Forget climbing mountains or powerboat racing for the ultimate in heroics. Chances are, fortitude alone will get you to the top or the finish line.
There are no such guarantees in the world of cosmetics, where brands come and go, and fortitude and hard work aren’t enough to make consumers love you. So naturally, one of the first questions I put to Hourglass Cosmetics CEO and founder Carisa Janes was, "Why start a new brand when the market is saturated with beauty brands offering just about every product anyone could want?"
Janes served as creative director for Hawaii’s Body & Soul cosmetic line, launched in 1998, before going on to develop beauty products for several other cosmetic brands. She saw a gap for luxury cosmetics fusing quality and technology, and in 2004 made the leap to launching her own brand.
Hourglass fills a wish list for both the beauty enthusiast and health conscious, as it is made without parabens, synthetic dyes or fragrances, phthalates, GMOs, and one-ups other brands by introducing a handful of gluten-free products.
"You’d be surprised how many people are interested in gluten-free cosmetics," Janes said in a phone interview from her office in Venice, Calif. "I got a lot of email from people who requested it. The idea is that it could be absorbed into the body through the skin, or ingested, so if you’re highly sensitive to it, that could be an issue."
Her gluten-free makeup eliminates the use of wheat, barley and rye extracts typically used in lipsticks, foundations and mascaras to improve skin or help bind the product.
Janes will be in town to share her latest products during a "Paint the Town Red" event Saturday at Sephora Ala Moana. The event will run from noon to 6 p.m., and Janes will be in the store to meet customers between 3 and 5 p.m. Her team will be at Sephora Pearlridge from noon to 6 p.m. Friday.
Janes grew up with an interest in cosmetics from a practical standpoint.
"I had acne and very oily skin, so I needed products that would not make my skin worse," she said.
She was also interested in fashion, so headed to Parsons the New School for Design, where she studied design and marketing. But instead of going on to work with clothing and accessories, she found her first job out of school at the cosmetics company Urban Decay, where she immersed herself in the world of beauty product development.
She hadn’t forgotten her teen experiences in creating products that are easy to use and practical while helping women achieve the look of a flawless, luminous complexion.
"Our foundation is very luxurious, but it’s also got skin care benefits, with SPF, and it’s fragrance-free, paraben-free and gluten-free, so it won’t irritate your skin."
One of her best sellers globally is Hourglass Veil, a mineral primer with SPF 15 that is water resistant and will prevent makeup from looking oily or running in high humidity. And the best seller in Hawaii is her Immaculate foundation, with a liquid-to-powder formulation.
"I think it’s because Hawaii has such high humidity, and this keeps skin matte and dry. You don’t need to apply powder, and you don’t need to blot (excess oil) during the day," she said. "What it also does is control breakouts if you have acne-prone skin. I’m very focused on high-performance cosmetics. It’s a revolutionary product and I think that’s really important."
An attention to detail is also evident in Opaque Rouge liquid lipsticks that also dry to a long-wearing matte powder finish, applied with a soft custom applicator that "picks up the perfect amount of color," she said. The intense, no-smudge color has made it a favorite of celebrities such as Christina Hendricks, Kat Dennings and Zooey Deschanel, who need to look perfect under the hot lights of red-carpet events.
Another innovation is the Script Precision Liquid Liner with a thin 0.5-millimeter tip, fine enough to write on a grain of rice. You can work as slow and carefully as you want, making it great for those who have long considered themselves too inept to draw a straight line on paper, much less rim their eyes.
Prices for her line range from $28 for the liquid lipsticks to $60 for oil-free Veil Fluid Makeup.
As animated as she is when talking about her "babies," Janes is most excited about her new spring line of Ambient Lighting Powders.
"When I was growing up, my mother put pink light bulbs in all our lamps. I didn’t think that was strange until I went to my friends’ homes and everyone else had white bulbs. My mom said it was because everyone looks more beautiful in pink light."
Janes channeled that thought into powders she says "will help women create their own most flattering light."
The powders come in six shimmery hues — ranging from the white opalescence of Ethereal Light to the champagne pearl of Luminous Light — that capture, diffuse and soften the way light is reflected on skin.
"I might use Radiant Light for a warm glow in the morning and switch to Mood Light, a soft, sheer pink, if I’m going out to dinner. Luminous Light captures the look of a candlelight glow on skin.
"I never run out of ideas. I always think about what a woman has, and what a woman might need."
