How to Set Beauty Trends Before They Become Mainstream

0:00I still feel this constant anxiety every time I post something about the business. But there has been no successful individual who hasn't risked criticism by putting themselves out there.

0:19Hey, welcome to Shopify Masters. I'm Shuang Esther Shan, and this is your companion for starting and scaling a business. Over a decade ago, Taylor Frankel and her sister Allie wanted a more natural look, while the beauty industry was focused on full glam and coverage. We didn't feel like there was this immediate connection to any of the brands that existed in the market. The sisters, along with their mother Jenny, who is a chemical engineer, decided to launch Nudestix. She started at MAC Cosmetics developing a lot of their formulas. Creating easy-to-use, multitask makeup products back in 2014.

0:55Today, Newstix achieves over eight figures in revenue while being sold in over 3 ,000 points of distribution in over 30 countries. In fact, right now, a hero product is being sold every 60 seconds. It's even a must-have in the daily routines of celebrities like Sophia Ritchie and Hilary Duff. We figured out this way to incentivize and get creators and celebrities excited. Also positioning themselves not just as a creator and not just as a celebrity, but as an investor. Taylor is here to chat about beauty innovation, community building, and securing key partnerships. Taylor, welcome back to the show.

1:34Thanks for having me. So excited to be here. Again, back in 2014, what a different time. Very different. We wanted airbrushed skin, no pores, full coverage, and here you are with Allie wanting something different. What was driving you to make this happen? You nailed it when you said that in 2014, it was the era of full glam. It was the era of more is more beauty. Back then, we really craved beauty that was uncomplicated, fuss-free, that made us look and feel like the best version of ourself. We felt that the beauty industry was telling us to look a certain way and to feel good looking exactly like that.

2:15We were tired of the 20-step tutorials, the two-hour YouTube videos on how to create the perfect smokey eye. Because let's be real, the majority of women, we're busy. Whether you're a mom, a student, you have a career, maybe you have a kid or a dog, we want products that fit into our lifestyle seamlessly. So that's really what inspired Nudestick. It's like the trendsetter because there's so many different brands who are trying to achieve what NewStix has done. Your mom, Jenny, was a veteran in the industry. How did you go to her to approach her with such a new concept as well? So between the years of 2012 and 2014, my mom had actually exited her previous company and she had a two-year non-compete Eat, Pray, Love.

3:01sounds lovely. But I think anyone who's listening who has an entrepreneurial spirit or has started a business in the past, you know that you kind of have it with you forever. And so when an idea comes about or you have an interesting conversation, you know it's the right time to launch a business when everything in your body, it's like a physiological response that you need to do this. And that's exactly what happened. We would have dinner table conversations about what we craved from beauty. We felt that the beauty industry was failing us and a lot of women who were the modern women who weren't at home and didn't have hours to spend on their beauty routine.

3:39And that's when we actually all came together as a family and we said, wait a second, we're all talking the same thing here. It's really interesting because between my mom, my sister, and I, we're all very different generations. My sister is a Gen Z, I'm a millennial, and my mom is your Gen X. And yet we all wanted the exact same thing from our beauty routines. Because although we had slightly different lifestyles, we still spoke to this new modern day woman who does it all. So that was when we decided there's obviously many steps that led up to actually going to market with nude sticks, but it really started at our dinner table.

4:16I love when you mentioned how your mom was drawn and pulled to start something new again. And I call this like the invisible call because no one else can see it, but you really feel it deep inside. So you have a great idea. You found great production partners. How did you get your first set of customers and start marketing the brand with limited budget? First and foremost, back then, this is when Instagram had just launched. And so that's where we were gathering a lot of our sources of inspiration. So we would screenshot different types of imagery that we loved or tutorials that we connected with.

