The Gloss Boss
Every woman loves a good lip to compliment an outfit and describe a mood. Let’s be honest, when we put on a red lip we aren’t feeling the same as when we put on a nude. The lip colors we choose are a small introduction to who we are...or rather who we want to be at that moment. 23-year-old Alexis Stewart is one who has always believed this and was so passionate about it, she had the desire to create her own lip products. Today she has her own company, ReaLips Shines & Glitz, and creates her own all natural lip glosses with a variety of pigments and textures for all of our different moods.
Starting out as a business management major at Bowie State University, Alexis always had the intentions of starting her own business. Once she finalized on the idea of starting her own gloss line, she realized the only way of truly making it happen was to just do it.
“One day I was sitting down trying to get my plan, thinking when am I going to get my name trademark, when am I going to do this and that...then I said I’m just going to start making it and go from there. So I ordered the products, sat down and made my standard ingredients of what I thought would make a successful lip gloss.”
She goes into detail on how she began on social media with Instagram, and people would message her about purchasing her products. “Eventually I made my website and that’s how I basically grew.”
“Since I was a child I’ve always been obsessed with wearing lipgloss on my lips...I just felt it was always an important part of an outfit and really makes a difference,” said Alexis. Her glosses are made of natural oils including jojoba oil and castor oil. She believes the natural ingredients are what helps her glosses stand out. “A lot of what we wear we don’t actually know what we’re putting on our lips.” She also adds that her color variety really grabs her customers attention. “Usually when we hear natural we think of more of bland looking products, so I have more unique colors, and oils that are good for your skin and everyday use.”
Another big part of her brand that stands out in the beauty industry are her glitter glosses. Stewart explains that she didn’t realize the glitter glosses would be such a huge success. “Once I saw how many people were interested in the glitter glosses I started doing it more. I was really just experimenting and a lot of people really liked them.” Alexis learned different ways of how to formulate the gloss by doing consistent research and trial & error until she found a method that worked best for her. With her reasonable prices and unique glitters and colors, the entrepreneur’s following continues to grow by the minute.
Stewart wants to see her business continue to grow and expand to its’ greatest potential. Speaking from her own experiences, Alexis explains when being a business owner you have to know how to take genuine criticism, as well as taking non-genuine criticism and making it constructive for yourself. She emphasizes welcoming critics and knowing how to handle things because you’re always representing your brand and your business. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to not be discouraged, follow your heart and take action.
“Don’t wait to start...Even if you don’t have all the answers you want and need right away...The more you procrastinate not only is your time wasted, but your ideas are going to waste as well, and if you don’t use them effectively and in a timely manner you might loose that spark.”
In the near future, Alexis hopes to expand her business into lipsticks as well. She plans to do more collaborations with others and participate in more pop-up shops so people can come to sample and purchase her products in person.
Alexis has been following her own advice of stepping out on her ideas and continues to see where this path will take her.
Via realipsbylex
To learn more about Alexis and her glosses, follow her business page @realipsbylex and visit her website.
Sincerely,
Mona