The Founders Of New Beauty Brand Apostle Are Determined To Make Men’s Makeup Mainstream In The US

Breaking into the men’s makeup category is no easy feat, as evidenced by the limited number of brands selling cosmetics directly to men. Yet, attitudes toward makeup for men, not to mention masculinity generally, are rapidly changing, with more and more men warming to wearing makeup on a regular basis—and some already doing so.

Apostle, a new beauty brand aimed at men, is following the cultural shift and hell-bent on baking it into the future. However, it’s highly cognizant the shift is nascent and is strategically approaching men about cosmetics to not alienate those unfamiliar with how to use them.

“Something that kept popping up for us when we were looking into the history of men’s products and what it takes to succeed in this category is the hybrid, two-in-one formula that we’ve seen from so many mass brands,” says Apostle CMO Philip Atkins, co-founder of marketing agency Phidel. “So, we thought, the key is adoption, right? It has to be a product that it’s easy for guys to use, that they understand and that seamlessly fits into their existing routine. So, we decided on a tinted moisturizer that offers buildable coverage and long-term skincare benefits.”

Apostle’s first product, Reclaim, is a two-in-one tinted moisturizer formulated to deliver flexible coverage and skincare benefits like hydration and protection from environmental stressors. Priced at $26, the clean product features niacinamide and vitamin E along with what Apostle calls the Blue Mountain complex with water sourced from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, where co-founder and artistic director Jamie Melbourne is from. It has a dozen shades intentionally ranked from deepest to lightest.

“We ranked the shades this way to make a statement around reversing the traditional order of shade range to open the door to everyone,” says Atkins. “And we’re selling the deepest shades the most out of the gate.”

Reclaim is housed in a sleek deep blue bottle designed to resemble a pebble. “There’s just no reason why we can’t build a really beautiful, clean, prestige product for men at an affordable price point,” says Apostle CEO and co-founder Tony Lecy-Siewert, who formerly worked in digital and creative roles at the brands Nars and Versace and co-founded predictive intelligence platform Cherry Pick. “I knew this category was already growing in other countries like Asia and the U.K., but it really didn’t exist in America yet. Unisex brands were still the standard.”

Lecy-Siewert had been fascinated with the emerging men’s grooming market for years, but he didn’t get serious about developing a men’s beauty brand until he met Melbourne. He says, “Jamie is an incredibly talented and accomplished rock star makeup artist who came up under Francois Nars in the ‘90s, and when we met, he told me he was looking to do a beauty brand. That’s where it all started, and we don’t plan on stopping.”

“There’s just no reason why we can’t build a really beautiful, clean, prestige product for men at an affordable price point.”

Melbourne says, “Diversity and inclusion in fashion and beauty editorial was not a part of the conversation when I started my makeup career as it is today. Jamaica’s motto, ‘Out of Many One People,’ has been a guiding light throughout my life, and as a Black man in America who had worked mostly in a white industry on white supermodels and assisted white makeup artists during my time, I felt I had a responsibility to balance the equation by creating a brand. In our case, a men’s brand that had a clear message of authenticity and inclusivity.”

Melbourne is the main reason former Out editor in chief and Allure digital editorial director Phillip Picardi, chief marketing and communications officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, decided to be the face of Apostle’s tinted moisturizer. Picardi met Melbourne nearly 12 years ago when he was interning at Teen Vogue.

“When Jamie approached me about Apostle, I was really proud of him and believed wholeheartedly in what he was doing,” says Picardi. “There are so few Black men at the helm of cosmetics brands, which needs to be said, let alone ones who have trained under the world’s most famous makeup artists. I knew that, if Jamie was putting his life’s work and resources and name on something, it was going to be something that meant a lot to him.”

Prior to signing on as the face of Reclaim, Picardi requested lab samples of the tinted moisturizer for him and his physician husband Darian Sutton to test. Picardi is white, and Sutton is Black. “We both tried them on, which was really important to me because, if I was going to do something like this, it had to be inclusive,” says Picardi. “It was so great to see that we could both easily use the product and find the right shade match.”

