The Problem Every Makeup Artist Faces And How I Turned It Into Millions

0:00Basically, we're marketing a piece of foam, but we're talking about what it does to you.

0:10Rianne Silva built Beauty Blender into a category-defining brand worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and it's still completely self-funded. I didn't pay myself for about eight years. If I paid myself first, I wouldn't have a business. And a strategy that made it possible? Becoming a sponge to all the information around her. While working 18-hour days as a Hollywood makeup artist, Rianne created a revolutionary design that changed the beauty world forever. This business for me is a dream come true. She picked up tips from her cast and crew and learned the rest by calling the 1-800 numbers on the back of beauty product packages.

0:45Rihanna is here to share her approach to product development, retail partnerships, and even dupe culture. All of a sudden, people were going to just steal it, right? But then I also realized when they stop paying attention is when you have to worry. I'm your host, Adam Levinter, and this is Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and scaling a business. Rhianne, so excited to have you here. Welcome to the show. Oh my God. Well, that was quite an intro. Thank you, Adam. I heard a stat that is so crazy that there is a beauty blender sponge sold every 12 seconds. Yeah, I heard that stat too.

1:18My team did all the math behind that. It's crazy, isn't it? That is wild. I mean, when you reflect back 20 plus years, are you shocked by the trajectory of all this? Absolutely. Yes. No, I didn't create Beauty Blender with the intention of it becoming a consumer product at all. It was literally me MacGyvering something on set because I had a problem. Okay, tell us what that problem was. Okay, so I was department heading this show called Girlfriends. And I was working on several other shows at the same time. But Girlfriends was unique because it was the first show being shot and broadcast in high definition.

1:57And what that means for a makeup artist is that the makeup looks different on film. So I had the cast of these four beautiful women, all needing to look natural and not like they were wearing a lot of makeup. And traditionally for film, in order for makeup to actually transform a person, you kind of have to put a lot on. And then, of course, over the course of the day when you're touching up, more and more makeup starts to layer on the skin. So with high definition, it was all about like keeping the makeup very sheer and natural. And that was the challenge. It was how do I do these four beautiful girls that don't need a lot of makeup to begin with, but how do I keep them looking consistent and natural all day?

2:43And so I started airbrushing them. And airbrushing is a beautiful technique of spraying foundations and color cosmetics onto somebody's skin. But it's not very practical at all when you're on set because it makes a lot of noise. And if you've ever been on set like right now, everybody's really quiet in the studio, right? Because we're recording sound. If I was in the corner with an airbrushing machine going chung, chung, chung, chung, chung, chung, chung, I would be escorted out of the stage. So basically I had to find a way to keep that airbrush look that I started in the trailer outside of the stage consistent throughout the day without using the airbrush.

3:28And it was just kind of by chance. I took a class. I'm a part of Local 706, proud member. And we do this ongoing education from time to time. And there was a makeup artist that came and shared. She was an Oscar-winning makeup artist, by the way. And she came and shared some of her techniques about what she did. And it was this movie a long time ago called G.I. Jane with Demi Moore. I remember that one. Yeah. And there were some really big close-ups on that film where she had to mask the makeup. and she started sharing how she did that. And so I took some of those techniques that she shared that day and applied them to the sponges that I was using at the time and tried to see if any of those techniques would actually work for me.

4:17And they did, and that was kind of how I started MacGyvering and cutting and using them wet and all the different things that Beauty Blender is now known for. So how do you find the first cohort of customers outside of your immediate network of people you're working with on set, friends and family, that sort of thing? So for me, because I was a professional, I was, again, working on sets, working on, you know, movies and television, commercial music videos, all these different mediums. For me, I had a huge network of makeup artists, friends and people that I came in contact with over the course of my career.

4:57And also, of course, being a part of the union was very helpful because there's, you know, hundreds and hundreds of makeup artists around the United States, if not the world, that you have access to through the unions if you're a union member. So that was my first strategy was to get it in the hands of a makeup artist because I felt like they were the only people that were going to really understand what it was that I was making. And they were all going to have the same problem because technology was changing. It was a time when we were going from, you know, shooting film into shooting, you know, digital.

