We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Mazumdar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
It brings me a lot of joy to talk about the process of going from idea to execution. Taking a thought from your brain and actually transforming that into a tangible product is pretty unreal. Many people have ideas or concepts but ultimately fail to bring them into reality because it is unknown territory. Where does one even start? Will it be worth my time and money? Taking a chance on trying something that you have no experience in makes room for failure and that it itself is pretty scary I mean, who wants to suck at something?!
Well, I guess I didn’t really mind it that much because that did not stop me from pursuing my dream of creating Lip Lūffa Lippy Eraser. It took me a solid 5 years to develop, manufacture, and ultimately bring Lip Lūffa into the world. You may think, wow that took forever. And it sure felt like it then but honestly, when I look back, I was actually right on time
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There are two main factors for this timeline in my journey. One being the fact that I am a working makeup artist and had clients, travel, and admin work to keep going. Artistry is, after all, my career and my passion. I kept that up while simultaneously learning how to start a business from scratch and create a product from the literal thought I had in my brain. Second reason it took 5 years to bring to market is because the research phase took 3 years. I was truly just googling and cold emailing or calling every beauty chemist, lab, and manufacturer I could find in the US. Every single one said, “no we don’t do that” or “sorry but we only do one of the things you are looking for.” It wasn’t until I spoke with someone at yet another lab who had a referral. That shifted everything for me because that referral would become my manufacturing partner. Once we were connected, the real work began and I had to learn so much so fast. First up, phone meetings and emails to convey the product goals. Then, learning about ingredients, sampling serums and solutions, flavor profiles and fill amount. Once those were approved, then comes all the testing and learning that scientific language. Next, is hiring a graphic designer to assist with dielines, fonts, and configuration. Not to mention the legal side of starting a new business. So much of my story was learning as I went. 2 years later, we launched and my dream was realized!
Having an idea is sort of the fun and easy part. Like, oh this product would be so fabulous! It will be this and that and amazing! BUT! Moving beyond the idea phase takes a lot of patience, flexibility, and belief. If you are impatient, you will burn out and quit. If you aren’t flexible, you won’t lean into learning the business aspects of what you are trying to achieve. And if you don’t believe in yourself, your product, and your customers, well you have lost the plot completely. Many days I told myself to keep going because I have so much faith in my product. Like, the beauty world needs this! And I can be the one to do it. I mean, why not me? Sure, I don’t have a business degree, but I can learn as I go. And I did. And I continue to do so with patience, flexibility, and my belief is stronger than ever!
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 background and context?
Lip Lūffa is an all-in-one Lippy Eraser. It is akin to a makeup wipe but made especially for your lips. It is a pre-moistened finger mitt that gently exfoliates lips for prep and removes all traces of lipstick during your nighttime routine. They are single use and packaged to perfectly fit on your shelf and each packette to toss in your bag. I’m Stephie, the founder and a professional makeup artist celebrating 19 years as a freelancer. Being a makeup artist means I get to be part of major moments in people’s lives & I never take that for granted. I like to say I specialize in creating confidence in high pressure situations. I am a Leo after all so IYKYK!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Being a beauty professional has greatly aided me in my business. I created Lip Lūffa for artists like me. I needed a product like this to enhance my work, and I knew that it would help others too! My network of artists has shown up for me and Lip Lūffa! It is never going to be lost on me that my colleagues stand ten toes down on my product. They ride for me; you know what I mean? They post about it, share with clients and other artists, repurchase, tell stories of how it saved them on a job and so on. I think with any business, it is about community. Lip Lūffa has earned a reputation in the makeup artist community as the only all in one Lippy Eraser on the market and it never lets you down. Have a client with dry lips from traveling; LL will rehydrate. Are you doing a super quick lip change on one of your brides; LL will swipe it right off. Maybe your male client has some dead skin that needs to go but he doesn’t like harsh scrubs or much attention; Lip Lūffa exfoliates too. Those are a few examples of situations that Lip Lūffa has assisted artists in my incredible community. Word of mouth can take you so incredibly far. Especially when the product holds up to high standard we artists hold. A strong community and positive reputation has helped us reach new artists, beauty lovers, stores in other countries, and we continue to grow every day. I love my fellow artists and would not have gotten this far without them.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Resilience is such a common theme in business, and life really. The longer your business lives, the more resilient you become, right?! But for me, one of my most memorable moments of resilience was right at the beginning of rolling out. See, our launch was scheduled for March of 2020. GULP! Who knew that would be the month everything shut down and artists would not be seeing clients for some time?! Well, I did what any founder would do and I launched anyway! Sadly, I don’t have a crystal ball to tell me that the pandemic would wreak so much havoc, but I always say that the train had already left the station! I had no choice in my heart but to go ahead. At the time, I was learning and adjusting day by day. I luckily had a couple stores lined up for wholesale, as well as support from my friends and community of artists. So, in my mind, launch was a success. It was the coming months that were the most difficult. Stores were not reordering, I was getting ghosted from potential stores, and DTC sales were almost non-existent. This was many months of emotional turmoil. The combination of surviving through a worldwide pandemic, moving back to LA from NY, having no clients or productions aka source of income/purpose, and then there is Lip Luffa; just sitting there in the warehouse waiting for her moment. During those 5 months, I was frustrated because it took so long just to get to this point of having the physical product in my hands and now, I was unable to roll out my plans. Had I made a terrible mistake? I couldn’t even use it on set: there were no sets to be on. But I always believed the time would come. I kept digging deeper into my well of patience and stayed on course even as it shifted. By late Summer, I was back on set and able to use LL on clients. Stores reordered, and we even got approved to sell on a wholesale platform which gave us visibility to retail stores and boutiques nationwide. Being resilient is actually kind of a super power. You learn so much from adapting and I think that is pretty cool.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lipluffa.com
- Instagram: @lipluffa
- Facebook: @lipluffa
- Other: TikTok @lipluffa
Image Credits
Alix Rae Photography
Upgraded Images
Roya Ansari