4:52And we would pull these different sources of inspiration. And then we essentially created a deck. We all know and love decks here. We're kind of obsessed with decks at Nude Sticks. But we put together on paper what Nude Sticks meant to us, our mission statement, and who the Nude Sticks customer was. I think that's very important. I think from day one, you need to be so clear on your raison d 'etre, who you are and who you're trying to speak to. And that was incredibly clear for us because we're creating a solution to a problem that we had. And so at the end of the day, we were the customer. And then we would essentially interview and speak to a variety of women across different generations that felt the same thing.

5:37And so that was really important to us because obviously we wanted that external validation. We needed, you know, a group of women or essentially this study of women who did feel like there was something actually missing from the market. And it wasn't just these three women from Toronto that felt this gap in their beauty routine. And then from there, we went into product development. My mom being a chemical engineer was obviously, you know, essential in our go to market. And as much as we had this idea of minimalist clean beauty, we also needed efficacy. We needed performance. And if you know anything around the beauty industry or artistry, not you directly, but like in general, like anyone who's listening, you need respect.

6:19In order to be a successful beauty brand, you do need a ton of respect from the artistry community. And so we couldn't just develop clean, minimalist products that didn't actually work or didn't actually perform. And my mom's background, she started at MAC Cosmetics developing a lot of their formulas and another Toronto-based brand. Yes, love MAC. Beautiful brand. And when she was developing formulas for them, they actually made it essential for every single chemist on their team to go through artistry training. Because the founders at the time, Frank and Frank, would say, how do you develop makeup for artists if you don't actually know what they need or how they're using the products?

6:56So we've always had a little bit of this like artistry background in our family and would take that and use that in order to develop a lot of our formulas. But then we said, okay, let's take this artistry knowledge, but then how do we actually create products for the everyday woman, right? And at the end of the day, product is king, right? You can have the best mission. You can have an amazing, you know, aesthetic. You can have an amazing brand. But if you don't actually have products that perform and that work, it's eventually going to flop. Yeah, that's the key thing that people are tuning into.

7:31And I think you have built this foundation where you are understanding the end user. by doing all those research and also developing products with them in mind. So when you are going into production, when you're starting out, how do you approach suppliers, production partners to sell them on this idea? The way we look at suppliers is how you would sell to a customer because suppliers need to buy into your story. If you're a startup or if you're an indie brand, they're taking a risk or a leap of faith on you. So that's essentially what we did. We spoke to different suppliers. We also would meet them in person.

8:08So we went to a variety of different trade shows. One specifically is called Cosmoprof. And if you are looking to start a beauty business, you need to go to Cosmoprof. It is the biggest trade show in the world. There's one every year. There's one in Vegas, Hong Kong, Bologna, and Italy. And you get to meet with every single supplier lab under the sun and suppliers that work on formulation, but also packaging. So we would meet them in person. We would sit down with them. We really understood not only are we pitching them, but they're also pitching us. So we needed to understand from them, like, what is their process like?

8:42Because we had very strict guidelines in terms of how our formulas are made from a clean perspective, but also making sure that, you know, there's regulatory processes in place that make sense for us, legal practices that, you know, we needed to ensure were being done in an ethical way. So that was our checklist. And then eventually, performance and product. And so we would test formulas. And also, we would bring ideas to them. And we would say, okay, this is something we want to do. It doesn't exist currently in the market. Can you do this? And a lot of suppliers will say, sorry, we can't do this for you.

9:19And others will say, you know what? I think we can work on this together. I think we can be innovative together and like do something really special. So those are the ones that we typically gravitated towards. And it's interesting because a lot of these suppliers and manufacturers that were on board with that mission and the innovation piece were based in Korea. And if you know Korean beauty or K-beauty, you know that they're like the most innovative when it comes to beauty formulations. Typically, innovation that we see here in North America has existed in Korea and the Asian market for many years prior.

9:54So a lot of the trends we see now come from those markets. So I think that's a part of the reason why we were also pioneers in a lot of formulas and packaging because of that insight. We want to highlight the word partnership here because it's, to your point, you are looking for someone who is excited to collaborate and innovate together. And I think by unlocking that has allowed NewStix to be so different for such a long time. And then, you know, you have the idea, you have great partners. How do you get the word out for strangers on the internet to also be excited and be potential customers?

