We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zachary Lyons. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zachary below.
Zachary, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
My product is kind of hard to describe without seeing it. The easiest way to describe it is ‘facial decals.’ But that honestly sounds kind of lame in my opinion so when I was trying to come up with a name, I was thinking about what makes the product most interesting, which is light because they look different depending on the lighting and light is another thing that is hard to describe without seeing it. Imagine trying to describe light to a person that was born blind. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Most people think ‘lux’ is a pretentious name used to refer to a luxury item, but lux is actually the Latin word for light. I added the umlaut to the U to set us apart from the ‘luxury’ assumption and because if you use the German pronunciation of an umlaut u, it sounds like ‘looks’ and that is also kind of the point of the product. You’re using it to put together a unique look, so it’s a bit of a double entendre. I will say that trying to use accent marks when applying for business licenses, credit cards, etc. is a huge pain. I wish there was a way to make those processes a little more inclusive for all languages.
Zachary, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am from New Orleans, born and raised, and what most people know about that city is the over the top party culture that comes with a lot of costumes, and make up, and general extra-ness. And they most certainly are not wrong. The Mardi Gras season fluctuates. Basically, it goes by Easter, so depending on when Easter falls, the Mardi Gras season can be starting on New Year’s day and go all the way till late March early February. There are HUNDREDS of different krewes each with their own balls and parties so sometimes it is a rush to fit them all in between New Years Day and Fat Tuesday. If you’re a true die hard carnival goer you wouldn’t be caught dead without a stitch of glitter or glitz at a Mardi Gras party. One year, I found myself going to these krewe events multiple nights a week but didnt always have time to do a full face of makeup or costume but I needed something easy to keep with me and throw on so I didnt have to show up looking basic. I have a background in graphic design so I drew out some shapes and began testing and wearing them out. People loved them and kept asking where I got them and when I talked to my friend who is a fabulous makeup artist,Tamara Soup, she said, “You have to figure out how to make this and sell it for the masses. There is nothing like this in the beauty industry right now and this would be so great to keep in my kit.” Since I have background in graphic design and branding I was able to do pretty much everything myself. I did the logo, website, marketing, social media, etc. With a lot of help from some bad ass female creators in New Orleans. Kelsey from Fringe and Co. was a HUGE help. She is completely self made so she taught me everything I needed to know about setting up a small business . What to do and what not to do. She helped me dial in to what would sell and which accounts to approach to sell my products. I dont know if I could have done it without her guidance. I hope to achieve her level of badass business owner one day. Truly an idol of mine.
Anyway, the whole mission/goal of Lüx is to provide something fun, easy, and affordable to people who have no skill in makeup or who have great skill in makeup so they can look as extra on the outside as they feel on the inside. The number one goal in my opinion is accessibility. Since Lux’s inception there have been a lot of face decal brands that have popped up. Some are a lot more elaborate and expensive, some are a lot more simple. But my main goal is to make original designs that resonate with me and my clients and provide my customers with something that is affordable and truly effortless.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I sell mainly on etsy for all Ecomm sales. In the very beginning I created my own website. (Mainly to avoid all of the fees etsy charges.) But for every one product I sold on my website, I would sell 20 on etsy. After the first year, my website wasnt even paying for itself so I just shut it down and now only sell online through etsy. Its like Amazon yknow? Like if youre going to buy a makeup brush and its $1 more expensive on amazon than it is at the supplier’s site, youre probably going to buy it on amazon because you dont have to put in your address and credit card and all that. It’s trends like that I have learned over the years and it is what it is.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I wouldn’t necessarily call them partners but I really owe a lot to Kelsey Campion at Fringe and Company for teaching me so much about this industry and taking me under her wing. I met her when she had just quit her 9-5 job and was sinking everything she had into starting her business. I’ve seen her go from selling 20 shirts on a rack in the french quarter to owning 3 buildings and having Taylor freaking Swift wearing her tinsel jacket! I find her so inspiring and it is such a pleasure to see her business thrive. My other huge inspiration is my makeup artist friend, Tamara Soublet. She was the first person to really give me the push I needed to make Lux a thing and make me see that it was not only profitable but kind of needed in the industy. She has always been my number one supporter and uses & hypes up my brand whenever she can. She actually used some of my products in an upcoming afro-scifi movie that comes out in the fall. The looks she was able to do with Lux really take it to the next level. I love to see someone take my products and really amplify it with their own talent and make it into something completely unique.
Contact Info:
- Website: lux-nola.com
- Instagram: @lux.nola
Image Credits
Photography by Daniella Dawson