Taylor Swift’s Chiefs Game Appearance Wearing Fazit’s Glitter Freckles Leads To Over $1M In Sales

Fazit Beauty has learned firsthand just how powerful Taylor Swift’s influence is on business. 

In the 48 hours after the mega pop star wore the brand’s Glitter Freckles Makeup Patches in the shade Gold Speckles to the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints’ game on Monday last week, where she was supporting boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the brand’s direct-to-consumer sales soared 3,500%, and it shipped out 40,000 units for orders through its website and Amazon. All told, Fazit discloses it racked up a seven-figure sales haul in the two days following the game. The brand’s Glitter Freckles are priced at $15.99, $29.99 and $45.99 for a six-, 12- and 18-count packs, respectively. 

Earlier in the year, Fazit expected to generate $3 million in 2024 sales, and it’s now on track to generate between $5 million and $7 million in 2024 sales. Sales are split roughly evenly between Fazit’s site and Amazon. Urban Outfitters, where the brand entered 10 marquee locations in February and has since rolled out chain-wide, accounts for under 5% of sales, but that percentage is anticipated to grow as Fazit places additional stockkeeping units at the lifestyle retailer.

Swift’s appearance bejeweled with Fazit’s Glitter Freckles isn’t the first time the product has caused a sensation. Released prior to the second weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, a launch video spotlighting Glitter Freckles went viral on TikTok, drawing 10 million views and leading to it selling out on the brand’s site. Back then, the product’s DTC sales spiked 1,900%.

From the moment it created Glitter Freckles, Fazit set out to get the patches on Swift. In April, Aliett Buttelman, co-founder of Fazit, posted a video to her personal TikTok account expressing her desire for Swift to wear the freckles by the end of the year, and Fazit sent product samples to Swift’s makeup artist Lorrie Turk in May. 

“We had a ton of viral moments just from our own organic content with this product,” says Buttelman. “And then our strategy was, OK, if we can’t get it directly on Taylor, we want Taylor to see it all around her. We reached out to Sabrina Carpenter’s team and her makeup artist and Chappell Roan. So, really trying to get it on all the pop girlies.”

Upon finding out that Swift’s face was covered in Fazit’s Glitter Freckles, Buttelman posted a video on TikTok capturing her sobbing in elation, and the video has accumulated 7.4 million views. She isn’t sure if her efforts are directly tied to Swift sporting the sparkly patches. A week after the singer did so, Buttelman reports sales of the product are still “super high” across Fazit’s site, Amazon and Urban Outfitters.

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Taylor is bejewled in glitter freckles #taylorswift #chiefs #traviskelce #glitterfreckles #fazit #fazitbeauty

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Fazit’s epic Swift moment has presented some challenges for the brand. Dupes have become a larger and larger dilemma for it. Buttelman says they “won’t use the name Fazit, but they’ll use every other word we have. They’ll knock off our imagery just so it’s slightly different and knock the price down super low. We’ve been trying to work with Amazon and TikTok to get them taken down, but haven’t been super successful.”

Amazon, where Fazit is currently No. 1 in the body glitter category, has had difficulty keeping up with increased demand for Glitter Freckles amid the Swift hoopla and was selling it out in various shades “every other hour,” per Buttelman. Glitter Freckles come in three shades: Gold Speckles, Silver Speckles and limited-edition Rose Gold Speckles. Buttelman says Amazon wasn’t “allowing us to increase capacity, which has been just a really big hurdle for us to navigate.” 

While not welcome, capacity issues are the best problems for a brand to have, and Fazit was already having a banner year in advance of Swift’s spotlight on its Glitter Freckles—and the year’s not done yet. Next month, it will make its mass-market retail debut with an 1,800-door rollout. Buttelman declines to name the retailer, but shares Fazit is in talks to launch at a second mass-market retailer in December. 

“The goals we had that we were planning on hitting by the end of year, we were on the right track to hit them,” she says. “This just sped up the journey a little bit more.”

Eager to capitalize on the next major trend, retailers have been flooding Buttelman’s inbox. Despite her excitement, Buttelman is cognizant of the dangers of expanding Fazit too quickly at retail and is prioritizing retailers she deems to be strong long-term partners for the brand. “I don’t want to go to a retailer convincing them on Fazit,” she says. “I want them to know they need Fazit.” 

Launched in 2022 by Buttelman and co-founder Nina LaBruna, Fazit raised $175,000 from friends and family to jumpstart its business. This year, makeup patches joined its assortment of skincare patches tackling common skin concerns like acne, pimples, in-grown hairs and blackheads. Buttelman says the company became profitable this year and is not presently seeking external capital to scale at retail. It may reassess that position in the future. 

With over 200 million views on TikTok, Fazit has experience preparing for virality. To avoid ordering an excessive amount of inventory, the brand typically tests product launches with a small production run to gauge consumer feedback. It ramps production up or down depending on the feedback. According to Buttelman, LaBruna managed shipping for Fazit out of her apartment until June of this year. The brand is now teaming up with a third-party logistics provider. 

Buttelman underscores that having a strong customer service and operational team in place is essential to success in responding to virality. Buttelman and LaBruna are Fazit’s only full-time employees, and social media, marketing, public relations, partnerships and customer service are outsourced to third-party agencies and independent contractors. A full-time social media manager is set to join the brand in November. 

Going forward, Fazit is focusing more on affiliates to spread the word about its products and extending its color and category offerings. Buttelman mentions the brand is exploring limited-edition collections and collaborations. With Fazit’s newfound fame, she says, “We’ve had Fortune 500 companies, massive beauty brands, sports teams from the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and MLB reach out to do collaborations with us.” 

This story was updated with new information on Thursday, October 17.