5:29High def was just a new term. It's crazy because everything is digital now. But at the time, it happened in this transition period. You were kind enough to give me this year's version of the Beauty Blender sponge. Oh, no, you got the classic. Okay, the classic. Yes. Which is beautifully designed. It kind of looks like an egg. I've got a pink one. But rewinding back to version one of this, and you said you were sort of MacGyvering this to life. What was the first version of the prototype that you felt like found product market fit? It was an egg. It was always an egg. So what happened for me, and I think a lot of people that use makeup, makeup artists, and even consumers will know that there's these triangular color-shaped sponges that are easy to find at any store.

6:20Those tools, those sponge tools, were also the tools that professional makeup artists used for many years. But what we would do with those sponges is we would take little cuticle scissors and cut all the sharp edges off the sponge. Because again, when you zoom in on a face, like you're doing a super tight shot, But you don't want to see the lines of demarcation where someone has dragged the sponge across the face and you can see lines. So when you buffer the corners and make them round, you don't have those lines of demarcation. So it began by me cutting triangular sponges and they ended up being little eggs.

6:57Who was the first proper manufacturing partner that you had for the business and how did you find them? It's the same one I have today. Really? Yeah, yeah. That's why I'm in Pennsylvania. You said something about me when you were introducing me about 800 numbers and looking on the back of packages. So I was a very, very busy working makeup artist, and I used to travel with my clients around the world. And while I had this idea to make this rounded egg-shaped sponge, I couldn't find anybody to make it. And it certainly wasn't something that I could do. I mean, I would sit on the side of set and cut sponges.

7:39And so would my team. We would use them daily. So we would have to cut them every day. But you can imagine, I mean, that's no way to scale a business. So I started to look at sponge manufacturers. And I would go from store to store, from city to city, from country to country sometimes, and look on the back of these packages to see who's making these products. Like, who can I contact that would understand why I want to create this new shape? And what I started to notice in my time, kind of like doing this in real-time research, is that there were only a few companies and manufacturers that actually made beauty sponge material and distributed it.

8:27So I found one that was in the United States in Pennsylvania, and they happened to have an 800 number on the package, and I just called them. And there was a woman that answered the phone. Her name is Catherine Bailey. Really funny conversation because she was like, listen, honey, we have all these patents, and I'm sure we have something that you are already talking about. I was trying to get her to sign my NDA, right? As a professional, I'd never seen anything like this. And I knew the benefit that it was going to have for the future. So she wasn't willing to sign my NDA right away. And then she told me, well, you know, we hold so many patents and I'm sure we have something like yours.

9:09So I don't know, you're kind of wasting your time. And I'm a little relentless at times. And I said, you know, well, that's perfect then. Why wouldn't you look at it? If you think you already have something like that, what's the harm of looking at it and signing my NDA? I guess I was a little pushy. So she relented and she signed my NDA and I sent her my prototype and it took several weeks. And she kind of said, it's the palm slap to the forehead. Why didn't we think of it? And I told her, because you're not a makeup artist and the people designing your tools aren't makeup artists, but I am. And so she started to help me.

9:45And then she was promptly let go from that company. and at first I looked at it as like oh my god what am I going to do now but it was the best thing that could have happened to me or for me or for Beauty Blender because now she was free to help me and she was the one that actually put me in touch with the manufacturer that I still work with today. Wow yeah is that unusual to have at this point like a 20 plus year business proper brand to have the same manufacturing partner locally, domestically, 20 plus years later? I can't really speak for anybody else. Everybody's circumstances and experiences are different, but I can tell you that the Beauty Blender foam that we make Beauty Blender out of is only made at this place.