10:31So back in 2014, we did not have TikTok. Instagram had just launched and it was the era of sepia filters and posting about our food. And, you know, we really wanted to go about it in a grassroots way. The main reason was because we didn't have marketing budgets, but also we wanted to feel this authentic connection with our community. We were tired of seeing these crazy billboards and going into a local retailer and seeing these beautiful models, but yet feeling so uninspired or we didn't feel like there was this immediate connection to any of the brands that existed in the market, nor did we see ourselves in those brands because they were these beautiful models that had the perfect skin and the perfect, you know, everything was, you know, was perfect.

11:19A little bit too out of reach. Exactly. Exactly. So social media allowed us at the time to share our story really authentically and show even just photos of us, you know, and say, this is how I do my makeup every single day. I'm not a makeup artist, but I just want to look like the best version of myself and share that with our community. So it was very grassroots. And then I remember at the time as well, I would post like just orders that would come into our home. And I would literally just take a photo of boxes in our, you know, in the front of our home or our basement where we were packing boxes for, you know, our first order on our ping pong table.

11:57And I think that connection people really craved because they hadn't seen that maybe historically with brands that they were buying into. And I remember even like Snapchat at the time, and I would create a video every single morning before I went to school, it would be like a 30 second video of me doing my makeup. And I still have customers that will be like, I remember, I remember those early days. I don't even want to look at those videos because I would probably like shiver of cringe. But they say, you know, a lot of people who are successful have those cringe worthy moments. You have to be okay with that, putting yourself out there.

12:28So I think that kind of comes with the territory of being a trendsetter. Like so many beauty founders are trying to build in public, trying to create content and you were doing this over a decade ago. So comes hand in hand, but necessary. Necessary. Yes. Yeah. And speaking to trendsetting, right? You partnered with Sophia Ritchie well before her, you know, beautiful Vogue wedding. And I think you really know how to spot talent, opportunity before it kind of goes mainstream. How do you do that? So that was a very, very interesting. It was the perfect combination of strategy and this organic, beautiful moment.

13:08A friend of mine, her name is Maggie Sellers. We love Maggie. We've also had her on the show before. Yes, Maggie's amazing. Hot Smart Rich is her brand and her podcast. And at the time, she was like very connected in the celebrity space because of a lot of venture capital work she had been doing and linking brands and celebrities. and I had met her through a mutual friend. And I remember the first time I met her, we were going out for drinks. This was like a very casual like night out in California. And I was at her home and she pulled out a deck for me. Like that was one of the first things she did.

13:41And I was like, this girl, like the first time I meet her and she's like pulling out this deck and showing me work that she's done. And I'm like, there has to be a way that we work together. And so we actually brought her on as an advisor and she was helping us with a few different celebrity partnerships or influencer partnerships. And at the time we called it CSOP and we still call it CSOP. It's our celebrity stock option plan. So first, you know, as a small brand, we obviously don't have these crazy budgets and millions of dollars to pay celebrities to post about our product. But we figured out this way to incentivize and get creators and celebrities excited about the future, you know, business opportunity and also positioning themselves not just as a creator and not just as a celebrity, but as an investor, as a business owner, and also giving them insights or maybe an opportunity to see what it actually takes to build a business.

14:33As I'm sure you know, a lot of creators now are looking to get into that space. That's how we approached Sophia. And she was super excited. She's super savvy. And she really wanted to understand what it took to build a business and see the behind the scenes. So Maggie had introduced us and the first coffee slash lunch we had, we just hit it off. If you know her, you know that she loves minimalist beauty. She's this really beautiful Gen Z example of quiet luxury. You know, she's modest, but an authentic and she really embraces like this kind of less is more approach to what she does, whether it's like this classic slick back bun or like beautiful skin.

