The original lineup of lipsticks and nail polishes were named things like Roach, Smog, Bruise, and Frostbite — not necessarily "pretty" but they saw the beauty in those types of things not conventionally considered beautiful. Lots of names are references to contraband. Some are rock and roll and some are inside jokes. The shade Sellout was a riff on another popular eye shadow shade, Sin — Zomnir liked the former better but knew Sellout would be a hit Celebrity Fashion Video.
Urban Decay was created to rebel against the abundance of pink makeup products on the market. Instagram content View on Instagram. In the '90s, an Urban Decay super-fan painted her car in the same shade as one of their nail polishes. The original Eyeshadow Primer Potion inspired some dangerous missions. Proof that palettes are a literal investment. For a brand founded on the principles of color, their most successful venture has been nudes. Urban Decay came to life in , when Zomnir, who was working in marketing, met Sandy Lerner, a fellow makeup-lover and tech entrepreneur.
Both women were tired of the cookie-cutter pink and red lipsticks flooding the market, and they decided to do something about it. In Zomnir's Newport Beach, CA, bungalow, the duo mixed and matched polish formulas with no experience in cosmetic chemistry and formulations and tapped neighbors to help them glue fake nails on their displays.
Humble beginnings for a brand that now has an Instagram following of 7 million and domination of aisles at Sephora, Macy's, Ulta Beauty, and Nordstrom. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. May 13, , pm EDT. Feb 5, , pm EST. Jan 14, , am EST. Dec 10, , pm EST. Nov 10, , am EST. We launched with 12 nail polishes and 10 lipsticks. I remember working on the nail polish and wondering how we could make it seem and feel really different.
I would mix colors and pigment in my kitchen and cook up something that a lab could match, but we weren't actually manufacturing in my house.
I realized nail polish is like car paint, so I called car paint manufacturers and they were like, "Oh, yeah, we make nail polish too. Then I asked the bottle place, "Hey, where would I make lipstick? I just started building my network, and someone was like "Hey, there's a trade show where all this stuff is there.
It was like a little research project. The next step was figuring out how we were going to sell it. My boyfriend at the time had a friend who was a swimsuit rep. I knew they had MAC at Nordstrom, so that led me to believe that they would be open to something edgy and cool in the makeup area.
I pulled out the list, wrote down all the numbers, and put it back. I had names and numbers like that. I think that one of the things that helped me so much was that when I walked into that first meeting with Nordstrom, I had a pitch. I had learned from my ad agency days how to be professional. Even though I looked edgy and had a different perspective, and my brand was really different and quirky compared to what was out there at the time, I knew how to go in and sell the product, sell myself, and make them believe in me.
You really have to spend some time figuring out what your pitch is. What does your brand mean? You have to believe in your business side as well. I remember calling Sandy and going, "I did it! I did it! We got the order! I remember exactly where I was, at Horton Plaza standing by a kiosk. The next big account we talked to was Macy's. When Sephora came to the U.
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