10:35So even though, you know, I like to say I have a lot of fans, There are a lot of beauty blender dupes and knockoffs that are made, but they're all made in China and they're made with a different recipe, let's say. So one of the biggest reasons that I still work with the same manufacturers, because we have an exclusivity on this really unique material, a unique polymer that we make it out of. So they scaled with me. So they also manufacture other foam products. I'm not their only customer, but what they do for Beauty Blender is exclusive. And that's why I've stayed with them. That's, I can only talk about myself, but that's why I've done that.

11:24So we were talking about an NDA in the context of manufacturing, but in general, what advice would you have for founders thinking about protecting their idea or their concept? Well, you need an attorney. You can find anything online, but I'm not an attorney, so I want to make sure that my NDA is tight. I think it's really important. And this is something that I know happens because I have a lot of friends that will come to me with ideas and I I tell them, don't tell me anything. I don't want to hear. Don't. Send me your NDA because I want to remain your friend. And then, you know, if you share something with me and God knows somebody makes it somewhere else, you're going to be like, Rianne told somebody.

12:15Like, no, you have to get an NDA. And I think it's a way to maintain and protect relationships with people that you want to share information with. Hopefully, they're going to share information with you back. You know, the generosity that I've experienced by people sharing stuff with me has been invaluable. And when you have an NDA, it helps protect those conversations. But it can also be for a young entrepreneur an uncomfortable conversation because they feel, I know I did, I felt a little shy to ask about it sometimes. You know, like, do you mind signing an NDA? Like, I would worry a little bit about what that person would think.

12:56but it's a business transaction. And anybody who is your friend and is intentional with wanting to help you in any kind of way, or at least be able to just understand what you're doing, will sign an NDA. How do you protect against, you use the term dupe, knockoffs, competitors coming into your space, creating something that looks and feels like the beauty blender sponge, but you know, of course, it isn't. What are your defense mechanisms? Well, I mean, in the normal world of innovation, an innovator or a creator like myself would get a patent, right? I mean, there's patents and there's copyrights.

13:41I was not awarded a patent on Beauty Blender, and it's not for a lack of trying. I tried for several years. I tried until I couldn't try anymore. And every time you are rejected, you have the opportunity to try again, but then the costs continue to increase. So the advice that I got at the time was brand recognition is almost as important as IP protection. IP protection is as good as you can afford to protect. So when you're a small startup brand like myself, totally self-funded, it's important to have IP. Don't get me wrong. It's important to have patents. But you also have to be willing and able to afford to enforce them, which means you have to pay attorneys.

14:30You have to be willing to go into litigation. You have to be willing to go to the expense of protecting the IP. So for me, I didn't have that kind of money. So for me, what was really unique in my situation is that I was a renowned makeup artist doing editorial, film, television, and I had a lot of recognition. I was able to get a lot of brand recognition and get the word out about Beauty Blender for many years before anybody even paid attention to it. I say this very, you know, respectfully, the bigger companies, the L 'Oreal's, the Estee Lauder's, were not really paying attention to tools. Tools were a category of products that, you know, they didn't invest in.

15:20So I was able to really appeal to the professionals in the world that they did pay attention to. And they started seeing beauty blenders in all of the kits and then they started to pay attention. But that span of time from the time that I started to the time that the bigger brands started paying attention, I was able to gain so much traction and notoriety with the company name and the product name Beauty Blender that my brand recognition was the thing that kept me alive. What are the cornerstones when you look back on Beauty Blender's trajectory? What are the cornerstones of that brand strategy?

16:02The biggest one is brand recognition. So awareness. Awareness, yes. And at the time, too, if you think about back then, we didn't have all the social media platforms that we have now. I think there was really Facebook and MySpace. So really, I depended on beauty editors that covered my product. So awareness came through magazines, through editorial, through publishing. It was a very different world than it is now. And it's moved a lot slower. Everything moves so fast now because everything is everything all the time everywhere, right? Where before, there was the beauty of having a little bit of time to gain momentum and to really appeal to your audience and really educate them about your product.

