1. Podcasts
  2. The Glossy Beauty Podcast
  3. Is makeup back? Celeb makeup artist Jamie Greenberg unpacks what’s next
The Glossy Beauty Podcast

27 Aug 2026 · 36m · 14 chapters

Episode artwork

Is makeup back? Celeb makeup artist Jamie Greenberg unpacks what’s next

In short

The episode debates whether bold, colorful makeup is “back,” with celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg arguing it is returning via a twist: more eyeshadow and bold lips, but blurred/softer edges; blush is coming back; and skin will remain important but less “glossy” and more natural. She links the shift to runway signals and youth experimentation, citing anime-style makeup, body shimmer/glitter, slicked-back hair, bubble braids, rhinestones, and spray-painted color. She notes consumers and older clients are using less overall, focusing on lashes (including pre-glued underlashes) and proper lash curling/mascara. She challenges “mascara-free summer” claims. Key examples include Wet n Wild’s holographic, 3D eyeshadow launch and Sarah Creel’s shimmer-blur colored liners.

Guests

Jamie Greenberg only—celebrity makeup artist (20+ years) for Rashida Jones, Kaylee Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kristen Stewart; social creator (700k+ followers); founder of Jamie Makeup (spray remover, Blighlighter) and Swag Bag subscription.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

0:45

The State of Makeup Trends

Explore the current trends in makeup and how consumer preferences are shifting.

“But anecdotally, when I go online or I step outside in Los Angeles, women are still wearing no makeup makeup, or what's been rebranded as the clean girl aesthetic.”
2:04

Jamie Greenberg's Introduction

Meet celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg and her insights on makeup's evolution.

“Here's my conversation with makeup artist, Jamie Greenberg.”
4:30

Makeup's Bold Comeback

Discuss bold makeup's resurgence and the shift towards creativity in beauty.

“you're seeing that everyone's trying to get, get it to where, Hey, like your skin means everything in your makeup application.”
7:24

Teen Beauty Preferences

Jamie shares insights on what teens today are wearing and their beauty interests.

“I can completely see where you're coming from.”
11:18

Celebrity Makeup Evolution

Jamie discusses how her celebrity clients' makeup choices have changed over the years.

“Your microbiome, I'm trying to tell her like it's already intact.”
13:00

Mascara-Free Summer Controversy

Explore the debate surrounding the trend of going mascara-free during summer.

“And then now we got to talk about celebs because you do so many amazing celebs.”
14:00

The Rise of Lashes in Makeup

Learn about the growing trend of lashes and how to apply them effectively.

“And we, we are focusing, I'm telling you lashes are where it's at.”
15:00

Mascara-Free Summer and Makeup Trends

Discover the debate around mascara-free summer and current makeup trends.

“As the girl, as the kids say, girl, bye.”
18:00

Makeup Trends and Social Media Influence

Explore how social media shapes modern makeup trends and techniques.

“at Birdie, we started reporting on this idea that people were bucking the trend and they were wearing bold lip and a bold eye on the red carpet.”
22:00

Beauty Industry Saturation and Unique Opportunities

Discuss the saturation in the beauty industry and identify areas with growth potential.

“And so it's hard for me to see it sort of coming back, but I guess it's like you're saying, It's like everything's cyclical.”
Show all 14 chapters
27:00

Introducing Eye Black and Its Creative Concept

Learn about Jamie's innovative product Eye Black and the inspiration behind it.

“everybody was using it before we launched, we practice.”
28:00

The Power of Persistence and Community

Explore the themes of persistence in sports and collaboration in beauty.

“And then we're going to find, you know, we're going to create more stars so you can collect them and be like, I'm the persistent one.”
29:58

Swag Bag Insights and Brand Partnerships

Learn about the swag bag initiative and how brands can get involved.

“But first, what are you going to do with the iBlack?”
31:56

Influence and Audience Engagement

Understand the significance of audience engagement and the influencer landscape.

“We had her in one of our earliest swag bags when they first came out, you know, and then cut to, she's a gajillionaire now.”
A man walking through an airport, asking his phone a question

Ask about this episode

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.

