I remember the moment I fell in love with makeup. I was two.
When my mom would take me to her workplace, I would immediately go to her coworker who had rouge, Egyptian for lipstick, and ask her to put some on me. Kohl also had a huge place in my childhood. Rocks were ground into a fine powder, much as they had been in ancient Egypt, and applied around children’s eyes to help their eyesight and protect them from evil. There is a picture of 4 year old me wearing both kohl and lipstick for my birthday. A beautiful memory of meaning and tradition!
So why does it feel like these values are lost to modern beauty? The more I learned about the beauty industry, the more I found myself asking a simple question:
What is the point of all these products?
What are they really meant for and what do they do for the person? There is so many products on every shelf at a Sephora, yet it is so difficult to have a product that gets me and makes me feel truly beautiful. Who are beauty products really made for? For the person using them? Or for the systems that manufacture, market, and sell them? The question stayed with me.
I looked back at the history of beauty and found myself drawn to my ancestors, the Ancient Egyptians who started it all. For them, beauty wasn’t foundation, bronzer, blush, and whatever ingredients you need for the makeup look or the no makeup-makeup look. It was about a connection to something higher, the eternal beauty that surrounds us, the divine. Ingredients were chosen for a purpose and often described as soul purifying. Cosmetics were part of daily life, identity, and making them required the highest standards of craftsmanship. They were made especially for the person in mind and adjusted for the person's needs. Even their complicated eye makeup had meaning behind it. It wasn’t simply a look.
Somewhere between then and now, I think we became so efficient at creating beauty products that it became superficial. It is more about looks and does not always make us feel better about ourselves. I think there exists another way. A way that starts with a different question.
What is the purpose of this product and who is it made for?
Will they feel disappointed when they take it off or will they see the beauty within? That question has become the foundation of Primordial. It influences every ingredient we choose. Every formula we develop. Every product we create. That is what I'm trying to build. Come join me!