16:47where now it's just boom, boom, boom. Everything's so quick. When you were talking about manufacturing partners and patents, you mentioned that you were self-funding the business early. Fast forward to today, the business is still completely self-funded. Correct. Correct? Yes. What is it about that? Is it that you want to maintain total control of the company, that you don't want to take outside capital, that the company doesn't need outside capital because you've got the margins, you've got the EBITDA or whatever? Why? Yes. So all of it for many years, I didn't need it. The truth is I had so many friends that were brand founders that took investment or started with investors and it was never a happy story, you know, and for me, I was enjoying my ride.

17:39I was enjoying founding Beauty Blender, creating other products. And just if I didn't need the money, I didn't understand why I would lose the autonomy and bring in an investor at the time. Now, you know, I understand it more now, 20 years later, 20 plus years later. But at the time, I just never did. And then there was the timing of the world. You know, there was a little thing called the pandemic that happened. And, you know, all of us in the beauty space were really nervous. Suddenly, nobody was wearing makeup anymore. Like there were just things that went on and happened that just kind of naturally, organically brought me to the place where I'm still here doing this.

18:23You know, I don't necessarily feel the same way because I'm in a different place now where I understand why a brand wants an investor. I mean, there's strategic investors. There's people that help you along the way, especially when you're a young brand. I think it's really important. Have you ever considered? Yeah, of course I have. But it's like a marriage, Adam. I need to find the right, you know, work partner. Okay, but what about that? I mean, I think there's a lot of listeners, viewers that don't perhaps understand what it means to take on venture capital or outside investment. Yeah, well, I don't really either because I haven't done it.

18:59So let's just be clear about that. I can just give you what my, you know, my suspicions are. Yeah, no, I've definitely spoken to my friends. There have been success stories, but there's also been more challenges than not. But I really, you know, they will all tell you that, you know, you have to find somebody that you're aligned with, somebody that understands your culture and where you're trying to go in the future. I think those are really important things to be aligned in finding the right investor. I read something that you have some sort of vision boarding slash mental pathway process for seeing the future, as you said.

19:38Really? Do you? Oh, my God. What did you hear? I don't know. I've read that somewhere. You know, I do, but it's not very academic or anything like that. Or spiritual. Yeah. It's more spiritual. Honestly, it is. I find that there's this time for me between winding down my day and actually falling asleep that it's like my brain starts to download stuff. So I always try to keep, well, now it's my phone, but for many years I had a notebook and a pen and paper next to my bed. And I would just come up with ideas or things. I'm a great list writer. I write a lot of lists and I like to check off my list.

20:28Like I feel very satisfied when that happens. And I would write things down that I would dream about or think about or feel would be a good idea. And I know it's not necessarily like looking at a trend report or you can subscribe to trend reports. And it's very different for me. Speaking of list writing, also saw that you like the one task a day rule as a motto. Yeah, I do. I feel like it's really important, especially for young entrepreneurs and people that are passionate about an idea. Look, we can all get discouraged and deflated and distracted with life. Life is challenging, you know. And I think like completing one thing a day and moving forward is important because I can't tell you how many artists and hairdressers, just, you know, all kinds of different people that have said, how have you done this?

21:20What is your secret? What do you do? There's no secret. I said, the thing is you have to keep your passion alive and you have to do one thing every day that is a step forward in getting you closer to whatever the goal is. And there's different goals in different phases of the business too, but those come afterwards. Like you do one step at a time. The way I was able to succeed, I was a single parent. I was, you know, working. And when you work on set, you know, your time is not your own. It's not a nine to five clocking in, clocking out. You know, they tell you when to eat. You arrive when you arrive.

21:55You wrap when you wrap. And then during the time that you're there, you still have to do so many things, right? So for me, it was just being able to check off with all the other things I was trying to manage every day to check off one thing every day that got me closer to my goal. In those early days, how long did it take until the business reached a specific level of scale where you could pay yourself out of the business? I didn't pay myself for about eight years. It's a long time. Yeah. And I hear like I have, you know, these really successful friends that have gone to like the Wharton School of Business and all these business schools.

