Last January, Glamlite Cosmetics founder Gisselle Hernandez was sick and tired of being bullied for her weight, and depressed about the state of her business, which wasn’t matching the buzz it generated two years earlier, when it was one of the first companies to sell selfie lighting.
Hernandez turned to pizza for comfort, eating it up to four times a week. In the middle of her mozzarella-sedated melancholy, Hernandez came up with a concept she knew was utterly stupid or brilliant – or both – for an eyeshadow palette combining her favorite food with her favorite product, makeup.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I eat too much pizza. Who cares?’” recalls Hernandez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who grew up in Brooklyn, home to world-renowned slices. “The palette will be over-the-top. Some people will love it. Some people will hate it. I just want to have fun for once.”
On Dec. 7, Glamlite posted a 59-second video to Instagram filmed at a pop-up pizza museum featuring Hernandez sporting pepperoni-covered pajamas to announce the forthcoming Pizza Palette. Five days later, the $40 pizza pie-shaped palette with 18 shades, aka toppings, was available for purchase. In 24 hours, sales of the palette reached $50,000.
“Releasing the Pizza Palette was a completely life-changing experience. It was like nothing we had ever done before,” says Hernandez. “The palette represented everything that I wanted. It showed my love for pizza and makeup, and for trying new and out-of-the-box things.”
The Pizza Palette was literally in a box – a pizza delivery box – and sent out to 40 influencers a few days prior to its official debut. Glamlite didn’t pay influencers to post about it. Even if Hernandez would’ve liked to sponsor influencer posts (she didn’t), Glamlite had put its entire budget toward producing the palette.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I eat too much pizza. Who cares? The palette will be over-the-top. Some people will love it. Some people will hate it. I just want to have fun for once.”
“I had an idea that it was going to sell more than our previous palettes, so we had placed a large order quantity. It was a very significant investment. I pretty much put everything I had into the manufacturing costs. Every asset of the company went into that,” says Glamlite. “Because of the all the financial investment, there was no money left for marketing. It was going to have to go viral on its own.”
Jeffree Star, the social media sensation and founder of Jeffree Star Cosmetics, was among the 40 influencers who were shipped the Pizza Palette. Shortly after its launch, Hernandez estimates he was tagged by 50,000 people pleading with him to review it. On Dec. 16, Star uploaded a YouTube video issuing his verdict on the Pizza Palette. He approved of it, saying, “It looks really cool. It’s a unique idea. I wonder how many other brands are going to be making food items to steal this moment. Watch it happen.”
The video has drawn 6.3 million views and, in the week following its posting, Glamlite sold $150,000 worth of Pizza Palettes. “Once he did his review, people took us more seriously. They were like, ‘OK, it’s Jeffree Star-approved,” says Hernandez, noting the Pizza Palette received a cavalcade of exposure on top of Star’s review. It was covered by publications the likes of Bustle, Allure and Hello Giggles, and makeup artist Ericka La Pearl used it on Cardi B.
A big lesson for Hernandez from the Pizza Palette’s rise is that influencer sponsorships aren’t required for success. “I think Jeffree Star’s video did so well because he does videos on what he is passionate about,” she says. “I rather work with that people like that who genuinely enjoy the product and want to test it out instead of, ‘Here’s $5,000 or 30,000, let me make a post.’ I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“I don’t feel pressure because the way I’m running the company now is I’m focused on being happy and doing things that I like to do. I am going to have the same mindset I had when I released the Pizza Palette. I’m going to put out there what makes me happy.”
The Pizza Palette marked a reversal of fortune for Glamlite. A stay-at-home mom seeking income, Hernandez spent $1,900 to start Glamlite with a selfie light in December 2015. Buoyed by social media, the company reeled in $2,000 a month into its existence. In its initial year, Hernandez says it registered “six-figure” profits.
Eager to expand Glamlite beyond selfie lights, Hernandez began working on an eyeshadow palette at the outset of her company. On Black Friday 2017, Glamlite unveiled its inaugural palette, Masterpiece. Two palettes sold on launch day. “The palette didn’t do as well as I thought it was going to do. It was a little bit difficult,” says Hernandez. “With the selfie lighting, I was one of the first people to do it. Everyone already had a neutral palette.”
Despite Masterpiece’s stumbles, Glamlite continued on the palette front, introducing the Royalty, Miracle, AlondraDessy and Kaliente palettes. With each palette, Hernandez had a better feel for the demands of makeup consumers and her personal take on the product. The Kaliente palette, for example, was inspired by Hernandez’s Latina heritage. “I experimented with colors and being more extroverted with makeup,” she says. “If you look at the packaging and the colors, it’s the complete opposite of Masterpiece. It represents how I’ve developed.”
Hernandez caught her stride with the Pizza Palette. Today, Glamlite faces the challenge of replicating the splash it made. Hernandez shares the brand is coming out with three palettes this year she describes as “viral.” Glamlite is also entering an undisclosed retailer next month.
“I don’t feel pressure because the way I’m running the company now is I’m focused on being happy and doing things that I like to do,” says Hernandez. “I am going to have the same mindset I had when I released the Pizza Palette. I’m going to put out there what makes me happy and what I enjoy, and I will let consumers decide what they feel about it.”
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