Claude

On The Glossy Beauty Podcast, what are the key points of this episode?

Searching your listening

Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:07Hi, everyone. Thanks for tuning into the Glossy Beauty Podcast, a show about the business of beauty and wellness. I'm your host, Glossy's West Coast correspondent, Lexi Lebsack. Is bold makeup coming back? That's the question that's been on my mind this year, primarily driven by this push-pull I've been watching in the industry between what the color cosmetics industry is hoping for and preparing for, and how people are actually using and buying makeup. Beauty executives have been saying that bold color is coming back, like bright and dark lip color, eyeliner, eyeshadow, lashes. But anecdotally, when I go online or I step outside in Los Angeles, women are still wearing no makeup makeup, or what's been rebranded as the clean girl aesthetic.

0:56And as for the public companies that report earnings, like L 'Oreal Group and Elf Beauty, we're also seeing a lot of the same. Lip glosses, balms, and liners, complexion like blush and setting spray, and mascara. That's what's selling right now. So for today's episode, I brought in the ultimate expert in color cosmetics, Jamie Greenberg. Jamie is a busy celebrity makeup artist of 20 plus years. Her clients are Rashida Jones, Kaylee Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kristen Stewart, and many more. She's also a prolific social media creator with more than 700 ,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram.

1:36Jamie also has a beauty brand that she sells direct-to-consumer called Jamie Makeup that's probably best known for her spray makeup remover and a blush highlighter hybrid product called Blighlighter. She also has a subscription box called Swag Bag that we're going to talk about a little bit later today. For today's episode, I challenged Jamie to tell me where makeup is headed, including the trends and signals that she's paying attention to now as we enter the last few months of 2026. Here's my conversation with makeup artist, Jamie Greenberg.

2:13Jamie Greenberg, welcome to the Glossy Beauty Podcast. I'm so happy you're here.

2:17Jamie Greenberg: I'm so happy I'm here too. It's so good to see you. I know. Same. It's so crazy to me that you haven't been on this podcast yet because we've had numerous hosts before me. They've been doing it for a long time. And so when I thought of you, I thought immediately would be a second episode. So I'm so happy to have your first one. Oh my God. Yay. Thank you. Yes. Yes. It's my pleasure. Yep. Okay. So I thought of you because I talked to a beauty executives day in and day out, and everybody's talking about how makeup is back. Color cosmetics are coming back. And I mean, makeup never went anywhere, but people are wearing it totally differently than they were 10 years ago.

2:56And so I thought of you because A, you have a 15 year old, I know, so you're tapped into the youth and you have this wonderful color cosmetics line, Jamie Makeup, and you're a celebrity makeup artist. So I thought who else would come on the show and talk about if makeup is back? Yes. Makeup is back in a huge way.

3:15Jamie Greenberg: Huge way. Wait, that is not at all what I thought you were going to say. Oh, no. It's back. It's back. Yeah. And it's coming. Winter is coming. Oh, you think it's going to be tied to like seasonal shifts? Yes. So what's happening is we've been clean girl aesthetic for a minute. Yeah, a long time. A long time. And everything comes back around, you know? It's just always with a little twist on it. So I think you, based on all of the fashion shows and what we're seeing on the runways, which is usually indicates where the trends are going, we're seeing a lot more color, a lot more eyeshadow. We're seeing like bold lips, but blurred, not so much with the pencil anymore.

4:02We're seeing blush again.

4:06Jamie Greenberg: And we're seeing skin is going to take like a backseat where I feel like for the past like year or two, skin has taken a front seat. So skin is just going to be like part of the show, but we're not going to pay attention to it. Like it's just it's not going to be like. Glassy, it's not going to be matte, it's just going to be skin, you know, so skin care is taking a big jump in the sense that like I think the and if you're reading a lot of the trades, you're seeing that everyone's trying to get, get it to where, Hey, like your skin means everything in your makeup application. And so our consumers are getting smarter.

