welcome to the club
A Letter From Our Founders
Author: Sarah Creal
June 02,2024
welcome to the club
A Letter From Our Founders
Author: Sarah Creal
June 02,2024
I made my first beauty product when I was eight years old. Sitting on the Formica counter in the bathroom, I mixed baby powder and food coloring until I had achieved what, to my eye, was a spectacular shade of purple eyeshadow. My older sister and I spent hours creating, tweaking, and applying our creations with Q-tips in the mirror. This is where I pinpoint the start of my love of beauty — as something expressive, bonding, and just plain fun. This first foray led into ever-deepening eyeshadow use, veering almost into the comical in the mid-’80s. I would spend much of my Saturdays at the local drugstore to kill time while my dad worked as an architect next door. There, I’d peruse the offerings, checking out new eyeshadow quads, foundations, eyeliners, and anything else Cover Girl, Aziza, Almay, L’Oréal, and Maybelline could put on a hook. One day I was comparing the ingredient lists of three mascaras from three different companies (I told you I was killing time!) and found that they were exactly the same. As my friends and family know, this was basically my Aha! Moment: I thought, well, if the ingredients are exactly the same, the difference must be in the brush! And someone must have the job of picking the brush!! I want to be that person!! I was 13. Fast-forward to 1991. I’d graduated from college with an English degree and my sights firmly set on the beauty world. I wrote to every cosmetic company I knew, asking for an entry level job in marketing. What I received, and accepted, was an offer from Clinique to work at their counter at Bergdorf Goodman. This was a truly formative time—I saw what a great beauty company was from the inside out — high standards, terrific leadership, breakthrough formulas. I also learned what it was like being the first point of contact with customers (who were discerning, smart, and often came to the counter equipped with knowledge from their dermatologists!). I understood pretty quickly that if I was going to be successful, it was essential to understand her needs. Over the next 30+ years, this experience informed how I conceive and create products — I always start with the woman. What would make her life easier? Bring her joy? Surprise her, in a good way? I have often done this in collaboration with different founders and brands — Prescriptives, Prada Beauty, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, Aerin, and most recently, Victoria Beckham. I have worked my way up one rung of the ladder at a time, from that Clinique counter to Product Development Coordinator at Revlon to Co-Founder and CEO of Victoria Beckham Beauty. I’ve had incredible, generous teachers, bosses, partners, and teams, and tried to absorb everything I could along the way.After I left Victoria Beckham Beauty in 2022, I was planning my next move. The phone kept ringing with opportunities but I couldn’t get excited about any of them. As I sifted through them, I thought to myself, “You know who really loves beauty? Who’s super passionate about formulations and building brands? I AM!” I realized I didn’t want to be a translator/interpreter/creator of someone else’s vision. Running parallel to the last five years of my career was the gradual frustration that I was outgrowing my favorite products: Concealers were emphasizing my lines, blushes were drying, lipstick was bleeding, eyeliner was smearing, and my favorite volumizing mascara was ending up under my eyes halfway through the day. In response, I had started “hacking” my own products but without really thinking about the underlying problem.The morning of December 5, 2022, everything crystallized in my head and heart. I sat up in bed and said aloud, “Why is no one talking to me? Why is no luxury beauty brand formulating for me? Educating me? Reflecting me in an aspirational, cool way?” I immediately got up and called Jill Golden, my longtime beauty brand collaborator, to ask her if I was crazy — or was this true? Jill and I have been building beauty brands together for the last ten years — she, as my trusted sounding board and amazing, brilliant co-creator. She is not a Yes Woman and I knew she’d give it to me straight. Jill and I decided to meet for lunch. She agreed that there was no luxury beauty brand that formulated and curated products exclusively for women 40+ and was super excited about creating one! That day, Sarah Creal Beauty was born.***Hi everyone, Jill here — I also started my love of beauty products at an early age, ordering free 100-piece beauty sets from the back of Teen Beat magazine and wearing matching #44 pink iridescent lipstick with all my friends (bonus: my mom could see my very bright lips when I was standing at the bus stop so there was a safety benefit!) Maybe those experiences led me to creating compelling beauty offers and thumb-stopping content.***Jill (52) and I (54) are making this brand for us, for you, and for all the amazing future 40+ women who deserve products that keep up with them. None of us wants to apply eye makeup only to see that, an hour later, we look like we don’t know how! We do, it’s just that as we have evolved, so have our routines, and often the formulas we are using are counteracting one another. Our features have also changed, and we want and need more from our products. After 18 months of development, Jill and I have created a line of luxury beauty essentials that streamline your routine and focus on wear, repair, and moisturization — for babes 40+. Our formulas are heroes on their own, but also work seamlessly together — so you can confidently walk out the door, live your life, and know that we have your back.#WelcomeToTheClub! It’s our mission to focus on our community and listen to you (see our contact form on our website hereto learn more about were youth obsessed), to solve your beauty dilemmas as we simultaneously showcase our products ONLY on women 40+. So you can really see how these essentials will work for YOU. Follow us on Instagram @sarah.creal to see our pledge in action!Thank you for being here at the beginning. This brand is not a consolation prize, but a reward for all the steps you’ve taken to get here. Our hope is that we can help you enjoy the journey and feel amazing everyday.Now LFG!xo, Sarah and JillCo-Founders, Sarah Creal Beauty