22:32And they're like, no, you pay yourself first. And I'm like, oh, my God, if I paid myself first, I probably wouldn't have a business because I kept throwing all of the money that I would make and then whatever I had left over from my own makeup income into the business to keep it going. But when founders hear that, I think the first question that comes to mind is like, how are you living if you're not paying yourself for all that time? Well, I had a thriving makeup career and I was a very high paid makeup artist. So you're paying yourself that way. Yeah. I mean, I have to say we live in a world now that's very different.

23:10I have so many makeup artist friends that I respect and I love, but I can tell you that when all of this was going on, it was a very unique time in entertainment, a unique time in beauty. I would double dip, triple dip, do two or three jobs. I'd have one set going with a group of makeup artists. I'd start another one and then I'd go do like a do and go for someone that's doing a red carpet. I would do like three jobs in one day and each one was paying me a couple thousand dollars. So I would, you know, I would, that's how I lived. Who was the first retail partner that said yes? Oh, well, they were my pro stores.

23:47So, you know, most makeup artists that, that do film and television don't really like shop at Sephora. They go to these pro stores that carry every brand imaginable that you can think of. And if they don't have it, they'll go out and shop for it for you. So when you're working every day on set, you don't have time to go shop, So you have to call somebody that can satisfy all your needs, get everything that you need for your next job, your current job, your kit, all these things. So the pro stores knew me very well because I always had what's called POs, purchase orders from different studios going on.

24:25They all knew who I was. So when I created Beauty Blender and I pitched it to them and I showed them what it was, they actually understood what it was because they knew what was coming. And so they became my first customer. And now, how many doors are you in? I'm not really sure. I think it's about 6 ,000, maybe more. Yeah, maybe more. It's a global brand. Yeah. That's why the 17, you know, a minute number is what it is. But it's because it's everywhere. It's everywhere. Yeah. So many questions I think viewers would have around what makes for a good retail partnership. and also what are some things about going into retail that a founder should understand if they want to go on any channel?

25:10Let's say they started online and now they want to take the product in store. What can you share? They're two totally different ways of presenting and selling your product. So, you know, when you start off and you're like natively a D2C brand, it's a very different business because you're not really touching your product once it leaves the warehouse, right? Like everything happens before. But when you sell to a brick and mortar retailer where there's consumers that come into the store and there's visual merchandising and there's mapping and there's all the different things that happen inside of a store, it's a more detailed, more complicated business and your relationships and communication are really the most important superpowers you have in that circumstance because you're competing, you know, inch by inch in those retail environments with every other brand.

26:06What about inventory commitments or shelving fees or other financial requirements or barriers that the retailer may place on the founder early on? They are real. You have to have inventory. You have to be able to scale. Some of the retailers, especially like my retailers like Sephora and Ulta, they've created these incubation parts of their business where they support small brands because they realize it is quite an investment. It's expensive to plan out inventory, pay for inventory, produce inventory to sell, and then also have the visual merchandising expenses, not to mention the promotional expenses that go on in each of these retailers that they expect you to, you know, pay for.

26:56So it is more than a notion. And I think, again, for me, timing was everything because when Beauty Blender started, there really was no D2C business. There was no e-commerce business. It was all brick and mortar. And for Beauty Blender, what I didn't realize at the time, again, God is so good, I had one skew. You know, you think of a makeup brand, they have maybe 100 skews because they have foundations and 20 different colors and, you know, eyeshadows, blushes, everything that they have. Beauty Blender was one tool, one SKU. So it was much easier for me to scale that than it would be like for a brand that has four or five SKUs that they're starting their brand with.

27:42So I think your question is, it's very complicated. It's very expensive. And that's why people have investors from the beginning. I was going to ask. I mean, 6 ,000 doors sounds like a lot of doors. And just when you think about it, just from a very high level, you think, well, this would be something where an injection of capital would help. But still. It is. It's definitely important. I think it's really almost impossible to do what I did now. I don't think that's the way these new brands are operating, the way they're planned. And, you know, they're also founders that plan their exit before they even start.