4:44Jamie Greenberg: Um, our trailblazers are getting a little older. So they're, you know, grabbing the anti-aging and call it what you want guys. It's anti-aging. I'm not mad at it. Like it is what it is. Like I'm, I'm that demo. I'm almost 50 and I'm like, yeah, I, I want to age gracefully and I don't, I'm aging. Like why am I going to deny that? But anyway, that's a whole nother question. But we are seeing like we're seeing personality and we're seeing everyone like, look, the more we talk about individuality, mental health and confidence and gratitude. And the as we evolve as a group of people online, because that's what we're doing, we are stepping into our comfort zones and people are not afraid to, you know, kind of wave their, their personality a little bit.

5:35Jamie Greenberg: So whether that is as simple as learning how to do fake lashes on yourself or put on a blue eyeshadow or a green liquid liner or whatever it is, people are excited to experiment. They're looking at makeup as an accessory now, and they're just excited to jump in. And I'm excited for it because I feel like we're going to just see so much more interesting stuff. We've been very safe and very pretty and very demure. And I think you're going to start seeing some experimental makeup. So interesting, because this is exactly what beauty executives tell me all the time. But then when it comes down to looking at the earnings and looking at the sales, it does end up being like quarter over quarter.

6:17I'm watching it look a lot the same. So a lot of complexion products. Like, of course we know that a lot of lip glosses and softer lip colors, mascara, setting spray and fragrance, of course, but outside of fragrance, it feels like those are the categories that are really holding up the entire beauty industry. So it's, it's so hard for me to imagine consumers this fall wearing all of this, but I love that you think that that's great.

6:42Jamie Greenberg: Yeah. I mean, if you see, it's starting to trickle out a little bit and usually you will see it with Like, for instance, Wet n Wild just dropped their past. It's like a holographic, three-dimensional, crazy colors, like crazy eyeshadow, crazy liner. And it's funny because I'll put something on a story and just see my audience is a little bit more. I'm not going to say conservative because they're not conservative, but they're just not. They're not like wearing blue eyeshadow. But people are like, what is that? And I do feel like people are interested. It's just like you've been eating the same cereal every morning for breakfast and you kind of want to try something new.

7:21Jamie Greenberg: Maybe. Maybe not. But I'm interested. No. I can completely see where you're coming from. And I've thought about this going into this call. I thought a lot about sort of if color is coming back and we do see people itching for something new, will that look like very specific runway celebrity trends that are translated? Or will that feel like something totally different? And I ask that because it feels like fashion right now is going from this place where trends have become less important. And now everyone wants this personal style. I don't know. Do you think that the color trends that you're sort of seeing bubble up a little bit, do you think that those are more prescriptive, more trends, or more wild and personality?

8:04Like what would this sort of look like?

8:06Jamie Greenberg: I think, you know, I mean, God, you and I have been in this forever. The landscape is completely different from when we started. But I do think it is going to be more individuality. I don't know the last time you went to your coffee shop. Like I went yesterday to Alfred's in Porter Ranch. Shout out. And the barista behind the bar was like an anime character. And she had hearts drawn all over. She had crazy eyeshadow, cute little pigtails. and I want and bangs. And she was literally I was like, you're amazing. I love you. Like, and I got excited about it. You know, it's like, I think you're especially the younger generation, they are all over the place.

8:54Jamie Greenberg: You know, you're getting your California girls wearing like the clean girl aesthetic. You're getting your anime furry girls like putting on like crazy stuff. And you're just seeing such a creative, a creative movement from the youth. Um, and I think that as, as we're older, we're kind of like, what's going on down there? What? Oh my goodness. But we're not afraid to try little things that we see. They're the trendsetters now. They are. No, it's so true. Well, that's, I mean, that's one of the reasons why we got to talk because you're 15, your daughter's 15, right? She's so cute. She does content with you online.

9:33It's adorable. You take her into stores. You're like, what's cool? I love when you had her and her softball player girlfriends all try the lip pout stuff. Like, it's just, it's such good content. You're, I mean, you're so good at it. It must come naturally to you. But what are her and her friends liking? Like, what else are you seeing the teens doing?

