We recently connected with Mallorie Pirita and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mallorie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name for this brand literally just came to me. I was on a coaching call with my mentor, Kathy Hood, discussing this new business idea and the purpose behind it. I explained how my goal was to start an online cosmetic store that focused on lipstick only and attracted women who wanted that to express their bold, confident personalities with their lip color. I continued to express how I wanted to provide a variety of unique shades and finishes that lipstick lovers of all types would go crazy over. So then came the name Color Crazy Lipsticks which developed into an online platform full of vibrant, unique lip colors for women to go crazy with color and expression.

The term “crazy” takes on multiple meanings within the name of this brand. One meaning of “crazy” is simply being excited and overly enthusiastic when it comes to showing off your style and personality; not holding back and being the true version of yourself. The other meaning of the word is the more common use of the term which is being “strange.” Color Crazy Lipsticks encourages its audience to be the best version of themselves and embrace all of their unique personalities. As women, we are expected by society to be and live a certain way all the time without taking in account that we are multifaceted beings who can have a number of personalities all at once. So, this brand supports the idea of being “crazy” or “strange” and offers a lip color to meet the individual style of each woman and her distinctive personality. There is something for the gothic girls and the girly girls. There is something for the bad boss chicks and the stay-at-home moms. This brand allows women of all types to go crazy over color and express themselves with a lip color that speaks for them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in Decatur, GA and I am Georgia born and raised. As a child, I enjoyed looking through fashion magazines and seeing all of the creative garments, hairstyles and makeup on the models. I remember being so amazed by the editorial pictures and knowing that I wanted to be a part of this industry in some way. I originally wanted to attend college to study fashion design, but life took a different turn. But I have learned that you can never stray away too far from your gift and that your passion always returns to the surface. Although I am not working in the fashion industry, operating this brand is my way of bringing my creative and fun energy to life and allowing others to add fun and creativity to their look with lipstick.

Color Crazy Lipsticks is all about celebrating women and their individual power, uniqueness and beauty. The brand is focused on three major components: Confidence, Creativity and Community. In my opinion, confidence is the first step to achieving any goal. When you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you are able to conquer the world! Color Crazy Lipsticks is dedicated to providing quality lip products to help women feel more confident and beautiful. This brand encourages women to show off their creativity to the world through lipstick. It is important that people feel confident in themselves and comfortable enough to walk in their truth. As a brand, creativity is encouraged and there are a number of lipstick colors available to match any unique personality.

All lip products sold on the website are bold, colorful and eccentric shades. Yes, you can find the traditional red and pink lipsticks on the site, but the main goal is to provide women with outrageous lip colors to add a daring and striking statement to their appearance. The last aspect is community. There is no need to have a beautiful, confident woman if the community she lives in is in shambles. So far, Color Crazy Lipsticks has participated in events to give back to the community such as back-to-school drives and school supply giveaways to local area teachers. Furthermore, Color Crazy has also given away financial assistance to single mothers during the holidays and is currently working on a scholarship to award to a young lady who will be graduating from high school/college this year. Also, you will be able to see me live during Color Conversations which is a time I use to connect with my online community on Instagram and invite special guests to discuss issues that are important to women.

This brand is made for the woman who knows who she is and loves every bit of it. She knows her strengths and is working on her flaws. She understands that we all have a little bit of crazy in us and is not afraid to embrace all of her personalities. She knows that women are multifaceted and refuses to be boxed in by societal expectations of what a woman should behave or look like. She is that corporate baddie who can also turn up and twerk on the weekends and get up and handle business the next day. She is a mother and wife who can go from a soccer mom look to an Academy Awards appearance with just the right lip color. She has found her voice, but lets her lipstick speak for her. Color Crazy Lipsticks has something for all women to enjoy, whether her style be more sophisticated, sexy, gothic, girly or quirky.

