Discover How Fluency Beauty is Redefining Clean Multi-Purpose Makeup

0:00Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy, this is your host Becca and I am so so excited to introduce you guys to this brand that we have today with us because you know I feel like when it comes to skincare to skincare.

0:30obviously incorporate into my routine but also there's be some meaning there for me behind the brand so without further ado I want to introduce you guys to the founder of Fluency Beauty Ada Shea welcome to the show Ada I'm so excited to talk to you and learn about fluency hi Akda thank you so much for having me on this is gonna be really fun I'm so stoked to just be on and just talk about things about life about business yeah I am too and you know I really love just the thoughtfulness you've poured into your brand you know I think it becomes really apparent as soon as someone sees it with the naming of the products to just how beautifully like the packaging is how easy it is to like pop into your bag with all these wonderful things I love about it but I want to really actually start with you and your journey like where did it all begin for you and what made you want to go into you know just cosmetics and beauty yeah well first of all thank you so much true kind words that that just makes me like really happy just hearing those like all the work that I've done wasn't for nothing.

1:32No, that's really nice to hear. Thank you. So I actually started out in finance, you know, a lot of times when we're growing up, we just don't know what we're supposed to do in life. So I naturally fell into finance. But I'm like, so grateful for that journey, because it actually brought me to New York. And I love it here. And this is like where I fell in love with my life with me. And then in it was in New York that I actually started doing makeup on the side as a hobby. And what happened was I just fell in love with special effects and editorial makeup, which is like super creative. And it was like color therapy, art therapy for me.

2:12So I just devoured it. I like just wanted to every free moment I was studying makeup, like taking classes on the side, practicing on myself, going through just art history, because a lot of the look was inspired by, you know, history, like Caravaggio and Monet, and just like the great artist. So I fell in love with that. And what I found was it actually tore up my skin, because there's just like so much chemicals from the special effects stuff. So I I started digging into ingredients. And as you know, already, it's just makeup is just really toxic. And I grew up on a pretty holistic and natural, I guess, like ethos in life, just like eating.

2:59My parents were like super, super healthy and always cooking at home and like just pounding that message of like natural is really healthy for you. so I think I just you know since I grew up on that I wanted to create something that was just better for all of us that was essentially healthy makeup yeah yeah no I mean that makes so much sense it's interesting what you brought up is this idea of like you know I think the health component of cosmetics and anything topical I mean this this comes up a lot on the podcast yeah idea of like we don't really ask consumers stop and think like okay I do I might love like a shade right of a lipstick or like you know a blush or whatever it is but have you considered what it took to make that you know and i know like clean beauty has kind of become this huge thing now right and like consumers are gravitating but at the same time i have found it to be actually a little weird because there's not as much like why we don't use certain things or why we should use certain ingredients over others you know there's not enough education there about that yeah I agree yeah so I mean from that like you know just as a launching point I want to ask you about your formulations because you know the the lip products for me I mean they go on beautifully and they look beautiful and the pigment is amazing but when you were crafting them like what were the benefits and from that health perspective that you wanted to keep in mind well I just first of all everything anything we put on our lips we're going to ingest it eventually just because like every day we're like drinking water we're eating you know and a lot of that lip product we we don't care you know we're just well at least for me I'm like a ravenous eater and so it just all goes into my mouth and it's my body and I just that was the main like I guess mission behind why I wanted to start with lip products is is not only topical but we're ingesting it at the same time yeah yeah Yeah, that makes sense.