9:51Jamie Greenberg: Well, obviously, fragrance, number one. Like, they are all about, I mean, I'm like, even my son, who's going to be 12, they're all about Jean-Paul Gaultier. And I'm like, how do you even know this? But that's what they're all talking about. How do you know that? How do you know that? I just learned to say Jean-Paul Cotier and I'm probably saying it wrong. But they're very into, oh my God, Billie Eilish's new scent. Oh my God, did you try this? And I'll show her something that I got. And she'll be like, that's, I've never heard of that. But this, you know, and they're very into skincare still. Very much like they're hitting acne.

10:26Jamie Greenberg: So now they're like wearing the pimple patches, which they already were. They're very into a good foaming cleanser. um they want spf even though they want to tan too tanning's back it's terrible and i keep telling her i'm like look at your mother look at me you don't want to sit in the sun but they are sitting in the sun um but they are putting on there's some products out there that have spf but you get tan from them and some of them already have a tint so when they put it on it looks like it's almost like staining them um she uses the coco and eve one i forget what it's called but it's it's like a tanning product with spf so hopefully that's better than nothing um or using oil and mirrors and then they're very into gloss always and lip liner and curling their lashes they all curl their lashes and then they all do mascara but not so much they're not really into eyeshadow um they like blush and gel bronzers is their thing highlighter i mean they're they're still like i mean they don't have to wear a lot you know yeah they don't even they're not even really i mean some of the girls have problematic skin so they're really like i get that from so many people they're going to dermatologists they're trying to stay away from stuff i mean even lenny just had kind of like a contact dermatitis from using too much stuff.

11:54Jamie Greenberg: And I was like, you got to pull back. Like you don't need anything. Your microbiome, I'm trying to tell her like it's already intact. So whatever. So she had to do a little cortisone and stuff like that, but they are into everything, trying everything. Now they're like into, they like body glitter, but not like obnoxious body glitter. They like a sheen to put on their body and like, look, mom, like did it at it. But this is summer. So as we go into the winter months, it'll be interesting to see what they fall into as well. Yeah. The body makeup, the body shimmer, the body glitter, that is so reminiscent of, of my, my early days.

12:28And I'm, I think that's fun to see come back.

12:30Jamie Greenberg: I like that too. Also, you know, they're putting a lot of stuff in their hair. They're doing like, um, like back the, well, the slick back is huge, especially for there are sporty girls. They're all slick backing. There's a brand called slick black back that I got her all the stuff and she loves it. And then they're doing like bubble braids and then they're putting like glitter in their hair and they're putting like rhinestones in their hair and they're spray painting color into their hair. These are the sporty girls and I'm here for it. I love it. I think it's fun. Yeah, no, it's so fun. Okay.

13:04And then now we got to talk about celebs because you do so many amazing celebs. You've worked with what feels like everybody, um, working makeup artist. I'm curious as to, you know, what do your celebrities want right now? And how has that sort of evolved over the last 10 years? How do they want to be perceived?

13:19Jamie Greenberg: It's funny because I feel like the majority of my girls I've been working with for over a decade and we're all kind of growing up together, growing older together. And I've noticed like I do do some young girls every once in a while and they are more experimental. I feel like they're almost like muses because they look so good in everything. Um, but my, you know, majority of my girls are all in their forties and fifties. And I do feel like we've all noticed less is more and we take care of our skin. We're doing all the devices. We're getting the lasers. We're doing everything we can possibly do.

13:57Jamie Greenberg: Um, and it all helps. And, you know, we're using less because less looks so much better. And we, we are focusing, I'm telling you lashes are where it's at. So if you can learn to put on a fake lash and there's my favorite now, these underlashes that come pre-glued because it's no fuss. You just need a really good magnifying mirror to go into with a tweezer and just stick them. And like, I post them all the time because I just think they are such an awesome product. Like I can do it in, I know I'm a makeup artist, but the friends that I've taught it to, they also can do it so fast and it makes such a difference if you can open your eyes up.

14:38No, that makes perfect sense. I'm curious as to what you think about the headlines that were hitting this summer about it being a mascara free summer. I don't know if you saw any of those. I think the cut and birdie and other places here. No, you're just no way.

