We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brianna Rambo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brianna , appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

the mission for Pucker up is simple. We want to ignite the belief that one’s natural beauty is truly the foundation, and our products are just the accessory.

I am a woman of dark color and never thought lipstick looked right on me because I felt that I was “too dark”. You never really seen women with a dark complexation on any huge platform with bold colored lips. As I got older my confidence also grew stronger and I decided that I would rock any color lipstick that I wanted to simply because I wore the lipstick. I didn’t let the lipstick wear me. I was already beautiful in my dark skin without it and wearing it would only make me stand out. I wanted to be BOLD. I wanted people to look at me and see the strong, outgoing, fearless person I am. after all, you don’t see too many women wearing green lipstick on Tuesday evening. But that is who I am. So, my mission is to inspire women to see the beauty in themselves first and then to add that burst of color that will also make them stand out as well. Once you are standing in your boldness you will never want to be regular again.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Brianna, and I am 28 years old. I am a native of Kansas City, MO and I love it here. I started Pucker Up 3 years ago because the price of a good quality lipstick was just too pricey for me. I researched how to make my own lipstick and before you know it, I was creating my own colors. I remember wearing my first color, blue, and it was very bold. A woman asked me where I had gotten my lipstick from, and I told her I made it myself and just like that I had my first order. Pretty soon my inbox was full of questions about women wanting different colors and soon I found myself having a small business. The support was amazing.

I thought that I would only do lipstick but then i started receiving questions about lip gloss. I researched how to make lip gloss and lip balm as well and soon i was making and selling all three. I have different colors and flavors of both the lipstick and gloss. I research different techniques every day and I am hoping to add lip liners to the collection.

Pucker Up’s beauty products are made with intention. Our products set us apart because not only are they handmade, which allows for close attention to detail to ensure good quality but, we also intentionally use vegan and paraben free ingredients. these choices match the intentions of the consumer market which studies show increasing presence for health-conscious choices.

Pucker Up wants to broaden the conversation about beauty by focusing on simplicity. That is why we are sticking to a sector of the cosmetic industry by focusing just on lips and offering simple, yet bold products that compliment a woman’s natural beauty.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I have a loyalty program for Pucker Up. Anytime you buy 6 items you receive the 7th item for free. Most of my clients have social media accounts so after they have purchased a product I usually wait about a week or so then I reach out asking if they liked the product and the services received. If there is something the customer is unhappy about, I will fix the problem. no questions asked. I want each and every customer to know that along with quality products they will also receive quality customer service.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

building my audience on social media was not easy. Once I created my Facebook page I posted nonstop and continuously asked my friends to like/share my business page with their friends and family. Right now, I have 1.5 thousand followers and I get new followers every day. the moral of the story is to just be consistent. I take advantage of the Facebook ad’s to also gain new followers. I make goals for myself like ” have 2k followers by the summer”. while someone might say that’s only 500 more followers you will be surprised how many people will visit your page but not like it or follow it. Small goals like that help me stay on track.

Contact Info:

• Website: Puckeruplips.com
• Facebook: Pucker Up
• Other: Instagram: Puckerup_lips