Color Crazy Lipsticks started in November of 2020. I wanted to have a cosmetics company that strictly focused on my favorite product, lipstick! To this day, I still do not know how to do a full face of makeup, but I would always love to put on some mascara and a bright lipstick. Because of that, I wanted a space dedicated specifically to lipstick lovers where they can find the most bold, colorful and unconventional lip colors. I feel like lipstick is the icing on the cake to complete any look. I want women to feel the best versions of themselves when they put on a lip color that is just as unique as their personality. I want to encourage women to wear the colors they love and not let their age, skin color or anything keep them from wearing a color they’ve always wanted to try.

So far, Color Crazy Lipsticks has shipped to over 22 states in the U.S. We started with selling colorful lip products from other brands such as Revlon, Cover Girl and NYX and eventually began to offer our very own exclusive line of lip products that can only be found on our site. To date, we have a collection of metallic, cream, matte and shimmer matte lipsticks as well as a collection of glitter lip gloss. The most recent product added to the Color Crazy Collection is our selection of sparkly and bold lip/body glitters. All products are vegan formula and gluten/paraben free.

It has been three years since this brand was launched and I can say that it is still standing due to the amazing customers and level of care and service provided to each of them. Also, the quality of the products and the message behind the brand is something that people want to connect with. It is not just a cosmetic product that is being sold; it is confidence in the form of lipstick that customers are investing in.

A few things that I am most proud of when it comes to being a business owner is sharpening my resilience and faith. I think one of the most important things someone needs in order to be successful in anything is faith. You can have the greatest product, service or skill, but if you do not believe in yourself or your brand then it will most likely fail. Also, being able to build a brand specifically to my passions and interests is also something that I love and makes me proud on a daily basis. This is my brand so I can offer the products that I feel are worthy of being featured on the site, tailor my message exactly how I want with no filter and give back to specific populations that I care about. This is very important to me because I would not be able to do if I did not step out on faith and create my own brand. On a personal note, I am most proud my two sons, Francisco (18) and Christian (15). They each have their own unique personalities and passions that I make sure are nurtured and cultivated daily. It is important to me as a mother to constantly remind them to go after what they want and make a name for themselves in the areas that they are passionate about. I think as a parent we get caught up in thinking that we are the only ones in a position to teach and that our children should only learn from us. What I have learned as a parent is that we also learn so much from our children if we allow ourselves to. I have learned patience, communication and how to support and be non-judgmental from being a parent. My children have made me proud in so many ways from my 18-year-old taking a leap of faith to study and train for soccer in the United Kingdom to my 15-year-old who is teaching himself the industry of Esports by participating in conventions and following the guidance of credentialed Youtubers in this industry. I am simply proud of who I am and what I have accomplished/created.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Referrals, referral, referrals!!! I know a lot of business owners say that word of mouth marketing is the best type of marketing, but this is definitely true based on my experience. A good number of my repeat customers were introduced to the brand by someone they know, love and trust and they then referred the brand to others. Since there are so many unique colors to pick from, I feel that there is a specific type of customer who would be interested in shopping with Color Crazy Lipsticks. Once they find a one-stop-shop for lip colors that not only look good and wear well, but also bring out their personality then it is easy for them to want to spread the word. I also feel that my market is able to trust the brand due to the level of communication provided. Potential customers can get their questions answered BY A REAL PERSON while navigating the site which has helped with sales since customers are able to feel more comfortable about their purchase and the level of service provided. Overall, building trust with effective communication and consistently delivering a quality product has helped me create a positive reputation with my market.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

Color Crazy Lipsticks is a brand that can exclusively be found at colorcrazylipsticks.com. I have considered other platforms such as Amazon and Etsy, but for now I am choosing to only sell from my website. One reason is for the purpose of remaining true to the products and keeping it exclusive. I want my customers to know that there is only one Color Crazy Lipsticks by only selling from one platform. I would rather continue building trust and brand awareness from my own site instead of utilizing other platforms. There are benefits to using other sources such as a larger audience reach, but while I am still in the foundational stages, I would rather only have one point of sale for my customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.colorcrazylipsticks.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/colorcrazylipsticks
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/colorcrazylipsticks
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorcrazylipsticks

Image Credits
Photo credits: Erin Johnell Dickey and Contressa Oliver