14:55Jamie Greenberg: No way. And I was like, I think I might've commented on one of them and I'm like, girl, no, like goodbye. As the girl, as the kids say, girl, bye. Like, no, I'm sorry. No. Mascara curling your lashes is like the, the ultimate thing you can do for your face is to open up everything. It just, it is such a game changer. And once you learn how to use a curl and a mascara correctly, it literally is a game changer. So I'm so I'm look, I don't believe there's any rules and everybody can do what they want. But to be that effortless, you got to be a supermodel, honey, or like 12, you know? Yeah. No, I mean, that's a very good call out.

15:38So I'm curious then, you know, if these beauty companies, you know, for our business listener out there, you know, the beauty companies are coming out with eyeliner. They're coming out with, you know, new products for the eyes like shadow. They're coming out with new lip colors. Who do you think is going to be buying some of this eye makeup that as it comes out this fall?

15:57Jamie Greenberg: Um, well, I think it depends on the brand, but I do think that, you know, kind of the, the middle generation of like 20 to 30 year olds are going to start to get this stuff. Like I really do. They have the money to buy things that they don't necessarily need, um, especially the 30 year olds. And I still think my generation might be a little scared but if they are sold it correctly they'll buy it they'll try it you know okay so you think the main like the main like the like the more exciting color cosmetics coming out now they should be more targeted towards like gen z gen x i mean yeah i mean yeah but i will say there's like a like for instance sarah creel i know everyone's coming out with colored eyeliners right now.

16:46Jamie Greenberg: It's like everyone, everybody does the same thing at the same time. I'm so not about that, but God bless when you have lots of money to just, you know, keep up with those trends. But Sarah Creel is creating colors that to me are awesome because they're not bold greens. They're not bold blue. They have like a shimmer to them. So they blur more. And I think that if you can, if you can do that with these bold colors, make them super easy, make them mistake proof. Cause I think people get scared. I have one on today. You can barely see it, but it's just, it's just like a little, and then I'll put black liner on top of that.

17:26Jamie Greenberg: But I just feel like they're almost reading like nice shimmery eyeshadows rather than a bold, scary green. You know, I just really like what she's done with her formulations. I think her line is gorgeous. I think her products are, you know, trendy, but they're done right where they're usable, you know? Yeah. I think you're onto something here where there's like a softness coming for some of the eye releases. I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm curious as to, I remember maybe 10 years ago at Birdie, we started reporting on this idea that people were bucking the trend and they were wearing bold lip and a bold eye on the red carpet.

18:09And so for me, when I think about color coming back, I think of that. And I just can't imagine that happening nowadays. Do you think we're going to get back to a place where like a full beat eye lip is happening anytime soon?

18:21Jamie Greenberg: Not anytime soon, but it'll come back around. And you know when it's going to come back, when I'm 90, I'm going to be, that's going to be, I'm going to be that bitch. I am definitely going to be wearing a red and a black and just like, no, but I mean, everything does come back around. So we will see that again. Um, but not right now. Are there any makeup trends on social media specifically that you think have legs that you think will sort of make it out of the, out of the social sphere and into onto the street?

18:54Jamie Greenberg: Um, I mean, you know, I'm seeing a lot of just blending bigger than the body part or the, the, we're blurring our lips bigger with liner, right? We're blurring our blush is like all over in a three now. And it looks so good on camera because we can control our lighting, but I am seeing it out in the wild too now. So again, with the younger kids, not so much my age, but I think the women my age that are doing that are doing it by accident. Oh. But it works now. But it works now. Yeah, but I am seeing because, you know, sometimes I'll pick up my daughter with her friends and I'll see them have like the pink blush starting above their brow down to the like a C.

19:43Jamie Greenberg: And I'm like, yeah, they saw that on TikTok or YouTube or Instagram, you know. So I think the younger kids, again, are going to experiment and they're going to walk off the screen into real life with a lot of these things. Yeah. There's one trend that I've been deeply in the algorithm of, almost to a fault, which is all of the color season, color theory stuff. I don't know if you've gotten much of that content, but it reminds me, so for anyone listening who doesn't know what that is, it's this idea that your coloring, your complexion, your eyes, your hair fits you into a very specific color season, and then you will look best on those colors.