I made my first beauty product when I was eight years old. Sitting on the Formica counter in the bathroom, I mixed baby powder and food coloring until I had achieved what, to my eye, was a spectacular shade of purple eyeshadow. My older sister and I spent hours creating, tweaking, and applying our creations with Q-tips in the mirror. This is where I pinpoint the start of my love of beauty — as something expressive, bonding, and just plain fun. This first foray led into ever-deepening eyeshadow use, veering almost into the comical in the mid-’80s. I would spend much of my Saturdays at the local drugstore to kill time while my dad worked as an architect next door. There, I’d peruse the offerings, checking out new eyeshadow quads, foundations, eyeliners, and anything else Cover Girl, Aziza, Almay, L’Oréal, and Maybelline could put on a hook. One day I was comparing the ingredient lists of three mascaras from three different companies (I told you I was killing time!) and found that they were exactly the same. As my friends and family know, this was basically my Aha! Moment: I thought, well, if the ingredients are exactly the same, the difference must be in the brush! And someone must have the job of picking the brush!! I want to be that person!! I was 13. Fast-forward to 1991. I’d graduated from college with an English degree and my sights firmly set on the beauty world. I wrote to every cosmetic company I knew, asking for an entry level job in marketing. What I received, and accepted, was an offer from Clinique to work at their counter at Bergdorf Goodman. This was a truly formative time—I saw what a great beauty company was from the inside out — high standards, terrific leadership, breakthrough formulas. I also learned what it was like being the first point of contact with customers (who were discerning, smart, and often came to the counter equipped with knowledge from their dermatologists!). I understood pretty quickly that if I was going to be successful, it was essential to understand her needs. Over the next 30+ years, this experience informed how I conceive and create products — I always start with the woman. What would make her life easier? Bring her joy? Surprise her, in a good way? I have often done this in collaboration with different founders and brands — Prescriptives, Prada Beauty, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, Aerin, and most recently, Victoria Beckham. I have worked my way up one rung of the ladder at a time, from that Clinique counter to Product Development Coordinator at Revlon to Co-Founder and CEO of Victoria Beckham Beauty. I’ve had incredible, generous teachers, bosses, partners, and teams, and tried to absorb everything I could along the way.After I left Victoria Beckham Beauty in 2022, I was planning my next move. The phone kept ringing with opportunities but I couldn’t get excited about any of them. As I sifted through them, I thought to myself, “You know who really loves beauty? Who’s super passionate about formulations and building brands? I AM!” I realized I didn’t want to be a translator/interpreter/creator of someone else’s vision. Running parallel to the last five years of my career was the gradual frustration that I was outgrowing my favorite products: Concealers were emphasizing my lines, blushes were drying, lipstick was bleeding, eyeliner was smearing, and my favorite volumizing mascara was ending up under my eyes halfway through the day. In response, I had started “hacking” my own products but without really thinking about the underlying problem.The morning of December 5, 2022, everything crystallized in my head and heart. I sat up in bed and said aloud, “Why is no one talking to me? Why is no luxury beauty brand formulating for me? Educating me? Reflecting me in an aspirational, cool way?” I immediately got up and called Jill Golden, my longtime beauty brand collaborator, to ask her if I was crazy — or was this true? Jill and I have been building beauty brands together for the last ten years — she, as my trusted sounding board and amazing, brilliant co-creator. She is not a Yes Woman and I knew she’d give it to me straight. Jill and I decided to meet for lunch. She agreed that there was no luxury beauty brand that formulated and curated products exclusively for women 40+ and was super excited about creating one! That day, Sarah Creal Beauty was born.***Hi everyone, Jill here — I also started my love of beauty products at an early age, ordering free 100-piece beauty sets from the back of Teen Beat magazine and wearing matching #44 pink iridescent lipstick with all my friends (bonus: my mom could see my very bright lips when I was standing at the bus stop so there was a safety benefit!) Maybe those experiences led me to creating compelling beauty offers and thumb-stopping content.***Jill (52) and I (54) are making this brand for us, for you, and for all the amazing future 40+ women who deserve products that keep up with them. None of us wants to apply eye makeup only to see that, an hour later, we look like we don’t know how! We do, it’s just that as we have evolved, so have our routines, and often the formulas we are using are counteracting one another. Our features have also changed, and we want and need more from our products. After 18 months of development, Jill and I have created a line of luxury beauty essentials that streamline your routine and focus on wear, repair, and moisturization — for babes 40+. Our formulas are heroes on their own, but also work seamlessly together — so you can confidently walk out the door, live your life, and know that we have your back.#WelcomeToTheClub! It’s our mission to focus on our community and listen to you (see our contact form on our website hereto learn more about were youth obsessed), to solve your beauty dilemmas as we simultaneously showcase our products ONLY on women 40+. So you can really see how these essentials will work for YOU. Follow us on Instagram @sarah.creal to see our pledge in action!Thank you for being here at the beginning. This brand is not a consolation prize, but a reward for all the steps you’ve taken to get here. Our hope is that we can help you enjoy the journey and feel amazing everyday.Now LFG!xo, Sarah and JillCo-Founders, Sarah Creal Beauty