15:18And it was just so on brand. So she joined us in 2023 and then going into her wedding, she had popped off because she went on TikTok finally. She started posting just real videos about her life and showing her personality and the whole internet. And when I say whole internet, I mean, we saw an impact in Australia, in Asia, in the Middle East, in North America, in Mexico, in Europe. Like it was a global phenomenon. I know every celebrity wedding, there's always some social media kind of reach, but this was next level. Obviously, she's, you know, a brand stakeholder, but there was no obligation for Nudestix to be a part of her wedding.

16:00This was her special moment and her day, but she organically included Nudestix on her wedding weekend and her celebrity makeup artist, Patti Dubroff, we had sent her a product saying, no pressure, here's some product, use it, don't use it. you know she essentially would do it what Sophia wanted and she used nude sticks on Sophia's wedding day and it was insane it's incredible because I remember her releasing the different TikToks unveiling the different dresses showcasing how she was doing her makeup it felt like a huge show you know and like you're waiting for the weekly drop of an episode but this was her TikTok and its daily drops of her video.

16:38It was an incredible moment. Hats off to Sophia and her team because they really went about it in an organic way. It felt super authentic. When Sophia went on social, like there was no show. Like she just was on and really like communicated as herself and it was super aspirational. So yeah, it was awesome. So partnership with Sophia was the start of Nude Body, different product ranges and product launches. How are you staying creative and thinking about new ideas? So Sophia inspired nude body. She loves all things body care. And so we went into the kitchen with her and she actually brought like tubs of product that she uses in her bathroom.

17:22And they were like, it was super interesting, like really like no name products, but like really beautiful formula. She'd loved anything that was packed with coconut oil and had these really calming, aromatic scents like lavender and bergamot. And that was like the starting point of how we developed the range. And the way Sophia looked at body care was similar to how she looked at her skincare for her face, right? When we think about our skincare, I mean, I don't know how many people do all these routines or these steps, but if you do, thumbs up. You know, we cleanse, we exfoliate, we tone, we moisturize, we take such good care of the skin on our face, but often we forget about our body.

18:03And a lot of women and men experience acne on their body, hyperpigmentation, severe dryness. So we wanted to create a simple solution, body care range that really targeted all of those skin concerns that most women and men have, but yet still make it feel luxurious. So it wasn't overly medical. It still had beautiful packaging. If you put it on your vanity or if you put it in your bathroom, it looked beautiful aesthetically, but yet still had really rich formulas that were super effective. And that's really what makes Nudestix across all of our brands really differentiated is our mission is has always been to develop minimalist, clean products that truly work and perform so high performance products.

18:48And in my opinion, if you're creating products just for the aesthetic, or just for this like, quick, you know, smell or like, you know, because someone posted it on social media, but you're not actually looking for results, it falls flat. Like you really, you're putting your money into a product because this is actually going to benefit you and work for you. So that's always been our philosophy and Sophia's as well. 2024, also a big year. You closed off the year with$65 million in earned media value. What are some campaigns or strategies you think attributed to that? Yeah, so it was a great year, 2024.

19:24And we always have this multi-pronged approach when it comes to brand buzz and obviously driving sales. So one is brand partnerships. So we're always looking at who is the creator or the influencer that we want to do like one really big thing with. In 2024, it was Glamzilla. She is one of the biggest beauty creators. And what's really special about our partnership with her is that we've been working with her for years before that partnership came to be. So whether it was via mailers or product we would send her events that she would come to, whether it would be organic posting, that she would share Nudestix on her personal platform organically.

20:03And then eventually we said, you know what, like, we see you, like, you're really supportive of the brand. You know, it seems like you organically and authentically love our products, like, let's do something together. And so 2024, we developed a custom product together, which was super successful. And obviously, there's like an EMV play, but then there's obviously a sales and conversion play because we launch our product not just on nudesticks.com, but at retailers like Sephora globally. We obviously have like our kind of like middle funnel strategies, which for us are strategies where we involve our community.

