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Behind the scenes at your favorite companies.

Too Faced Cosmetics: From Bland to Blandino
By Erin Roop

Long before today’s shimmer mania and high-pigment madness, Jerrod Blandino, a makeup artist working behind the Estée Lauder counter at Saks Fifth Avenue, was frustrated with the blah browns and limited textures of the early ’90s. Dreaming of a new breed of vibrant, glistening palettes, he began snagging samples, bringing them home, and creating his own dazzling concoctions in the microwave. “I was calling up Estée Lauder to tell them about the color combinations I’d come up with,” Blandino says. “I thought that everyone was doing it—I no idea that I was the only one.”

Although Estée Lauder frowned upon the co-opted samples, Blandino continued to mix up his custom blends and distributed them to his growing celebrity clientele in paper cups. Word quickly spread about his inventions, and before he knew it, beauty addicts and magazine editors were clamoring to get their hands on the formulas. Shortly after, he quit his day job and founded Too Faced Cosmetics in 1998.

The brand’s motto—“Why be pretty when you can be gorgeous?—reflects Blandino’s long-standing commitment to elevating makeup from ordinary to extraordinary, while the company’s name has more sardonic roots. “Some of the women who came to the counter, who were normally so sweet, would go ballistic when they realized an item was discontinued or out of stock,” he explains. “They were so two-faced, and all I could think about was how beyond vain they were!”

Today, the company is known far and wide for its innovative formulas, creative packaging, clever naming conventions, and irreverent approach. “Too Faced is inspired by the wacky way I view the world,” Blandino says. Drawing upon pop culture, old Hollywood, and his youth “growing up in the ’80s with MTV all around,” some the brand’s signature products include the Quickie Chronicles (complete palettes encased in pulp fiction-style booklets), the Lava Matte Eye Liner (a black jumbo pencil designed to create the most enviable smoky eye around), and Candy Bars (shimmery bricks of color that can be used as eye shadows or highlighters).

At the same time, Too Faced is also solutions-driven. “Liquif-Eye started when stars approached me and wanted eye makeup that wouldn’t melt off,” he explains. “I took their suggestions and thought about how I could make the average girl capable of creating these pro looks. Liquif-Eye is a one-step process; you grab the color and lock it down.” The best-selling Lip Injection has more risqué roots: “I was watching TV and saw a commercial for, well, male enhancement,” Blandino recalls. “As I watched the commercial and saw how an increase in blood flow could help with erectile dysfunction, I thought, ‘Wow, I can do that for fuller lips!’”

These days, Too Faced is a staple on the sets of hit TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, The OC, and American Idol. But Blandino is quick to point out that, ultimately, the brand is all about giving real women fun, easy ways look gorgeous: “I’m a product of the Madonna generation and believe that every woman can be sexy and strong at the same time.”

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