5:00I mean, I think, yeah, I definitely do. I've eaten my fair share of lip balm over the years. Yeah, and actually, our lip skin is, you know, the thinnest, one of the thinnest skins on our body as well. So it's definitely going in no matter what. Yeah, I know. No, it's interesting because you have some very interesting ingredients. I know a lot of people are buzzing right now, like on TikTok and social media about casker seed oil, you know, for example. And I've noticed that is an ingredient that's very much at the top of your list you know in the deck and I love to see that because it has so many amazing properties I mean casper seed oil as many of you might already know you know like the moisturizing is there the antimicrobial properties yes anti-inflammatory properties I mean it's really great so what made you like when you were coming up with your like was there were there ingredients in mind that you had you know from the get-go or did you have to do a lot of research you know oh oh my god so much so much research but some of the ingredients that i had in mind actually castor seed wasn't at the top it came later and it just it just so happened to be part of the the chemistry that made everything melt together and work so that's how the castor seed oil came about but really when i was researching I wanted the pigments to be from food and I wanted the just the ingredients to be as plant-based and like edible as possible so that's where I started you know I was testing a lot of like beetroot powder in my kitchen I tried matcha powder but it was just a lot yeah yeah I mean there's a there's one of the shades is like so awesome I mean I love it personally because I mean I just like darker shades especially with fall right you know at our doorstep i am powerful as i think my favorite shade three and it's a beautiful for every anyone listening it's a beautiful like like berry beet colored like you know almost like a deep you know deep shade of that and it's so beautiful because you can layer you know he doesn't yeah i mean it goes on strongly because the pigmentation is awesome in your products but like i love it because it actually just it naturally goes with your skin tone like I feel like a lot of times darker lipstick colors like they'll look a little like you know artificial doesn't really matter what your skin tone is like they just go on a little bit more I don't know it's harder to play with them and so I found this one I found this one to be very unique in that sense and I I'm just very curious because when you're telling me about how you're playing with like food like the actual color of foods you know that really makes sense to me because it goes on as if it's supposed to I mean it's the color it is but it's like very natural to your own complexion yeah so tell us the story behind this color I am powerful I am I love clean beauty but I do find that it's not because of my background in the special effects and the editorial I just wanted some drama you know I wanted like a really dark color in the collection and we played around with different pigments and that was the one that I really loved so yeah it looks really good like it's really really pretty and like I don't know if any of you did this when you were little but I used to like my mother used to juice a lot even when I was younger yes yeah my parents did yeah like those cleanses like my mom was like all about figuring out the new cleanse you know like she used beets a lot like beets were always there you know like just using them and juicing and i remember like being a kid and playing around with like the because it stains like you know oh my god it stains so bad yeah yeah but like the color is gorgeous it comes out with this beautiful berry like just dark red you know just berry color and it's gorgeous and i remember as a kid putting it on my lips and playing with it so when i tried this it kind of was like nostalgic almost you know oh yeah it's awesome to hear yeah so like i you know i just i love that And I like that there is like something very relatable about your products.

9:06I think that's for me as a consumer, that's what speaks to it. So, I mean, I want to ask you, you know, what was your initial vision, you know, for the brand? Like, what did you really want to create in terms of the relatability aspect? Because I think that's something we don't really talk about enough, you know, in the beauty industry is the power of that, like the power of the emotions that go behind why we buy the makeup that we buy, you know? Yeah. So while I was, you know, working on Wall Street, and then doing makeup on the side, I just every time I did makeup, like I just felt so peaceful.

9:37And just everything was okay. And I was just focused in this moment, it was a moment to myself where I could just breathe and be. And so and then when I found out later, like how toxic makeup really was, I was like, that doesn't make any sense. Like, how can something be so powerful emotionally be so bad for us physically? so that was the mission when I wanted to accomplish was to make these things aligned where it makes sense where it's good for you mind body and soul yeah no that makes sense and I think that you know if you come from that standpoint too there's another thing that happens is like there's this whole conversation around inclusivity now you know cosmetics I think that becomes easier to do I mean correct me if I'm wrong you know if you're coming from it from this perspective of making genuinely good products right that people can relate to I think inclusivity becomes almost like an automatic thing that gets built in you know to your brand I see that you know I see that with fluency is that you have made it very inclusive so how is that I mean you know I know cosmetics it's difficult so when you were oh yeah when you were approaching the colors and stuff how was the like how did you approach the inclusivity aspect well I wanted to start out with shades that that had as wide of a variety as possible.

