make up they always seemed to have (Amy sold Kryolan at the time, her line, Sugarpill, released at a later date). Not long after, they both started their own cosmetics line and I watched the rest of the story unfold from there. If you’re curious about either of these companies, you can google their names, followed by the word review and you’ll find plenty of results.

There was nothing I wanted more than to have my own line. There was only one thing stopping me, I had no idea how to do it. At the time, I didn’t even think it was a possibility. Then the whole repackaging scandal hit the online/indie makeup world. If you don’t know what repackaging is, I’ll explain. Repackaging is where a seller takes straight mica, the pigment color ingredient of an eye shadow, from a supplier, dispenses it into jars, and sells it as is for a higher price. There is much more to making an eye shadow. I have an older post here that you may want to read for more information. Now, back to the topic at hand; when the scandal hit, it accused one of the companies, whose name I shall not mention, although almost everyone knows who it was, of repackaging straight mica from a supplier. 

There were links all over the web for companies that provided the supplies to make cosmetics. I was in heaven. My original intention was just to make some for myself and the whole thing blossomed from there. Now I have friends who help me immensely, an Etsy shop, and a dream that I am never going to give up on.

-Tina

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