20:20Very, very simple. but and it's really been resonating with me I think because I grew up in that y2k super prescriptive like this is the haircut for you this is the eyeliner shape for you

20:32Jamie Greenberg: and it feels like we're getting more prescriptive what do you think that that's true are we going to go into this place where it feels very very 2000s women's magazines prescriptive I don't know I mean I know that I've seen Korea they're doing like it's like you can go for a consultation and it's a whole thing in Korea to like find out. I mean, Color Me Beautiful made that famous in like the eighties and nineties. And it, do you remember that? And it was, you were like a fall, a winter, spring or summer. And listen, I, this is what's crazy is I think that there is an audience for it. Um, and I think that, that it exists for them, but I don't think it's a huge movement.

21:14Jamie Greenberg: I don't think so. It's kind of like, what am I under? Like, it's just this, I don't know. We just regurgitate everything and we change the name and we make it a thing and everyone's an entrepreneur. So we make a business out of every little thing now. So I mean, have at it, you know, but I mean, sure. You know what I mean? No, I know. It does feel like everything sort of comes back. And then that prescriptive 90s, 2000s makeup, beauty, you know, approach to beauty was met very, very sternly by this 2010s. Like you do you, everything works. Like it's all about expression, whatever you like looks good.

21:54You know, there is no such thing as a beach body, like this whole other swing of like, don't let industry tell you what you can and can't do. And so it's hard for me to see it sort of coming back, but I guess it's like you're saying, It's like everything's cyclical.

22:08Jamie Greenberg: Yeah, it really is. It's insane. Because I mean, we've been doing, I've been doing interviews for 20 years. And it's like every summer when people are like, what are the colors that are coming? I'm like, it's your burgundies, your purples, your wine shades. You know, it's just, but if you think about it, like we didn't have as much to choose from back then. So now we have that normal story that we always had that we come back to. But then everything else is like, then you just pour glitter on top of that. Like, it's just so insane, you know? It is insane. And things are coming back and they'll say, like, this is called the whatever trend.

22:47Jamie Greenberg: And I'm like, that is not what? Okay. Yeah. You know? No, it's so true. And I think a lot of that comes back to makeup companies not knowing what to launch right now and not knowing what to kind of get behind. So my next question for you is, you know, you have Jamie Makeup, a beautiful little collection of great products. I'm curious as to, you know, if you had unlimited time, unlimited money, what products and categories would you never get into that are just way too saturated? And then what do you think sort of has more runway for the industry? I would never get into complexion. Like I would never do foundation and concealer.

23:27Jamie Greenberg: I would I just it makes me just so overwhelmed it is insane and there you there's so much out there there's so much out there's so much out there with everything but that particular party is just so boring to me I don't I don't want to have anything to do with it I mean I love I love the staples um I don't think they're going anywhere and I think if you can you know kind of recreate them in a way that's a little bit different. I think that's exciting. I want to say little because I don't think you need that much. So I'm kind of like the anti-explosion. I always felt annoyed just as a consumer back in the day, like that a brand would come out and have 700 things.

24:10Jamie Greenberg: And I'm like, ah! And I've worked at Sephora's, I've worked at Ulta, I've worked at Bloomingdale's. And it always was like, it's too much. And then once I started my own line, And I made products that I wanted to use that I didn't see that filled a gap. But I just feel like you don't we don't need that much. And especially as you get older, my generation, like if you know how to use a couple of things, it's going to make such a big difference. And, you know, you get a good Botox person. But I am I am dabbing kind of like putting my foot into women's sports. I think that's the next generation. I mean, you already see Sephora is sponsoring everything, which I wish I had Sephora money.

24:54If I had all the money in the world, I would be so like full frontal into two girls sports because it is the future.

25:04Jamie Greenberg: I'm telling you, like it is so exciting. I think that people love regular sports, you know, all our professional sports because it's in person. You have to be present and it's exciting and it's like gladiator times. And now the women have proven that we deserve to be in there too. And I think some of these female sports like the WNBA, volleyball, soccer, softball is more exciting than watching the traditional men's. I mean, there's so much more spice and energy and, and I love it. And I, that's why we did the eye black because I'm just like, it's such a boring category with nothing exciting. And so we were like, they made, it just was like an easy one-off to try, you know?