10:58So there's only three shades right now, but I wanted to keep it somewhat neutral and then have that powerful red lip in there as well. I feel like it does tend to skew more towards people of color. And my Caucasian friends are always like, can you make lighter shades for us? And I was like, yes, that will be my next, like maybe like a more pink tone. But it's definitely always on my mind, like always on my mind. yeah i mean it's really good options though for for anyone of color anyone really i don't think i mean they shouldn't have problems though because you can layer them really well like yes you can yeah yeah go on like a thick you know like a thick shade as soon as you swipe it's just it's very layerable you can kind of tap it on your lips and it goes on yeah yeah yeah definitely i also that was one of the i guess the properties if you may that i i really wanted to hit was that versatility and the multifunctional because I think just living in New York for so many years that's what you really need like like time is limited space is limited you just want something that you can use for everything so that was also why I wanted to make it layerable and just for actually for fluency now it's multi-stick so I know it looks like a lipstick but you can actually use it for blush as well oh yeah yeah yeah I wanted to mention that yeah it's actually that's what really is interesting because when I was talking about complexion earlier that's kind of what I meant I should have said it yeah no word when you put it on your when you put it on your lips cheeks or like on top like your eyes like yeah blends in beautifully with your skin tones like yeah it's really nice I like it a lot I'm so happy that you like it yeah I mean I think it just it speaks for itself i'm glad that you you are doing this multi you know like multi-purpose product though like this approach because there's just a lot as you know you know it's a lot yeah like i'm sick of having like five products you know what i mean i know my everyday look like we need more multi-purpose products i feel like out there but you know this is really really great i mean i love it i use it a lot and i think that the layerability aspect is my favorite part about it you know one thing i will ask you though and this curiosity is when you were creating i mean i know you wanted to create something clean and and you know really plant-based were there any hurdles that you encountered in terms of like the quality that you wanted you know oh it's so many so r &d took four years about and there's a reason why people don't use plant-based pigment it's just the chemistry of it is just so complex.

13:40It's way easier to just use like the dyes and the minerals. But I really wanted to just have that integrity and stay true to me and everything that I was trying to accomplish. Yeah, the pigments, it's like, that's why I started out in my kitchen, just buying freeze dried powder from like beet, trying to make this work. But it's not that simple because all of those powders that you buy at the grocery stores, they're water-based. And a lot of these formulations are oil-based. And we all know oil and water don't really mix. And to get that pigment payoff, it was also very, very hard. And you see a lot of other brands that do use these pigments, but they have to resort to using traditional pigments to mix them because the pigment payoff is just horrible but yeah so that's why r &d took so long and we we finally figured out how to get that like really solid pigment impact yeah i mean i think you definitely nailed that the pigment is like amazing yeah but i mean that's interesting though i mean i can imagine it being hard i mean when you're extracting from like a natural source like it's always oh yeah it's not the same as synthetic but i mean again though i think whenever you take something from nature though or you try to really encompass it into your creation it's always going to be more compatible i think you know overall with your skin type with your skin tone with complexions i mean i i find that to be the most resourceful you know like like to find motivation innovation as well i can see why you want the plant-based route you know it makes sense i think a lot of times with cosmetics we fall into this i mean i didn't grow up with it but i know that the new generation is all about that heavy you know heavy makeup heavy look I mean how do you feel about that like in terms of just how the cosmetic industry is portraying like you know your everyday look these days yeah it's it it comes in waves right because I remember not too long ago it's like the clean girl aesthetic and now we're kind of shifting back to full face but I believe that the millennials and the older it's a gen x right gen x the older gen x yeah older yeah so i i think i feel like the millennials and the gen x they really resonate with this brand just because of the versatility and the time-saving aspect of it and like women are just really busy these days in between like careers and trying to have a social life and trying to take care of the family they i think we just really like this easiness to it yeah yeah like the flexibility of just having something in your purse and using it knowing it's an award yeah that's like my number one criteria honestly i mean i'm a millennial so i completely i 100 % agree with you i think we because we also grew up in a interesting time period too i think millennials like i know for me growing up even like you know doing your makeup in college right to go out like we weren't using crazy amounts of makeup I mean I wasn't my friend no not at all it was still that very natural like almost like hipster vibe you know that would yeah oh yeah definitely and I know I don't know if it's just my circle of friends however limited that is but not a lot of us use foundation these days you know it's just like concealer and then whatever color cosmetics and that's it so So even though I think, yeah, maybe like the heavier makeup look is back on trend.

