We recently connected with Terri Apanasewicz and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Terri thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I created the tablette® palette, a lightweight compostable resealable container for glam-on-the-go. Each palette has 10 tabs that you can fill with your favorite makeup and skincare products, allowing you the freedom to travel without the bulk or weight of numerous containers. Each tab is individually sealed & can be cut from the palette, so you can take 1 tab, 3 tabs or the whole palette.

Pro-makeup artists & travel enthusiasts love how easy it is to customize and share tablette® tabs. They fit effortlessly into your makeup kit, gym bag, backpack, or carry-on.

As a celebrity makeup artist I love to give personalized tablette® tabs to clients for red-carpet touchups. No matter how small their clutch is, it fits!!

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?

As the daughter of corporate executives, recognizing myself as an artist was a surprise. When I was 19, I saw “makeup by” credits at the end of a soap opera I watched. That’s when I decided—that’s what I am going to do.

A few years later, I moved from my family home in San Jose to Los Angeles, graduating from Santa Monica Community College Cosmetology and the Joe Blasco Makeup Academy. Milan, Italy, was where I honed my craft as a hair and makeup artist for fashion. When I moved back to LA, I signed with Cloutier and became a celebrity makeup artist and hairstylist.

My celebrity clientele includes Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber, Jenifer Lewis, Ming-Na Wen, Gisele Bundchen, and many others. My work has appeared on the covers and pages of every major fashion and beauty magazine, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Allure, Elle, Marie Claire, GQ, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Rolling Stone and Esquire. Revlon, Pantene, Victoria’s Secret, True Religion, Pepsi, and Omega have featured my work in ad campaigns.

When entrepreneurship beckoned, I listened. I established Terri Apanasewicz LLC in 2012. I have taught masterclasses for MAC cosmetics, Makeup Forever, and The Powder Group. I have been a key speaker at IMATS Los Angeles and featured as a beauty expert in magazines, blogs, and podcasts.

In 2019, I created veryTerribeauty.com, a digital platform offering free mini masterclasses to the public and an interactive advice column. I wanted to share my makeup and hair expertise with women everywhere to help them be confident about enhancing their own natural beauty and feel good from the inside out. I also sell the veryTerri beauty product line—my Stay Put lip pencils are a big hit with clients and consumers alike—and some of my favorite items curated from other brands in the website’s retail boutique.

Then, the pandemic hit and changed everything. Makeup artists on sets struggled to do their jobs, which often involved multiple clients while abiding by all the new safety protocols. And I had an ah-ha moment. I invented the tablette®—a compostable, customizable, resealable palette of tabs™ that significantly reduces cross-contamination issues and provides beauty brands with an eco-friendly solution for sample packaging.

Innovation for positive transformation is my philosophy in life and business.

Challenges are opportunities to grow, refine, and alter one’s course for the better. One of the biggest lessons I have learned throughout my career is that ideas and dreams are great, but you must do your homework and perfect your skills to succeed and excel.

As the sole proprietor and financier of my businesses, I know what it means to be challenged and be committed to persevere. I am excited about nurturing and growing my businesses and realizing market prominence. I am committed to mentoring beauty professionals and educating consumers.

Work-life balance is not always easy to achieve, but it is crucial to maintaining good mental, physical, and financial health. It also allows space for creativity and spontaneity, two elements imperative to an artist and inventor like myself.
Whether I’m loving on my three dogs or brainstorming my latest business idea—I stay present and appreciate all my blessings.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Yes, and it’s been quite a learn-as-you-go experience because I invented tablette® palette, a compostable and resealable container for makeup and skincare products. I knew nothing about packaging or manufacturing when I got the idea to create a lightweight, customizable, and eco-friendly palette for pro-makeup artists, and there was nothing like it on the market.

I did lots of research, explored numerous avenues inside and outside the beauty industry, and asked tons of questions to find vendors who could help me realize my vision. It takes a lot more time and money than you’d ever think, especially when it involves inventing a new product and the tool to manufacture the product.

I started with a local guy with a 3-D printer, a talent for drawing schematics, and a lot of patience. Once I had a prototype, I did more research to find a US vendor who could make the tool I needed, another to create the 100% compostable palette, and still another to supply the specialized resealable label. Asking questions, making connections, and nurturing professional relationships are vital to growing a business.

You only know what you know, so you learn a lot by making mistakes and then how not to make them.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on my websites — tablettepalette.com and veryTerribeauty.com — and recently started selling on Amazon. Building momentum for sales is a skill that I am still developing. Opening a store on Amazon is a lot more time-consuming and intense than I ever imagined. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; I just thought it would be a much easier and faster process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tablettepalette.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terria_beauty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terriapanasewicz/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNGLD-QrNBTV_hDYA0vndgg
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@terria_beauty?_t=8gZNTymxPDu&_r=1

Image Credits
veryTerri beauty Maraschino ad credits: Photograph by Mitch Stone Model: Mitzi Martin