20:39So for us, it's always been so important to ensure that we're speaking to our community on a regular basis, not just via social, but also in real life. Whenever we do our influencer events, there's a community moment. We've done Earth Day walks with our community in our home city of Toronto. We've ensured that they are a part of like other Nudestix events that we're hosting because we want to make sure that they are also a part of this journey with us. I think it's so important as a brand to consider your customer and your community as your number one influencer. And so that's another way that we continue to ensure that we're driving earned media value.

21:18But we're also creating, you know, loyalty. What's going to differentiate you in a crazy saturated market? At the end of the day, it's this relationship building and loyalty that, you know, you have with your customer. And I have to amp you up here because I feel like you were thinking about the community way earlier compared to other brands as well. Like there's also casting calls for customers to be a part of campaigns, invites to the office. And I just Yeah, I love doing that. Casting calls are one of my favorite things. We typically do one at least once a year. And it's usually with our Toronto community because that's where our head office is.

21:56And we do a casting call on social and we invite them over to our office and we get them in the chair, we get their makeup done, their hair done, and they shoot content with us. And it's really fun because we get to see firsthand their feedback on the brand, their love for the products, how they use nude sticks in their daily routines. And a lot of community members, too, may be aspiring content creators. And so it's a great way to connect with creators very, very early on before, obviously, they get really big or, you know. Become the next Glamzilla. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And I know, like, I feel like that's the core that Newstix has always operated with.

22:37And with a lot of changes economically, environmentally, there's always different pressures, I think. Like, what's your advice for founders to kind of stay grounded, know the pillars of your brand, and adjust accordingly when things are changing? So this year has been challenging. I think we've all experienced economic shifts across Canada, across the U.S. And I've always felt the pressure in the beauty industry. In order to stay relevant, you need new. And you need shiny. I think a lot of brands create this narrative for themselves. But going into 2025, we felt that it was really important to click reset and to relay the groundwork and the infrastructure to prepare us for the next 10 years.

23:26And that meant scaling back. It meant scaling back perhaps on partnerships and crazy events, still staying connected to our community in many ways, whether it's the local Pilates class, getting our customers in, always interacting with them. But we actually held back on a lot of big things. we've also held back on product launches because as much as new is great if it's not intentional and we just felt that overall consumer sentiment was overwhelmed exhausted there's a lot there's a lot out there and it's a lot of noise and so we wanted to focus on our brand our mission our core products and retell some stories and reposition nude sticks to ensure that we were differentiated and poised for the next 10 years.

24:18I think that's so smart because I think the community also appreciates that. They trust the products. They love it. And they want to be a part of those Pilates classes, those nut bar smoothies. And yeah, just like a piece of calm in all of the chaos. The other piece I wanted to highlight is also because you were setting the trends, there have been brands that are kind of copying or, you know, paying homage to nude sticks in a way. How are you thinking about that when there's more people wanting to emulate what you and the team are doing? We try to have a positive spin on it. You know, imitation is the finest form of flattery.

24:56It also makes the marketplace increasingly more competitive and saturated. And often brands that are coming into the market with a very similar product have an influencer or celebrity backing and have a ton of funding. So how do you ensure that the customer continuously knows that you were first or your product is better or how do you ensure that they know the difference between x and y brand and that's a part of the reason why we hit reset this year or we paused because we wanted to ensure that it was so clear to the community what our point of differentiation is and we're not getting lost in a sea that's crowded with a variety of influencer, celebrity brands, and dupes.

25:44Early days, Snapchat, Instagram, you've been posting about building a business in public for a long time. What's your advice for new founders who probably are hoping to do the same and wanting to get started? You just need to post. You just need to post the thing. And I know it sounds really simple, and I still feel this constant anxiety every time I post a day in my life or something about the business because you're opening up to criticism, right? You're opening yourself up to people judging you. But there has been no successful individual who hasn't risked judgment or criticism by putting themselves out there.