25:48No, it's so cute. And I love that we're talking about sports now. I grew up playing sports. I feel like this is very much where we're going right now with beauty. And it makes perfect sense for beauty and girls and female sports to be holding hands at this point. It makes so much sense. So tell me, why did you create Eye Black? It's so cool. If you're listening and you haven't heard of it, it's a stick for under your eye. And you can also do designs for like softball players or I guess any sports, right?

26:15Jamie Greenberg: Yeah, any sports, lacrosse, anyone who wants to wear it. But yeah, I mean, we were sitting there trying to think of things. And because my daughter plays softball and they were always using iBlack, I noticed that the traditional packaging was always like a bullet or a weird stick of some sorts. And you could get creative, but not super creative. And I was like, why aren't they making it a pen, like a crayon? You know, like, it's like, how could you not? So and then also a lot of them would break out because the formulas are super cheap and using really junky stuff. And you're getting them for like$4.99.

26:49Jamie Greenberg: And we, I really wanted to be conscious of price. So they're only 12 bucks, but, um, you know, the, the ingredients are great. And so everyone that's been using it, all my daughter's team, everybody was using it before we launched, we practice. And what I did learn is that, cause my daughter kept being like, it all smears, like everything that's out there smears. And I was like, here's the thing. If you put on something that doesn't smear, it's so bad for your skin when you're sweating. It's like, you're blocking all of the pores. And so that's how you can break out. So I was like, I'm going to make it as resistant as I can, but it's good for your skin.

27:24Jamie Greenberg: Um, and you can be creative with it. And then I collaborated with a girl on, um, the OKC Sparks, Sydney McKinney, my girl, she's also on the USA national team. She's a baller and she's an artist. So all my products have art componentry to all of them. All of them are designed by a different artist. So she made this imperfect star, which I'm so proud of because it's like, you know learn it the whole thing is just about you know you don't have to be perfect to be a star and i think that's such an important important message for our girls in sports or not in sports um and it's just about like persevering persevering in a game that is all about failure and that's kind of life like you're going to fail and no matter what you do and so we have these imperfect stars and it's just so cute i love it so much and we're you know we have these little imperfect star chains and they say persistence.

28:19Jamie Greenberg: And then we're going to find, you know, we're going to create more stars so you can collect them and be like, I'm the persistent one. You know, I'm the never give up. I'm the no failure, whatever it is, but it's just so fun. I just love the empowerment of it. I love collaborating with Sydney was so fun. I love her. I just love, I'm obsessed with sports. Like if I were to get into any other business, if it wasn't cosmetics, it would be our makeup, it would be sports because I just, I'm obsessed. I like, I'm such a fan. I am in awe at the work ethic of these humans. And you know, what did you play?

28:54Jamie Greenberg: I played soccer. Oh, me too. And I was, oh yeah. Oh, how fun. And just like so dedicated. And I learned so much. It's, I mean, I only played competitively in high school, but like I learned so much and it shaped so much of who I am. Like Sometimes I think about like if I would be a different person, if I played like tennis or something that wasn't a team sport. Yeah. Because, you know, I love being on a team. I love being surrounded by women. And it's a whole thing. Same. I love it too. And it's such a great community. Like just like tapping into that community and introducing myself, just DMing girls that are, you know, professional athletes.

29:33Jamie Greenberg: They're all so awesome. And they're all so excited about the movement. And it's really refreshing. because, you know, Hollywood, we're all jaded. Yeah. No, it is very, very, very refreshing. I'm excited for the World Cup next year. I mean, like, we think we had fun this year with sports and the World Cup. Like, the USA is probably going to win again. Yes. We're the leader. Yes. I know. Yeah. Very exciting. Okay, Jamie, I have one more question for you. But first, what are you going to do with the iBlack? Do you want to get into retail or are you just going to do a DTC? Like, this feels like it has a big runway.