On top of his love for the product, Picardi is proud to partner with a brand that’s elevating the men’s makeup space and challenging conventional norms of masculinity. “We’re seeing this crisis of masculinity in the world right now, you know?” he says. “We can celebrate Ryan Gosling as Ken and Sam Smith and Lil Nas X and these new expressions of masculinity and the idea that a man can be so many things, but, at the same time, we’re experiencing backlash from those who are still focused on the hyper traditional approach to masculinity.”

Picardi believes brands like Apostle have a unique opportunity to intervene and champion new norms. “Women were tired of being told getting older is a bad thing rather than a luxury, and a lot of indie beauty brands with distinct points of view realized that and challenged industry norms. Then we saw Allure ban the use of anti-aging,” he says. “Well, it’s a really similar thing with masculinity. We still have mass grooming brands doing all-gray packaging for a three-in-one product and calling it something like ‘arctic blast,’ you know? I think men deserve better.”

“I think men deserve better.”

Apostle is targeting men who want better products. They’re concerned about ingredients, care for their skin and are receptive to makeup or have begun to incorporate it in their routines. Picardi fits the bill. Atkins says, “We picked Phillip to be our partner in building a community ahead of launching because we believe he really embodies our value system and understands us.”

Picardi helped Apostle select 12 influencers—an influencer for every shade of Reclaim—to spread the word about the brand. They model for the brand and produce content for Apostle’s TikTok and Instagram accounts, where they explore beauty, masculinity, their grooming habits and backgrounds. The influencers have between 10,000 and 200,000 followers, and their followings overlap. Atkins explains the overlap allows Apostle to saturate their followers’ feeds. He reports other influencers now direct message him to say, “I’m seeing this everywhere.”

Apostle grasps that its message won’t be universally welcomed. “There’ve been big brands that have tried to kind of go head-to-head with toxic masculinity, and it’s always met with mixed feelings, right?” says Atkins. “We’re more interested in standing our ground and preaching our idea of what men and masculinity can be today. We know it may take some time for men to adopt to beauty products, so we just have to make them easy to use and understand as well as really efficacious, the kind of products your wife or girlfriend would want to steal.”

Trying to raise venture capital was a major hurdle. Apostle initially set out to raise $1 million in VC funding, but fell short of its goal. It ultimately raised $500,000. Apostle’s manufacturer, Cosmax USA, is its lead investor. “For more reasons than one we really struggled to fundraise with venture capitalists, so I knew I had to find someone else because failure wasn’t an option,” says Lecy-Siewert. “I reached out to Cosmax who we’d been working with for over a year because I knew that manufacturers often invest in startups. We ran it by the CEO of North America Byung-Ju Lee and he agreed. He’s been a godsend and a major supporter of us and Apostle.”

Lecy-Siewert believes it was easier for Lee to back Apostle because Cosmax is a South Korean company. “They understand the industry much better and have already seen the success that men’s makeup can have,” he says. Many Asian celebrities, notably the members of K-pop phenomenon BTS, are honest about wearing makeup. In 2018, Chanel premiered its men’s makeup line, Boy de Chanel, in South Korea.

While Apostle is convinced retailers are integral to its distribution going forward, it’s concentrating on the direct-to-consumer channel before entering them to strengthen its community. Lecy-Siewert says, “When we surveyed about 500 guys two and a half, three years ago and asked them where they shop for their products, the resounding response was Walgreens, CVS and Amazon. Now, 90% of guys we’re DMing with are saying Sephora.”

Apostle has several products ready to go to complement Reclaim and will listen to its customers to determine the right items to introduce. The brand will soon release a discovery set containing mini versions of Reclaim for men unsure of their shade. “This way they can play and really get to know the product,” says Lecy-Siewert. “And then maybe share it with their friends, too.”