17:10Like, realistically, I don't know if we have time to do all of this. Oh, God. I don't even know how you make it. I mean, I try. I'm not going to lie. I've tried a couple of times. I end up removing half of it because I just can't. It's like, one, it took me forever. And two, I'm just like, now it's going to take me forever to maintain it. So I'm just going to just know. Yeah, I know. and it's like if we do end up doing a full faith it's like special events you know like special holidays special like whatever so yeah for for every day this is more of an everyday daily use kind of situate you just slap it on it's so easy blend it out with your fingers whatever and you're and you're good to go exactly no and i also like the the eyeshadow component of of multi like the multi-stick because the thing is you know with i remember there was like a whole like time period where everybody was freaking out about like eyeshadows and like doing like the eight different shades we're doing it yeah i'm sorry but i never got the blending down okay my stuff was ridiculous i looked like a clown that was definitely like harder looks for sure i know i remember walking into sephora and the makeup artist there had that look as well and they also didn't blend it out properly so it's not it's not just you know yeah yeah I mean honestly though it was a struggle because it's so easy to like look at social media and this is something I mean I feel very strongly about this because you know obviously with the podcast I look at TikTok a lot you know I see all these girls and they're like I mean I love that they're having fun with their makeup that's yeah you know but at the same time I'm like gosh I wish I could have something to relate to here because you know for me I still love makeup we all do you know I know yeah it's just part of you it becomes a part of you and it's hard when you can't find those like really cool options anymore in the industry like I feel like that you know I'm in my late 30s personally and I I feel like after my 20s it was harder to find makeup in the sense not necessarily like shades but makeup that you can relate to you know that you can get excited about you know that for that becomes harder I think the older that we get and so when I look at your brand and when I see that there is this like it's exciting to have one product you know and yeah be able to say I can use this and it makes me feel pretty and it makes me feel good about myself and you can everything you need is right there I think that does a lot you know it's exciting so thank you I know I so I feel like my demographic it does lean older like millennials and genetics but when people look at my brand they're like oh it looks so young though and I was like we still like exciting cool things it's not like we're dead when we hit 30 you know yeah millennial doesn't mean I'm like 90 years old yes exactly we still like aesthetic things yeah no I know I mean I think that that's that's the thing though I mean you I mean you kind of like proved my point is that it's like I I feel like yeah you know you're either really young and you're playing with makeup or you're just old you know yeah and it's like boring and I'm like why is it boring why does like aging mean boring you know that's also like one of the stigmas I wanted to break so yeah yeah no I think I think it's a really really cool concept that you've created and what's coming up I mean do you have any products in the pipeline that you're working on or i'm not currently i've been thinking about maybe just focusing on multi-sticks for now and expanding the shade range and then maybe doing like contour sticks or something later on but yeah i like your concealer idea too i was gonna say like i don't concealer like i i'm the same way like just like a little bit of concealer and i will like cover up like yeah that's oh my gosh anything skin tone is very difficult though that's something that i'm it's not really on the table right now yeah for me yeah but that is a good idea though well i mean i'm sure whatever you come up with this will be awesome i also wanted to say like some of the shades the red like the the more red base shade you can also use it for color correcting for anyone listening out there oh yeah it's a good it's good for color correcting like if you have hyperpigmentation and stuff and darker skin tones like it's a good red for that so i mean it's just a great product i think you've really come out with like three shades that are just bomb you know they're awesome thank you so much that means so much yeah no i mean it and i i really encourage everybody listening like you guys gotta check it out if you're interested fluencybeauty.com i will link it in the in the show notes but yeah ada i love your brand i love the the multi-sticks i've been using them and i keep them with me so yay i'm really enjoying them but you know i wish you all the best for thank you so much thank you so much this has been so fun yeah likewise and for everybody listening i will be back next time but if you have any comments questions if you've tried the multi-sticks and you want to chime in please let us know leave us a comment shoot us an email and do not forget to subscribe to our podcast please on apple podcasts or spotify podcasts wherever you tune in thank you so much and i'll be 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