30:06Jamie Greenberg: I want to do retail with this. I just think like, yeah, I just, I think it'd be great. You know, we're talking to some, so hopefully that's the next move because I just, our whole tagline is like five girls for girls. We dare the boys to wear it. And you know, we're just, it's exciting. I love it. Very cool. All right. Well, I have one more question for you as we sort of run up against time here. So on top of everything else you're doing, you also do swag bag. I'm curious as to, you know, if a brand wants to get involved, you know, what are you looking for? How can they sort of partner and be part of this swag bag, which is like a little beauty bag that you send out subscription every month?

30:44Jamie Greenberg: Yeah, it's great. We've had it for over five years. It's so much fun. It's for like the real ballers. It's a great deal. It's usually$250 or more of product for, you know, 69.95. Sound like an infomercial. What happens is I get everything sent to me. This is how this started in the first place. And I would try things like this is amazing. I've never heard of this brand. And there's so many small brands that are like, you know, owned by females and I want to support them or doctors that like come into the mix that people know about these secret doctors that have their own lines. And I try things and then we just reach out and we're like, hey, can we get this product?

31:21Jamie Greenberg: And that's as simple as I have to try it and I have to like it. So but I get so much stuff. So I feel like a little scientist every day. I'm just trying new things and, and it's just become, and now I have this audience of like 360 women and they every month get a bag and we open it together or the, I open it and they can just know exactly how to use things. Sometimes we have the owners on the live and, um, it's just become this really fun community that is, you know, getting introduced to products and brands that they may never have heard of before. And it's fun because some of these brands start with us and then cut to like touch land.

31:58Jamie Greenberg: We had her in one of our earliest swag bags when they first came out, you know, and then cut to, she's a gajillionaire now. But, you know, a lot of products have come through us to start and then gone on to be like massive brands. And I love that because I'm like, oh, I picked a winner. I picked another winner. Yeah. Well, you have so many Instagram followers, 300 ,000 plus. It's like you are the influencer of the influencers. like I mean I feel like your audience are important people they're people who are moving the moving the the needle for the industry yeah they like to buy stuff so we're small but mighty I remember my husband used to always say that he's like it doesn't matter if you have millions you just need a small group of dedicated beauty ballers and I was like you're right so that's what we are we're for the people I love that well Jamie thank you so much for coming on the show it was so nice to talk to you you too thanks for having me

32:54and thank you for listening to this episode of the glossy beauty podcast if you enjoyed it please leave us a rating and a review on apple podcasts spotify or wherever you're listening and for even more coverage on the beauty industry and more please visit glossy.co slash beauty

33:16We'll see you next time.

From the publisher

There’s an interesting tension happening in the beauty industry today around makeup. 

Last year, consumer beauty publications and industry executives heralded 2026 as the year bold, maximalist makeup would return. Top publications predicted a shift away from the persistent "clean girl aesthetic" that entered the zeitgeist around 2021 toward bolder, brighter makeup. Meanwhile, executives from Sephora, Ulta Beauty and Revlon told Glossy they were betting big on a return to more expressive makeup in 2026.

But that hasn’t happened at scale – at least not yet. Instead, sales at conglomerates that report earnings, like L’Oréal Group and E.l.f. Beauty, tell us that top-selling categories in 2026 remain the mainstays of "no-makeup makeup," like lip gloss, balm and liner; complexion products, like tinted sunscreen, blush, bronzer, and setting spray; and mascara. 

For today’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack sat down with veteran celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg to unpack exactly where makeup is headed next. 

Greenberg has been a working makeup artist for more than 20 years. Her client list today includes Rashida Jones, Kaley Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kristen Stewart, among others. 

Greenberg is also the founder of the DTC makeup line Jamie Makeup, known best for its blush/highlighter hybrid product called Blighlighter and spray makeup remover named B.F.M.R. Mist. She’s also a prolific social media creator with more than 700,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, and she runs a monthly subscription beauty box called SwagBag that features her latest favorite products from a wide array of brands.

Press play now for a candid conversation on where makeup is headed, including the trends and signals Greenberg is paying attention to now.

More from The Glossy Beauty Podcast

All episodes