We were lucky to catch up with Isabel Madison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Isabel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

The craziest story I have is when one client purchased my absolute favorite lipstick, Radiate, which is the reason I started the company. She did not like it and she emailed me saying this lipstick is not Pretty, it looks like “porn star pink” and I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. That was the color I wore morning day and night. I was obsessed. The truth is that is our number one seller and we’ve already run out of it so many times. From that, I learned not everyone loves the same shades and that is okay.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in the makeup and beauty industry. Where I watched women, create happiness and excitement, and power, with a simple swipe of a blush, eye shadow, or a lipstick. I have always been enamored by beautiful faces, and how that makes a woman feel. Although I love makeup, I don’t love exaggerated features, and or obvious colors. Colors I’ve always loved neutral shades, including nude lipstick. For me, the beautiful nude lipstick is super powerful and allows everything else on the face to be seen, especially the eyes. The eyes become the power player which can be very sexy, powerful, or playful.

Unfortunately, it was very hard for me to find the perfect nude lipstick for years, and because of my knowledge of how makeup was created, I would create mix and make my own lipstick shades. I don’t want it to be chalky or too brown which age is the face or too dry which does not create a kissable face. My quest, to create the most luxurious nude lipstick that was creamy and decadent, brought me here. I started with the shade Radiate, which is a pearly, pinky Nude, and everyone fell in love with that color. I almost did not go ahead with the creation until my best friend saw it on me, not knowing what I was up to, asked me what this beautiful lip shade was, and from there, Nude Envie I was born.

I was able to create seven shades of pure Nudes that were gorgeous for everyone. Then two darker ones for darker skin tones.
What’s a Lipstick without eye shadow? I need to balance the face and therefore lips and lids became important. I created eye shadow shades to coordinate with all the lipsticks so that it would be easy for a woman to pick and choose her nude mood. Sometimes when a woman feels like a nude lipstick will wash her out, all she needs is a little bit of eye shadow and some blush to make everything blend and look harmonious. And therefore, I needed to create blushes. In my quest to make sure everything is easy to apply, hydrating, and actually feels good, I created cream blushes, a cream highlighter, and a cream bronzer. Along with powder, blushes, a highlighter, and a bronzer to add on top for extra lasting coverage.

There was no need to bounce women around from round to round if they wanted an easy color scheme to navigate through. Do you like the warmer tones? Do you like the cooler tones? Do you like the more intense tones? From there it was easy to build, starting from the Lipstick I love teaching women how to choose in The Perfect Nudes shade.
I felt there was an intense need for the younger girls, for more berry nudes, which are way warmer and more intense than our Pien lip color but still a nude, and the Berry Nude collection was born.
My objective has always been to make it easy for women to not get overwhelmed, and to be able to put their own makeup on without a makeup artist. Often times women decide not to wear make-up because it’s overwhelming and they don’t want to do it wrongly.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Our reputation, luckily, has been very well received. I would say the fact that Barneys New York picked up the line right away had a lot to say about it. And, of course, are returning to customers who have stayed true and loyal over the years. I feel a true connection to many of them.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Managing a team could be super fun if you have the right people on your team. It’s like one big family. We talk about everything at the office, including our love lives, haha. We all feel like we are on the same team and work for the same goals. I think keeping real, honest conversations going on along with brainstorming is always important. Everyone needs to feel heard and important.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.nudeenvie.com
• Instagram: nudeenvie
• Facebook: nudeenvie
• Linkedin: Nude Envie
• Youtube: @nudeenvie
• Pinterest: nudeenvie

Image Credits
Please credit “Timothy White” for my personal image. Thank you!