Move over, Kylie Jenner — Miami has its own makeup queens.
Cousins, best friends, and business partners Vanessa Enriquez and Marivette Navarrete launched Nevermind Cosmetics this past February. The pair invested their entire savings to build the company. They were inspired to start the project through the Girl Boss movement.
“We bootstrapped the project to fund it,” Enriquez says.
“But we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Navarrete adds. “We can’t imagine going back to an office and having someone tell us what to do after everything we’ve put into this.”
The women earned their stripes in the beauty business while they worked at cosmetics subscription companies before launching their line. Eventually, the lack of jobs in Miami inspired them to start their business and put their skills to the test. Now movers and shakers wear the makeup line, including local influencer YesJulz, who recently highlighted the business owners on her Snapchat, which reaches thousands of followers.
Their love of fashion and all things beauty had Enriquez and Navarrete doing some heavy research binges to test the market for shades and popular lipstick styles. They use social media as leverage to gauge their followers, and the sassy personality of the line is what sets the brand apart.
Heavily influenced by the '90s, products have names like "Whatever," "GRL Talk," and "Sassy Since Birth." At any given time, the company has 15 shades in rotation through their Matte On Ice collection. They plan to restock in the next couple of months and keep their core colors in the line.
“We want to keep growing with our customer base, and we are really active on social media with them to make sure we are giving them what they want,” Navarette explains. “We ask them sometimes what they want to see next from us and get insight from them, and we see what sells out and what shades are right to keep in the market.”
Currently, Nevermind Cosmetics offers two collections. Velvet Matte, which costs $15 for all shades, and Matte on Ice, $13, with colors ranging from nudes to blacks and burgundies. The two say they're still learning and determining what the market likes.
Right now, they sell only lipstick but plan to expand the line to include other cosmetics to stay true to their name.
“We love the highlight craze going on, and we’ve been looking to put out a product like this, but for now we are sticking with what we know and getting this down to a science before we move on to the next idea,” Enriquez says.
The products are for sale via the website to consumers in the United States and Canada, but they want to expand to retailers in the late summer. In the meantime, they’re riding the new wave of entrepreneurship happening in the community and finding their lane in the beauty world.
“People trust us enough to spend their money on our company, and that’s been the best part for us," Navarrete says. "It’s super-rewarding to see our customers showing us love and being happy with our products."
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