We talked to Glamour Dolls about their huge Lisa Frank makeup collab, including the exclusive item that hasn’t been announced yet
Once in awhile, a cosmetics collaboration rolls around that people just cannot stop talking about. Our current obsession? The Glamour Dolls X Lisa Frank collaboration, of course! You have probably seen the Lisa Frank makeup brush shared everywhere by now. When we first heard about it, our rainbow-colored, leopard print hearts almost burst right out of our chests!
Glamour Dolls chose a collab that hit Millennial makeup lovers right in the nostalgia.
Lisa Frank took childhood fantasies to new heights with rainbows, unicorns, cats, and dogs…basically everything we still love! While we might rarely use pencil boxes, pocket folders, or stickers today, we can now get Lisa Frank cosmetics, thanks to this collab! The first Kickstarter incentive was the unicorn print makeup brush, and the internet was ALL in. Larger incentive collection items are in production, like eyeshadow palettes, liner, and lippies! The best part? They will all be totally affordable, in the $5 to 10 range!
What started as a 45-day Kickstarter with a 30 thousand dollars, grew into nearly $200K! Glamour Dolls made over six times their original $30K goal.
We talked to Glamour Dolls CEO Jessica Romano about cosmetics, Kickstarter, and of course — Lisa Frank!
HelloGiggles: Can you tell us a little bit about how you started Glamour Dolls?
Jessica Romano: I started out as a makeup artist. I worked freelance and for companies like MAC and Lancome. I met my business partner, Peter, when he was working on importing a line of makeup from Greece. He didn’t know much about the cosmetics side of things, which is where I came in. The production chain fell through, and rather than part ways we just decided to start our own! In the beginning we didn’t really know anything, but now, four years later I know so much that I feel like a chemist!
As a makeup lover, finding out how little it actually costs to make cosmetics was kind of horrifying. I was definitely one of those people buying $30 mascaras. I felt taken advantage of. Keeping an affordable price point (around $5) was important to me because everyone deserves to have makeup and feel beautiful. As an artist I wanted to make sure the quality was good. I also wanted Glamour Dolls to be fun! Sometimes makeup counters can be a little intimidating. We want everyone to feel included and welcome — you are basically putting paint and color your face, that should be fun! Makeup should make you feel good, and that’s how Lisa Frank makes me feel too! Cruelty-free and vegan makeup was also important to me as a vegetarian.
I feel like cosmetics shouldn't be exclusive to people with wealth. Everybody should feel beautiful! — Jessica Romano, Glamour Dolls CEO
HG: How did the collaboration with Lisa Frank come about?
JR: We are huge Lisa Frank fans, that’s how this all came about. We had to work so hard to get in contact with her, she didn’t even have a working website at the time. Peter had to do a lot of digging! We finally got a working number, pitched them our idea, and they got us a call with Lisa! She was on board with the collaboration and as soon as we sent her some Glamour Dolls makeup samples, she was in love! Now she is coming back with coloring books and new products, which is so cool.
HG: Your initial Kickstarter goal was $30K and it has reached over six times that. Did you expect the response to be as massive as it is?
JR: We weren’t sure what was going to happen, but we learned this: Lisa Frank fans are dedicated! We have received so many “thank you” messages. People have said thank you for making their makeup dreams come true! It’s amazing to have that kind of impact.
